Product Description
Updated to reflect the most recent SATs, this manual offers college-bound students an explanation of all the important tactics and strategies for taking the SAT, as well as a detailed review of all test topics, a diagnostic test, and five full-length SAT practice tests with all questions answered and explained. Subject reviews cover critical reading, grammar and usage, and math, as well as detailed instruction in preparing and writing the required SAT essay. The book's additional features include an overview of the SAT, an explanation of its scoring method, and general study advice. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (76)

pretty good
<3i like the book, its just that it took a little bit too long for me to receive it.

Funny stuff
This is the first SAT prep book with a sense of humor that I've ever run into.The grammar section is full of silly examples that add life to what is far too often a dry subject, and some of the wrong answers in the multiple choice sections are pretty funny, though you have to pay close attention to notice those.

The verbal sections are great.The book provides clear, specific explanations for each answer. The glossary in the middle of the book also defines EVERY word used in the sentence completion practice tests.

Great Score Improvement Tool
I am very thankful to have purchased this book - it has helped me a ton!My first score on the SAT was a 2080.I used Barron's to study for my second SAT.Today, my score is 2250 - that's a 170 point score improvement for a score that was already excellent.

Pros:
--The book explains certain "tactics".These "tactics" are like strategies for test taking and for each individual subject.Some of them are common sense, but many of them - especially in the math portion - are incredibly helpful.
--The book stresses guessing.There's an entire chapter devoted to why students should guess on the SAT.I was one of those students that would omit a question rather than risk a quarter point reduction.This book had some eye-opening, cold, hard statistics to show why students should guess.
--The math is pretty straight forward and well-divided.I had McGraw-Hill's SAT 2009 for the first SAT.The math was strong, but it was not nearly as relevant as Barron's.Barron's didn't even bother to teach students what types of math you'll see on the SAT; it gives students just enough background information as well as test-taking strategies.
--The practice tests are realistic in both scoring and content.I'm not sure whether or not Barron's used SAT licensed questions, but you probably wouldn't know, either way.

Cons:
--The vocabulary section is useless.It's one massive list of words.There are hundreds of words.The pull out vocabulary cards are kind of useful, but the entire vocabulary section did not seem to stress vocabulary in context or word parts.
--The writing section was comprehensive and helpful, but I very much preferred McGraw-Hill's in-depth, worksheet method for writing.

My suggestion is that if you need to raise your overall score, your math score, and your critical reading score, you'll love Barron's.On the other hand, if you are focusing on your writing score or you need to work on your vocabulary, you won't find Barron's as helpful.

Simply Amazing...
i wouldn't have thought this book would do me such good. It explained everything in details and gave extremely helpful tips for taking the SAT. i just took it today and it seemed very easy from the learning process of this book. Very thorough in explaining. It is definitely a must have if you're about to take the SAT.

LovesToRead
A very helpful book.Gives the student tools that are helpful to improve the knowledge needed to do well on the SAT. ... Read more

Product Description
Kaplan SAT 2011 Premier with CD-ROM is a complete test preparation program that provides students with all the expert strategies, practice, and review needed to insure a high score. This complete SAT guide offers features that no other guide on the market can match including:

• Live Online: A state-of-the-art online event in real time that lets students interact with and have their test questions answered by a Kaplan SAT expert, complete with audio, video, instant chat, whiteboards and screen sharing 
• Fast Fact Videos: Kaplan’s best tutors review the most important concepts from each chapter in 4-minute video presentations
• SmartPoints: A Kaplan exclusive strategy based on years of analyzing actual SAT exams, SmartPoints identify the topics and question types that are tested most often, allowing students to focus their test prep time appropriately to yield the best possible score
• Premier Tutor test tips lets self-study students benefit from the Kaplan classroom advantage
• Perfect score tips: Test advice and strategies from an actual Kaplan student who earned a perfect score on the SAT
• A parent guide
• An SAT study-group guide helps students prepare with their peers
• 10 full-length practice tests
• Diagnostic test with targeted feedback
• A personalized online study plan with syllabus and progress report
• Six months of new quizzes delivered monthly via email for extra practice
• A progress report so students can track their performance as they utilize the program

Product Description

McGraw-Hill's SAT will help you prepare for the big exam with its valuable features and interactive test-taking practice online!

