What workbooks to use for SAT prep?

Test Preparation SAT Preparation
1

Currently I am a freshman, and I am aiming to take the SAT in my sophomore year in December. I am a little lost on which workbooks are good practice and are the most similar to the actual SAT test. Can you give me some recommendations on which workbooks to buy?

2

Unless your timed practice tests score 1600, don’t take until junior year; there is zero benefit in taking earlier.

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3

Hi there! From my personal experience, I would NOT recommend buying workbooks. I bought Princeton Review and Barron’s but neither of them helped very much. What I did use to study was an online platform call Khan Academy. They have completely free SAT resources that adjust to what you need to work on most, and it helped raise my EBRW score (where I was weakest) 100 points.

Just thought I’d throw that out there before you sink ~$40 on prep books :slight_smile:

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4

I 100% agree. I would use Khan Academy.

5

I can’t speak for which one is “the” best, or whether “any” is needed. My feeling is, that there are many different learners and studying styles, and the different structures of different workbooks will probably suit one or the other better.

In the case of my daughter, she went to Barnes & Nobles, sat on the floor in the aisle full of SAT and ACT study books for half an hour, and tried to get a sense which one seemed to “speak” to her.

In her case, she picked the Princeton Review, with the section reviews and practice tests and it worked out well enough for her, so when 4 years later she was prepping for the GRE, she went back to the same publisher.

She was always more a “read” than a “watch” learner, so she preferred working through a book, planning her weekly schedule by placing post-it notes, and writing herself notes. For others, an online course might work equally well.

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6

I would recommend Khan Academy as well or another online program because I think that the online programs are more interactive and keep you accountable to your work.

7

However, if you are the kind of person who would keep up with their studying, I would recommend the Princeton Review book.