Customer Reviews

The Official SAT Study Guide, 2nd edition

5 star:		(61)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

I am a private math tutor and author of the Math Study Guide for the SAT, ACT and SAT Subject Tests: 2012 Edition. I gave this book five stars because it has the best collection of practice tests. However I found some errors:

pg 618. The answer to problem 6-14 is 5, not 6.

pg 641. Problem 13 should be c(x)=((600x-200)/x)+k.

pg 680. Decimal points are missing from problems 4-15 and 4-17.

pg 804. The decimal point is missing from problem 3-9.

pg 866. The answer to problem 7-17 is B, not C.

UPDATE AS OF JANUARY, 2011: There have been at least three printings of this book. In the first printing, there were no indications of any errors. The second printing had a list of errors printed on yellow paper which was inserted into the book. The third printing has corrected the errors, has no insert, and says "Updated!" on the cover. Your particular copy of the book may be from any of these printings.

It's been a few years since I wrote my original review for the earlier edition of this book. Back then, I was a student taking the exam in order to get into college. However as a tutor I have taken the exam multiple times since I applied to college, gotten a few more 2300+ scores, and now pass on my knowledge to the next generation of students vying for competitive college admissions. The first thing I tell my students to do is to buy the Official SAT Study guide. It's simply the best. Why?

Well, first off, let me start with the changes to this new edition. It now has 10 practice tests, three of which are recycled from the new administration (now that they've given enough tests to disclose them) and seven from the original book. So I'll say now that it may not be a good idea to buy this if you have the older edition, but this newer edition is much more useful since there are three *real* exams. Other than that, it's pretty much the same as the old book.

The review sections are divided into three categories: critical reading, math, and writing. The reading section isn't all that helpful. A few obvious test taking tips and some practice passages with explained answers. Good for a warmup, but not much else. The math section, the most substantial in the book, is pretty useful. It contains most of the facts from middle schoool/early high school math that you've likely forgotten by the time you're a junior or a senior. It also has some sample problems to show you the kind of "out of the box" thinking you'll have to do: SAT math isn't a factual recall or "plug 'n chug" exam, but the section does give you the facts you need to survive. And finally the writing section. The review section has a lot of information, including good writing habits as well as a set of grammar rules.

The review sections, as I've mentioned, have good sets of review problems (that do NOT overlap with th practice tests) that will get you used to the *type* of questions, but it is the practice tests that will take you from small sprints to the longer marathon. Each practice test is comprised of real questions or questions of real-standard (mostly recycled from 10 Real SATs -- the predecessor to the first blue book). I usually suggest to my students to do two or three exams untimed but continuously, two exams in pieces (do individual sections timed), and the rest under real, pressured conditions (in a library or other quiet place preferably). Not only does this get the student used to the format, but it will get the student to try to devise ways to make his or her thinking more efficient and suitable for the exam.

The College Board, when it says the SAT can't be prepped for, is telling a half-truth. No, you can't prepare for it by cramming lots of facts, but you can prepare through practice, and in that practice your SAT skills don't just go up, but your ability to handle academic situations. Your thinking becomes clearer.

So I wholeheartedly reccomend this second edition of the Official SAT Study Guide. It's more useful than its predecessor because it has more tests and more accurate tests, and if used effectively can be the single best tool to prepare for the SAT.

Good luck and best of luck with college admissions. Don't see the SAT as an obstacle; see it as an opportunity to show what you can do.

I've been teaching the SAT verbal portion for a good 6 or 7 years, and when I saw that the College Board finally had a new edition out, I was delighted. I've running out of good materials for my students, and using College Board is really the best prep, since the CB writes the test. However, I was really disappointed when I got this book. They've added 3 tests at the beginning that are taken from October 2006, January 2007 and May 2007 - definitely a benefit if you don't have access to copies of original tests. But the rest of the book just uses the same tests from the original 2005 version, with very slight changes in some of the critical reading questions (changes that were much needed, I think). If you're going to buy this book as you begin your study process, this will help you understand how the test thinks. But if you are buying this to supplement the 2005 version, be aware that you're only getting 3 new tests. You be the judge of whether that's worth your money.

I opened this book in great anticipation, and what I found was a yellow ERRATA page listing all the errors in this book: Two full pages of errors! I do not have the time to go to every specified page to correct every error before I use this book. College Board (CB) should be ashamed to sell this edition. This book should be given out free of charge, as DEFECTIVE material. There are content errors and editorial errors. For your information, the previous edition and this new edition have 7 tests in common (that is, 7 tests from the previous edition are reprinted in this new edition), and the errors occur in these 7 reprinted tests. The CB did not make these errors in the previous edition. It is hard to believe how CB people could "produce" so many errors--on tests they were able to print without errors the first time around. The 3 newly added tests do not seem to contain any errors; but I am not sure yet. I am quite upset. The company should proof-read, edit, and reprint this edition before selling it. I begin to question CB's intentions.