Product Description
Includes everything students need to conquer the Critical Reading section of the exam with:

• In-depth coverage of the SAT Critical Reading section
• Hundreds of targeted practice questions with detailed answer explanations covering every category of the SAT Critical Reading section, including reading comprehension, sentence completion, long and short reading passages
• chapter on SAT vocabulary with a glossary of frequently tested words
• 2 realistic Critical Reading tests
• Effective score-raising tips and strategies

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent Test Prep Resource
I'm currently a junior in high school, and I found this book to be an excellent resource while I prepared for my PSAT's and, this year, for my SAT's. My sophomore year PSAT Critical Reading score was a 63, significantly lower than my scores in the other two sections. Determined to bring up my score, I bought this book in the hopes of achieving my goal. Needless to say, I was not disappointed! I found the tips at the beginning to be extremely helpful, and I especially liked the fact that the entire book was broken down into different sections - sentence completions, short passage readings, and long passage readings - so I could easily identify and target my weaknesses. The list of root words at the end was also very beneficial, and when comparing that strategy to what most of my friends do (memorizing hundreds of vocabulary words), it was much more effective and helped me save a lot of time. Overall, I found the format of the book quite reader-friendly. Doing the exercises from this book and learning from my mistakes also allowed me to form new strategies for the next time I took a standardized test.

Two weeks ago, a large envelope from my school showed up in my mailbox. It contained my junior year PSAT scores. To my delight, I found that I had scored a 72 on the Critical Reading section of this year's PSAT - a nine point improvement from last year - enabling me to qualify for National Merit Semifinalist status in my state by a wide margin! I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to anyone who is struggling with this section - thanks to it, I now consider Critical Reading to be the easiest section on the whole SAT.

A Good, But Not Great Book
This Kaplan Critical Reading Book, has a lot of good practice exericses and separates questions into the categories of sentence completion, short passage, and long passage.This enables you to target your weaknesses.The book also contains great root and vocabulary lists.However, my main criticism of this book is the practice tests.The tests in this book are good, but the format is not the same as the real SAT.On the real SAT, all three reading sections contain sentence completions, but in this book only two of the sections have sentence completions.Also, in the final section of the test, a long passage comes before a short passage.This does not happen either on the SAT.The difficulty of the questions is also different than on the real SAT.On this book the questions seem a bit easier.Also, there are countless questions where two answers seem reasonable.This happens on the real SAT, but not nearly as much as it does in the Kaplan book.However, overall this is a good book to prepare you for the SAT reading, but there is bound to be a better book out there. ... Read more

Product Description
Kaplan's SAT Score-Raising Math Dictionary Second Edition takes a fun approach to strengthening math skills and provides everything students need to help them increase their math scores including:

• New! Updated layout and design including new illustrations throughout, and alphabetized tabs to make navigating the book fast and easy
• 200 frequently tested SAT math terms and concepts and their definitions to ensure that students know what questions they are being asked to solve on test day
• A sample math problem illustrating each concept and term
• A fun, sample math sentence for each entry, to help students understand the math term in context
• Handy, targeted test preparation for busy students who are always on the go

Product Description
This classic ARCO guide--now totally revised, updated, and reformatted in a bold, two-color text design--is the first choice of millions of college-bound students. Totally geared to the latest test format, the guide is brimming with in-depth reviews of all test subjects, skill-building practice with every question type, and sample tests with detailed explanations for every question. ... Read more

Product Description
Manage your time and ace the mathematics section of the SAT

Scoring well on the mathematics section of the SAT exam isn't guaranteed by getting good grades in Algebra and Geometry. Turn to SAT Math For Dummies for expert advice on translating your classroom success into top scores. Loaded with test-taking strategies, two practice tests, and hundreds of problems with detailed solutions and explanations, SAT Math For Dummies helps you maximize your scores in no time.

