<p>ProximaCentauri: A HB pencil is NOT ok. Use either a B or 2B pencil, but I would use a 2B just to be safe.</p>
<p>Actually an HB pencil is a #2 pencil so it is perfectly fine! A B or 2B pencil will work fine too. Here in the US we have to do everything differently so we have a different grading system for pencil hardness. Most places use the HB graphite scale, but in the US we use the numerical graphite scale. HB and #2 are suppose to be equivalent. It is the same thing as saying 1 meter equals 39.3701 inches. I have even used a 3B pencil on the SAT and it worked fine, but the softer the pencil the more you have to worry about smudging. I do wish the SAT allowed mechanical pencils though. Nothing quite like a nice Pentel Quicker Clicker. </p>
<p>casey77, the blue book may be purchased online from the College Board. I expect they can ship to Narnia.</p>
<p>Hey, everyone.</p>
<p>My last psat I took was around a 160 in sophomore year. I wasn’t paying attention at all. Not even one bit and I even remember me zoning out but still answering problems. In some of the practice tests I take in the Review books like Princeton(I was not aware of the rule), barrons, and kaplan have me on average at 630 math 680 critical 600 writing. I haven’t studied the material at all, I have put forth effort to learn why I missed math problems or anything. After the next few weeks of intense study, extremely intensive with the blue book, could I bring it up to 700-700-700? I plan on learning a lot of the “kaplan flash cards” reading the barrons, kaplan, and Princeton sections about the material and how to attack each question, and study packet of information given to me by a local sat class instructor who claims it was 95% of the topics covered in all of the exams ever. I plan on leaving the blue book AFTER I finish reading and reviewing over the material I need to know. I plan on buying a few PSAT exams from the past later this month to get some practice down. Also, for writing, I plan on staying after school with my AP lang teacher and going over grammar concepts and such atleast twice per week and I’ll request homework from her. Do you think the blue book with the DVD is worth the extra money or should I simply just buy the book and follow along the math part with khan academy? I am in my junior year of highschool. I do not plan on taking it before January; I am simply attempting to study for the psat now via sat work book topics and such.</p>
Hey in writing section is the phrase ‘on the grounds of not being’ right?
please does anyone know what and how to prepare for SAT literature?
hey guys.
i seem to be having some trouble with critical reading. I took my first SAT test on March on got a 520 on this section (pretty low). then i took the test again in june and got a 550. i am looking for a score in the 700 range. i am an all A student and take all advanced classes. does anyone have any prep books and a recommended reading list of books that can be helpful to really boost my score.
I’ve heard Erica Meltzer’s “The Critical Reader” is good. But I think if you just practice with the critical reading sections in the blue book, that should suffice.
Yes,I know that there are official cb tests out there online BUT the problem is that they don’t come with answer EXPLANATIONS.
My score in CR is between 610-670.Which is the best among these three :
Kaplan
PR
Barrons
Thank you!
I just read somewhere that prep books practice tests don’t help at all.So what should I do? I have past SAT papers but they don’t have answer explanations 
what should I do?
@hardwork213 Google each question. After all, there are only so many types of questions that TCB will eventually repeat and recycle the old questions.
Have either of you guys (poster #1069 and #1070) read the prior posts on this thread? Especially those at the beginning? They may help.
I’d also add, @hardwork213, that there ARE several sources for answer explanations for official blue book tests.
(1) there are answer explanations on the College Board website, if you register your Blue Book (not hard to do if you actually own a Blue Book). These aren’t the greatest, but they’re ok. (2) Tutor Ted’s SAT Solution Manual is an inexpensive book you can buy on Amazon.com (or elsewhere). It has explanations for all the Blue Book questions. It’s worth having, but the explanations aren’t always helpful so if money’s an issue, I’d skip this. (3) Khan Academy (free) has excellent explanations for the math questions on one official practice SAT. (4) SAT Quantum (online) has excellent explanations for all math questions on all the official SAT practice tests; some are available for free and some at a charge. (5) If you’re focusing on CR, you might want to purchase the “Black Book.” It has excellent explanations for a sampling of the Blue Book practice test CR questions. (6) The Critical Reader by Meltzer is considered to be one of the very best, if not the best, guide for the critical reading section. Although it does not contain Blue Book answer explanations, it does provide in depth explanation of each type of Blue Book passage question, and it identifies each Blue Book CR question by question type.
Most people here will agree that if you’re serious about improving CR, don’t use Kaplan, PR or Barrons. I share that view. Especially for the CR section, it’s very hard to duplicate official readings and questions. Therefore, I’d recommend you use the Blue Book practice tests with the official College Board explanations available online, plus the Black Book and Meltzer’s Critical Reader. I strongly recommend you use all 3 together, but if that’s not possible, I recommend them in the order listed.
And by the way, we’ve found that with CR in particular, it’s really important to check your ego at the door. What I mean by that is that it’s not at all unusual to think that the CR questions are strange or poorly drafted or that there’s more than one correct answer. It’s natural to be a bit defiant and try to answer the questions “your” way and discount the advice that the books give you. The longer you hold that head-set, though, the harder it will be to break through to higher scores. My daughter struggled with that. When she finally let go of that defiance, and truly accepted the advice in the Black Book and the Critical Reader, her practice scores went from 650-700 to 750-800.
Good luck!
Hmm…thanks 
I joined this site a dozen years ago and wrote this about 10 years ago. I hope that this small contribution did help a few students approaching the SAT with less apprehension. Time has come for me to drop behind the curtains.
Please remember that there are no secrets and that work and determination are the keys to the success. Stick to official tests and do not go overboard!
Xig
@xiggi I really thank you for your advice. It is so simple yet tremendously helpful. Since I have been following your advice I have gotten so used to the SAT that I started to think like the test makers themselves. I mostly improved in the SCs where I not only keep getting most of them right, but even for the wrong ones I still cross out three wrong answers. Patterns concerning semicolons, phrases in the sentences that define a prefix/suffix/root word (like keen and acumen), and even Latin & Greek roots themselves. For math, I only get 2-3 wrong for each section, which is really great.
Still, I would like you if possible to give more advice on two things: the non-SC section of the verbal & the non-essay writing questions.
Thank you, xiggi. Thank you.
I feel deeply saddened to lose your voice in this forum. On the other hand, I’m very happy for you and wish you all the best things in your new life as a married man. Believe it or not, I think you have changed the lives of many readers for the better. In my mind, you have been the most important contributor on this site. Thanks so much!!!
So I studied for 4 months for the SAT using a lot of Xiggi’s methods. I also used the system outlined in “the Perfect College” article. I think the writer later wrote an ebook. Anyway, I scored 2260. Xiggi methods works, people.
@HardWork123 actually if you want to find explanations for all the math sections in the bb just type in "blue book solutions pwnthesat " and a link with most of the answer explanations for the math sections should pop up. Also, just by having the blue book you should be able to get explanations from the collegeboard.
@xiggi Thank you, xiggi. You are a CC institution. Thanks for your dedication and willingness to share and guide. Hope you stop in to say hello once in a while.