Barron's SAT (Book only)

The only circumstance under which I would recommend primarily using the Kaplan book instead is if you are scoring below 1100 on your initial practice tests... In this case, the Kaplan book will probably help you more, as it covers some general strategies that will help you get your score up into the 1300 range, strategies which this book neglects in favor of more sophisticated material.

As always, you'll only get as much out of it as you put in: so use the book regularly, supplement it with outside reading if you have trouble with the verbal section and with extensive problem solving if you have trouble with the math section. But that said, this book provides an excellent foundation for your studies and I highly recommend it.


This is the best review book of any kind I ever used!!   May 22, 1999
 34 out of 37 found this review helpful

This book is incredible. I studied with it all spring and took the SAT I on May 1. My scores were 290 points higher than on my PSAT!!!The best part of the book are all the strategies for solving the math problems. Using them, I was able to answer at least 10 or 15 questions that I would have otherwise had to leave out.The practice tests are really good. They are just like the real thing, so doing them is really good practice. If anything, they are slightly harder, so the real one I took in May seemed easier.I would recommend this book to anyone high school student who will be taking the SAT I. My younger brother is in 9th grade and he just started to read it.


Helpful but has a few weaknesses   January 27, 2002
 34 out of 36 found this review helpful

Barron's HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE SAT I is a fairly decent all-in-one guide for tackling the USA's standard college-entrance examination. It discusses what the SAT I is and how best to study for it, gives test-taking strategies to exploit the test's grading system, and spends several hundred pages giving the student the verbal and mathematical skills necessary to face the test. At the end are seven full-length model exams. I used this guide to take the SAT I and scored 600 on the math section and 780 on the verbal, for a combined score of 1380.

I've always been pretty good at verbal concepts so I didn't make use of that section of the book, but as math has always been difficult for me, I spend several weeks on the mathematics section. The Barron's guide breaks down the SAT I's math expectations into 12 units, each concentrating on a different mathematical concept. Each section of each unit is followed by a short test involving the concept. I am happy this guide gave me the refresher on mathematics necessary to succeed in the test, but I do have my complaints. One is that the mini-tests at the end of the section are too short and don't give adequate practice. Another complaint is that for a person like myself who had been out of high school for a couple of years when he took the SAT I and had already forgotten most of high school math, the Barron's guide makes assumptions on what you already know, as I suppose most purchaser of this guide are in high school. I would have been much happier if the guide had truly started from the basics in the math section.

I was dissatisfied with the model exams. Although they are very close to the actual test, Barron's uses a different grading system, meaning that with a score for the model exams there's still no ballpark figure for how one will do on the SAT I. I would like to see the next edition of this guide use the same grading system as the actual test. If a student is shooting for, let's say, 1250, he should know how close he is to his goal.

In spite of its flaws, this is still one of the best SAT I preparation guides out there. It certainly saved this adult student who had forgotten quite a bit, and I believe that it can be trusted to raise one's score, as long as one puts in the necessary time and effort into using the guide.


Excellent   October 11, 1999
 22 out of 23 found this review helpful

This book is great for studying for the SAT. It has some good tips and advice for you to boost your score. The practices are thorough and well written. After doing my SAT I felt pretty good. However, I did find that the Math sections in the real SAT were not nearly as difficult as they were in the book. But the Verbal sections in the book were not as difficult as the ones in the real SAT. So just be careful.