• Review key math concepts and then step through example and sample problems and solutions presented in the same multiple choice and grid-in formats you'll experience on the SAT
• Offers an expert review of core mathematic concepts as well as ample opportunity for practice
• Improve important skills such as estimation and number sense

SAT Math For Dummies gives you expert tips on how to make the best use of the limited time allowed and get your best possible score! ... Read more

Product Description
This portable, powerful SAT study tool includes:

• 500 essential SAT vocabulary words with definitions, parts of speech, pronunciations, synonyms, and sample sentences in context
• SAT words separated into three difficulty levels to help students at all learning levels study effectively
• 2-color interior to make navigating the book easier and more interactive and fun

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent SAT prep
After my son took the SAT once with virtually no prep, and mediocre scores, he used this book along with the second volume of the same Kaplan series.He used them over about a 3-4 month period and marked off the words he knew or learned, concentrating on the ones he didn't know.Each book contains 500 words, 3 to a page, and each book is divided about equally into basic, intermediate and advanced words.The book is similar to using flash cards - on each page appear 3 words, together with their phonetic pronunciations.Then, on the back page, is found the definition, a sentence using the word in context, and, very helpful, a list of several synonyms. (Some of the synonyms are also SAT level words, so if you really read everything, you will actually learn many more than 500 words per book). So, you have to flip the page to see the definition, just like you would with flash cards. My son raised his SAT writing score from 560 from 730, and his SAT reading score from 640 to 730.He also used the College Board practice test book, which was very useful, but these 2 books were certainly a key factor in his improvement.Highly recommended, but be sure you give yourself plenty of time, several months, to work through these.Unless you have a photographic memory, it will take time to assimilate all this material.But, if you do study them, you will almost certainly be rewarded with a higher test score. You will also find yourself suddenly hearing, and understanding, a lot of words on National Public Radio that probably just washed over you before.And you will see a lot of the same sophisticated words in the New York Times.

great way to expand your vocabulary
Kind of like flashcards which you get a word on one side and answers on the other side, except this is a book and has three items per page. This is great book to carry around and kill time while expanding your vocabulary, not necessarily for SAT but also MCAT and other standardized tests, or simply to learn. Highly recommended.

Good book for SAT prep
Great way to get your high schooler up to speed on vocabulary needed for successful navigation of the SAT. ... Read more

Product Description

From the leading voice in SAT test prep, inside strategies for top-scoring students. If you're a top student aiming to achieve the perfect SAT score, here are the inside tips and powerful strategies you'll need to beat the toughest questions and get into the best college!

Customer Reviews (4)

Awesomebook!

Ibought the Gruber books , SAT 2400,andGruber's Complete SATMath Workbookto help my student increase his scores in general , and specifically in his.weak area- Math. His score in Math was 450 which he got onthe MarchSAT. Hestudied the math workbookby taking the diagnostic tests and readingthe instructional material.Hewent through the clearcutstrategies and shortcuts,and thentook the practice tests at the end of the book. To make a long story short, hismathscores increased by 240 points! We were thrilled when hegot a690 .After such great results, he also got this book, Gruber's 2400 SAT book to increase his scores in the other areas . He is learning even more strategies for his final test and we are expecting scores in the2100 range , as reading and writing are already strong subjectsfor him. A preparation book for the Sat's should train the student to solve similar problems on the test and evenharder problems than what will be asked on the test.That is exactly what the book does, so my studentreportedsailing through the practicetest with much greater ease and confidence. I believe thatGruber's books area great advantageand thatany parent or caring teacher would be well advised to purchase them . It is a small price to pay for a higher score, a better school and potentially easier and more successful life.

invest your money elsewhere
I bought this book hoping that I could raise my math score from my first time. Although many of the tricks shown in the book were completely cool (I don't care how nerdy that sounded they really were), I hardly ever used them in the test. As a matter of fact my score DROPPED the second time I took it even though I devoted 2 1/2 weeks to this book. The strategies aren't worth the money. If you have enough time to learn root words and prefixes and suffixes and then apply that knowledge to learn new vocabulary than you should try to take up a hobby. It would be much easier just to learn the vocabulary. There were also some mistakes in the book, particularly the math, that even I caught! (AND I'M TERRIBLE AT MATH BUT I ASKED A MATH GENIUS TO CHECK AND THERE WERE MISTAKES). There are definitely better SAT books that you can be investing your time in. For practice try collegeboard no book will prepare you better because it actually has legit questions. For math I suggest using "Acing the SAT I Math from greenhall publishing. For vocab and writing I suggest Up your score. After studying up your score JUST ONE WEEK, my reading went up by 70 points and my writing went up by 40.
Hope this helps :].

sariecanary
I am using this book to practice for my SAT's. It is helping me, a lot.

