Is the Princeton Review more difficult than other SAT prep books?

Question

I've been trying to work through The Princeton Review 11 Practice Tests for the SAT. Before I did a few tests from the collegeboard book and I've found that the Princeton Review book seems much harder than the collegeboard's - particularly the reading. Is it just me, or do other people feel the same?

Also, are the actual SATs easier, harder, or about the same as the Princeton Review SAT practice tests?

Answer 1

The PR practice tests should be the same. That's cuz they use old ones. However, their practice questions may be more difficult cuz they're trying to show you what you're up against and how to deal with them. Also, if you can handle the hard questions, you'll blow through the easy ones.

Kaplan is the one that makes up their own questions and doesn't use old actual questions.

Answer 2

Princeton Review questions are about the same difficulty as actual exam questions. Their books tend to be extremely helpful because the scores that they predict you will get are usually within 20 points of what you actually will get. Other books give you a range -- like "700-770," which isn't very useful when you're shooting for a particular score. Princeton might tell you, "740" and then you take the real test -- and you get a 740.

Princeton Review's books are also much more hepful than Barron's or Kaplan's books because they hardly ever have errors in them. I've found numerous math and grammar typos in Barron's and Kaplan's books. After a while, I found that the Princeton Review book was the only book I trusted.

Answer 3

The Princeton Review is a good book to use - if it seems harder, then it should be a good thing so that the SAT's will seem easier when you actually take them.