4.02

5

Jul 01, 2016

Why does this have anything less than a full 5 stars though?! An absolutely perfect guide by The College Board Committee that really prepares students for anything and everything. It is also very easy and enjoyable to read. but it can get toooo longggg (but it fails to help at all when it comes to the essay)

5

Nov 28, 2017

Totally worth the money. I'm homeschooled and had never experienced a test like the SAT before so I was extremely nervous. My mom bought this for me and it explains all of the rules of the test along with how it is scored, what the questions are asking, how much time you have for each section and so much more. The questions in the 4 practice SAT tests the book has are great practice for the real SAT, and they are given in the same form which is great preparation. With the practice SAT tests (I Totally worth the money. I'm homeschooled and had never experienced a test like the SAT before so I was extremely nervous. My mom bought this for me and it explains all of the rules of the test along with how it is scored, what the questions are asking, how much time you have for each section and so much more. The questions in the 4 practice SAT tests the book has are great practice for the real SAT, and they are given in the same form which is great preparation. With the practice SAT tests (I took two before I went in for the real thing) I scored about a 1300 out of the 1600 and on my real SAT I scored a 1330, so I kind of had an idea of what my score would be before I received it a month later and wasn't as nervous and anxious to see it. Anyway, totally get the book, it's awesome! :) Also, if you're looking for help on the SAT, you should get the free Prep4SAT app on iPhone. It also has questions that are in the same format as the real SAT, and it really helped me too. ...more

5

Mar 21, 2017

This book was my best friend for the past few months and got me deeply prepared for the SAT I know that dozens of other people will recommend other books but there's no other teacher that's better than the actual creator of the test!

3

Oct 19, 2016

To buy or not to buy. That is the question. If you are here, you must be aware that the SAT changed radically on March of 2016 and along with those changes came a slew of New SAT prep books. Did you go to a bookstore and stare blankly at the shelf jammed with thick tomes? Or did you just grab the blue one because you used its materials for the AP U.S. History exam? Or did you flip randomly through a bunch looking for something, anything to catch your eye and help you decide? I don’t blame you To buy or not to buy. That is the question. If you are here, you must be aware that the SAT changed radically on March of 2016 and along with those changes came a slew of New SAT prep books. Did you go to a bookstore and stare blankly at the shelf jammed with thick tomes? Or did you just grab the blue one because you used its materials for the AP U.S. History exam? Or did you flip randomly through a bunch looking for something, anything to catch your eye and help you decide? I don’t blame you one bit.

A little over 300 of the pages are the study guide and the remaining 400ish are 4 complete practice tests. The study guide is just an overview of the test, there are some practice questions, but unless you are already able to score in the 700/800 range, these won’t be enough to really prepare you for the test. So here’s the rub. The previous SAT had about a dozen practice tests available to students between the old blue book and released tests on its website. But now, now we have 4 in the book and 2 more online that were released at the end of August 2016. A common mistake I see is students come to me and they ripped through those 6 tests in one month and now they don’t know what to do because their score isn’t where they want it to be, and they plan to prep for another 6 months, but they don’t know what to do next because many people on the internet say to only use “official” materials. Yes, in an ideal world we all would only use SAT materials produced by the College Board, but honestly there just isn’t enough for the type of preparation that most students do today.

The 4 Tests in this book (and the other 2) are available on the College board’s website free to download and prints and you can take the tests at Khan Academy. These are great options if you want to save a bit of money on test prep books.

Whether the rest of the book is worth the cost depends on you. Are you someone who loves to analyze the details? Then you might enjoy dissecting the explanations of the types of questions. However, if you look at pages of text and just zone out, then you are not likely to get much out of the book.

I’m a reading/writing teacher who only really does the math when I have to explain to a student (and occasionally a math teacher) what the phrasing the question means. So, I am always critical about how little guidance study books provide related to doing the reading section. Frequently it is merely a breakdown of the passages and question types, a list of vocabulary words and a few lackluster practice questions. Otherwise you are on your own, and weak readers are really not going to become better readers by doing a few questions. The College Board’s book is a little more balanced with almost equal attention to the Reading/Writing sections as the Math ones. However, there is no real guidance about approaching the questions or how to be an effective reader.

Bottom Line

The College Board’s SAT Study Guide is valuable mostly for the tests, but these tests are available elsewhere (including the College Board’s website) for free. Those same tests can be taken online at Khan Academy as well for free.

Suggestion-Don’t Buy

https://internationaltester.com/2016/... ...more