Gruber's SAT 2400
Item was arrived in timely manor as stated on Amazon's website.I am very happy with my buying experience from Amazon. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Kaplan SAT practice tests
This book has been helping me to boost my SAT score.
I Personally gained about 100 points so far.
There ARE some formatting errors in this book (rare though)
but still this book is great.

An SAT Must Have!
As an SAT Tutor, I have found this book most helpful to use with my students. From math strategies to grammar traps, this book covers it all. I have found the "Math Traps" and "Common Mistakes" to be the most useful parts. The four practice tests provided in the book are of moderate difficulty. Test one and four seem to be the most difficult, and test three seems to be the easiest. I recommend this resource to any student who wants to learn how to understand "SAT lingo" and get inside the heads, per say, of the test writers. I also recommend this resource to any tutor or parent that is looking to help a student prep for the SAT exam. SAT prep can be rather arduous, but is always rewarding--good luck!

Stacy Padula, Author of Montgomery Lake High #1: The Right Person

Book
It seemed like it took weeks to get here. And my book was ripped. So I dont even want to return it because it will be months before I get a new one back. ... Read more

Product Description
A knowledge of advanced vocabulary words is crucial to scoring well on the verbal portion of the SAT I exam. Now, with this all-new guide, test-prep guru Suzee Vlk provides students with a fun and easy way to increase their vocabularies—and scores. Unlike most vocabulary books, which provide long, boring, alphabetical lists of words, this ground-breaking guide organizes vocabulary into easy-to-remember categories (such as “personal appearance,” “intelligence,” or “money”) and focuses only on “hot” SAT words—the 500 or so that turn up again and again on the exams. Each word is used in a sentence and some are illustrated using humorous stories. The book also delivers lots of practical tips and tools for remembering tough words—the lowdown on roots, lists of antonyms and synonyms, ways to increase comprehension using context, practice questions with answer explanations, and more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Half and Half
Bought it because of my poor vocabulary, and I have to learn a lot for SATs. Funny jokes here and there make it slightly better to read. But still very long and wordy pages, confusing sometimes. At the end you will learn at least 100 words if you concentrate

I RECOMMEND THIS BOOK
I bought this for my daughter who is beginning her "stressful" junior year with the SAT's looming ahead.This book is great.It includes helpful definitions of prefixes, roots and suffixes to teach the student to "disect" a word they may not be able to define.Vocab words are grouped together to make memorization easier.Example: "Look Who's Talking, Words about Speaking".I highly recommend this book.

Great for average students
As an SAT tutor, I own nearly all SAT books, especially those that aim to boost vocabulary.This book is particularly useful for students who come into the test with only average or below average vocabulary.It tries to be cute or at least not intimidating, and the words are just right.If I could make one change to this book, I would put it into a smaller book to make it easier to transport and use during free moments, like long bus rides, substitute teachers, and while waiting for your favorite show to come on.

THANK YOU SUZEE VLK!
this is by far the best book that i have used to help improve my vocabulary. the method of grouping words is extremely effective and it was surprisingly fun to learn from this book. The stories are interesting and entertaining, compared to the ones in other books. The author provides pronunciation of the words, as well as ways to use them in sentences. The exercises following each chapter are very similar to the sentence completion questions on the actual SAT. After studying with this book, even though i skipped most of the gray boxes (that contain more advanced words), i was able to answer over 90% of the vocabulary questions on every practice SAT. In addition, it aided me tremendously on the critical reading sections as well.
I am extremely glad that I purchased this book!

EDIT: I received my SAT scores in the mail and I got an 800 on the critical reading section!!! I definitely owe it to this book.

