Customer Reviews

Outsmarting the SAT

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I am a high school senior trying to increase my 700 critical reading/650 math score. I needed a prep book that would help me with math (not my favorite subject) in the limited time I have to prepare for the October exam (I only have a few hours a week to study). I was using a different prep book but then switched to Elizabeth King's book as soon as it appeared at my local bookstore. One of the reasons for switching books is because Ms. King's takes such a refreshing approach to SAT prep. So far I have found it to be an excellent prep book. It explains each concept in an easy to understand manner and contains tons of helpful hints and step-by-step explanations. I really enjoy using this book, particularly the comfortable conversational style that Ms. King utilizes--I feel like she is personally tutoring me. She also has a good sense of humor, and I can visualize what an intellectual brain she is, but with the outstanding ability to effectively communicate with her audience. Her suggestion to use her book in conjunction with the CollegeBoard's Official SAT Study Guide for the practice tests is a good one that I also highly recommend. This is not just another one of those SAT prep books, it is THE prep book!!! I understand that she is a highly sought after personal SAT tutor in New York; if I didn't live 3,000 miles from her, I would definitely hire her to personally tutor me, using her book as my text. If you're looking for a really good SAT prep book, go out and buy this one right away!

Every summer I go to the bookstores to see what's new in the SAT prep arena. I am a high school guidance counselor, and I have been preparing my students to take the SAT for several years now. Most new books are simply last year's books with new covers. Sometimes a brand new SAT book appears, but the content is "more of the same." Imagine my delight to have discovered last weekend OUTSMARTING THE SAT, by Elizabeth King. What a breath of fresh air! This is the SAT prep book I wish I could have written for my students. King has had great success as a private tutor, and in this book, she shares her insights and strategies(most of which I have never seen in other SAT prep books, and I have read every SAT prep book in print) for helping students achieve their hightest scores. OUTSMARTING THE SAT is well-written, well-researched, and well-packaged. It is not the size of the telephone book, and students can actually put it in their backpacks with room to spare! King's examples have the "feel" of actual SAT questions and answers--something that is very important to keep in mind when working your way through practice examples. Take my advice: buy this book. Let the student who DOESN'T buy this book beware!

My daughter has been using this book and has found numerous mistakes. For example: 12/3 = 6, parenthesis were omitted in an algebraic equation raised to an exponent, negative number times a negative number is a negative number, 3*12 = 48, page 167 5-3 = 2 not negative 2. This is a sampling of the mistakes.

If you are not confident in your math abilities, I would not buy this book.

Barron's, McGraw Hill, Princeton, Kaplan, the College Board`s Official SAT Study Guide, and an assortment of books that are reading specific, writing specific, or vocabulary specific. If I made a pile of all my SAT books, I'd have a pile at least two feet high. The proprietary materials of the company for which I work aren't included and might add another six inches. Despite the extent of my collection I'm always on the lookout for the epitome of SAT books, the holy grail of SAT instruction. After reading the effusively positive reviews of this book on Amazon, I thought I had reached the evasive jackpot.

Alas, despite all the hype a glitter, this is just another book to add to the pile. Like all the others, Outsmarting the SAT has attributes and foibles, and, in my opinion, is not a stand alone SAT preparation book.
I see King's book serving as a teacher's reference source or a student's supplementary text. A very able -student who's already close to his or his SAT goal possibly could glean enough advice from this book to reach his or her goal.
King's use of friendly, conversational style in her text should appeal to many readers. The use of handwritten calculations in the math section adds to the informal, personal tone.

My thoughts -
Since I'm most interested in the verbal portion of the test, I was naturally disappointed to discover that only the first 90 pages are dedicated to the reading and the writing portions of the exam. Pages 91- 319 are all math. Most of our SAT students score lower in mathematics than they do in algebra or geometry. For this reason I was happy to see the extensive review of basic mathematical concepts at the beginning of the book's math section.

Though the author explains example items in great detail, I wish there were more examples. I am also disappointed by the lack of any type of diagnostic activity and the lack of practice exercises.

Nitpicks -
The author states that an example student essay is "free of run-ons." It isn't.
In an exercise where the author is crossing out prepositional phrases (good idea, by the way) she also crosses out at least one infinitive.

The reader is told that "cases is not a sufficient pronoun." Cases is NOT a pronoun. Period.

Direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of the preposition are not differentiated. Object pronouns are called direct object pronouns.

Some of the example explanations aren't clear. I had to scratch my head at some.

In a segment about idiomatic prepositions, the examples contained as many adverbs as prepositions.

The layout of the book could be more attractive with some diversionary illustrations , highlights, or sidebars.

The math section is mostly OK, but it contains the occasional head scratching error also. It would take quite the ambitious, motivated student to read this entire math section independently.

I should add here that just about every SAT book I have read contains errors, some of them glaring. Even the venerable Official SAT Guide offers a few questionable answers. Look hard enough, and you may find an error or more in this review.

