The Official SAT Study Guide

This book is written by the College Board the makers of the SAT so you would think it would be a great resource for all sections of the test. Unfortunately, it is not a great resource for the SAT I essay. First, they promote several misconceptions about their own test (ie all examples are weighted equally which Adam Robinson has shown to be false). Second, the high-scoring essays included as examples have very little in common with each other. Because of this it is difficult to glean a formula for writing a high-scoring essay (and there is a formula as discovered by Dr. Les Perelman of MIT). So I cannot highly recommend this book for SAT essay preparation. I give this book a mediocre rating because at least it has writing prompts from the test-maker which no other book can claim.

This certainly ranks up there. My other choices for 2007, hands down:

1) How To Ace Your Way Through College & Still Have a Life
2) The MLA Handbook
3) Fiske Guide to Colleges

Dr. Vernon M
Cambridge, MA

I use this book as a resource when teaching a Preparation for the SAT and ACT course with great results.

Everyone who is preparing for SAT or PSAT needs this book. It includes 8 test that are as close to the real SATs as possible since they are prepared by the same people. I would recommend using it after reviewing most of the math and verbal subjects as a practice book. I use it in my prep sessions as homework and quiz material as well.

One con is that the first part of the book that reviews Math/English subjects are not very useful which makes it unsuitable for being the only book to use.

The SAT examination is a test of a different character; it purports not to test a given set of skills pertaining to a specific subject, rather it claims to measure one's "readiness" for college-level work. In many aspects, this is true: learning a bunch of facts will not increase your score drastically. However, the key to success on the SAT is the knowledge of a few basic facts and a plethora of practice. This book will provide both.

The Critical Reading review section of this book is necessarily devoid of much factual review (other than your basic test taking strategies), but contains much practice. And, if you think about it, how else can you study for a reading test than by practicing?

The mathematics review section is extremely good. It has sections for arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and miscellaneous topics. Every item that can be tested makes an appearance in this book. In addition, there are plenty of problems at the end of each section review, as well as a final math practice set. Reading this section will remedy any basic math weakness.

The writing section of this book is also extremely good; It has numerous drills and real practice questions to help solidify the writing rules given. If you master the writing review section of this book, you're, in essence, guaranteed to score a 700+ on the writing section of the real exam.

Finally, the real meat-and-potatoes of this book is the set of 8 practice tests that is included. Doing all of these tests under timed conditions will dramatically raise your score as you will learn the test better as well as solidify your knowledge of the topics by putting them to use.

Do note that those of you preparing for the PSAT should also grab a copy of this book. Not only will you be prepared for the PSAT, but you'll also become prepared for the SAT. One of my students and I dramatically raised our PSAT scores with this book -- you can too.

EDIT: I just got my December 2007 scores and I scored a 2340! It's all thanks to this book :)