Reallly Great Book
This is a good book for people getting ready to take the SAT and don't do well on vocabulary ... Read more

Product Description
The newly restructured SAT has replaced its old Verbal section with a section called Critical Reasoning and has added an entirely new section on Writing Skills. Barron’s new 11th edition of the Verbal Workbook for the NEW SAT reflects this major change, presenting four full-length practice tests in Critical Reading and Writing Skills, including a self-assessment, with all questions answered and explained. This workbook also features an extensive vocabulary list with definitions, an additional SAT high-frequency word list, and hundreds of practice and review questions coveringsentence completion, reading comprehension, English grammar and usage, and essay writing. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Verbal SAT workbook
This is good but it's almost exactly the same as SAT Critical Reading. No need to buy both.The Verbal SAT book is better as it has a grammar section.

It has everything it's supposed to: not too much nor too little
A very adequate Book!

This book covers various types of questions for the Reading sectoin and the Writing section. It has lots and lots of practice for reading section but could have more for writing (the practice tests on the back can cover that).

It breaks down the reading section into two sections for each type of questions: Sentence completion and Reading. It has all the information you need for each section and tons of practice questions for you to improve your skills.

Writing section is analyzed with many questions that contain the most common types of grammatical errors that are tested on the test. If you learn all those types and practice with the practice tests, you should do fairly well on the test.

For the essay part, it gives bunch of useful tips along with some sample essays with grader's comments.
This book also has the SAT High-frequency word list with 800 words that frequently appear on the SAT.

It doesn't have any useless information so doesn't overprepare you. It has just everything a SAT verbal workbook should have. Therefore, I highly recommend this book to everyone.

Other Books:
Princeton Review's Reading and Writing workbook is very short and inadequate. I wouldn't recommend it.
Kaplan's SAT reading workbook has tons of problems and so that book's pretty good.
Kaplan's SAT Writing workbook isn't as thorough as Barron's but it's good enough to give it a try.
For studying SAT overall I would strongly recommend the Maximum SAT which is the best SAT prep Book I have seen. It is really helpful to study along with the Official SAT Study Guide by collegeboard. ... Read more

Product Description
If it’s on the PSAT, it’s in this book. Cracking the PSAT, 2011 Edition, includes:

• 2 full-length practice tests
• Specific strategies for cracking every question type
• Exclusive “Hit Parade” of the most important PSAT vocabulary words
• All the math, critical reading, and writing skills you need to ace the PSAT
• Everything you need to know about National Merit Scholarships
• Planning and organization advice to get you all the way to test day! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Seller not recommended
Book ok, but did not arrive as promised because I belief seller is either from overseas (China, India or Europe). Will never buy from seller. Does not reply to queries in a timely manner. Unfortunately you get what you pay for. ... Read more

Product Description
Updated to reflect the newly restructured SAT, this book presents three full-length practice SATs with all questions answered and explained. It also provides students with an overview of all three sections of the new SAT—Critical Reading, Writing skills, and Math. In addition, the authors offer advice on understanding the various question types on the new SAT and answering them successfully. This compact test prep manual is ideal for students who need only a quick brush-up review before taking the SAT. Those who need more intensive preparation should purchase Barron’s How to Prepare for the New SAT, 22nd Edition, which was published in late 2004. ... Read more

Product Description
Getting into the nation's most competitive universities requires more than a good SAT score, it requires a perfect score. Perfect 800: SAT Verbal gives advanced students the tools needed to master both the reading and writing portions of the new SAT verbal test.

The book allows students to perfect their vocabulary and editing skills by completing the activities on more than 100 practice sessions and quizzes. By offering important information on word parts, origins, grammar, and other necessary knowledge, Perfect 800: SAT Verbal gives students the opportunity to increase their understanding of the vocabulary commonly seen on the SAT test.

The book also provides tips and strategies for acing the verbal portions of the test, including techniques for studying and a unique online practice test that analyzes the student's results immediately and offers suggestions for improving scores. Students also can use the book's list of online and print resources to evaluate additional study methods. This unique book is a great companion to Perfect 800: SAT Math.
... Read more

Product Description

We want to help you get your best score on the PSAT/NMSQT

McGraw-Hill's PSAT/NMSQT gives you the all-important test-taking skills to carry you through the SATs, college exams, and beyond. Designed to develop your command of the eight critical reasoning skills--the very skills the PSAT is constructed to measure--this valuable resource will help you outthink the test and find the right answers even for unfamiliar question types. Written by test-prep experts with years of experience, McGraw-Hill's PSAT/NMSQT explains the test and analyzes all the crucial subject areas it covers--math, critical reading, and vocabulary. It also features 40 top strategies that can help you on test day!

