Who to trust: Kaplan's review books or TPR

[joethemole]

i've been doing some practice CR on both of their practice books lately... and i've noticed that their CR sections are quite different.

 

Kaplan: 5-8 sentence comp, 2 short psg, 1 very long psg (or dual, or 2 semi long psgs)

 

TPR: 5-8 sent comp (however, kaplan drops their number when they give you REALLY long, long psgs. like 2 dual long psgs for eg), 2-6 (yes, omg, 6!!), 1-2 very longs, dual + long, 2 semi long

 

Also in grammar, the last section (10 minutes), kaplan always has 14 fixing sentence questions and no error id, while TPR has a mix of both

 

it is quite obvious that TPR's is alot harder. like i've never actually seen a CR reading with 6 short psgs before doing some TPR.

 

so is TPR too hard, or is kaplans too easy? and is it also true what the Grammatix site says, about how kaplan published their books like 2 months before the NEW sats were even pubed by ETS?

 

k i just took a look at the official free practice test on collegeboard.com... and yes, Kaplan has the right format.

[shuttupjessmah]

i've been doing some practice CR on both of their practice books lately... and i've noticed that their CR sections are quite different.

 

Kaplan: 5-8 sentence comp, 2 short psg, 1 very long psg (or dual, or 2 semi long psgs)

 

TPR: 5-8 sent comp (however, kaplan drops their number when they give you REALLY long, long psgs. like 2 dual long psgs for eg), 2-6 (yes, omg, 6!!), 1-2 very longs, dual + long, 2 semi long

 

Also in grammar, the last section (10 minutes), kaplan always has 14 fixing sentence questions and no error id, while TPR has a mix of both

 

it is quite obvious that TPR's is alot harder. like i've never actually seen a CR reading with 6 short psgs before doing some TPR.

 

so is TPR too hard, or is kaplans too easy? and is it also true what the Grammatix site says, about how kaplan published their books like 2 months before the NEW sats were even pubed by ETS?

 

k i just took a look at the official free practice test on collegeboard.com... and yes, Kaplan has the right format.

They both suck. Don't bother with either. Seriously, there are plenty of errors in both. I'm not sure which is more "realistic" because each SAT has a different format. I don't believe the SAT I took had six short passages, though. However, I remember I had four short passages and a long one or two in the same section. So it all just depends on the test.

[babypurin]

- The last section is always fixing sentences; there are no error id type questions. Just another example of how clueless Princeton Review is. ;)

 

- Take Kaplan's and Princeton's tests with a grain of salt; they are wildly inaccurate and test on questions that rarely show up on the real test. Also, their "hard" math questions aren't really hard, but just take a long time to solve; another example of there stupidness because all questions should only take 30-60 seconds at most.

 

- Let me stress this one more time: buy The Official Guide SAT Study Guide from the Collegeboard - it is the most accurate, and has the type of questions that are likely to show up on the real test.

[joethemole]

- Let me stress this one more time: buy The Official Guide SAT Study Guide from the Collegeboard - it is the most accurate, and has the type of questions that are likely to show up on the real test.

 

yes, but thats only one book, unfortunately:hmm:

[babypurin]

yes, but thats only one book, unfortunately:hmm:

 

...and if you use it well, it should be the only book you need. :D Try searching the net for some real old practice tests, you are likely to find some. I'll post them later if I have the time.

 

Try "10 Real SAT's", although its for the older test it still has Critical Reading and Math Questions that are similar to those found on the New SAT (the analogies provide good SAT vocabulary)

[Selayan]

I found that by doing the tests from my princeton book, I had most of the math questions of the same format on my June test, I have the College board blue book too and I use it for theri explanations and review of formulas and what not. I find it more confusing int eh math part, because they do not fully explain that much but niether books do to a certain extent.

[babypurin]

I found that by doing the tests from my princeton book, I had most of the math questions of the same format on my June test, I have the College board blue book too and I use it for theri explanations and review of formulas and what not. I find it more confusing int eh math part, because they do not fully explain that much but niether books do to a certain extent.

 

Buy the "Testmasters" book which has explanations for all the questions in the Collegeboard's Official SAT Guide.

[kramer3d]

you seriously need only one book. the offical guide itself has 8 practice tests. when u are done with them, familliarize yourself with the questions because the testmakers repeat a lot... especially on writing. study the questions you got right AND wrong

[HiLine]

Buy the "Testmasters" book which has explanations for all the questions in the Collegeboard's Official SAT Guide.

 

Is that book released by the College Board?If not,I doubt its accuracy.

[babypurin]

Is that book released by the College Board?If not,I doubt its accuracy.

 

The testmasters book gives explanations for the The Official SAT Study Guide by the College Board. As you know, the College Board's book does not give explanations.

