Barron's SAT (Book only)

The first book will help you too much with vocabulary even though I think that 3000 words are too much too memorize but you'll be able to study from the most important words selection if you don't have enough time. It also have flashcards to play if you want.

It is a good book to prepare you for the math section (with every topic you'll have to cover), so I don't think you will have problems with that in the exam if you take a carefully review of the explanation and do all the math problems to practice, It's definitely good at this, the best I think.

The problem is the reading part of the test, this book won't help you, thats why you have to study from the 10 real sat's book it will give some important advices and it have more difficult tests in this section.

The second book is good but not enough, the 10 real SAT's will help you very much, but in my opinion it's the only good thing it has besides the reading part explanations.

The first book has 7 test to improve yourself, I recomend to do one every week, it also have an answer sheet that will explain how to solve every problem and will tell you which chapter you have to study harder.

Please don't buy every book you find, you wont cover all of them. These are the only two books you need, I guarantee you a good score.


Excellent! if u want to score 1500   June 14, 2003
 20 out of 24 found this review helpful

perfect preparation for sat. i got a 1090 in my pre-sat and a 1100 in my 1st SAT. after that i got this book and memorize 3500 vocabs in two and a half months ( trust me if u study everyday it's not hard at all, plus DO NOT get intimidated...alot of the vocabs and it's definition are redundant - what i mean is alot of the definition itself is a vocab in the vocab section ) even i did poorly on the reading, i got a 1380 on the second SAT with a 95 percent on analogies. I'm pretty sure i could get a 1500 or above if i have time to do the reading excercise in the book but i don't. Also the Math section is awesome. i improve my Math score from 660 to 790. now i get into the college that i want. TRUST ME. there is method to increase ur SAT score. all u need is 2 or three months of dedication and pain. also, after knowing the 3500 vocabs from the barron SAT, the analogy section in the college graduate test GRE is simply a piece of cake. SAT is noth but a simple "problem" u just need the "right" formula to solve it. when people show how proud they are with their 1500 SAT... i tell all of u... it's all BS's. they just found the trick and keep it to themselves. By the way, DO NOT get princeton or other books...i looked up many...they are simply useless. rememeber i improve my math from 660 to a 790 and from a 15 precent analogy to a 95 percent. yea i did poorly on reading coz i only got 2 months left for my second SAT and i don't have time to "solve" the "trick" in the reading section. if u know vocab well analogy section is simply "mechanical" which requires no thinking even the dumbest guy in the world could get the points if he knows the vocab. SAT is nth. I hate SAT we all do, but now i've lightened u up witha way to destroy it. i'm pretty stupid by the way...if i can do it. u can.


Incredibly Helpful!   July 18, 2000
 17 out of 19 found this review helpful

This is the first time I ever used a review book and felt like it really, really helped. Two of my friends who were seniors this year told me they had used it in a course and their instructor had told them it was the best book available. So I tried it. But I used it on my own; I didn't take a course of any kind. Incredible--my SAT scores this May were 330 points higher than my PSAT score. Of course, I was thrilled. The whole book was good---tactics, review, and practice tests--but what I really found amazing were the math tactics. I am NOT a great math student in school, but I learned tricks to do problems that I never would have gotten on my own. My PSAT math score: 470. My SAT math score: 690. You do the math on that one! The book also really helped with my vocab. If you are serious about getting into college and want to really do well on the SAT, GET THIS BOOK!


Barron's SAT + 6 months study = top score   December 2, 2002
 16 out of 16 found this review helpful

For those high school seniors who think that they can get a high score on the SAT based mostly on their smarts and a few weeks review are in for a rude awakening. Let's face it. The SAT is a culturally biased exam that favors those lucky enough to live in a middle to upper-class home with both parents providing private schooling and wide reading exposure. Given that even moderately selective colleges require a 1,000 plus SAT, it just makes sense for a tester to maximize his exposure to SAT related concepts. The BARRON's HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE SAT I does a very thorough job of that. What is generally not known to test hopefuls is that the SAT not only tests on previously learned skills like vocabulary, reading speed, and math formulae, it also tests on how one may intuitively choose from a variety of approaches, all of which point to the answer, but only one of which does so faster than the others. The Barron's staff writers spend many pages on explaining how to get the answer and how to choose the fastest way to get it. What I found particularly useful was the math section that explained how to overcome the SAT trick questions with methods that ETS cannot prohibit. Simply knowing that one may overcome the prohibition against rulers by using one's answer sheet as a ruler will boost your math score by a considerable margin. The sections on reading comprehension, antonyms, and sentence completion cover material in both depth and quantity in ways not covered by other texts. In order for the test hopeful to gain maximum benefit from the text, I suggest a minimum of 6 months of 1-2 hours per day, 7 days a week, to digest the massive practice and tips that lie within its nearly 800 pages. The vocabulary section alone is a daunting 3,000 words long so every day of that 6 months should be used. I am a high school teacher and I use the Barron's SAT in my class on a regular basis for both SAT and non-SAT related matters. If you are serious about getting into a good college, you had also better get serious about getting ready to get into that good college. This book will do that.


Excellent Book but, I found quite a few mistakes   February 26, 2000
 13 out of 17 found this review helpful

Don't get me wrong, this book is EXTREMELY helpful. It is a bit harder than the real SAT, it has TONS of practice and great strategies. I haven't taken the SATs yet, but I'm sure I'll see results. The only problem, though is that in going through almost every math problem in the book (it's got QUITE A FEW in chapter 12) I must have found about 10 typos/mistakes. This amount is probably 1-2% of the problems, so no biggy. I still regard this book as the best all-purpose SAT guide around.