McGraw-Hill's PSAT/NMSQT includes:

• 4 full-length simulated PSATs with fully explained answers in the book and 2 more practice PSATs online
• Daignostic test to pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses
• Techniques to develop the essential critical reasoning skills

Product Description
The new, up-to-date edition of BarronÂ's SAT test prep manual presents a diagnostic test and five full-length practice tests that reflect the most recent SATs in length, question types, and degree of difficulty. The enclosed CD-ROM includes two additional practice tests, with the added convenience of automatic scoring, and a 3500-word vocabulary list for extra practice. The book presents an overview of the SAT, explains its scoring method, and offers subject reviews in critical reading, grammar and usage, and math. It also gives advice on preparing and writing the required SAT essay. Here is comprehensive preparation for that all-important college entrance exam, which must be taken by most college-bound students in North America. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A 'must' for any college-prep student
The 24th edition of SAT provides the latest review and practice tests available, pairing a detailed review of the SAT with study advice, five full-length practice tests that reflect the latest SATs in length and question types, and comprehensive reviews of all test topics. A CD-ROM comes with two more practice tests, making this a 'must' for any college-prep student.

Wonderful all-in-one guide
The big name test prep companies such as Kaplan, Princeton Review, and Sparknotes, to name a few, tend to focus on "tricks" to try to beat the test. What these tricks really are, unfortunately, is just a collection of common sense strategies such as Princeton Review's vaunted "Joe Bloggs" stragegy which is just "cross off answers that the average student will pick." They do give a review of the material -- and don't get me wrong, these books are good -- but they're not aimed toward someone who wants to master the material. They simply aim to allow you to maximize your score as painlessly as possible. Okay, there is a valid reason to publish books with that aim -- most students don't want more than that.

Barron's How to Prepare for the SAT, on the other hand, is the complete antithesis of the standard preparation book. Written in true textbook style, it's the ultimate guide to the SAT. It's all here and if you're really, really dedicated to that high score to get into that shiny, prestigious university, then Barron's is just what you need.

The first section, strategies, just goes over a bunch of test taking strategies -- much like the ones found in the aforementioned books. Then, the subject matter begins.

Critical reading, widely considered the hardest section to study for, is given just the right treatment here. First, the book gives a myriad of general reading strategies (luckily, the book advocates reading the passages unlike, *ahem*, other companies). Then, as any good book on how to read would do, it gives the reader a multitude of practice passages that are much harder than the real thing (excerpts from great literary works, such as Dickens' "Great Expectations", are present) with many SAT-like questions. Don't be discouraged if you find the passages and questions difficult and you get some wrong -- answers and explanations give you a good understanding of each question and you'll find yourself applying what you learned from your mistakes to other SAT practice tests (Barron's or otherwise). After working diligently through the exercises, your skill in SAT reading should go up considerably (but you must do the practice tests as well to get the full benefit).

The sentence completion section is also well done. There's not much you can teach about sentence completions other than the usual strategies that are in every book. What Barron's does do, however, is give you two sets of 50 questions each to work on, so that you become extremely comfortable with the format of the questions and how questions may be worded.

On the topic of critical reading, Barron's includes a list of 3500 words. Yes, that's three thousand five hundred words. According to the book, it's an eclectic bunch drawn from a vast multitude of sources -- past SATs, great literary works, essays, etc.

Clearly, most people have neither the time nor the inclination to go through every one of the 3500 words (and, quite frankly, it's unnecessary). So, what this book does is give you a list of "High Frequency" words (words that have appeared on several SATs) and a list of "Hot Prospects" which are words that Barron's feels are likely to appear soon. These much shorter lists are worth memorizing and have proven extremely helpful to me and others who have taken the SAT. But if you're ambitious (or your vocabulary is severely lacking), then going through the 3500 word list WILL remedy any vocabulary weakness on your part. I find that going through the list not only helps my performance on practice tests, but it makes me seem much more eloquent in every day life and in my writing. Who can go wrong here?