[joethemole]

wow? the official guide has 8?

 

now if they only come out with a second book... that'll be SAT practice heaven :tup::tup::tup::tup::tup:

[Selayan]

Why offcourse, buy the official blue book lol, and then you get confused like hell and go and dish out more money for the answers. Funny isnt it? I guess that is how they make money. I'll just use the 8 practice tests in that book just to go through as review untimed and then take some math sections only, timed, since that is what I want to improve on.

[babypurin]

Why offcourse, buy the official blue book lol, and then you get confused like hell and go and dish out more money for the answers. Funny isnt it? I guess that is how they make money. I'll just use the 8 practice tests in that book just to go through as review untimed and then take some math sections only, timed, since that is what I want to improve on.

 

Also consider buying the Collegeboard's Online SAT course. You can make timed quizzes to your requirements and specifications. Not only that, but it includes three more practice tests and answers and explanations for the Blue Book.

[HiLine]

The testmasters book gives explanations for the The Official SAT Study Guide by the College Board. As you know, the College Board's book does not give explanations.

 

Well,the CB's online course has explanations but it would cost not small an amount of money.Do you think the Testmasters's book has precise explanations to the blue book's practice tests?

[Erin]

The explanations found on College Board's online course aren't as good as I would hope; the ones I've looked at (mostly grammar ones) tend to be dry and technical.

 

It's hard to say which prep book is best; I think you need to figure out which one is best for you. That said, it does seem that PR invests more into making sure that their materials are the most helpful, although neither Kaplan nor PR really go into much detail about the test. They're very "surface-level" books.

[joethemole]

well i've now looked at abunch of other practice books:

 

grubers, mcgraw hills, dummie's guide, arco, and the original kaplan's book.

 

they are all pretty much crap in the reading/writing section. by crap i mean completely wrong formats (ie one of them gives you 35 minutes to do a writing section), completely wrong question types etc.

[Selayan]

Well I guess the way they explain everything is in simple terms thinking that everyone will understand. Usually I get it if they explain it their way, but then you will only get it right the next time if you use thier ways. Which seem to be different for every question they give. But I end up doin it how they show me and have gotten used to it, I also use my knowledge and see what happens then I look at the answers.

[babypurin]

The Critical Reading section is the hardest to improve, so that's why you won't see one universial answer - there ain't, every student seems to view this section differently.

[HiLine]

The explanations found on College Board's online course aren't as good as I would hope; the ones I've looked at (mostly grammar ones) tend to be dry and technical.

 

 

Oh,really?That's so surprising!How about the Testmasters?

[babypurin]

Oh,really?That's so surprising!How about the Testmasters?

 

Actually, it isn't really suprising. If you try the "Question of the Day" on the Collegeboard's website you would know that their answers are of the most technical way.

 

Although, I don't have the TestMasters book I've heard that it isn't as technical as the Collegeboard's book. I haven't heard of any negative comments about the book.

[joethemole]

so is testmasters the only way to find answer explainations for the Collegeboard book?

[Selayan]

I have studied words too and it helped a little bit, but the words you study are never on the damn test. The reading can be boring sometimes, and too difficult to comprehend. Or the reason for it being difficult is because its so strange and boring passages. I guess my reading score varies with each test. As I have seen on my practice tests, my reading score went up, then down, then average, then up again, but it was because how interested I was in the reading.

[joethemole]

nvm found it

[shuttupjessmah]

As I have seen on my practice tests, my reading score went up, then down, then average, then up again, but it was because how interested I was in the reading.

haha... my score, too! Of course, we're supposed to adapt and do well on all passages anyway. Too bad my Reading score isn't going to improve... stupid reading...

[babypurin]

haha... my score, too! Of course, we're supposed to adapt and do well on all passages anyway. Too bad my Reading score isn't going to improve... stupid reading...

 

The Reading section is the hardest section to improve because it is the least predictable. With the wide variety of passages that the CollegeBoard uses, it makes it nearly impossible to focus on a certain on one type of reading-passage type (unlike the ACT - which seems to focus on 4 different styles of reading).

 

The only way to benefit studying the Critical Reading section is to take as many practice tests as possible (sounds obvious, but a lot of people don't study the Critical Reading section!).

 

Regarding, vocabulary...the best way to attack the vocab section is to study word roots - don't study wordlists unless you have a very limited vocabulary - by studying word roots you can learn several new words, just from a four letter prefix or suffix - trust me a good portion of the SAT vocab section is based on whether you can decipher a prefix or not.

 

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I mentioned the Vocab for Selyan most especially, as Princeton Review is definitely going to stress the cramming of vocab words in just a few weeks - not only will you forget them quicker, but will you spend precious time on things that only make up 25% of the CR score.