|
|
The Official SAT Study Guide (Paperback)
by The College Board
| Category:
SAT guide, SAT Prep |
| Market price: ¥ 228.00
MSL price:
¥ 208.00
[ Shop incentives ]
|
| Stock:
In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
A must-have tool for a successful SAT. |
| If you want us to help you with the right titles you're looking for, or to make reading recommendations based on your needs, please contact our consultants. |
Detail |
Author |
Description |
Excerpt |
Reviews |
|
|
|
Author: The College Board
Publisher: College Board; Package edition
Pub. in: October, 2004
ISBN: 0874477182
Pages: 889
Measurements: 11.1 x 8.2 x 2 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA00611
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0874477184
|
|
Rate this product:
|
|
- Awards & Credential -
The #1 Bestseller ranking #77 in books on Amazon.com as of January 11, 2007. |
|
- MSL Picks -
The Official SAT Study Guide is the standard for SAT preparation. This book is written by the College Board and ETS, the companies that administer and author the SAT. So the problems found in this book are as close to real questions as we have right now. The Official SAT Study Guide is the follow-up to "10 Real SATs". "10 Real SATs" was the standard for preparation for the old SAT. Now with the New SAT, College Board released a new book, The Official SAT Study Guide.
The Official SAT Study Guide consists of two main parts. The first 300 pages consist of introductions to the test, sections and question types as well as some test-taking hints (the hints should not be confused with strategies, since they are so basic in nature). This part of The Official SAT Study Guide is largely useless. It may serve as a good introduction to the SAT, but it falls far short of providing any real strategies.
The second half of the book is where the Gold lies: 8 full-length exams. Each exam closely mirrors real SAT exams and even has an accurate answer sheet to bubble in the answers. Students have almost universally praised these exams as the most accurate to the real SAT. Also, all 8 of the full exams are in the book, not on some superfluous CD as in many other books.
This book, however, is not without its flaws. We will only list one of the major flaws here, but if you would like to see the full list please venture over to CEEAE dot org. The most significant flaw in The Official SAT Study Guide is that there are no explanations provided to any of the exams. We were surprised by this since so many students, tutors and counselors complained about the lack of explanations in "10 Real SATs". We just figured that the College Board would have included explanations in their most recent release, but unfortunately they have yet to do so. Perhaps the next edition will be accompanied by explanations.
(From quoting CEEAE)
Target readers:
All SAT takers and would be takers, and SAT teachers.
|
|
The College Board is a national nonprofit membership association whose mission is to prepare, inspire, and connect students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the association is composed of more than 4,300 schools, colleges, universities, and other educational organizations. Each year, the College Board serves over three million students and their parents, 23,000 high schools, and 3,500 colleges through major programs and services in college admissions, guidance, assessment, financial aid, enrollment, and teaching and learning.
|
|
From Publisher
The Official SAT Study Guide is the only book that features official SAT practice tests created by the test maker. With 900 pages and 21 chapters, its packed with everything students need to get ready for the test. Students increase their familiarity with the SAT through eight official SAT practice tests, with estimated score reporting detailed descriptions of the SAT math, critical reading, and writing sections practice essay questions, along with sample essays and annotations targeted practice questions for each SAT question type a review of key math concepts test-taking approaches and Keep in Mind suggestions that underscore important points free online score reports and sample essays for the books eight practice tests at www.collegeboard.com Theres also a complete chapter on the PSAT/NMSQT.
|
| View all 7 comments |
A. Biderman (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
I got this book about a month before I took the SAT Reasoning test for the first time. The only other material I used was the material on the SparkNotes website.
I thought practice tests in this book was extremely helpful and dead-on accurate. However, I barely paid any attention to the other things in the book because they were pretty useless and were mostly things that have already drilled in our brains. I didn't subtract a star for this because I felt that the essay examples and the practice tests were excellent.
Honestly, get the book, but don't just rely on SAT prep material or you won't do well. I learned a lot in preparation, yes, but I feel that reading for hours daily has really been what got me a good score on the critical reading section. I took the skills to EVERYTHING I read, not just during school. For the Writing section, same thing. For example, my problem is sentence variation so I made a conscious effort to switch things up in my daily writing (IMs, email, etc). And if you have not taken the SAT yet, realize that the math section does not involve hard math. It's the ability to quickly solve logic problems and trick questions in 25 minutes. You're better off timing yourself on math work rather than obsessing over formulas.
|
TestMagic (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
Official materials are always the most important for the SAT, and this is currently the only source available for authentic SAT questions. The questions and essay topics contained in this book give a nice overview of what an SAT-taker will see on test day, so it would be wise to complete and review as many questions as you can in this book.
