Customer Reviews

Gruber's Complete Preparation for the New SAT, 10th Edition

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I knew that the Gruber SAT books for the old SAT were great, so I purchased this book when I saw it in the bookstore. I haven't gone through it in depth, but it seems to be one of the best SAT books for the new version. It has a lot of helpful features like the "101 Most Important Math Questions You Need to Know How to Solve" and a very thorough "Math Refresher" that will definitely raise your score. The word list is great, as the definitions are very concise and easy to remember. The 5 practice tests seem to be very realistic. The grammar review is phenomenal. It goes over basically all the grammar one could possibly need to know for the SAT, and it also seems to contain some extraneous information that will be very helpful for a high school English class. For some reason, my high school teaches no grammar, so I need all the practice that I can get for the writing section. This is probably one of the best SAT books for actually learning the material. The Kaplan and Princeton Review books won't help you learn a lot, though they will provide you with a lot of practice. The three best books for the new SAT are, in my opinion, McGraw Hill's SAT I, Barron's How to Prepare for the New SAT, and this one. They are also quite thorough, and you don't need to purchase more than 1 or possibly 2 of the 3 to be well-prepared for the test. Good luck :)

It's all you need. Not cluttered like Barrons. Not vague and inaccurate like Princeton. Not full of typos and errors like Kaplan. It's nice and concise, and if you decide to study many months before the SAT, it has a comprehensive list of vocab words. The lessons are easy to understand. Watch out for the occasional typos though, like any other book. It has good practice too. My advice: PRACTICE!! Whatever you get wrong on the practice tests, check the answer explanation and learn from that. If you're still confused, go back to the lessons because they're pretty good on Grubers. Out of the books I've seen, I think Gruber's is the most dependable. Was recommended by a friend who got 1590 on old SAT.

This is not the kind of book that is mainly about strategies to get you through the test (Princeton Review's "Joe Bloggs" comes to mind, here...), so it's not recommended for last minute studying. However, when it comes to actually teaching the things that you need to know, Gruber's is really, really good.

I've had problems in the past with textbooks that are riddled with careless errors that caused significant confusion, but I can't say that I found any major errors in the book, or even any typos. What's also nice about this book is that it gives approximately equal emphasis to each of the sections- I've had books that completely ignore verbal while focusing on math, and vice versa, but Gruber's gives you a thorough grounding in everything.

1) The diagnostic section was great. The book opens with a short math and verbal diagnostic, but also had a section about "the 101 math questions that you most need to know how to solve", which was great for pinpointing lingering issues that I had.

2) Regarding the math section: It's quite thorough, with lots of handy practice questions interspersed throughout the lessons. One caveat: I didn't use this section all that much, because I had separate books that were entirely devoted to the math portion. However, I still found it to be extremely helpful when I did use it.

3) The verbal section is fine. It focuses mainly on the vocabulary portion of it, which I personally feel is unnecessary- the SAT only has a few vocab questions, and it's not really worth the time to spend hours and hours improving your vocab for a couple points. They did cover it thoroughly, though, with sample questions. I would really like to see some more sample reading passages in the next edition, but they do have tips for reading long passages in the "Strategies" section.

4) The grammatical section is the best I've seen- I haven't come across any other textbook that comes close. It's also the section that I needed most, especially since I (and most people I know) haven't been taught proper grammar since... never, really. What's nice about it is that it actually teaches you grammatical rules, including those about misplaced modifiers, dangling adjectives, etc., instead of mostly expecting you to wing it. In fact, I think that the grammar they taught in the book was actually more difficult than what the SAT required: I shed tears over the grammar section when cramming, but I breezed through the writing portion when I took the actual test, so I think the level of difficulty is a good thing. The only problem I had was that in the part about the essay, it didn't thoroughly emphasize the fact that you need clear examples in your essays, either from history, literature, current events, or personal experience. Otherwise, it helped my score to no end.

The practice tests at the end were really nice, and there were a lot of them, with thorough explanations for each answer. Two thumbs up.

I recommend it unreservedly, if only for the grammar section alone.

I am a teacher at a private high school and had used Gruber's New SAT book for a four week SAT preparation course with 28 students. All students took the March 2005 SAT and the course was in preparation for the June 2005 SAT. When we tabulated the scores for the June 2005 SAT we were thrilled that the average increase in the math was 120 points, the verbal, 100 points and the writing 110 points. Some students increased more than 600 points total. Although students were attentive in class, and although I believe I am a good teacher, I know that the students could not have achieved such great results without Gruber's book.

Before this book, my verbal scores were stuck around 630-640. After reading the Critical Reading strategies in this book, for about 2 days, my score soared to the low 700s, and now, I just have to take a lot of practice to get it up to 800. This book really is remarkable, totally different from the typical Barrons or Princeton Review.

Great preparation, amazing list of vocabulary, fabulous verbal preparation. I've been tutoring for a while and just bought this book to add to "the arsenal". The practice exams are a tad difficult, which could be a good and bad thing. However, I've noticed that several (not just a few!) math questions in the practice exams in the back of the book are incorrect in that either the answer choice does not appear in the choices or there are two correct choices for one question. I'm glad the book was able to educate my students enough so that they pointed out these errors, though.

As a student weary of exhausting every possible publication on SAT test prep books, I felt compelled to share the bliss of stumbling upon "Gruber's Complete Preparation for the New SAT." Unlike (shockingly many) other books which dedicate a chapter to the structure of the new SAT and then merely list obvious and self-explanatory "strategies," this fine book is a culmination of everything truly preparatory for the dreaded test most of us can't help but feel ever so unprepared for. Dr. Gruber's unique and extremely helpful strategies, endless resources for any weakness, and true-to-the original practice tests are certainly a blessing to the high school student. In regards to the breadth and quality of material offered, the difference between "Gruber's" and other publications is quite astonishing. Indeed, only "Gruber's" deserves the highest recommendation in SAT preparation.

I purchased this book, and trust me its worth every dollar spent on it. It is well informed, easy to understand and i am very positive that with this books help i will clear the SAT with the high expectations I have.

Hello, I am a local tutor and think this is the best book for the SAT and I even use this for students trying to learn critical thinking skills. I highly recommend!!!

Most of this book is incredible. In math, for example, the author has 101 very technical questions, to pinpoint what you need to learn in material, and then covers the techniques of the questions, which is what the SAT tests, mostly. I have no trouble believing that his book will actually raise your IQ. His section on the critical reading section is also great, with him including important lating and greek roots, prefixes and suffixes in addition to a long list of english words, an idea which is so brilliant that I wonder why nobody else does that.
I'm only giving it 3 stars, however, due to two major flaws. One is that the writing section is obviously tacked on to the rest of the book. His 14 questions that are supposedly the elite questions for determining if you can get into top colleges (basically, questions with a trick to them, without which they're extremely hard), consist of 7 math and 7 critical reading. Writing appears almost solely in the five full practice tests, and in a handful of questions in the chapter on the writing test (questions which effectively comprise the writing test chapter).
Furthermore, the questions are easy. I got 14/14 on the elite questions - this whilst doing them in my head. Flipping through the practice tests, I could do the toughest math questions in my end easily.