SAT preparatory help

[daflyboys]

Do any of you guys, especially younger ones, have any tips on what would be the best and most cost effective SAT prep help? I understand it would be getting the formulas down for the math part and understanding the root word origins for the language areas, but I'm wondering is there something online or in published form that would be a good comprehensive review? Thanks in advance.

[p_rushing]

Re: SAT preparatory help

this is one for anyone if you have people in the military in your extended family, although I don't think any checking is done

http://www.eknowledge.com/military.asp

[Cane_Mutiny]

Re: SAT preparatory help

The College Board has a good SAT review book with all sorts of multiple choice practice and things like that. They've got a bunch of copies at my school, I use it pretty often in class (I'm taking the test in May). It should be available on collegeboard.com

[bgeno]

Re: SAT preparatory help

The best thing to do is to familiarize yourself with the types of questions you're going to see. You can do that by getting the College Board's official SAT Prep Book (what Cane is talking about, I assume). It's got about 10 practice tests if I remember correctly and a ton of other helping tools... it's over 700 pages. I'd say it is WELL worth checking out, even if just from a library.

http://www.amazon.com/Official-SAT-S.../dp/0874477182

I never found learning root words to be a practical way of learning the verbal section (I'm also lazy as hell). But there are books you can get that teach you a certain amount of words, and, if you learn them in and out, you basically know most of the words that could show up on the test.

With math, like I said, familiarizing yourself with the questions is the best way. You can do that through practice, which will force you to learn the formulas. Through taking a bunch of practice tests, you'll see every kind of math question that will be on the test.

The writing comes down to strategy--figure out what you're writing about in the first three minutes (find good examples and WRITE ABOUT WHAT YOU KNOW... if you know sports, write about sports... I did it twice and scored a 9 of 12 and an 11 of 12), come up with an organization (how many paragraphs, what you're going to put where, etc.) and write. It's a short amount of time, so you gotta work.



My mom actually teaches SAT Prep at her high school and has graded the writing portion of the test in the past. She helped a lot with me and my friends. I took the PSAT with no preparation. I took the SAT with a decent amount of preparation from her and from the SAT Prep Book. Based on my PSAT predicted score range, my SAT score was nearly 200 points higher than it was supposed to be... all because I did preparation.

[HiJumpr111]

Re: SAT preparatory help

I currently teach a couple sections of the Math portion of SAT Prep at the high school level.
We use the Barron's Book (2007-2008 Version).
While I can't say much about the Critical Reading and Writng portion, I can say there is a lot that you can do to prepare for the three math sections that you'll encounter on the test.

Pay particular attention to the 17 Math Tactics that are listed in the Barron's Book. It is an excellent resource.

If you have any specific issues, let me know.