SAT Questions

lydia says:

I’m including both some book/internet resources and my own tips for taking the SAT.

Books:
The Official SAT Study Guide
by The College Board
Price: $11.97 on Amazon.com
This is the book I used to study for the November SAT. It has some marginally helpful chapters with test-taking tips, as well as 8 full-length tests and scoring guides. At the very least, it can give you idea of where you stand right now and provide some extremely helpful practice.

Cracking the SAT
by Princeton Review
Price: $13.97 on Amazon.com
I have some friends who used this book, and found it fairly useful. However, it’s more expensive than the College Board book, and includes only 4 practice tests (plus one online) as opposed to 8. Since I feel that the practice tests are the most important parts of a study guide, I wouldn’t recommend this one over another, less expensive book with more tests.

11 Practice Tests for the SAT and PSAT
by Princeton Review
Price: $12.57 on Amazon.com
This is a pretty good deal — 11 tests for just under 13 dollars. It doesn’t include "tips" sections like the previous two, but again, the practice tests are really the most important study aid. Practice makes perfect when it comes to the SAT! If you’re willing to spend the extra money, you might buy the College Board study guide (the first one I listed) AND this one, so you have the College Board tips plus 18 practice tests total (one of the eleven in this book is a PSAT test, so I’m not counting that one).

I wouldn’t waste your money on the books that include DVDs, tempting as they may be (for example, Princeton Review offers its study guide both with and without an accompanying DVD). The people I know who have purchased these have said that the DVDs don’t really offer much useful help beyond that which is in the book.

My recommendation? If you want tips, go with the College Board book. If you want mainly practice, go with the 11-test book from Princeton Review. If you’re willing to spend about $25, get both!

Internet Resources:
http://collegeboard.com/student/testing/sat/prep_one/prep_one.html
Price: Free!
College Board provides an "SAT Question of the Day" and sample essays…it can be pretty helpful, and it’s free!

https://satonlinecourse.collegeboard.com/SR/loginAction.do
Price: $69.95 for four months
An online course, with a little more personalization, but I’m not really sure it’s worth it if you already have a text study guide. Also, it looks as though you don’t have this kind of time. You might look into it if you retake the test, but again, I wouldn’t really recommend it. It looks mostly like a waste of money.

http://www.princetonreview.com/college/testprep/testprep.asp?TPRPAGE=45&TYPE=SAT-TUTOR
Price: ?
Here, you can find tutors in your area. The prices vary. I had a little tutoring myself before the SAT, but I would hesitate to hire someone I didn’t know beforehand (mine happened to live next door, so I could trust her and she didn’t charge me too much), because these lessons are pretty expensive. I wouldn’t take this jump unless you already have a pretty good idea of your score range and know where you need to improve, and whether it’s worth this expensive move.

http://www.princetonreview.com/college/testprep/testprep.asp?TPRPAGE=933&TYPE=SAT-TUTOR
Price: $1500 per student
This is an EXPENSIVE move, especially since you’d be learning with other students! My goodness! You can probably take a similar class at your high school for closer to $80. But, for the sake of being thorough, I’m including it — NOT recommending it!

http://www.princetonreview.com/college/testprep/testprep.asp?TPRPAGE=61&TYPE=SAT-CLASSROOM
Price: ?
There’s no price listed for this one; I gather it’s like the small group instruction, but with a bigger class size. Probably not worth it, if your school offers a similar program.

http://www.princetonreview.com/college/testprep/testprep.asp?tprpage=218&type=NEW-SAT-ONLINE
Price: $99-$699
These online classes probably aren’t worth it, unless you really have an idea of what you need to improve. I can’t imagine spending $699 on an online SAT class, and the ExpressOnline course only offers two practice tests! Not worth it, if you can just buy a book.

http://www.princetonreview.com/college/testprep/testprep.asp?TPRPAGE=921&TYPE=SAT-ONLINE
Price: ?
More tutoring, but this time not in person. This is just awkward. I wouldn’t take this route.

Just for fun, here’s my personal tips for the SAT, copy-pasted from another question I answered. Use them or ignore them, whichever you like!

"On the essay:
I don’t know if you’ve ever taken the SAT before. I’ll assume you haven’t.
For the essay, you’ll be given a quote, and then a question related to this quote. You can find sample essay prompts online, like at collegeboard.com. Practice writing answers to a few of these prompts: TIME YOURSELF. Don’t give yourself any more time than you’d have on the actual test.
A few tips on the essay:
The graders really like to see the paper full; try not to write only a half page and turn that in. Fill up the space if you can, without being overly redundant.
Choose 2 or 3 (three is preferable) examples to support your assertion. These examples can be from personal experience (although you should try not to use this for more than one of your examples), current events, literature (in my experience, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card works for almost every essay…weird, but true!), technology, history, etc. Find a way to connect your examples to your thesis, even if you have to make it up. Remember, you have less than a half hour for this section, so don’t dwell on brainstorming! Get writing!

Multiple choice:
You can find sample tests online, at websites like collegeboard.com and princetonreview.com. It also helps, if you’re willing to make the investment, to buy a book of practice tests — these include both the multiple choice sections and sample essays. Practicing with tests like these can be a huge help!

Tips on specific sections:

Critical reading:
If you feel like you often run out of time in this section, don’t read the entire passage, getting bogged down, and then try to answer the questions. I approach passages this way:

First, I read the blurb in italics that describes the passage, so I know what the text is about. Next, I go immediately to the questions. I read the first question, then go and read the lines that the question is about. These are generally in order, so it works well! You may have to read a few lines before and after the lines in question for context. Also, any "general" questions about the whole passage you should save for after you’ve answered all the others. Once you’ve gone through all the specific questions, you should have pretty much read every line of the text, and you’ll be able to answer the overarching questions better — in much less time than if you’d read the essay first and then tried to answer the questions!

As for preparation, try to expand your vocabulary. Buy a book to help with this, study some common Latin and Greek roots, and/or just read! Reading some higher-level works can really improve this area of your schema!

Writing/Sentence Revisions:
Again, practice makes perfect. Take practice tests.

To prepare, read some grammar guides, study general grammatical rules. Learn how sentences should be structured.

When taking the test, remember:
The SAT always prefers active voice to passive voice.
The SAT prefers conciseness to wordiness — i.e., if two answers are similar, but one is simpler and shorter, it’s probably the right one.
Watch for subject-verb agreement and other consistency issues.
If you read a sentence over and over and nothing wrong really jumps out at you, it’s probably correct. Don’t second-guess yourself and really search for something wrong if you’re pretty confident it’s okay.

Math:
The main thing here is practice. Take a practice test or two and look at where your weaknesses are. Do you have problems with geometric calculations, like area and circumference and volume? Practice those more! Do you have trouble with patterns? Focus on those types of questions! Find your weak spots and improve them!"

Hope my suggestions and testing tips have helped, even just a little!