sat,

Hot Words for the SAT
$9.99
I am a career coach who helps young people optimally position themselves to college, grad school and employers. I am also a parent who was very proactive about seeking out and purchasing SAT books which would give my son the tools to improve his standardized test scores.

Linda Carnevale's book was a powerful vocabulary-building tool for my son. Its unqiue strength is its categorization of words in related-meaning clusters, so a student can learn a number of words that have similar meanings, but nuanced differently. I believe this fits with the way we file away words in our minds, so there is something very natural and organically effective about this approach.

My son and I worked together with this book, and it was an enjoyable way to learn. Not only did my son improve his own vocabulary skills, but I learned a great deal myself. You can't beat that! This little book is a painless, but valuable addition to a college-bound teenager's toolkit. Buy it, it's a no-brainer!

-Kris Hintz, wwww.positionu4college.com

Cracking the SAT, 2010 Edition (College Test Preparation)
$21.99
I borrowed this book from the library just for the practice tests. Unfortunately, the Princeton Review's idea of what the SAT should cover bears little resemblance to the actual SAT. The reading comprehension on the test I did had the reference line numbers in the questions consistently off by 5. The math section tested for memorization of facts, such as the definition of a function and specific rules of triangles, in a way that one might expect to see on a subject test but is completely out of tune with the pure logic-based approach of the general SAT. The essay prompts were questionable at best and nonsensical at worst. Some of the answers for reading comprehension and grammar were just objectively wrong.

This book is misleading, poorly edited, and just frustrating. If you've never studied for a standardized test before, you might find the test-taking tips useful. If you're a bit more advanced or are looking for realistic practice tests, give this book a pass.

The Official SAT Study Guide
$19.95
We ordered the older version SAT book on a rush because the class our daughter was in wasn't updated to the new text. We paid extra $$ for shipping but the book was delayed in the mail and took almost 2 weeks to arrive. The vendor we used was apologetic and though realizing they couldn't control the speed of the US Mail they refunded our shipping on the book to compensate for the time it took. Classy move. We appreciated their customer service. The book was flawless by the way.

The Official SAT Study Guide, 2nd edition
$21.99
Under the title "2nd edition" and "10 tests" I was expecting the College Board to offer us 10 new tests, after all these years that the 1st edition kept coming up. Unfortunately, the title was misleading, since only 3 new tests were added, the remaining 7 being reprints of the 7 (out of 8) tests in the 1st edition. It is really a shame.