Customer Reviews

PSAT / NMSQT -- The Best Coaching and Study Course for the PSAT & NMSQT (SAT PSAT ACT (College Admission) Prep)

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

 

 

This book is an excellent preparation for the PSAT. It actually gives you a good guide to the verbal section (in my mind the hardest part ofthe PSAT), something all those other books lack. As good as or even better than the Barron's book. Get this book if you're serious.

Last fall I used this book to study for the PSAT. I found it to be of minimal value. There were loads of mistakes and the practice tests did not accurately reflect the actual exam in level of difficulty. Friends of mine who have the same grades that I do used other books and did much better than I did. I can't totally blame the book, but I did work hard and don't feel that this book helped much at all. I would definitely recommend that you try something else

With all due respect to the reviewer 'princessbuddercup "homeschool mom"' ... her seemingly objective assessment is simply not correct.

Admittedly, question 7 requires some very critical thinking to distinguish the correct "best" answer from incorrect "good" answers. Nonetheless, the PSAT and the SAT both have questions that are just as difficult as question 7. Many think these questions are not fair because they have "trick" answers to fool the test-takers into selecting an incorrect answer. But the purpose of the book and the sample tests contained within is to prepare students not for a fair test, but for the actual test.

It is ironic to see a book that teaches critical thinking (among other skills) given a "negative" review by someone who unfortunately did not exercise the very critical thinking the book teaches.

It is even more ironic that the "negative" review above is what convinced me to purchase this guide sight-unseen via Amazon for my son. I've seen the attitude expressed by the above reviewer before, and it has always been evidence of a lack of critical thinking. (Hopefully some other guide will help her high school student do well on the test.)

This book is the best preparation guide for the PSAT. Its advantages: -Excellent Writing Skills review: A very comprehensive review of English grammar and American Standard Usage, focusing on parallel structure, tense problems, punctuation, and other aspects of grammar. -Hard Practice Tests. Actually, the 3 practice tests are harder than the real PSAT (though I only took the real test once). For example, the practice tests have an entire extra reading article for Section 3 verbal, which made me run out of time during the practices. However these helped me gain speed and the real PSAT without the extra passage was much easier.

The book also has some minor disadvantages: -Like most other books on SAT/PSAT preparation, the verbal preparation sections are not very useful. For example, it describes the reading portion of the PSAT, but does not really help one's score. (The real best way to imporve one's reading, for example, is by reading widely over a long period of time). -Math typos and missing diagrams. The typos are minor, since any insightful test-taker can prove to themselves that he/she are right (or wrong). In one of the practice tests, a diagram for a question was missing.

Overall, this is an excellent book and the only valuable source for really getting some improvements on the PSAT.

Last fall I used this book to study for the PSAT. I found it to be of minimal value. There were loads of mistakes and the practice tests did not accurately reflect the actual exam in level of difficulty. Friends of mine who have the same grades that I do used other books and did much better than I did. I can't totally blame the book, but I did work hard and don't feel that this book helped much at all. I would definitely recommend that you try something else

My nephew will be entering 10th grade this year. We started using the book this summer. It is really helping him prepare for upcoming course work as well as the PSAT. He feels the book is easy to use and has good explanations.

We found a mistake in the first section of the diagnostic test. For number 7 the question is stated incorrectly as you can see when you look at the explanation. Books like this are worthless if you can't trust that they are written correctly. This mistake was found on page 18 of a 582 page book. Who knows how many more there were but I returned it to the store as soon as we saw the first one.