I am a professional SAT tutor in San Diego with nearly 10 years of full-time experience, so I was excited to see that the College Board has finally released a new edition of this book.

The last 7 out of 10 tests in this book are taken directly from the 1st edition of the Official SAT Study Guide. The new tests (first 3 tests in the book) are a welcome addition, especially since they provide actual scores in the conversion tables, instead of just score ranges.

However, the College Board should have included more than 3 new tests in this book. In the last year alone, they have administered 21 separate "live" versions of the SAT, all of them scaled accurately. So why not pack this book full of completely new versions of the SAT, with accurate score tables to boot?

Furthermore, there is a glaring (and embarrassing for the College Board) error at the end of the book. The answer key for test #10 is the wrong key, and in that answer key, there are two sections labeled as section 6.

All in all, this book is still worth the cost, despite its flaws. It continues to be the most essential SAT preparation book on the market.

Don't bother with practice tests from Kaplan, Barrons, etc. The tests in this book are created with the same secret set of rules as are actual SAT tests, so the tests in this book are far better for practicing with.

Only complaint is that there are a few typos.

50 hours with this book increased my score from 2130 to 2330. That's an increase from the 97.2nd percentile to the 99.8th percentile, from 1/35 rarity to 1/500 rarity. That increase really speaks for itself about how much this book helped me. Easily worth the money and time.

I have always believed in that old adage, "an old exam is better than brains." How true! Here is the lowdown on the official SAT study guide:
First: You can ignore all of the introductory material. If you have to read it, you are in trouble already.
Second: Take the first test first. Score it. Now you know what you need to do.
Third: Underline all the words you don't know in the test that you just took. Learn them now.
Four: Take the second test. Score it. Repeat step three.

The key to this guide is to do each and every practice test if time permits. You will become increasingly familiar with the format and style of the questions. For the verbal questions, keep writing down the words that you don't know. For the math questions, figure out what to do on the questions that you missed. When the real SAT comes, you will find that the math questions are all the same, but with different numbers. The verbal questions are all the same, simply with different reading passages. For 20 bucks, you have just significantly raised your score. And isn't that what it is all about?

There is good, bad and ugly in this book.

The Good: This is the ONLY book you should use to study for this test. The book contains actual tests from the past, which is the best material to use if you are going to prepare for a test. I have been teaching SAT prep for 20 years and I know what I am talking about.

The Bad: If you own the first edition of this book, you are going to get ripped off by buying this one. It contains many of the same tests. This is a case where 7 + 7 does not equal 14. There are repeat tests; shame on the College Board. They have access to about 50 old tests, so why repeat tests? One answer: GREED !

The Ugly: How the heck do you include so many ERRORS in one book? Who proofread this book, Stevie Wonder? Shame on the college board. All you need to do is check out the yellow page in the front of the book - it contains all the correct answers (and in some cases, the correct questions).

This book is very similar to the 1st edition, this 2nd edition is just a simple revision of the 1st edition, nothing much new except some new tests, it is still missing explanation of the answers to the test, tho it does say you can get explanation of the answers off their site.
It is a great book to get familiar with the SAT, but remember this book does not teach you how to solve the problems on the SAT, this book just help you understand how the SAT is like by giving you practice tests and tips. The main benefit of this book is knowing how the SAT works, and knowing what is on the SAT.
You get tips, practice tests, and the answer key to all 10 tests with this book.

You can further your studies by exploring what you don't understand in this book and finding explanation or similar type questions by researching them online or from other prep/text books.

My reason for a 4 star is that it does not fully prepare you for the SAT, it just gives tips on what is on the test and a couple of practice tests. (no explanation on the tests answers, you can't be prepare if you don't know how to solve the questions, but you can research them online.)


amazon shipping was not too satisfactory, my book was slightly bent due to the box being to tight and small, this does not effect my ratings toward this book tho.

The College Board's books are excellent sources of practice tests, but that's it. Get your theory down cold using other sources, then practice it with this text.

I've taught SAT prep for 4 years, and the McGraw Hill SAT guide by Christopher Black is the one I've come to rely on for all my private clients. You get tear-out flash cards, vocab lists that include root study, logic-based testing techniques without gimmicks, and the best essay prep method I've seen.