This book is about 890 pages long. Approximately 380 pages are devoted to test preparation material at the beginning, and the remaining 510 pages or so contain the actual eight practice tests. Most people rightly focus their energy on the practice tests in this book, as they are the most important.
The first part of the book, the test preparation section, offers a good enough review, but it lacks the candor found in books not written by the publisher of the test. The review section has overviews of the SAT, the Critical Reading Section (which used to be called the Reading Comprehension Section), the Writing Section (which was introduced in March of 2005), and the Math Section. The review of the Reading Section is okay, but truth be told, it's very difficult to coach SAT reading in a book--there's really no substitute for having a live teacher help you with the reading. The review of the Writing Section gives an overview of the grammar tested, but it doesn't even begin to touch on the range of grammar rules and usage `tendencies' that you would need to know to ace the SAT. The sample essays, however, are extremely helpful. Be sure to read through ALL of them to make sure you understand what the SAT is looking for in the scoring. Finally, the Math Review section has a nice overview of general math, but if you're having difficulty on the harder math questions on the SAT, you'll probably need to turn elsewhere for help, as I don't think there's enough emphasis given to the hard math questions in this book.
This book, however, has two important shortcomings. First, it does not contain any explanations, so if you've missed any of the questions, you won't be able to check this book for explanations. College Board offers access to explanations, but at a cost. Many other websites also offer explanations, as well. Second, the tests do not give an estimate of your score; rather, they give a score range. For example, you might take a test and find out that on one section your score range is 480 to 560. Of course it's always better to have a single number, not a range.
All in all, the single most important book currently available.
|
Martin Zaraninov (MSL quote) , USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
The Official Study Guide offers the most up-to-date material that can be found on the real SAT. The questions are realistic, and the 8 practice tests are all clevery crafted and resemble the actual reasoning test so much that i found myself wondering whether they were practice or actual tests!!! The scoring guidelines are easy and clear to follow, and unlike other SAT preparation books, they are correct and reflect the real scoring methods; in other words you will find that your actual scores are not so much different from your practice scores with the Study Guide! Before i took my SATs i purchased more than 8 books from various publishers, such as Kaplan, and The Princeton Review, but none of them matched the quality nor the level of the material presented in this blue book...I discovered that most of the other books were rushed, had spelling mistakes, and errors in the answer keys, which combined with the faulty score ranges, provided for an unrealistic and sometimes even impossible scores! The Sat Study Guide is also valuable with the fact that it combines bulletproof tested strategies, and working methods for tackling the different sections of the test! It provides real sample questions and short practice sections, as well as actual essays for refference. When i say real and working, i mean that the methods suggested by the Study Guide are efficient, clever, and yet they leave enough room for each section to be dealt with within the timed requirements (for example - one of the other books i purchased suggested that a full 10minutes whould be spent planning the essay, with additional 2 minutes at the end for proofreading, leaving only 13 minutes to write "the perfect" essay, which is unrealistic and frankly quite impossible!!!) This book is a treasure for any serious SAT test-taker! It helped me achieve scores in the 94th percentile, with one of my sections being in the 99th! It is a must-have for every High School Junior, and thus i rate it with 5 stars, and reccommend it without reservations!
|
A reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
Upon first glance, the questions in the practice tests are not as difficult to solve as the ones on the actual SAT and do not have explanations for the answers given. Other books published by Kaplan, Barrons, and the Princeton Review have questions that test your skills more and their practice tests have explanations for the answers to each problem.
Moreover, the Official Study Guide lacks a vocabulary list of the most common words found on the actual SAT. It would be better to purchase a book with a vocabulary list and perhaps even vocabulary flashcards for your personal use. (You never know when you'll be stuck waiting in line for something with nothing to do). It's very important to have a vocabulary list overall because so much of the test involves knowing words and their definitions/ role in sentence structure.
Nonetheless, it's good to get a feel of what ETS and the collegeboard expects on the SAT by taking the practice tests in this book. You can catch on to some subtle nuances in the questions (for example, the word "and" often asks for synonyms in fill-in-the-blank questions). However, those nuances are not outright said and the rest of the strategies in the book are pretty mediocre. They're more like the instructions for how to take the test rather than strategies to solve problems, (from the easiest to the most difficult).
A way to get around the weaknesses of this book is to purchase or check out other SAT books from your local book store, Amazon.com, or the library. Work with the Official SAT Study Guide to get a basic understanding of the test(though some of the information offered is redundant). But browse through other books as well and read their strategies to deepen your understanding/ further develop your problem-solving skills.
In conclusion, getting the score you want on the SAT is closely associated with feeling confident on the test day. The more knowledge you have on the SAT, the more confident you'll be. So it's okay to study with many different books.
|
View all 7 comments |
|
|
|
|
