SAT Preparation Books

A Note on SAT Books

We strongly advise all prospective college applicants to purchase at least 2 books on the SAT Reasoning Test (which we'll call simply 'the SAT' for short).

One should be an official guide from the College Board, the test's administrator. There is a significant difference between the official questions you will be asked on the exam and the practice questions contained in all other books. You need a College Board publication to familiarize yourself with the quality of questions you will actually face on the SAT.

Secondly, we recommend buying and studying at least one of the "unofficial" guides reviewed below. There is indeed a way to study for this test that will materially improve your score. The better unofficial guides contain many time-proven test-taking strategies that serve that purpose, as well as excellent explanations of the logic behind the correct answers to the practice problems. You will greatly increase your chances of receiving a higher test score if you go to the test armed with SAT test-taking strategies and knowledge of actual questions from previous exams.

Book Reviews

The Official SAT Study Guide: 2nd Edition by College Board (Editor)

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We strongly advise all prospective college applicants to purchase this book. This is, by far, the most informative book available on the new SAT test that was introduced in early 2005. The book includes 8 practice tests and an estimated test score calculator.

Answers and Explanations by Peter Tanguay

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This guide contains detailed answer explanations to the 8 practice tests included in the official guide reviewed immediately above. As such, we highly recommend it as a great complement to the College Board publication.

The Ultimate SAT Supplement by Erik Klass

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This book contains possible solutions to all 1,360 test questions in the College Board book. It also guides the reader through each step of the problem-solving process.

Up Your Score 2009-2010: The Underground Guide to the SAT by Larry Berger (Editor), Michael Colton, Manek Mistry, and Joe Jewell

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This 'guerilla guide' to the SAT was written by students, for students. It is witty, and definitely packed with strategies that will help to increase your score. We have received a lot of good feedback from clients on this book. In fact, we have been told on numerous occasions that this guide is the most readable SAT preparation guide on the market. We ourselves were pleasantly surprised at the helpfulness of many of its tips, such as those on how to improve your concentration and on how to relax.

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Klass Tutoring's Ultimate SAT Tutorial has a short, medium, and long program built in to help students create study schedules that work for their particular needs. We were impressed with how the book is designed to be used in conjunction with the College Board's Official SAT Study Guide.

SAT Practice: The New Verbal Section by K. Titchenell

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Early client reviews indicate that this is going to be another very good book for preparing for the new SAT. It is a fairly easy read, and its many practice drills can help enhance the reader's vocabulary with the types of words seen on the test.

SAT 2400! A Sneak Preview of the New SAT English Test by Laurie Rozakis

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English language skills now account for two-thirds of the total points of the new SAT. Accordingly, we believe many test takers will benefit from any study guide that focuses on the Writing and Critical Reading Sections. This book covers both areas.

Multimedia Learning Suite: Prep for the SAT Memory Stick by MemoryLifter

Buy this USB flash drive from Amazon.com

The Multimedia Learning Suite Prep for the SAT by MemoryLifter is a small USB flash drive packed with exercises to help you succeed on the SAT. The 1,150 math questions are  nice, but the USB drive goes above and beyond when it comes to the verbal section. There is a 390 question critical reading section with detailed explanations after each submitted answer as well as an irregular verb section with 350 fill-in-the-blank questions, also with detailed explanations. The USB drive also includes a vocabulary section consisting of 1,400 words. In this section not only do you get a definition of each word, but also examples of other words that would fit that definition. Lastly, the USB drive boasts 13 audio books covering adjectives, nouns, verbs, as well as Latin and Greek word roots. This is a must-have software if you are planning to excel on the verbal section of the SAT.

100 SAT Math Tips and How to Master Them Now! by Charles Gulotta

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This is another useful guide from Charles Gulotta. It will not teach you math, but it will teach you how to answer SAT math questions and how to recognize the pitfalls and traps that the College Board intentionally includes in the test in order to trip you up. Once again, the quality of these tips, and the humorous cartoons illustrating them, make this a recommended SAT quantitative book. The book's concise (120 page) length also makes it a manageable read.

Defining Twilight by Brian Leaf

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This verbal prep book for the SAT and ACT bases vocabulary lessons on some of the more difficult words from the popular novel Twilight. Lists of words refer back to sentences in the novel, so readers can see the word in context. This would be a fun and painless way to learn some essential vocabulary for fans of the book. I wouldn't, however, use it as the only book to prepare for the verbal sections of these tests. Stephanie Meyer has a good command of the English language, but there's no guarantee she used every word you might need to learn.

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