Anyone recommend Nielson Phu’s “The College Panda’s SAT Math: Advanced Guide and Workbook for the New SAT” and “The College Panda’s SAT Writing: Advanced Guide and Workbook for the New SAT”? There seems to be some excellent reviews about these books on Amazon, but I’m not sure if buying these rather expensive prep books will be worth it considering there are Barron books for less than $10 (with good reviews as well). TIA!
@geisel1797 Those two books are leaps and bounds ahead of the Barron’s books. Your money will be very well spent if you buy the College Panda prep books. I’m sure barrons will be better in the future, but as of now, I buy from lesser known companies.
@ZealousScholar Awesome, that’s good to know. I’ve decided to buy both books. Thanks!
Hey guys I am an international student whose native language is not English. I got 590 on CR in May without any prep (thought I could get at least 650)… I am quite upset about the result, got 94 on AP ELang, after all. Then I figured out that although I know around 70% vocabs in Barron’s 3500, I do not know some very frequently used academic/writing vocabs that almost every American knows… I bought a lot of vocab books, but they all introduce the “toughest” words for Americans, not the “best known” ones… Are there any recommendations?
I do not know if the new SAT will be having such emphasis on vocab, but studying vocab is still very helpful…
As far as Sat math goes would college papanda’s or dr Steve warner’s advance guide be better for high scorers? Both seem to be highly recommend
Have you looked at the Academic Word List (AWL)? http://www.uefap.com/vocab/select/awl.htm
It is the list of the most commonly used words in academic writing and is what I use for TOEFL students to start to broaden their vocabulary.
My daughter is just starting her SAT prep and we’re looking for a Math review book. Most of the books I’ve seen mentioned here seem to focus on practice questions and strategy, but this early in the game, she just wants to do some review of the concepts in Algebra and Geometry, since it’s been a couple of years.
She’s pretty strong in Math, so I don’t think she needs anything that’s meant for people who are struggling with the concepts. She just needs a really solid review book to go through before she takes her first practice test.
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Chung’s book did wonder for my D. Best book we ever had. She had around 740 before the book, but got into confident 800 in math in every test. For comparison, all English books provided zero (ZERO) improvement.
I Vote for Dr. Chung’s book. Big time.
I already have dr steve watners advanced difficulty book and wanted mote problems/practice tests. Should I get Dr. Jang’s, Dr. Chungs or the College Panda math practive tests?
Can anyone comment on which 3rd party books offer practice PSAT and/or SAT tests most similar to the actual new tests?
@mathyone No experience yet, but several mentioned Kallis’ rSAT book so I bought one for S19.
@mathyone IvyGlobal or IES Test Prep
Hello, I have spent far too long trying to determine what would be the best prep book for me. I’m aiming for a perfect or near perfect score. I can score 800 on the math fairly confidently, 730-770 for reading/writing, and have no experience with the SAT essay though I think writing is a strength of mine. What book would be best for that last push to 800 on reading/writing?
I’ve looked at all the general prep book reviews and the Black Book, and I’ve heard about College Panda and Erica Meltzer though they seem to be quite pricey. I considered PrepScholar, but I want something in book form focused on strategy esp. for the reading/writing sections and maybe the essay as well as some good practice questions. Thanks if any of you can help!
I’d really appreciate a response if anyone can help, or it’s fine if not - I will just buy whatever book and hope for the best 
All three books you mentioned are good. Browse them if you can (at a store or friend’s copy) and pick what you like and then devour them. The last part, doing a thorough job is more important than what books you choose.
@Zion101 I’m in a similar situation. I can score 800 in Math usually, and Verbal varies from 730-780 (Writing is fine, Reading is iffy). Does anyone have suggestions for books with accurate PRACTICE TESTS? I don’t really care about the content, but rather full-length practice tests that are authentic to CB. Thus far, outside of the blue book, practice tests have been pretty inaccurate on the material tested for at least one of the sections. Any suggestions?
@ellipticmodulo Khan Academy now has two more practice tests in addition to the four that were available before and included in the new SAT book from Collegeboard.
https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/sat/new-sat-tips-planning/new-sat-how-to-prep/a/full-length-sats-to-take-on-paper
@payn4ward @VTebooks Thank you for the responses!
@payn4ward Thank you so much! I’ll definitely keep those ready in mind.