Customer Reviews

Barron's How to Prepare for SAT II: Mathematics Level IIc (6th ed)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book helps me a lot. It helps you to review all the major concepts of solid geometry, algebra, trigonometric functions, etc. Don't be surprised if you get a low score on the diagnostic test. Actually that happened to me too! But if you really read through the book (they also expect you to know some of those stuff) and do the practice exercises, I personally guarantee that you will see a gradual (or huge) improvement every time you take one of the 8 practice tests. I got 23 out of 50 (average) correct on the diagnostic test, now I can get 40 out of 50 (very good) right.

If you have taken intermediate algebra or pre-calculus and want to go for Math IIC test, this book will give you a great help.

This book is an invaluable resource for those taking the SAT Math Level IIC. The review section is very complete and covers just about everything that the test may cover. There are very few books that can capture the essence of the SAT tests but this one does just that. It starts out with a diagnostic test and points you out to the areas which you may need to review. The best part of this book is the fact that the practice tests are incredibly difficult compared to the real test. I was getting around 30/50 on each practice test which made me a little apprehensive about taking the test. The only downside to this book is that there is no scale to find out what your score would be (this is only a slight drawback). After I received my scores I could not believe that I got a 790 (I even left about 5 problems blank). So if you aren't doing very well on the practice tests don't worry because you will do just fine on test day.

The main advantage this book has is that its problems are a lot harder than the problems on the real test and their explainations are sometimes very weird. Doing problems in this book made me extremely depressed and I was prepared to take the test again, the night before I took the real SAT II I scored a 650 on one of the practice tests in Barron's and that didn't set me in a good emotional mood for the test the next day. But yesterday I received my score and to my surprise I scored a 800! So if you are around the high 600's in the practice tests in this book, you'll have no problem acing the real test. Good luck!

Barron's is notorious for its overkill with practice tests in its prep books, and this one is no exception. Some would say that this is an evil spellbook that conjures horrible academic nightmares, in which the dean of admissions of the college of your choice laughs at you for missing 7+ on your Math IIc. But fear not! Like everyone else says, the real thing is nowhere as hard as what is found in this book. Don't be daunted by the endless formulas that it recommeneds you to memorize; the Math IIc is a conceptual test, NOT a memory based one. A lot of the content in here is a waste of time; stuff like cis and the binomial theorem for coefficients never appear on the actual test. But hey, it's always good to feel over-prepared than feel like you're missing out.

What's so great about this book though is the number of practice tests included - a whopping 9. Kaplan's version, the only alternative that I really recommend, only has 4 tests, two of them for Math Ic (although its tests simulate the real deal much, MUCH more accurately... a good strat is to buy both books and take Kaplan's practice tests after you're done with the Barron's. It'll give you a pretty good idea of where you stand with the actual test). Since Collegeboard doesn't have a "10 Real SAT II Math IIC," your only source for a good workout is this book. My only complaint is with the solution sets... EVERY SINGLE one of them has a freakin mistake. Like, it says it's B when the real answer's D and the numerical answer in its OWN explanations correspond to D... it annoys and scares the hell out of you when you're checking your answers. Grr. Other than that, there is no other book you can turn to if you want to be 99% (absolutes are always dangerous) prepared for the Math IIC.

The first time I took the SAT Math IIC test I got a 650. I wanted a lot higher. I am good at math and I know how to do almost all of the problems on the Math IIC test, but I was not fast enough to complete it.

Barron's is a great prep book because they give harder problems than are on the actual test, so you will be really prepared. I took a practice test once a day about a week before the exam and I flipped through the review section. I made sure to time the test, since time was a major issue for me. It is very challenging to finish the Barron's tests (don't expect to do too well on them, I kept getting mediocre ratings), but if you go as fast as possible you should get somewhat close to finishing(if you have 8 or less problems to do than you will probably finish the real test).

On the real SAT II test, I got a 770! That is 120 points above what I got before!

If you make sure to practice going quickly through the problems on the practice tests and look at the review section, you should do fine on the actual SAT II test. Of course, this is assuming that you know almost all of the information presented on the test already.

