<p>I am posting this because many people seem like they want to know. And I also have been anxious to know the truth. </p>
<p>Personally, I think this October test was nothing like the ones in Bluebook especially for the last critical reading section. The last section was more like Princeton Review 11 practice test or Barrons. The choices were very very confusing, and even after process of elimination, at least more than two choices seem very close to one another. Those who are not used to think ‘critically’ might have fallen in trick or overlooked the subtle hints. (one adjective makes the difference) </p>
<p>In other words, the test was just like Princeton review practice tests. After I took this test, I no longer can trust the bluebook and practice test College Board give out to people.
I thought PR would confuse me more because it is not official. But now, I think I should buy every book out there in the bookstore and be able to solve the problems even if they are not official and do not adhere to ‘previously official’ SAT problem format. </p>
<p>Just 3 days are left until this October test score comes out, and I don’t think I did well. Those who are able to score higher than average are truly gifted people.</p>
<p>Was it the art history essay? I thought that was especially confusing, too! I’ve used many different books: Barrons, Collegeboard (yes, I even bought the new book, thinking that there’s renewed tests but oh no, only added), and PR. Arghhhh, I actually thought the last CR section was more similiar to Barron’s where I usually do major screw ups on it. </p>
<p>I guess it’s all about luck … if I could wish I hoped that was an experimental section, argh, that’s probably the section that trips me the most. I’m thinking that those who get that section are really good at this … and probably not me. :(</p>
<p>Still my hopes are up for getting at least 1900 … or at least something to get me into NYU. :"(</p>
<p>PR worked perfectly fine for me. It’s all a matter of practice really. I would recommend using all the books to get a broad range of testing materials. I prefer the Barrons and PR over the BB, because the Barrons and PR offer explanations while the BB does not.</p>
<p>While the 3rd party prep books do indeed offer explanations, the accuracy of the actual questions themselves pale in comparison to those of the BB. Because the BB is written by the same test writers (ETS) as the official SATs, the questions have patterns and so forth. Not many people know about these patterns, and I doubt the majority of the 3rd party companies (Barron’s, PR, etc.) would even know what I’m talking about. Some of these patterns that frequently appear are the grouping of math answers, etc.; for the CR sections, ETS intentionally uses passages that do NOT have to be read in their entirety to answer the corresponding questions - this is reflected in the BB passages, but not in the super long, incomprehensible passages of 3rd party prep books. Therefore, the BB is superior to the 3rd company prep books. Not to mention, if explanations are what you’re concerned about, there are myriad explanations for BB problems on the internet.</p>
<p>PR and Barron’s are awful, they are not official so i just had a simple glimpse on them, i recommand to use what collegeboard provided, like bb, real tests, old sat,prep booklet and everyday questions.
I got really bad scores when i did the PR and i was totally confused by the question types and moreover, the feeling i had about the test.</p>