Customer Reviews

How to Prepare for the SAT II Math Level II C

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

The moment I finished the test, I knew I had 800. After having done Barron's (I studied most of the lessons although I already knew them,and I took only 4 practice tests), I was able to solve every single problem there was on satII math IIc on june.

Before studying with Barron's I tried princeton review's, but princeton review's was not helping me at all.

The two problems I had in the beginning was that I was making too many mistakes and I couldn't solve one or two really hard ones at the end.

I learned how to not make mistakes by taking those practice tests. I have to admit Barron's practice tests are way harder than College Board's. I was able to solve only 43 problems(average) on each of those four practice tests. I did not know I was making progress when I was studying the book but the day before the real test, I took out the real satII subject tests written by College Board and got 800. (Real SAT subject tests has only one IIc test but it's worth buying because it has all the other subject tests as well)

People say Barron's is harder than the real test, not realistic, and has typoes. I totally agree. However, studying with Barron's will get you thinking which means that you will be able to handle different kinds of problems, not just the ones you studied. (This is why Barron's works) I think the reason why I was able to solve every single problem on the real test on June 4th was because I had done Barron's much harder problems. The real test couldn't have been harder than Barron's. On June 4th, I could tell which ones were tricky problems easily. They just couldn't trick me. And about the typos, it didn't bother me at all, as long as you have some mathematical background, it seriously doesn't matter.

I suggest you go over the lessons in this book whether you already know them or not.(At least that's how I got my result)
I made my own plan and covered 2~3 lessons a day, but sometimes, few lessons on chapter 3 and chapters at the end are abstruse and unnecessarily in depth so you might need to skip couple of them. You should still try to cover most of them because they will get you think.
And DO NOT GET FRUSTRATED after taking the diagnostic test. I was so frustrated after getting 670 or something on it and I put the book away for two weeks.
Make sure you study the ones you missed. If you don't finish one practice test in one hour, finish it with some extra time without time limit. Those are the ones that will get you think.
I doubt how many people will finish the entire book after reading this because you will get frustrated no matter what.

I'm now studying for new sat and I missed only one on the Official SAT study guide by College Board. I believe Barron's has helped me do this.

You might also want to try the following:
1. 10 Realistic SAT II Math IIC Test Booklets
2. SAT II Math with TI
3. Complete Prep for the SAT Math Subject Tests Level 1 and Level 2 (with 10 Fully Solved Sample Tests)
4. 15 Realistic Tests for the SAT* Math Level 2 Subject Test: With Solutions (formerly known as SAT Math Level IIC)

I never tried any of them but read reviews and find what's right for you.

I was looking for a review book that would be harder than the real SAT II's and I found the perfect book. This book provides so many hard questions that it forces you to be able to think on your feet. It keeps you from making stupid mistakes or stalling, forcing you to answer every easy question correctly. I would recommend this book to anyone, who isn't afraid to be a little disappointed in order to work harder and do better on the actual test.

I believe a test preparation book should contain the most essential information (enough to score an 800 in this case) for stutdents to study in shortest possible amount of time without wasting any on unnecessary information. I'm sure this book does have all those informations but it has much more than that. Displaying every single mathmatical information up to Precalculus and putting the hardest possible types of questions that are way harder than those of the actual test the students are preparing for isn't a good way to write a prep book which is what the author of this book has done.

I barely did anything on this book because the questions on this book were too complicated and I refused to believe that the collegeboard would actually test that much skills that I haven't even seen in my precalculus class which I aced.

The book is full of unnecessary information. The questions are like the hardest possible types that you can think of within Precalculus. They are unnecessary and unrealistic. Same goes for all 8 practice tests on the back of this book.

Overpreparation is necessary in tests like SAT reasoning(math part) and for SAT math level 1 that you basically have to get every single question right in order to score an 800. However, SAT mathmatics level 2 is not one of those tests. Usually you can omit up to 7 questions and still get an 800. I ommited 5 and got an 800 without studying this book. And the reason I ommited them wasn't that they were too hard but that they were on the topics that I have not covered such as Standard deviation. I'm pretty fast in solving math problems so I had about 6 minutes left after solving all the problems I knew and marking the answer sheet. But after looking back again on those questions that I haven't solved, I just ommited them because I just didn't know them not because they were time consuming or too hard to solve.