This book is great for people who have some time before the test and who want challenging problems that are harder than the real ones. If you want a quick study fix and an easier test book you should probably not get this book. I thought the book was very thorough (maybe too thorough for some people), and the review sections are quite good, but they are made for review, not for learning new info. If you do not know the information presented you may need to look at the examples for a while in order to figure out how to solve problems.

All in all, a great book for people who really want to do well on the SAT II Math IIC test and can handle the tough problems and have enough time to study.

There are both good points and bad points about the 6th Edition of Barron's math IIc. Although the book itself is comprehensive, and contains all the information you need to know, (sometimes even more than you have to know), there are a few errors in the book. The diagnostic test is as difficult as the first model test. However, as you sit each model test, you will find it harder to increase your score. This is because the model tests become more difficult. e.g) Model Test 3 is harder than 2, and so on.
I received a mark of 800 in the SAT IIc, however in the model tests I usually received a mark of 730-760. (I converted my mark using the real SAT II book by collegeboard) So don't worry if you are getting 750 in the model tests, because in the real one, you will probably get 800. Although answers of every question are explained, due to some minor errors, and the poor layout in the book, I give a rating of 4 out of 5.

Of the many math books available I'm sure that most have much better grammar and also less spelling mistakes, but if you overlook these few shortcomings then this is definately a book you want. You should, however, be willing to put in some time as this book IS NOT FOR CRAMMING. If that's what you're after then stay clear of this one. I recieved a 790 on the real thing, that's a pretty good testament to the power of this book to help you prepare. I would recomend taking about a month to prepare using this book, studying every night for an hour or so, and then taking as many practice tests as possible as I was only able to complete about 4 of the 8 tests. This book is very good, however, I can only give it 4 stars due to the lack of quality and polish in the book. Some of the questions are marked wrong, giving to the wrong answer to the question, and there are some other little things that could be fixed. I hope the next edition is better.

I received an 800/800 score on the MathIIC test with the help of this book. I owe my acceptence to any college to Mr. Dodge. As someone has said earlier, the tests in the actual book does have a few typos and are more difficult than the actual test. I was quite surprised when I picked up the REAL SATIIs and passed the actual exam of '95 with flying colors with no pain while I was still making 670's to 720's on Barron's practice exams. I continued practicing on Barron's tests just to increase the knowledge that I lost when I skipped Pre-Calculus. Also, with the help of this book and a few others, I am now in Calculus III in my senior year of high school. I owe everything in my success to my current math success to this book. Thank you Mr. Dodge.

The barron book is very difficult for most students. Nevertheless its is a very good book for preparing for SAT Math2C. The way to use it is to treat its vast collection of test problems as merely practice problems, where you solve a few on your leisure. Only about 20-30% of the stuff is like the real test. But the vast collection of the test problems cover just about everything they can throw at you from the Real Test. Don't time yourself on the practice test because its often too difficult to do and you're ending up discouraging yourself with a mediocre score. I'm a top math student in my school and I could barely do 1/2 problem in one test session. Some are way too difficult you're just have to disregard them because the real test is not nearly like that.

My recommendation is to use the test problems for practice only while you're taking the class. Do not try to score yourself because its very hard to get a good score. Switch to Kaplan, Princeton review book or the Real Sat 2 to gear up for the real test 2 weeks before the real test, because the real test is much easier. In summary, this book can be a corner stone of the collection of prep books for the SAT2C.

It's no good using the other book because there's aren't enough practice problem for you to hone your skills.

Using this strategy, I've got a 800 on the first try. I skipped 3 problem and miss 1 problem.

As a SAT instructor, I used problems from this book to challenge my students. The model exams here are a bit harder than the real one. So if you can do well on Barron's exam, then you should be worry-free for the Real SAT II. However, it book contains an unbelivable amounts of typos and mistakes. I have compiled a list of typo and mistakes that I am about to send it to the publisher. There is really no excuse for so many editing mistakes after 6 editions!