The Official SAT Study Guide: For the New SAT
by The College Board
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Book Reviews of The Official SAT Study Guide: For the New SAT
Book Review: Very good source
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased this for my son who is a HS sophomore, although I have used it more than he has.
It is very well organized and offers a lot of useful tips on the various types of questions. It explains why one answer is better than perhaps a similar one, which I found very helpful. There are a lot of practice questions and full-length practice tests as well. The book is broken up nicely into sections. In addition to the practice questions, it also provides useful test-taking tips.
It also provided guidance for the newest section on writing and good examples of the types of topics that will likely be provided. It gave good examples of a good essay, an okay essay and a poor essay, and provided specific pointers as to why one would be graded higher than another. I found this very valuable, since I thought some of the "okay" ones were pretty good - but it pointed out what was lacking.
I think that if I can get him to actually go through the book, it will be very helpful in preparing for the standardized exams in his future. I think the purchase price is very reasonable for what you get in this book, and it is an excellent value. I highly recommend it if you will be taking the SAT.
Book Review: The Best SAT Prep Resource
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the best book to prepare for the SAT. I used this book and "10 Real SATs" to prepare for the SAT. The Official SAT Guide is the more useful of the two since it has practice tests that are like today's SAT but both gave me a very good feel for how the actual test turned out to be. The practice tests in this book looked and felt like the real test with both the format and difficulty very similar to the actual test.The practice tests have questions that start out being easy and get progressively more difficult, just as they do on the real test.
The only downsides to this book are:
1. Not much by way of concepts review
2. No explanations for answers to test questions
3. The practice tests give a possible score RANGE that you are likely to score (though the tests in "10 Real SATs" give you the exact score you would have scored).
However, no other test prep materials had tests as close to the real test as this book. The practice tests were just like the real test other than the experimental section which you have only on the real test.
This book is definitely worth the price just for the eight practice tests.
Book Review: Still the Best SAT Prep Book, but it has some weaknessess
Summary: 4 Stars
There is a more comprehensive review as well as rankings of other SAT preparation books on CEEAE dot org's website.
This book is the standard for SAT preparation, but it does have weaknesses.
The main strength of this book is that it is written by The Collegeboard, the company who writes and administers the SAT, so the 8 practice tests in this book are the most accurate tests available for SAT preparation. While these tests are not old exams, they are very close to the real test according to test takers reports of the recent SATs.
This book, however, has two major weaknesses. The first 300 plus pages of the book discuss the exam. These pages are basically worthless, they discuss some very elementary strategies and information, but any test takers will likely already know these strategies. However, the 8 practice tests that follow those pages more than justify the cost of the book. The other major weakness is that no explanations are provided for any of the practice test questions.
This is a summary of a review available on CEEAE dot org's Website.
Book Review: The Official SAT Study Guide
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is the filet mignon of SAT prep, but it has one drawback.
I've tutored the SAT for over two years, and have scored over 2300 twice as an adult. This title is superior to the Kaplan and Princeton Review books, because it is designed by the people who produce the SAT. This simple fact is enough to elevate it head and shoulders above the rest.
When you use the College Board book, you'll be exposed to the perfect difficulty level of questions - not too easy, not too hard. Therefore, you'll learn perfect pacing - not too fast, not too slow. And perfect feedback - not so easy that you think you're a genius, not too hard that you'll think you should go back to seventh grade. And perfect test perception - you'll see just how many "oh my god!!!" questions there are and will handle them accordingly.
The only drawback is the lack of an answer key. The College Board is much more interested in a "fair test" than in helping you out. But if you combine this book with an established, talented SAT tutor, you'll improve your score tremendously with this book.
Book Review: The Best and Only Source You Will Need Preparing for the New SAT
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased a number of other books to prepare for the test, but ultimately found them all pretty worthless. What you need to do is get this book and take the practice tests; in fact, that's all you need to do. The SAT is not about being smart or skilled in the content. The test is simple once you understand it. Doing well is knowing the test, understanding how to manage your time, recognizing your errors, and gaining a general intuition in terms of the ways the test will attempt to trick you or lead you away from the correct answer. There is no better way to learn these things than practicing with questions written by the people who make the real test! By the time you're done, correct answers will leap out at you, and you'll be extremely comfortable on the big day, knowing exactly what to expect. I only took 4 of the practice tests and ended up with an 800 on the Critical Reading, 740 on the Math, and 730 in Writing (that only amounted to 5 questions wrong total out of 170, no questions skipped). No classes, hardly any other practice, just a couple of Sundays set aside.