The Princeton Reivew Math Workout for the SAT

by The Princeton Review and The Princeton Review

Book Overview

If you need to know it, it's in this book Math Workout for the SAT, 3rd Edition shows you exactly what to expect on the math portion of the SAT and includes: - A thorough review of all SAT math topics... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 037542833X
• ISBN13: 9780375428333
• Release Date: June 2011
• Publisher: Princeton Review
• Length: 223 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 8.3" x 10.8"

Customer Reviews

Useful and to the point for the SAT math part

I am not sure why the book gets bad reputations from previous reviewers. Maybe the newest printing that I own did smooth out all the editing kinks that were mentioned in those bad reviews. I have gone through about half of all the problems myself and probably found only a couple potential mistakes in them (though my reading has been cursory I must admit). To make it short, if you want to take practice exams and get the feel for what kind of questions you may encounter in the "real" exam, there is absolutely no substitute for working with the copies of real exams or using the prep book published by whoever makes the real exam (i.e., ETS). I high recommend that approach. However, I strongly think that Princeton Review delivers here in developing effective test-taking strategies and techniques. While I was in need of taking SAT, I did superbly on the math part without knowing these things, since I had a strong math background already. Now I am tutoring and reviewing these weird trick questions for which ETS is known for, I must say that the techniques work even for the students without strong mathematical foundations, and probably save a lot of time without doing full algebra. On the book, I feel the harder problems tend to be a little more difficult than what the real SAT would ever have. There are also quite a few problems that are a bit obscure, perhaps due to Princeton Review's attempt to imitate the funky ability of ETS to make up weird questions, which test whatever ETS thinks is the "scholastic aptitude."

Very Useful Supplemental Material

I've been an SAT tutor on and off for almost 2 decades, and I find this book extremely useful. It's one of the only books out there with math drills that are written like real SAT questions, and that are organized into distinct categories (fundamentals, averages, geometry etc.), so that students can focus their efforts. The Princeton Review's main SAT prep book organizes its teaching section well, but for students who then want to practice, say a dozen percent problems so they can really internalize and grasp the concept, they're out of luck. The only practice materials in that book are in the form of diagnostic tests which, rightly, mix up all question types. This is a useful supplement. Many reviewers have complained of errors and typos, and if I remember correctly there may be one or two mistakes still in the book, but I'm pretty sure most have been fixed in subsequent printings. Finally, the difference between the drills here and in a more typical math textbook are crucial, as these problems are constructed like actual SAT questions, not like problems from math class... and there's a huge difference. My only criticism of the book: not enough problems. I wish it had twice the volume of material. Would prefer to give it 4 stars for that reason, but am trying to boost the, to me, unfair average.