34 of 40 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
Many of the rave reviews are fake; one can't do much with so few words, Feb 23 2011
By S. Park "sparklx" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Direct Hits Toughest Vocabulary of the SAT: Volume 2 2011 Edition (Paperback)
The reviews seemed way too formulaic, so I clicked on "See all my reviews" for many of the supposed reviewers. Funny that many of them ONLY review volume 1 and 2 of this particular book (no other products) and the reviews are identical. I especially like the one with statistics - please don't believe these fake numbers. Update Feb. 23, 2012: I stand by my statement on the oddity of reviews by reviewers who only review these books and no other products and statistics are difficult to prove. A commenter provided a link but as of today it is a dead link. However, there are a few legitimate-looking and detailed reviews as well. Just be aware.
The truth is that for people who want to do the bare minimum to prepare, go ahead, buy this book. But it is sorely lacking for those who truly want to do well. The painful truth is that studying more like 700-1000 words, preferably in flashcard format with each word used in a descriptive sentence, is most effective. You set aside the flashcards of words you know, whittling them down until you take the test. If you don't conquer all of the words, it'll still be likely to be more than the 200 offered here.
Update Feb. 23, 2012: one commenter - who looks quite legitimate - states that many people don't have the time. Okay, noted. Also, there is a new version of these books out since last month at a very reasonable price - look up "Direct Hits vocabulary of the SAT 4th edition." If you do not know the words in the Look Inside portion, this is probably very helpful to you. I find these words very basic, but I realize that the average high schooler may certainly not think so!
8 of 11 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Direct Hits is amazing., Jan 2 2010
By David - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Direct Hits Toughest Vocabulary of the SAT: Volume 2 2010 Edition (Paperback)
I used both of the 2010 Direct Hits Vocabulary books and I can safely say that no other SAT vocabulary list is even close to matching the quality of these books. First, the choice of words is impeccable. I was so pleasantly surprised when I started recognizing new words on my practice SAT tests - words that I remembered from these books. And, best of all, I actually remembered the meanings of these words.
Furthermore, these lists have only the most common words in the SAT. The beauty of Direct Hits is that it has fewer words that are all high-frequency. As a high school student, I simply didn't have the time to study the thousands of words given in other SAT vocabulary lists to prepare for the SAT. However, studying the words in Direct Hits was definitely manageable. Just as a warning though - the book actually has more than 400 words; while it has 400 definitions, it will often say "word X, word Y, and word Z all mean this definition" and count that as one word. However, this is an extremely minor issue.
The second-most lauded aspect of these books is its examples that draw from relatable bits of pop culture and history. I actually did not find these helpful - while they were quite interesting to read, I ended up creating my own examples because I've never watched most of the movies that they refer to in their examples.
However, the lack of examples that relate to me personally is a very small issue - after all, none of the other vocabulary lists has perfect examples suited for me exactly either. The real beauty of these books is their actual words, which is, after all, the most important aspect of any vocabulary list. I can't say this enough - the complete lack of useless filler words is astounding. On the December 2009 SAT, my first SAT, I scored a 750 in Critical Reading, and I answered all of the sentence completion questions correctly, all thanks to Direct Hits. I used to miss 5 or 6 of these each test. Seriously, you will not find a better vocabulary book for the SAT than Direct Hits.
10 of 14 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Amazingly Effective: A Boon to My SAT Score, Oct 15 2009
By SwaGGeReR - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Direct Hits Toughest Vocabulary of the SAT: Volume 2 2010 Edition (Paperback)
Direct Hits 2010 is incontrovertibly effective. When juxtaposed to other SAT vocabulary sources, Direct Hits is clearly superior.
After carefully analyzing the October 2009 SAT, a SAT tutor came to the following conclusion about the effectiveness of Direct Hits: (Name / Total # of Words / # of Words that appeared on Oct. 09 SAT)
1. Direct Hits: 400 Words/9 hits/1 hit per 44 words
2. TestMasters: 254 Words/2 hits/1 hit per 127 words
3. Princeton Review: 253 Words/2 hits/1 hit per 127 words
4. Hot Words: 396 Words/3 hits/1 hit per 132 words
5. Rocket Review: 323 Words/2 hits/1 hit per 161 words
6. Barron's Mini-Dictionary: 3500 Words/9 hits/1 hit per 388 words
Thus, Direct Hits is by far the most effective, providing the most frequent "hits" per word. Save time and score higher by using Direct Hits 2010. I know I did.