Best SAT Books
One of the most common questions I receive from my readers and students is, “What is the best SAT Book/Study Guide.”
The simple answer for this is, “Whichever one gets you studying.” The fact of the matter is that any book that actually gets you to sit down and prepare for the SAT is a good book. Therefore, choosing the right SAT prep book is often a matter of personal choice. If you find the material boring or too dense, it won’t matter how good it is because you’ll never read it. So my first recommendation would be to choose a book that’s written in a style appealing to you.
The second thing you should consider is what particular sections – Critical Reading, Writing, or Math – do you need the most help with. Unfortunately, I haven’t found any single source that is excellent in all three. However, some of them have garner reputations for being particularly good with specific sections. I’ve written a brief review of some of the more popular books below based on these their reputations as well as my personal preferences. I hope you find it helpful.
1. The Official SAT Study Guide
You should know by now that this is the single best source for practice tests. The practice tests in this book are developed by the CollegeBoard, the organization that makes the real SAT tests. All other companies just try to mimic their practice tests after the ones in this book. As taking practice tests is one of the most important aspects of preparing for the SAT, everyone should have a copy of this book. If you’re struggling to understand some of the concepts, or need in-depth answer explanations, you should get one of the other study guides as a supplement to this book.
2. Princeton Review’s Cracking the SAT 2008
Cracking the SAT is a classic SAT prep book that ranks among peoples’ favorites every year.This book is particularly good at teaching the concepts and test taking strategies.
3. SparkNotes Guide to the New SAT & PSAT
This book does a good job with the Writing Sections and a pretty good job overall. I personally think this study guide is the most enjoyable to read as the writers regularly make reference to pop culture (with references to 50 cent and the likes) and infuse a little bit of humor to otherwise dull material. They deserve credit for the effort.
4. Barron’s SAT 2400
The Barron’s SAT prep materials are particularly good for advanced math students. If you’re scoring within the 700+ range on the math sections, this is the best book for additional practice as the questions in this book tend to be more difficult that the actual test problems. I’m not a fan of the Critical Reading chapters in the book, and the Writing chapters are OK. However, an added bonus to this book is that it comes with perhaps the most concise set of vocabulary flash cards. Rather than have you memorize thousands of words, the vocab cards in this book narrows it down to a list of 300 or so very common words; this would be my first source for SAT vocab.
5. Gruber’s Complete SAT Guide 2009
Dr. Gruber’s book has recently gained a reputation as a good alternative to some of the other brand name companies in the test prep industry. Many people praise this book, but personally, I haven’t grown very fond of it. It seems to provide basically the same conventional methods that you can find in any of the other books, just packaged slightly differently. Also, I find the layout of his chapters unnecessarily convoluted. We’ll see if it grows on me as I become more acquainted with it.
6. The Rocket Review Revolution
Aside from the cheesy name, this is actually a very good book. The gimmicky title is actually a bit misleading as the author of this book, Adam Robinson, is one of the most respected people in the test prep industry. He’s the one who wrote the original Cracking the SAT book for Princeton Review. Only recently did he venture off to create his own test prep company. This book is very good for Critical Reading passages; if you have difficulty with the reading passages, definitely purchase this book.
7. Kaplan SAT Premiere Program
Kaplan is perhaps the best known company in the test prep industry. While its material tends not be spectacular in any particular aspect, it’s better than average in almost all the sections of the test. Also, Kaplans software CD, which is pretty standard these days in almost every SAT prep book, tends to be slightly better than those of the other companies.
Practice Test Sources
Kaplan’s 12 Practice Tests for the SAT
Miscellaneous
Kaplan’s SAT/ACT/PSAT Platinum Edition
For those of you who are more interactive learners (i.e. don’t like to read books) there are a number of software programs that supposedly do a decent job of teaching the material. I personally don’t have much experience with them, but I know everyone has a different learning style, so it’s worth noting that there are a number of different options out there. This Kaplan program is just one of many that have recently become popular.
There are many more reviews to follow. If you’ve found any resource particularly helpful please share your insights below in the comments.
