Customer Reviews

Barron's SAT (Book only)

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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.

i got the book fast. i studied with this book overnight for the sat exams. i really just wanted the tests. had a good amount to do. i mean i got like 1970 in the sat exam first time.

for the people who would like to know what the book has in it. it has the maths and English explanations. there is essays done that has full marks from sat exams. so yay. i would not lie here the essay part i did look over and it helped me see how to maximize the marks.

Note:

do not expect a score like this from the book without having some understanding of schoolwork. it's not a miracle book. and please study a few days before the exam do not do what i did.

good luck.

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.

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