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45 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Exactly the same inside at 2011 edition!, July 26, 2011
This review is from: Cracking the SAT, 2012 Edition (College Test Preparation) (Paperback)
The Princeton Review has finally achieved a remarkable goal: A radically new cover design around zero changes from last year's text!
Since 2005 when they revamped their textbook for the new SAT, they have annually produced a new edition. Every year a shiny new cover with a new student of different ethnicity. And every year they managed to adjust the layout a wee bit: change a word or two here or there, but keep essentially the EXACT SAME TEXT from year to year! As a test prep tutor who uses this otherwise helpful book for her students, it is infuriating to be forced to buy a new book every year - rewriting all my notes - just to match the new page numbers.
In 2010, they added another practice test into the book, the only real, if small, improvement, since the rest of the text either stayed the same or lost some of its punch. It is well known that as one edits something repeatedly, it tends to lose energy, as any student working on his or her college application essay is aware. This certainly happened to The Princeton Review SAT text: The Critical Reading section in particular lost a lot when they chose, in 2007, to merge the Long and Short Reading Passages techniques, resulting in a confused and less effective approach to these passage types which require very different techniques and focus.
But this year -or rather, next year, since the 2012 model arrives with almost a half year to go- they gave up all pretense at creating new value. Shamelessly, they radically changed the cover to a dull black and white with a single student smiling in the void. (At least I'll be able to differentiate it from the army of their 2005-2011 editions on my bookshelves!) But the interior of the book is absolutely identical to 2011! I have compared the two texts side by side and flipped at random to dozens of pages in both books and they are the same, totally.
So, pick up a good second-hand copy of 2011 or 2010 if you like and save some money. The Princeton Review is a good course and their basic test-beating techniques are definitely helpful. This text in conjunction with the SAT 'bible' ("The CollegeBoard's Official Guide to the SAT") used for its practice tests, accompanied by "Tutor Ted's SAT Solutions Manual" are the best study trio I have found. For students seeking extra math help, Barrons dedicated "SAT Math Workbook" is terrific, as is the collection of free lessons and CollegeBoard math questions explanations available for free online at Khan Academy.
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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but to an extent, August 1, 2011
This review is from: Cracking the SAT, 2012 Edition (College Test Preparation) (Paperback)
The Princeton Review is a great book for what it aims to do: provide you with a decent score on the SAT's. It does not, however, prepare you to do exceptionally well on the SAT's (and by that I mean 750+ in any given section). Basically, if your goal is to break 650 or maybe hit a 700, this book is perfect, and I am sure that if you use it properly, you might be able to nail a 700 in every section.
The Math prep is not at all comprehensive or in depth. They do a nice job of laying out basic concepts, but for the most part the strategies are poor. They have this thing called the "Joe Bloggs technique," which essentially says something to the effect of, "on easy questions the tempting answers are usually right, on medium questions the tempting answers are rarely right, and on hard questions the tempting answers are never right." They aggrandize this method beyond its actual ability, which isn't much from the start. They do have very useful techniques for percentages, ratios, and averages, but they never explain strategies to help you with the harder questions.
Critical Reading was their strongest section, between the Princeton Review methodology for passage analysis and their vocabulary list. However, there were slight drawbacks, namely the method they use for passage analysis is slightly hard to swallow at first. Once you get used to it, it becomes much simpler; however the first time you read through it and apply it, it may seem ineffective. The vocabulary section was very good, but if you want a higher score, you may need vocabulary supplements.
The Writing Section was abysmal. The review of grammatical concepts was nonexistent and the strategies for writing the Essays weren't really flushed out, and as a result you do not get a sense of what the essays are like or how to write one.
So again, if your aiming for a 650-700, this book will do the job. If you want to snag a higher score, I'd look somewhere els. I'd recommend looking as SliverTurtle's guide (just google it) if you intend to reach or break a 2100. He (or she; I have no idea who wrote it) talks about everything you may need for a high score on the SAT's.
Oh and good luck!
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Inferior Imitation of the Real SAT Content, October 29, 2011
This review is from: Cracking the SAT, 2012 Edition (College Test Preparation) (Paperback)
As a tutor, I'm very selective about the SAT books I use with my students. When one student recently completed all the practice tests in the College Board's SAT book (the only book I ever recommend), I resorted to the Princeton Review. I was deeply disappointed with the critical reading questions; they were too easy and sometimes the wording was inaccurate (e.g. asking what was implied in a passage when the answer was explicitly stated). My student, a high school senior who has taken many advanced and AP classes, also noticed the inferiority of the content in this book. I won't be using it again and will be recycling my copy.
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