SAT Books^*: Best on the Net

SAT Books

SAT Books relies on college students, high school advisors, online discussion groups and students who have taken the test to determine which books would be the most useful to students. All our recommended SAT books have among the best ratings on Amazon.com. In addition to what we recommend to you, please consider visiting the official website for the SAT Test.

The best Test Prep Materials are reviewed under SAT Review Books and SAT Tests below. To quickly order these books, you can purchase the best SAT books through Amazon.com (very reliable; direct links above and at the bottom of this page).

Raise Your SAT Test Scores!

All you need are 4 things to ace the Scholastic Aptitude Test: time, motivation, a solid Review, and realistic SAT Tests.

SAT Review Books

The best are: Rocket Review Revolution, Gruber's Complete SAT Guide, and Cracking the SAT (Princeton Review).  Some students have also found Barron's and Kaplan's books to be helpful. Of course The Official Study Guide by the College Board is a must read.  Depending on your personality, you may find interactive software to be helpful. 

SAT Tests

By far, the best source for practice exams is 10 Real SATs by the College Board and 11 Practice Tests by Princeton Review. Get them all! It is very important to take all real practice SATs, check your test scores, and then review your mistakes before trying another practice test.

What Are the SAT Changes?

There is a New Writing Section with multiple choice questions for both grammar and usage.  There is also an essay which all students must write.

There is a New Critical Reading Section (previously called Verbal) in which the Analogies section is eliminated.  Also, short reading passages are now added to existing long reading passages.

And finally, the Math section has now been expanded to include content from third year college prep math.  The Quantitative Comparisons Section is now eliminated.

Have the Scores Changed?

In addition, two subscores will be given for the writing section: a multiple-choice subscore on a scale of 20-80, and an essay subscore, on a scale of 2-12.

  How is the Essay Scored?

The essay will be scored by experienced and trained high school and college teachers. Each essay will be scored by two people who won't know each other's score (this is similar to the MCAT Writing Sample). They won't know your identity or school either. Each reader will give the essay a score from 1 to 6 (6 is the highest score) based on the overall quality of the essay and your demonstration of writing competence. The two scores will then be added together to arrive at your essay subscore.