Hi,
I’m going to be taking the SAT II Math Level 2 subject test this coming year and am in the process of ordering review books for all of my AP/PSAT/SAT subject courses! Any recommendations as to which prep book to use, ways to study for it, etc?
Thank you so much! Any help would be greatly appreciated 
Barron’s and Dr. Chungs. Questions tend to be harder than the actual test but those are the gold standard for Math 2 review books.
Some people also recommend Khan Academy videos.
My son did the four practice tests in the CB Official Study Guide for Math 2 and scored all in the low 800s.
Hope that’s enough for him to get 800 on the real thing.
I think my kid took one practice test the day before and that was it. Theoretically if you take the test in May or June of the year you are taking PreCalc, you should already be 100% ready to get an 800.
My kid used the Benjamin Huh book and got an 800 first try. (Took precalc two years before taking the test.) The curve is very generous on the SAT2 M2 - you can usually get 4 to 6 questions wrong and still get an 800. Good luck!
@Hamurtle ok thank you! by gold standard, do you mean most people (almost everyone) use it? i know I’ll probably buy Barron’s, but is Dr. Chung’s book essential for a high grade?
@ProfessorPlum168 thanks!! i’ll be sure to take practice tests, but the thing is, i’ll be taking AP Calc AB this year, so I’ll probably lose some of my precalc/alg II/geometry knowledge 
@SatchelSF Wow!! Thanks for the info! I’ll look into that book
@StevenToCollege Good luck to him!! Yeah, some people told me to get the official CB study guide/book…still debating between that and Barron’s and PR.
I would get the Barron’s review along with the College Board book. If you do want to splurge, get the Dr. Chungs book, although the questions tend to be way harder than Barron’s.
Book - Barron’s
Online platform - Diagknowstics
I first ordered barrons and used it but while taking the practice test I consistently scored in medium 700s. I suggest you use barrons as it prepares you a lot and one month before the test get the official college board book and do the practices. I believe I got 750s in barrons, 790s in college boards, and 800 is the real test.
@Hamurtle thank you so much!! will definitely look into that book. (I’m taking the test in a few months)
@s31415 thanks! I got Barron’s and will check out Diagknowstics
@Pizza27 oh wow, that’s amazing! Yeah, I heard that Barron’s tests are always a tiny bit harder than the real thing. Thanks for the insight!
I’ve found the Barron’s tests are typically 40 score points harder than the College Board prep and actual tests.
Back when it was called the math level 2 achievement test, preparation consisted of doing well in the precalculus/trigonometry course in high school (public school where about a third of graduates back then went to four year colleges). That was sufficient to score 800 without additional preparation.
The problem is that pre-calc courses cover various topics, and the Math 2 test has questions on all of them, assuming there will be a few topics you have seen so allowing 4-5 wrong answers for an 800. To be well prepared, I think it helps to study those extra topics to give yourself some margin for error.
My D goes to a well-respected HS, but her pre-calc class hadn’t covered matrices, vectors, or parametric equations, all of which are in the scope of the test. We spent about 3 hours learning the basics of those topics (Barron’s and Khan) and she was well prepared. The questions on those topics aren’t difficult - calculating the determinant of a 2x2 is trivial if you’ve learned it, but it might as well be Greek if you haven’t.
My kid did no prep and took it in Dec of the year she was in Calc AB and got a 790. Probably would have hit 800 with some prep but with OP also taking it in fall while in AB I would not sweat the prep too much.
That’s effectively 3 months after the end of Precalc, I assume, so not that far out. End of course is typically the best time to take it, but sometimes there are conflicts. Mine took it in May and was one of two students taking them, as opposed to the dozens who will be there in June
(fwiw, OP is actually taking it at the end of the AB year, not the fall)
My daughter took it in May after Calc BC as a sophomore and regretted not studying at all. She scored a 730ish and will be retaking. It wasn’t that she had forgotten the middle school material as much as it took her a bit more time to remember and then she ended up time crunched, which isn’t typically a problem for her. I’d definitely recommend anyone taking a year after Pre-Calc to prep a bit just to refresh your memory.
@RichInPitt actually it was in Dec of Junior year, a year and half after finishing precalc in freshman year.