Finally - Outsmarting the SAT could be a useful and effective tool for some students. In fact, there are several tips in the verbal section that I think are quite good. I also take satisfaction that most of what Ms. King says only serves to affirm and reinforce what I've been "preaching" for years. If you don't buy the hype and hyperbole in some of the earlier reviews here, you may find Outsmarting the SAT to be satisfactory or even better.

I award this book a very generous four stars.

Most SAT books are so dry that they barely keep the student's attention for more than a couple of minutes. Ms. King's book was actually somewhat effective in engaging the reader with her commentary, but several math questions are flawed and lead the reader to question the credibility of the text. I feel that all of the 5 star reviews are from personal friends of Ms. King, as they all generically sing her praises. Again, I am not saying that it is a terrible book, but it definitely has several errors and still faces the main challenge that SAT books face - getting the student to read it. My son raised his score over 100 points in the Math section alone (from 610 to 720) by using [...] The site is very engaging and encourages students to continue studying by incentivizing them with game mechanics (earning experience points, leveling up, etc.)

After finishing grad school at Brown, I needed a bit of extra cash, so I applied to teach SAT prep at a national tutoring company. I discovered that not only did I need to retake the SAT to qualify, I needed to score in the 90th percentile. I also discovered, that, while the language and writing sections weren't a problem, I hadn't touched some of the math subjects since high school. I've found this book to be the most complete, comprehensive resource available to grasp the content and format of the SAT. Unlike other test prep books that mostly teach "tips" or "cheats" to inflate the final score, Outsmarting the SAT focuses on actual skills. Since I'm going to be studying anyway, I'd prefer to become proficient in the subjects SAT actually tests, rather than cutting corners to beat a formula.

Ms. King's explanations are thoughtful and concise, with the encouraging, conversational tone of an expert tutor. She never talks down to the reader, or succumbs to the belittling misconception that students need to be entertained with fluff to trick them into learning. I also appreciate the fact that her process of working out math problems is all handwritten, just like it would be if we were working on them together at my kitchen table.

I've been working with the book for only a few weeks, and I have yet to retake the test, but already I understand many concepts better than I did after a year of Algebra II in high school. Ms. King is simply an excellent, excellent teacher, and I'd recommend this book to anyone who needs a comprehensive review--or even a reintroduction--to any of the skills tested on the SAT.

I have a tutoring companies in AZ & CO, our test prep tutors absolutely love this book. It is written very simply, but packs a lot of punch!! It has made our tutor's life easy, as far as what to teach them, where to focus their time and energy and our students test prep scores have soared, which in turn means happy parents. I highly recommend this book and our tutors do as well. You will find that are many books to sift through for SAT Test Prep, this is the BEST one we have found, by far!

My daughter used this book to prepare for the SAT...She had scored in the low 700's on each section. After this book, she got, no kidding, an 800 on the math and an 800 on the reading. I have never even opened the book, but it seems like a manageable size. I also bought the huge college board book, but she wanted a smaller book that she could actually finish.

I'm a high school teacher in Boston and also do a lot of tutoring. Having taught for 8 years, I am pretty good at telling which books are going to help my students and which are just a waste of money. I was looking for a book for one of my tutoring clients and was pleasantly pleased with this one. I really like the fact that it isn't published by the same people who actually make the test because it seems more honest about the difficulties that students will encounter when taking the SATs.

The reason I bought it was because the way that the author wrote her tips for students. She sounded more like someone sitting across the table from a 17 year old explaining the realities they are facing when taking the SATs rather than the dry tone most of these book take. It's in a voice that teens can relate to. For example she writes, "Listen, the SAT Reading Comprehension is not a test of how well you read or what you think about things you've read--it's a test of how quickly and easily you can arrive at the same answer as the test maker." These sorts of truthful lines make reading her book much more compelling than the average prep book. The book is organized in very well thought out sections that seem like little tutoring sessions rather than the millions of unexplained practice problems in most books. I wish I could find a similar prep book to recommend to my AP kids for the US exam.

Albert Einstein is noted as saying, "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." Elizabeth King understands the SAT, and OUTSMARTING THE SAT is the only book I have seen that truly breaks down the entire test by section, subsections and question types,and scoring scales. King explains it, and explains it simply and straightforward.

Elizabeth King is a private tutor (and one of the best), and I while know most of my students can not afford her services, they CAN afford her book. This is an investment every high school students from 9th to 12th grade should make. (So if you have a younger sibling, buy two copies) I have spoken to the author on numerous occasions, and her conversational tone is reassuring. She walks you through the test one step at a time and breaks down each element to its bare basics, and you sense she is right there with you . This allows you to understand what is being asked and tested as well as how to study. In effect you will be OUTSMARTING THE SAT. Elizabeth King comes across as a teacher, a mentor, an older sister, who knows what she is talking about and is letting you in on the secrets her experiences have taught her.

Now let's get real...buying this book WILL NOT improve your SAT scores, USING the book will. If you read the book and follow the tips and strategies you will improve your SAT scores. The study tips and vocabulary learning tips are worth the price alone. I hope Ms King decides to write another book just on studying and learning for high school students, there are many skills which are no longer taught in schools.