Barron's SAT (Book only)

This is the first SAT prep book with a sense of humor that I've ever run into. The grammar section is full of silly examples that add life to what is far too often a dry subject, and some of the wrong answers in the multiple choice sections are pretty funny, though you have to pay close attention to notice those.

The verbal sections are great. The book provides clear, specific explanations for each answer. The glossary in the middle of the book also defines EVERY word used in the sentence completion practice tests.

I am very thankful to have purchased this book - it has helped me a ton! My first score on the SAT was a 2080. I used Barron's to study for my second SAT. Today, my score is 2250 - that's a 170 point score improvement for a score that was already excellent.

Pros:
--The book explains certain "tactics". These "tactics" are like strategies for test taking and for each individual subject. Some of them are common sense, but many of them - especially in the math portion - are incredibly helpful.
--The book stresses guessing. There's an entire chapter devoted to why students should guess on the SAT. I was one of those students that would omit a question rather than risk a quarter point reduction. This book had some eye-opening, cold, hard statistics to show why students should guess.
--The math is pretty straight forward and well-divided. I had McGraw-Hill's SAT 2009 for the first SAT. The math was strong, but it was not nearly as relevant as Barron's. Barron's didn't even bother to teach students what types of math you'll see on the SAT; it gives students just enough background information as well as test-taking strategies.
--The practice tests are realistic in both scoring and content. I'm not sure whether or not Barron's used SAT licensed questions, but you probably wouldn't know, either way.

Cons:
--The vocabulary section is useless. It's one massive list of words. There are hundreds of words. The pull out vocabulary cards are kind of useful, but the entire vocabulary section did not seem to stress vocabulary in context or word parts.
--The writing section was comprehensive and helpful, but I very much preferred McGraw-Hill's in-depth, worksheet method for writing.

My suggestion is that if you need to raise your overall score, your math score, and your critical reading score, you'll love Barron's. On the other hand, if you are focusing on your writing score or you need to work on your vocabulary, you won't find Barron's as helpful.

It has been a month and I still have not recieved this product in the mail, or at all.

i wouldn't have thought this book would do me such good. It explained everything in details and gave extremely helpful tips for taking the SAT. i just took it today and it seemed very easy from the learning process of this book. Very thorough in explaining. It is definitely a must have if you're about to take the SAT.

A very helpful book. Gives the student tools that are helpful to improve the knowledge needed to do well on the SAT.