Barron's SAT Subject Test Math Level 2, 8th Edition (Paperback)

~ (Author), Howard P. Dodge (Author) "The diagnostic test is designed to help you pinpoint the weak spots in your background..." (more)
Key Phrases: quadratic formula, graphing screen, graphing calculator helpful, Subject Test, Math Level, Model Test (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The newly updated edition of this manual presents a diagnostic test, a review of all Math Level 2 test topics, and six full length model tests with answer keys and answer explanations. Test topics are reviewed in five separate chapters, each containing many practice exercises and answers. Major topics covered include functions and algebra; trigonometry; coordinate geometry; three-dimensional geometry; data analysis, statistics, and probability; and number and operations. Also included is detailed instruction on the use of graphing calculators.

From the Inside Flap

(back cover)

A diagnostic test will help you understand your strengths and weaknesses

Five chapters of subject review cover all test topics

Six full-length practice tests with answer keys and explanations

Instruction on the use of your graphing calculator

Study tips and test-taking advice

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series; 8th edition (January 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764136925
• ISBN-13: 978-0764136924
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,127 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #5 in	Books > Science > Mathematics > Study & Teaching
  #12 in	Books > Reference > Education > Test Guides - College & University > SAT & PSAT
  #25 in	Books > Teens > Reference > College & University Bound

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Barron's really messed up this time..., July 25, 2008

By	J. Chen (Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I'm surprised at this kind of quality from Barron's.

Other reviewers have probably already said what I'm going to say- but no matter, it will give you a second opinion to verify the poor quality of this book.

First mistake: the answer sheets for every practice exam only include 4 answer bubbles for each question (there should be 5 answer bubbles, and it got annoying after a while). But this is only a minor mistake...

Second mistake: the answer key is sometimes wrong (I encountered this problem maybe once or twice each test). What's worse- when the answers are explained, the answer is still wrong! The explanation will have the wrong answer choice (like C instead of A), but the solution will be for the correct answer. This was frustrating sometimes and gives you a permanent mistrust of all of their answers and solutions.

The review section is still decent- a lot of concepts are adequately summarized. But all in all, if you can help it, don't go for this book. Choose a competitor's. I liked Kaplan (the difficulty of the practice exams more closely modeled the real thing). And of course the official College Board study guide is a good book for assessment and accurately predicting your score. I gave this book two stars because I don't think you should buy it when there are so many decent competitors out there.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Worst Math2 Book on the Market, August 23, 2008

By	Scott R. Tidwell "math guy" (long beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I am an SAT Math Level 2 tutor, and I have been working with this test for over 10 years. This Barron's book is absolutely the worst Math Level 2 book that I have ever seen. The questions in this book are (a) significantly more difficult than those on the actual exam, and (b) nothing at all like those on the actual exam.

On this test, matrix questions are considered difficult, and uniformly appear at the end of the exam. In the Barron's practice tests, matrix questions appear very early in the test amongst the easy questions. On the real test, polar coordinate questions are pretty straightforward, and yet still considered difficult by the test makers. The Barron's book puts extremely difficult polar coordinate questions very early in the test.

The subjects covered, the difficulty, the sorts of tasks, and the wording are absolutely nothing like the actual test. Did the Barron's author even bother examining the actual test? I think not. While it might be cool to see if you can do the math in this book, it will in no way help you prepare for the test. I highly recommend never even opening this book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Far too many errors and not enough like the real test, April 14, 2009

By	P. Mann (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is puzzling. Two authors, each with an M.A. (though I don't know in what), can't seem to take the time or effort to get things right. Frankly, they should be embarrassed by this mess. On the practice tests, there are problems with no correct answers, problems with multiple correct answers, and problems with errors galore. Here are some specific examples of errors, from the minor to the egregious.

Page 311, problem 18: The problem asks for the ratio of p to q if 4.05^p = 5.25^q but fails to state that p and q cannot be zero. (This is a mathematical error but not spectacularly important to students preparing for the test.)

Page 311, problem 20: We're told that cos(67) = tan(x) and asked to find x. The actual number of solutions is infinite.

Page 309, problem 8: Two points in the second quadrant have coordinates (x,y) and (y,cy). But how can that be since the first y must be positive and the second negative? This is a serious error.

Page 312, problem 24: The problem involves a deck of playing cards. Playing cards are not proper for the real test. This is a moderately important error since it might lead students to believe (falsely) that they must understand a deck of cards.

Page 317, problem 50: The problem asks for arcsin(cos(100)) but requires you to change from degrees to radians in the middle of the problem. Why mathematical point is there in that nonsense? Students who learn Barron's tomfoolery such as changes from degrees to radians in the middle of a problem are not preparing for the real exam; they are preparing for Barron's exams.

I've chosen only a few pages close together to give an idea of how many errors there are. The book really is, I believe, awful preparation for the actual Subject Test and does not convey the feel of the real test. There seems to be little or no effort, for example, to put questions in order of difficulty, and there seems to be little effort to use the types of questions that the actual test uses.

I give this two stars, though, because parts of it can be useful. I would not, however, recommend the book for a student who plans to go it alone. I also would especially not recommend it to a student who becomes discouraged by the difficulty of the Barron's tests. There are certainly better guides out there.