The Official SAT Study Guide: For the New SAT

I recommend this guide highly. As a previous reviewer cautioned, don't use it as your only means of preparation. Your study should be multi-faceted. In terms of which preparation guide to purchase, this one is the way to go. Used alone, you will increase your score. Used in combination with school classes or private classes, as well as paying attention to instruction and feeback from your writing teachers, and/or participating in study circles with like-minded students, you will increase your score greatly! Good Luck.

I have bought countless SAT prep books already over the past few years and with this new SAT that college admissions will be looking at for the first time for high school graduates of 2006, I have built much confidence for this test. I do recommend Kaplan, but there are a few errors in their books. With this book, you are guaranteed "real" questions that will show up on the test. Of course, they will be in a different format, but after taking the June 4, 2005 test, I can safely say that this book predicted the actual one very well. One warning on the essays though. I've heard that they actually grade slightly harder than the samples they give online. Otherwise, great test prep book. (Some of the questions have been recycled from past SAT college board books, such as the 10 Real SATs book, but this is still definitely worth getting!)

I am a verbal SAT tutor for the past 26 years. Here is my formula for success, and it is the reason that people pay me an insane amount of money to work with their kids. Step #1 -- Get the Barron's SAT book first. Do every test. Read the answer explanations carefully. Step #2 -- Get this book. Take the 8 practice tests, sitting straight through for each exam, 4 hours with the break. This book is easier than Barrons, so you should feel an improvement when you take these real tests. Get the book HOT WORDS FOR THE SAT by Linda Carnevale, and learn a few chapters each week. Good luck on the exam!!

My 5 star rating is not an overral review, but a review for the quality of their practice tests. If you are looking for practice tests, this is the book for you because it inclused tests written by ETS, and after taking the March 12 exam I can tell you that the practice tests and actual tests are very similar. While this book is awesome for practice tests, it is not the book to buy for strategies. Which the book includes some strategies, CollegeBoard is not going to release a book that tells you tricks to solve the problems they test you on. Also, the solutions to problems ARE NOT in the book, and you mast pay for them through their online course. I did this, but I don't think you should have to pay for them.

"The Official SAT Study Guide: For the New SAT" by the College Board is where studying starts for the famous high school exam. It is their test, and so it is important to see their prep materials. Stop with that, and you'll sell yourself short. However, if you skip this book, you will miss out on the insiders version.

What Good Is This Book?
The College Board version presents their bias. That's good because they know what is coming up in the next exam.

The practice tests are so important. The College Board gives you eight of them, but try to take more. Again, start with this book, and move onward.

What's missing? The good stuff. More exams. Other voices. The reality is, the playing field for this test is not level. Those taking courses on SAT test taking have an advantage, as do those plowing through Kaplan books, or those published by the Princeton Review. Skip those options, and expect a lower score than you could otherwise have received.

What's really missing? The hardcore strategies. The College Board isn't intending to make the test easy. They want it fair, and to be an exam of true gained knowledge. While this noble desire eventually will be the real indicator of collegiate success, the point of most students for taking it isn't about potential success. It is about money, and/or acceptance to the school of their choice.

Get into that incredible college, and continue the same effort in your courses, and the world is yours. It starts with getting accepted.

Who Needs To Buy a Book?
The SAT is coming up. If you're bright, you'll do well. Doing well isn't good enough. If getting into the local state college is your goal, consider it done. Get something above a 'C' GPA, and something above 1,000 or 1,100 and you meet your goal.

If scholarships, or acceptance at a better school are important to you, then you need to study. Good students study. Great students study a lot. "The Official SAT Study Guide: For the New SAT" is part of that studying.

I fully recommend "The Official SAT Study Guide: For the New SAT" by the College Board.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com