<p>I'm looking for the best possible prep book for possibly all three parts (math, reading, writing). My neighbor gave me his big Kaplan SAT Math prep book, and I've looked at it a couple times, although math is my strongest point on the SAT. What book(s) should I get to increase my scores in all three areas? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>-stef1a</p>
<p>College Board’s Blue Book, 2nd edition. Hands down.</p>
<p>For 4 years of tutoring over 150 students, I’ve used the McGraw Hill SAT guide by Christopher Black. It has vocab with roots, tear-out flash cards, a great reading list, and the best essay prep methods I’ve seen. The downside is that the publisher seems to let the same typos slip through year after year! McGraw is a bit harder than the Blue Book, but practicing with harder material makes the test not so bad. Use the Blue Book for extra practice.</p>
<p>–Tom</p>
<p>^do not listen to this guy. He is just an advertiser. The best book is the blue book (“The Official SAT Study Guide”)–either edition would work fine. But edition 2 is the latest version. It is the best because it is written by the College Board, which is the same company that makes the SAT. It is the standard. Any other book (Mcgill, Barron’s, Kaplan, Princeton Review, etc.) should be “extra practice.”</p>
<p>If you go with the Blue Book, then either spend the extra 20 bucks for the detailed explanations of the College Board answers online, or allow time for hunting down explanations in a forum such as this one. The Blue Book does have the most realistic questions, but with only ABCDE answer guides, it can not, by itself tell you WHY an answer is right or wrong. The McGraw Hill guide does explain that. However, as I tell my students, the SAT doesn’t care HOW you get to an answer, and there are often several correct methods.</p>
<p>BTW, it’s “McGraw.” “McGill” is a well-respected university in Quebec. That’s in Canada – the big area above the United States on those map-thingies we used to use back in the day.</p>
<p>Actually, the complete and detailed solutions to all College Board Blue Book tests can be found on the College Board website for free IF you own the Blue Book. The website asks you to enter in a number found on a certain page in the Blue Book to verify that you are actually a book owner and then you are given free access to complete “how to work the problem” for each question on all ten tests (2nd edition). Pretty neat.</p>
<p>Thanks for pointing that out. My head was still stuck in the old edition. The link is <a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>www.collegeboard.com/SATstudyguide</a>.</p>
<p>I recommend the Official SAT study guide as well. I purchased the Princeton Review book too, but I found myself using the Official SAT guide a lot more.</p>
<p>All of the SAT prep books really won’t help. Since the books can’t use any old SAT questions, they make up their own. The problem is the math questions aren’t realistic. The SATs tests reasoning, not actual math. I only use college board test prep books since they make the SAT. You’re wasting your time if you use other test prep books by other companies (ie Mcgraw, Princeton review)</p>
<p>I haven’t looked at any other books yet, but ^^^^^^ PR’s really helped me out on just knowing things for SAT (first timer even thinking about SAT). Most of it was obvious, but a lot of it actually helped quite a bit.</p>
<p>Wait @ Southmom- I have the 2nd edition and when I enter it in, it just gives me an online sheet. How do I get access to the explanations?</p>
<p>Only book you should use is the College Board Blue Book 2nd Ed. All other books (Barrons, McGraw-Hill, PR, Kaplans etc.) attempt to “mimic” ETS questions whereas the Blue Book IS ETS questions. For vocabulary, purchase Direct Hits 2010 Volumes I & II. Memorizing just those 400 words will usually cover most of the vocab on any given test.</p>
<p>How do I get access to the answer explanations in the College Board Blue Book 2nd edition? I have it and I logged in but it just gives me the correct answers.</p>
<p>Girlrockingguna: Go to [Welcome</a> to the Official SAT Study Guide Book Owner’s Area](<a href=“College Board - SAT, AP, College Search and Admission Tools”>SAT Study Guide – SAT Suite | College Board) to get complete answer explanations.</p>
<p>Thanks, guys. I got the Official SAT Study Guide (second edition by College Board). :)</p>