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Such an endeavor is admirable, and I support them—but it also means that The Official SAT Study Guide is now a waste of money. What's more, the material outside the practice tests is superficial and overall unhelpful (we've written far better guides on the Reading, Math, and Writing sections, all of which are available on our blog for free). The best way to excel at SAT Writing is to understand the grammar rules and how they appear on the test. You also need to answer a lot of high-quality practice questions to ensure you learn the patterns of the SAT (that's how we designed our online SAT program to teach you grammar!).
By far, this book's most impressive strength is its sheer number of math practice problems— more than 1,500 of them! It definitely allows for a "learning by doing" approach, as you can time yourself and answer practice questions for days on end. The book has a thorough set of answer walk-throughs for all Reading, Writing, and Math questions in the first four official SAT practice tests (included in the recommended "book" above). Each explanation clearly breaks down how to approach the question and get the right answer. Barron's SAT 2024 is another thorough prep book that offers ample content review, sample questions, and SAT practice tests. And, best of all, this Barron’s edition covers the study strategies you need to know for t he new, digital SA T! ProsWhat it does have, though, is so good that I believe every student studying with SAT prep books should read it. Of all writers, Meltzer uses an approach to SAT Reading prep that aligns most closely with mine: to drill questions skill by skill so you can recognize patterns. Critical Books: These are must-have SAT books for your prep, no matter your strengths or weaknesses. I personally believe that for most test takers, raising your SAT score is the best way to improve your chances of college admission . If you don't want to put in hours of time to raise your score, I strongly suggest questioning your approach to test prep. The most suitable SAT study guide may help you ace the test just as much as the worst one could slow down your dream of even passing it.
All the SAT prep books mentioned above have both strengths and weaknesses. Combined, though, they provide relatively comprehensive prep in all major areas: practice questions, content review, and strategies. The book is written in an engaging, irreverent style, which can help students stay engaged with the material. Once again, I'm returning to Erica L. Meltzer for her SAT grammar books. Meltzer's fantastic at distilling all the rules of English grammar into what you need to know for the SAT; you won't learn any arcane grammar concepts not on the SAT. For the rules that are tested, Meltzer presents them clearly and covers their foundations in case you've forgotten grammar rules learned in school. While studying for the SAT Reading section might seem hard to break down into specific parts, Erica Meltzer's Complete Guide to SAT Reading does a good job outlining the skills you'll need. So far my recommendations have been primarily for the super ambitious students who really want to improve their SAT scores. But I know that there are some students who just want to put in a few hours of prep, get exposure to the test, and then take the SAT and forget about it.First, this guide is for students who are serious about test prep. You need to be motivated to get a high score, and you need to be willing to put in hard work. Getting through these books will take dozens of hours simply because the SAT covers so much material. Unlike every other section in this guide, I'm making one specific recommendation against buying an SAT book. This is particularly unusual because, prior to 2015, this was the #1 SAT prep book to get! As you can see, you already have a lot to work on. With 10 full-length practice tests and more than five SAT books at your disposal, you'll be studying for well over 50 hours. By using the guidelines we recommend, you can make huge improvements in your score. One important disclaimer: I'm co-founder of PrepScholar, an online SAT/ACT prep program. I believe we've built the best SAT prep program available. It diagnoses your strengths and weaknesses and gives you a structured all-in-one guide, combining the best aspects of the SAT books below so you can know exactly what to study at every point in your prep. An important part of your study schedule is knowing exactly when you plan to take the SAT. Read all about how to choose your test dates.
The book doesn't provide any instructional material, so don't expect to actually learn skills and content here. If you're bad at algebra, you can't rely on this book alone. Most test takers buy it for the tests, and the College Board knows this. Official SAT tests released by the College Board are the gold standard for practice questions. At present, there are 10 official tests. These aren't exactly a "prep book" in the standard sense, but altogether they make up quite an important resource not too different from a book. Still, some of you either won't have the time or motivation to prep better. If you're one of those just hoping to get the SAT over with, I recommend using Kaplan's SAT Prep Plus 2023. It's an all-in-one book that covers the three sections and has a wide assortment of practice questions and tests. For these reasons, I recommend Steve Warner's series of SAT Math books. He's written multiple SAT prep books for beginner, intermediate, and advanced students, and has a set of 240 SAT Math problems organized by topic and difficulty. It contains four full-length practice tests. Most importantly, only one of those practice tests is a paper test in the book, while the other three are online exams. This is so you’ll get realistic digital practice for the all-digital exam!These study companions generally work on students who already have a good grasp of the concepts and are only looking for ways to fine-tune their skills. Strategy-Driven There are a lot of options when it comes to studying for the SAT from books. Rather than reading them cover to cover, you would be better served coming up with a plan and breaking each book down into smaller, manageable goals. The recommended SAT prep books can be very useful in getting you ready, but they can also feel overwhelming and repetitive, not to mention expensive. Therefore, always use books that target the current SAT (that is, books published in 2016 or later), such as the ones listed below. You can also use our online SAT prep program to learn more about your specific weaknesses and how you can improve them. If you know which areas you're good at, then you may go easy on the subject and focus more on the sections that you think you're most likely to get a lower SAT score in.
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