McGraw-Hill's SAT I

Rating:
Summary: An excellent resource
Review: I am a high school English teacher from Portland, Oregon who is putting together a program for my school on the new SAT I. I have looked carefully through all of the books on the new SAT I (REA's, Kaplan's New PSAT, the Fiske Guide) as the well as the old "standards" (Princeton Review, Kaplan, Up Your Score, Barron's). I have also talked to many of my best students and my colleagues with high-school age children, and the consensus is pretty much unanimous: McGraw-Hill's SAT I is the only one that seems to provide just about everything students really need to prepare seriously for the new test. The biggest problem, I've found, with books like Princeton Review, Up Your Score, and REA, is that they repeat the same test-taking "tricks" that have been around for decades, and really don't help most students all that much. (Sure, it's kind of nice to have a simple rule for when to guess on a multiple choice question, but isn't it better to be able actually to solve the problems?) Princeton, Up Your Score and REA just seem to be battling each other to be cute and clever with their delivery, but that's not what kids need. What students need is lots of practice coupled with smart feedback that recognizes their common mistakes. The flashcards-although there aren't enough of them-are very cool in pointing out the common errors that students make on SAT I math problems. (I made a bunch of them myself, sad to say.) The McGraw-Hill guide uses a method that really focuses on the reasoning skills that are the basis of the SAT I, AND ACTUALLY TEACHES YOU THOSE SKILLS!! Unless you have looked at all of these books as I have, you don't know how refeshing that is! The "College Hill Lesson" format is incredibly clear and easy to follow, and helps students to actually become better readers, writers and problems solvers. The vocabulary lessons are ingenious: not real cutesy, like in Up Your Score, or just a dictionary, like in Barron's and Gruber's-just read it and you'll see what I mean. The practice tests are great too-a little bit harder than the real thing, as the description says, but I much prefer that to the alternative. Also, the tests "feel" much more like real test than any tests except for those in "Real SATs." For the first time in ten years, I'm excited to have a text that will actually work for my kids!!

Rating:
Summary: better than othres!
Review: this book is definitly better than other books out there. This book, unlike otheres, actually teacahes you things. Other SAT books like Kaplan or princeton teaches u whats ON the SAT. This book not only teaches whats on the SAT, but gives u lessons too!

this book is a mustbuy if u are planning for the new SAT

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT FOR LONG TERM SKILL BUILDING
Review: This one stands apart from the other books I've looked at. Rather than test prep per se, it attempts to provide a foundation of the basic skills the SAT tests. It does so very well. But this method is a long term process. If the test is coming soon, this may not be the right book. But if you are at least 6 months from the test, it has an added benefit. Unlike typical prep books, this one provides skills that will stay with you. If you are going to spend all this time studying for the SAT, why see it become irrelevant after the SAT? This gives you lessons that will last.