Real SATs : The College Board's Guide to the New SAT

Rating:
Summary: Great Start to Studying for the SAT
Review: "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

Rating:
Summary: Best book out there for the New SAT!
Review: I am very happy with my purchase of The Official SAT Study Guide. This is the only book out there that has tests created by the test maker. The detailed descriptions of each section, including the New Essay section, are a plus. It is great that they have essay questions with sample essays. The 'Keep in Mind' approaches give me valuable insight on the new SAT. Since I own the book; I am able to go to collegeboard.com and receive free online score reports and sample essays for all of the practice tests. I am also a subscriber to the Official SAT Online Course and I am able receive answer explanations for the all of the questions in the practice tests. The online course also has auto essay scoring for all of the essay questions in the book-that means I can go in and type my essay and receive feedback instantly. I also love the interactive lessons. I think that is my favorite part!

I think the study guide and the online course make a great pair in studying for the new SAT. It has already given me the confidence that I will be ready for the new SAT!


Rating:
Summary: What better practice than the real thing?
Review: The best type of practice is accurate practice. Only this book will guarantee the correct simulation of new SAT questions. It's a must have.

Rating:
Summary: Ok, but not great
Review: The book didn't seem to be updated much. I liked the SAT for dummies book better for studying.

Rating:
Summary: This book from my point of view...
Review: The review by Great Faulkner's Ghost made many wonderful points, and because of that, I did not purchase this book. However, I was given this book, and, upon using it, I feel that I need to review it from another point of view.

This is very much like a new edition of the 10 Real SAT book, which I also own and is extremely useful.

But I say: Buy this book, because although some questions are recycled, there is no better practice than being able to take a complete real SAT. You can get that sort of practice from this book. This also includes plenty of practice and intructions for the new writing section, which 10 Real SATs do not have.
It is disappointing that this book does not have a solution explanation section, but keep in mind that the 10 Real SATs book does not, either.

Although 10 Real SATs may still be used, it is no longer the full length, authentic SAT for graduating classes of 2006+.

In conclusion, I strongly recommend that you purchase this book for these four points:

1) This is complete with the new critical reading section (originally verbal section, but now w/o the analogies), new math section (w/o the quantative comparisons), and the newly added writing section. The length, the scoring, and the format of the test are as close as can be to the real thing.

2) There are 8 complete tests written by the people who writes the SATs that you will be taking. You must familiarize yourself with their questions. Barrons or Princeton Review may give you an idea of what the tests are like, but this book is the way to go if you'd like a taste of the actual test.

3) The book also gives descriptions and explanations for the different types of problems. This allow you to see how the test makers view their problems.

4) As the owner of this book, you may go online and plug in your answers at CollegeBoard.Com, and they will give you a score report. They will also tell you the key elements that they look for in the essay, and you can score your own essay. At an added fee, they'll score it for you (an excellent chance to see where you stand in the way they grade essays).




(This review was not written in any way to argue against the only other one written before me. I just want to point out what I thought.)

Rating:
Summary: The Best Book Out There
Review: This book is for people who are trying the Ace the SAT's not through a bunch of cheap tricks that don't really work, but through hard studying. This book (although known only for the real questions it gives), has a better review section than even Kaplan's. And the best part is the REAL practice questions. The questions that Barron's, Kaplan etc. give are totally bogus. It's not fun, but it is for those who are serious. It's the best buy.

Rating:
Summary: New SAT, But Not All New Questions
Review: To save yourself some money, don't rush into buying this book. You may not need it. The College Board provides a copy of a complete New SAT test on its web site, which you can download for FREE. This book provides 8 additional tests. However, a fair number of questions are recycled from the guide to the "old" SAT, called 10 Real SATs, which you or an older sibling may already own. Also, this book provides only an answer key for each test, not the explanations. This somewhat limits its usefulness.