Customer Reviews

11 Practice Tests for the New SAT and PSAT: With Free Access to Online Score Reports and More SAT Help

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

 

 

I certainly agree with what the commenter, who works for Princeton Review, says, "nothing prepares you more for the real thing than doing real problems on real exams. That's what this book offers."

The problem is that, with a few exceptions, these are NOT "real" SAT questions. They are Princeton Review exams that are similar to the SATs, but not as well-written (nor as hard) as those prepared by the pros at ETS. Plus, the explantions for the verbal answers are not terribly edifying (the math answers are OK.) Princeton's own Cracking the SATs is a better book because its practice drills and tips are brilliant (Joe Blog, etc), even though its tests have the same problem. (Note, however, they are far superior to those of Kaplan and Barrons, which isn't saying much.) Recommendation: buy Princeton Review's Cracking the New SAT 2005, and get a free copy of a genuine SAT when you register for the SAT.

I picked this up for my younger brother without reading carefully only to realize that these are Princeton Review tests which as my high school senior friends told me have a reputation for being unrealistic.

I also bought him the actual Official Guide to the New SAT which has REAL tests. The tests are quite different. Sure Princeton Review's book has the actual types of questions, but the similarities end there. Besides this, the Princeton Review book has a number of errors.

The online materials included with this book are not very helpful either. I advise that you spend your money on the real book from the Collegeboard.

In the past, I have been pleased with the Princeton Review books I have worked with. This one, on the other hand, I was disgusted by. The math section is poorly worded and full of mistakes that could throw off anyone who is paying attention. The verbal section questions are not only bafflingly ambiguous but also fail to test understanding of the most important or complex parts of reading passages. Instead, many questions call upon the test taker to interpret details in a way that makes the test taker feel like a thrid grader. Regardless of how the questions make the test taker feel, they are still difficult because of their remarkable ambiguity. The tests in this book do not get at your understanding of the important concepts. It is almost as if Princeton Review gathered a few employees and made them put together this book in about a week.

The best way to practice for the SAT is to take SAT tests. I've gone through it before. I improved my score by 150 points using the 10 Real SAT book in just a few months during 8th grade when I had to take the SAT to get into a summer camp. But those were real tests. These tests are not SAT's. They're just bad.

I'm a junior in high school, and took the first new SAT this saturday. I tried using this book to prepare before hand, but like other reviewers have said it has a ton of problems with it.
First: The short passages in this books are nothing like the new SAT. not only are they far fewer, but in the REAL SAT they're written much better, with questions that actually are possible though a rational train of thought.
The math is decent, although I felt that this book was too easy on it. There are somethings the ETS thinks of that others can't. That's what they do.
Writing was ok. The questions in this one felt harder, but I'm not sure if they were or not. The essay was very similair, but the books makes a fatal mistake. All the prompts are things involving the past and explanation of human behavior etc. The prompt on this SAT was dealing with the future. Don't just get a few books down pat and think that they'll somehow work for every essay like this books says. Make sure you have examples that work for the things above too.
Lastly: more than ever, the SAT has become a test of endurance, something that no practice test can simulate quite the same way. When you're studying, just be thinking that any problem could be the last one after already doing close to 200. It's quite hard.

The tests are excellent for general practice, and 11 of them are enough for at least 3-4 months. While the questions are not authentically from College Board, they are still better than just the SAT Preparation packet. There seems like a lot of tests(11 of them makes up about 40 hours), but just take a portion of the total and use the rest as practice drills. The extra practice is one of the the valuable parts of this book.

The additional features online are also great (and interesting). I only wish that LiveGrader, a feature you can order to have a professional score your essays, is free.

Definitely get this book if you need practice with the new SAT. While it is true that these practice tests are not written by the College Board, Princeton Review does a good job of making their tests pretty realistic. While reading up on strategies and such is helpful, I find that the best way to prepare for the SAT is to take practice tests. That's why this book is so great--10 practice SATs (the other is a practice PSAT) complete with explanations should be more than enough to get accustomed to the new SAT. Plus, it's priced very reasonably.

The only reason I gave this book four stars instead of five is because its sample essays were misleading. In reality, the essays are graded a little harder than what Princeton Review made it seem like. For example, their example of an essay that would score a 5 would probably instead only score a 4.

Other than that, though, this is a great book.

Okay so i am planning to take the new sat's around fall and i have been using this book in conjunction with another book-rocket score (which might i add is a superb book and if you get one book, that should definitely be it), but the princeton review book seems helpful so far. What I don't understand is, each time after a test it gives you a scale for converting your raw score into your subscore. But each time after a test, this scale changes. Often by a difference of 100 points! So if you were to get a 770 on the previous writing section, you would then get 670 on the next one. Sometimes when you miss more than the previous test, you would get a higher score...this is soo weird. I don't understand why they give such differing score scales because it takes the whole point away from practicing to improve your score when the scores come out inaccurate each time...I did about three tests and I noticed my score was decreasing each time...I thought I must really be messing up! But then I looked back and I'd miss less than the previous test, but got a lower score...Anyway, it's very inaccurate scoring. Another thing is that the answers sometimes give you the wrong answer in the answer column, but in explanations, they give you a different answer (which makes it frustrating). Anyway in conclusion, practice with this book BUT DON'T RELY ON IT

This book contains good practice material but some of the topics in this book (such as matrices) will never appear on the new SAT as announced by the College Board.

I've been a private SAT tutor for the last five years and have had experience with pretty much all of the major test prep books on the market. If you're prepping for the new PSAT/SAT this coming academic year, this is the book you want. With 1 practice NEW PSAT and 10 practice NEW SATs it has a TON of problems to a) become familiar with the new SAT, and b) perfect your test taking skills. While there is value in doing "drills" or "exercises," nothing prepares you more for the real thing than doing real problems on real exams. That's what this book offers and that's why I give it five stars. Good luck with the new exam!

Exactly what I needed to teach to SAT.