Cracking the SAT, 2010 Edition (College Test Preparation)

When I prepared to take my first SAT, I relied on this book to prepare. Let me first talk about the good aspects of the book:

It demystifies the SAT and takes a "student friendly" approach. That is, it helps convince the reader that the SAT doesn't measure intelligence, self-worth, etc. While this may or may not be true, it relieves one of a significant burden by believing that the test doesn't test anything innate, which prevents the formation of artificial mental barriers or blocks.

The vocabulary list is quite good, as it consists of a short, but sweet list of 200 words that are likely to show up on the SAT (either in passages or in the sentence completions). For such a short list, it sure does get a good number of "hits" on the real thing.

The math refresher is good -- it's not a math textbook in the sense that it will, in vivid detail, teach you the fundamentals of mathematics beginning with "2 + 2 = 4", but it does give you a great...Read more

I borrowed this book from the library just for the practice tests. Unfortunately, the Princeton Review's idea of what the SAT should cover bears little resemblance to the actual SAT. The reading comprehension on the test I did had the reference line numbers in the questions consistently off by 5. The math section tested for memorization of facts, such as the definition of a function and specific rules of triangles, in a way that one might expect to see on a subject test but is completely out of tune with the pure logic-based approach of the general SAT. The essay prompts were questionable at best and nonsensical at worst. Some of the answers for reading comprehension and grammar were just objectively wrong.

This book is misleading, poorly edited, and just frustrating. If you've never studied for a standardized test before, you might find the test-taking tips useful. If you're a bit more advanced or are looking for realistic practice tests, give this book a pass.

The first time I took the SAT in January (with no reviewing), I received a score of 1660 (1140). I was not content with this score, so I decided to take it again in an attempt to earn some merit scholarship money. I bought the Princeton Review book and studied (not just looked over, but actually took the time to do the activities) it rigorously throughout each chapter. I focused primarily on the Critical Reading/Vocabulary sections since that score was 100 points lower than my Math score. I brought the book to class with me and in my free time, I would crack it open and continue to work. I did not even get a chance to work on the practice sections because of time constraints (I bought the book two weeks before I was supposed to take the test). I guess you could consider it cramming, but with solid time put into the practice activities, my confidence and abilities increased immensely. I only got a chance to skim over the math sections, though. I just received my test scores a...Read more