Anyway, the next section is the writing/grammar section. As a student, I've never really been exposed to grammar taught formally. Before I'd taken the SAT (and before I'd read this book), I picked up enough grammar to be able to identify errors well (I scored an 800 on the writing portion in December), but I still didn't know proper terminology and couldn't guarantee that I'd get an 800 again, so I've found that going through the writing section, although it's a bit dense, to have significantly increased my grammatical erudition and I am confident that I'll get an 800 again.

Finally, the math section is a great refresher of the basics. In fact, it's much better than all of the other "refreshers" in other books to the point that it'd pass as a decent elementary mathematical textbook. It covers the entire gamut of mathematics, from the essential, but oft forgotten, arithmetic to the (relatively) advanced algebra 2 and geometry concepts. The nice thing, though, is that at the end of every review section, there's a whole slew of extremely well designed practice questions that require no more than elementary skills, but force the reader to truly think and apply what he or she has learned. While the questions are MUCH harder than the SAT, the questions are great for building mental tenacity and will make you think the real test is a "breeze".

The practice tests -- 7 in all, including the diagnostic -- are really, really difficult. The reading passages are denser than those on the SAT and the mathematics questions require a fair bit more insight and ingenuity than those found on the SAT. However, don't be discouraged when your scores aren't stratospheric if you're aiming for such a score on the real thing -- just try to build your skills so you can solve the Barron's problems then you'll have no difficulty on the real thing. As a wise man once said, "You cannot see heaven unless you've gone through hell" (paraphrasing, of course).

In short, this large, but inexpensive book is an all-in-one guide for the SAT (the Blue Book, of course, for real tests is highly useful, too). If you diligently work through this book, learn a bunch of new words, practice your reading skill on the passages, work through the writing and math questions, and truly extract every last bit that this book has to offer, you will do your ultimate personal best. Which, as you may find, is not as bounded as the College Board would have you believe. ... Read more

Product Description

MORE THAN 7 MILLION GRUBER BOOKS SOLD!

"GARY GRUBER IS THE LEADING EXPERT ON THE SAT"
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

THE EASIEST, FASTEST WAY TO IMPROVE YOUR SCORE

• Secrets of the Writing Section's Design
• Strategies for Solving All Writing Questions
• Essay Writing Tips and Techniques

EFFECTIVE STUDY TOOLS THAT ARE ACTUALLY FUN

• Sample Essays
• Two Practice Writing SAT Tests

FEATURES THE EXCLUSIVE GRUBER SYSTEM THAT HAS RAISED ACTUALSAT SCORES BY MORE THAN 600 POINTS!

Product Description

MORE THAN 7 MILLION GRUBER BOOKS SOLD!

"GARY GRUBER IS THE LEADING EXPERT ON THE SAT"
HOUSTON CHRONICLE

THE EASIEST, FASTEST WAY TO IMPROVE YOUR SCORE

• Secrets of the Reading Section's Design
• Strategies for Solving All Reading Questions
• Time Saving Shortcuts and Tips

EFFECTIVE STUDY TOOLS THAT ARE ACTUALLY FUN

• Reading Comprehension Tips and Techniques
• Two Practice Reading SAT Tests

FEATURES THE EXCLUSIVE GRUBER SYSTEM THAT HAS RAISED ACTUALSAT SCORES BY MORE THAN 600 POINTS!

Product Description
SAT/PSAT Exam Prep shares the insider information that students need to score higher on their SAT and PSAT tests. This book from Pearson Education, the Global Leader in Education Publishing, is authored by an expert who has tutored students on the PSAT and SAT tests for the past 20 years. The book starts with preparation planning outlines as well as test-taking strategies for overcoming text anxiety and beating your worst fears. The book then provides extensive tutorial coverage that helps the student mastering the knowledge needed for the Math, Critical Reading, and Writing sections. Extra coverage of the new writing section helps students deal with this added challenge. Finally, the book then includes four complete exams with detailed answers for more practice and better understanding of difficult topics.  ... Read more