How to Prepare for the SAT II Writing

by George Ehrenhaft

The author presents a self-assessment writing test and five practice SAT II Writing Tests with explained answers for multiple-choice questions and performance evaluation charts for written essays.... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0764116894
• ISBN13: 9780764116896
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series
• Length: 405 Pages
• Weight: 1.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 7.9" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

A Great Book!

I used this book in preparation for the PSAT and the new SAT. I haven't received my SAT score yet, but I received an 80 on the writing section of the PSAT. Honestly, I think this is an excellent study guide! Even if you're good at English, this in-depth book shows you what to look for when answering questions. I HIGHLY recommend it.

Your key to a 700+

Words cannot express the level of gratitude that I have for this book. Before using this book, I was not exactly the greatest writer: I was getting low scores on the SAT writing tests, and my english papers were chock-full of grammatical errors. However, after I used this book, I've noticed that my papers are so much more organized and grammar-free, and the style of writing is more enticing. My writing sounds more intelligent. To top it off, I got a 720/800 on the SAT II writing test, which is not bad even for Harvard. This book has helped me so much. Thank you, Barrons!

Something extra

I got this book for my high school teenager as a supplement to the Kaplan Guide in order to provide more practice tests. But this Barron's book included a bonus. It provides a scale for the number of correct answers needed in the multiple choice section for different levels of achievement, e.g. excellent, better, good etc. This was missing from the Kaplan book. Although it does not provide a translation to the scaled scores, it is still a helpful tool to know what specific number of right answers a test taker needs to meet their goal. For example, the book says that an excellent score is no more than 5 missed answers on the multiple choice section (with a detailed breakdown in each of the 3 subsections). That's what we focused on: correcting common errors to get the score within that range. The official score report we received showed only 5 missed answers and translated that to a score of 79 out of 80 on that part of the exam. In my mind, that validates the book's scale.The review material in both the Kaplan guide and this Barron's guide are excellent and equivalent. I am glad my "scholar" used both books. But if I had to recommend only one, I would recommend the Barron's.

The best review book I have ever read

In preparation for all the tests administered by the College Board I'm taking, this book by far has been the most helpful in its category, if not in general. The explanations are very thorough, there are practice and review exercises at the end of every section, and other writing preps written by Peterson, Kaplan, etc. did not even come close to what this book did for me. It gave me a thorough grasp of the grammar and usage concepts tested on the SATII, and helped me write better essays by containing many practice tests with prompts very similar to the one I encountered on the real test. I truly believe this book was a significant factor in me getting an 800 on the SATII. If you only buy one review book, by all means, make this one it.

Very helpful and readable book

This Barron's book helped me a great deal to prepare for the SATII in Writing. The book give good instructions in essay writing and has many good examples of essays to study. The author's style is easy to follow and enjoyable to read, since it is both informational and humorous.