Customer Reviews

11 Practice Tests for the SAT and PSAT, 2008 (College Test Preparation)

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

 

 

If you are trying to decide between this Princeton Review book and Princeton Review's Cracking the SAT, which is very similar, my advice is to go with Cracking the SAT even though this is also a good book. I totally agree with Princeton Review's blurb that nothing prepares you better for the real SAT than taking lots of practice exams. The problem is that, with a few exceptions, these are NOT "real" SAT questions, but are instead Princeton Review questions that are similar to those on the real SAT, but not as well-written (nor as hard) as those on the actual SAT. If you want to prepare for the SAT by studying actual SAT questions, the only book that has them is the "Official SAT Study Guide," which is put out by the test's maker, the College Board. The Official SAT Study Guide features 8 complete examinations from previously administered SATs that are essentially identical to the test you will be taking.

If that were the only difference, buying the Official SAT Study Guide over the Princeton Review book would be a no-brainer. But it's not that simple. Unlike the Princeton Review, the Official SAT Study Guide does not provide explanations, but merely an answer key, which could leave you scratching your head about why the answer you picked was wrong, or how you were supposed to figure out the correct answer in the first place. You can get the College Board's "official" explanations for "free," but you have go to its website, type in a code key from inside the book, enter your answers in various and sundry boxes on the website, at which point you will finally be allowed to view the official explanations. By contrast, the Princeton Review provides explanations for all the questions right after each test, which means you don't have to go to hunting for them afterwards. Such convenience makes it much more likely that you will read the explanations, which is a very good thing.

Unfortunately, the Princeton Review answers, like the Princeton Review questions, are rarely as edifying or as helpful as those from the College Board -- -- in fact, some of them are downright confusing. So it's a trade-off. If you think you will take the trouble to go to the College Board website to get the answers, use the Official SAT Study Guide; if you have your doubts, go with Princeton Review and use their questions and answers, keeping in mind that they are occasionally murky, confusing, or even incorrect.

Personally, I feel that Princeton's own Cracking the SATs is a better book than this one because its practice drills and tips are brilliant (Joe Blog, etc), and still includes three full practice exams, even though its tests have the same problem as those in this book. (Note, however, Princeton Review's exams are superior to those of Kaplan and Barrons, which isn't saying much.) Overall, my recommendation is to buy Princeton Review's Cracking the New SAT 2008 to get the benefit of its excellent coaching advice, and then get a free copy of a genuine SAT when you register for the SAT. (Complete explanations for the practice test are also available on the college board website.) If you think you need more practice, consider buying the Official SAT Study Guide and use it with the materials provided on the College Board website. That should maximize your chances for doing the best you possibly can.

I am a professional math tutor in New Jersey, as well as a former High School math teacher. I found this book to be excellent practice for the SAT. Taking practice tests is essential to get a sense of time management during the test.

I also liked the answer key. It does more than list the correct answer, it explains how to get the answer. I found it quite useful and use it professionally.

I have not been pleased with this resource. I feel the tests are too dissimilar from actual SAT tests. I would recommend buying the book by the College Board over this book, as it better prepares students for the SAT by providing tests which seem to be much more representative of the real SAT.

I took the SAT in October and decided to take it again in May.

The first time I took the test I used the College Board's "Official SAT Book." I found it to be very realistic and even more difficult than the real test - which I think is a good thing. The downside to the book was that when I ran into a problem I didn't know - I had to ask someone for help - because I was stuck on my own. As inconvenient as that was - I must say I was pleased when it came to test day.

When I decided to take the test in May (and needed some refreshing) I decided to get the Princeton Review book that time - because of the explanation section it had in the back. I thought this would really alleviate the hassle and annoyance of being stuck on a problem with nothing to do to help me. Unfortunately, when it came test day I felt very astounded. I felt the questions on the REAL TEST were not nearly the same as the one's from the Princeton Review. They were much harder and even unaddressed in the book. I was pretty upset about the results.

My recommendation: Go with the College Board book - it really is from the Test Makers - it really makes a difference.

I used this book along with myriad other SAT books, including; Barrons SAT prep, Barron's SAT 2400, The Sparknotes Guide the Real SAT. I found that this book was one of the more helpful ones. I was skeptical at first to buy this book, as the SAT content can get distorted when it isn't written by the actual SAT writers. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the practice tests in the book greatly resemble the real SAT tests. The answer explanations were very terse, sometimes you wouldn't be able to understand why you got the wrong answer. But that is not the case with all the answer explanations. In order to significantly improve your score, taking practice SAT tests greatly helps. Therefore, this is one of the best resources to use to improve your SAT score.

The best way for students to really learn effective test taking techniques and strategies is to do lots of practice. That's just what this book offers. With 10 complete SAT tests (the eleventh is a PSAT test), it contains more than enough practice test material for even the most dedicated student. Princeton Review has done a commendable job creating practice tests that closely mimic the actual SAT. Another useful feature is an explanation for every test question of why the correct answer is the best choice and what is wrong with the other choices.

If you only want to buy one SAT book, this isn't it - so no 5 star rating. As a supplemental workbook for a class or a book on test strategies and techniques, it is ideal. (Note: I sometimes teach and tutor for Princeton Review.)

I do tutoring for SAT Math, and this book has really good practice tests. With so many tests in the same book, there is a lot of opportunity for practice!

The 2008 edition is the exact same as the 2007 eiditon. I am extremly mad that the company could not make a new set of practice tests. If you don't have the 2007 edition, this book is good because it contains a lot of practice problems. I am still very upset though.

I took the SAT back in fall and came back with the egregious score of 1800, so I began studying. I weighed my options and picked this book. The reasons were: the explanations after every section more than suffice to understand why I missed the question; the math section is very comparable to the actual exam, using the same tricky wording and problems; also the reading selections I found quite interesting and also pretty challenging. Well in all, I came out with a 2250 on the May examination. Keep in mind, it really is just practice, I really enjoyed this book, but almost any book out there can produce the same result.

The practice exercises in this book cover a wide range of contents that are found in real SAT test. However, it does repeat many contents found in previous editions. The PSAT section doesn't seem to be necessary to be included in this book.