My point is that the collegeboard doesn't give you questions like those on this book that are really hard and time consuming to solve or else they wouldn't expect you to do all the problems in 60 minutes.
This book gives way too much information hard problems for a simple test and is just unnecessary. But if you want to get everysingle problem right on the test, then maybe you should consider this one.
For others, I strongly recommend Kaplan's which I think is the single most useful book for this test. It has all the essentials you need and the book is very well organized. All the formulas are in the end of each chapter for you to see easily and the chapter tests are closer in difficulty to that of the actual test than any other books out there. For more information about several different prep books, see my review for Kaplan SAT subject test mathmatics level 2. By the way I got 800 on my first try using Kaplan's.

Whichever book you use is your choice. I just hope that my review helps you make a better choice and hope you all do well on the test.

This book makes the SAT II Math IIC an EASY 800...I answered every question and finished with 20 minutes left (a 60 minute test). Needless to say, I got an 800. The real test is much easier than all in this book, and there is a lot that you do not have to learn in this book. Ask your teacher which sections you don't need to study, so that you don't waste your time. My scores on these practice tests ranged from 680 to 740.

I admit that it's harder then the real one, BUT if you really want a good score, definitly study from this! Do all the study by sections and understand the practice problems.
By doing all 9 practice tests you will not only increase your speed, but also accuracy.
If you can get around 680 and above in this book, you'll probably get a 800 on the real one.
After doing this bookm the real one was piece of cake, and i was able to finish it 15 minute ahead of time, and i got time to check my answers too!
By doing thing book, my grades in my math class also got a lot better from all the practice, i no longer make stupid mistakes in my tests!!
Note to all test takers :THE test is soo much easier if you have a graphing calculator and knows not to use it for graphs and the solve functions in it. like if the problem wants you to get the vertex of a parabola, you can either graph it on the calculator, or memorize the formulas or use calculus. So definitely be familiar with your calculator

There were about 5-10 questions in this book that,if not eactly the same, were similar to thos on the level 2 test.
It paces you so that on test day you will be done with 20 minutes to spare

I dont recommend the 15 realistic tests...although some have been saying it over-prepares you(which may be good), this book does that but in the context of the math level 2 test.

Use it

This book does not actually do much to teach you the math. However, it provides you with 9 practice tests, each of which is about 5 times harder than the real test. What I did was completely ignore all of the material that they teach, and focused exclusively on the practice tests. Whenever I found something that I didn't know, I would look it up in my pre-calculus textbook from school. This book covers every topic that has ever popped up on the test, so I had no surprises on the test itself. It also sort of scared me to see how badly I was doing on the practice tests, which forced me to study harder than I would have if I had been getting 750s or something on a Kaplans or Princeton test. I've looked at the other major books, Princeton, as usual, makes you think the test is easier than it is, which is bad; Sparknotes has MANY math mistakes and should stick to summarizing litterature; Kaplan's is OK and probably has the most accurate tests, but also misses some things. Barron's has a bad reputation for math because it does not explain things well, but if you use it the way I did it is certainly the best prep-book out there.

This was a very helpful book. The practice tests were about 15 questions more difficult than the actual test (that is to say question 1 in the book is about as hard as question 15 on the real exam).I just got my scores back today and got an 800 after taking several of the book's practice tests. Go through the reviews and learn the material they outline and you should do well.

I studied this book a little bit by bit for 2 weeks or so and got an 800. The material is really good to review so it will definately prepare you. But, the practice tests were a little too hard- the real one is not as bad.

I bought this book after having had a strong math background, with algebra, pre-calc, and some calculus. It covers almost every topic up to pre-calc that I studied in class. However, its explanations are not easy to understand. The book is for those who know what they are doing and have done the math topics before. Its exams and material are much more in-depth and harder than the actual SAT II exam, which can be discouraging. However, when I took the actual exam, it was a relief to be able to answer almost all of the questions. I got a 750 out of a possible 800.