SAT Prep Black Book: The Most Effective SAT Strategies Ever Published
H**I
Black Book Cracks the (SAT) Code!
I have been a fan of the Barrett brothers’ SAT and ACT Black Books for years (the first version came out in 2013). As a veteran test prep tutor, I buy many books – not only books to provide extra practice to my students, but also books to understand these standardized tests as deeply and thoroughly as possible. The Black Book quickly became one of only a few resources in my career that has truly transformed my approach to coaching students pursuing their personal best scores. This latest version – updated for the new digital SAT by Patrick Barrett – is no different. For the motivated student doing self-prep and for the educator or test prep professional seeking full test mastery, this book is simply gold.Barrett examines the test and how to prepare for it from every possible angle: The ‘Big Secrets’ of the SAT, The Importance of Details, Setting the Right Goals, How to Train for the SAT, Guessing and Time Management, Always Consider Every Answer Choice, and What to Do When it Looks Like There Might be Two Right Answers are among the many topics he tackles in just the first 10% of the book. He follows these gems with specific training and tools for the Reading, Writing, and Math sections. And, famously, Barrett then provides explicit and detailed walk-throughs of both individual problems and all the provided answer choices (that’s literally hundreds of questions!) from the first four officially released tests, demonstrating the concepts he describes earlier.I can’t say enough about the depth of insight the SAT Black Book provides. I unequivocally recommend it.EDITED TO ADD: This book received a single low review, which said that this book had a lot of "fluff," among other comments. The reviewer states that he has been tutoring for 10 years. Interestingly, in checking out his other reviews, I noticed that he likewise slams three other books that I consider strong resources (by Nielson Phu, Richard Corn, and the 1600.io team). And then, SURPRISE, the only top reviews are for two books written by the same people. Suspicious – especially since, in those lone five star reviews, he writes as if he were a student who got "a perfect 800 on my SAT!" and claims that “My math score has already improved 7 points!” from using the books. So, he’s an experienced tutor when he wants to attack a book, but a highschooler when he wants to promote one? Fishy.
B**H
Great book
Great book with lots of tips and strategies. Here's the info you need to keep your sanity in check while trying to find the actual practice tests: PAGE 17, FIRST PARAGRAPH. The walkthroughs of the 4 sample tests are explained really well in the book. But again, you are reading the answers and explanation. It won't help you if you don't have the actual test questions. That's what you got on page 17 (well the link for these).You are welcome :)
M**Z
Highly recommend
I’m a math and SAT/ACT tutor and this book is a game changer for the English and pretty decent for the math.
M**D
Good SAT book
Happy with this book. Very useful advice but you will need to purchase additional practice
G**Z
A thorough review if you pace yourself
Daughter received a PERFECT PSAT score 8 weeks after studying this book over the summer. Pretty sure this will earn her National Merit status That’s the best review of an product ever!It is kind of scary when you flip through it for the first time. It’s thick and information – dense. It’s probably best to use this book over the summer to prepare for fall standardized test that way they can break it up into smaller chunks otherwise it’s overwhelming.
C**K
Comprehensive, logical, and surprisingly easy to read for a test prep book.
This is the first SAT prep resource I've seen that actually seems to make sense. The author explains the design of the test, all based on the standards that the College Board uses to create the test in the first place. Once you understand those standards, it gets a lot easier to notice which answer choices are right or wrong.The reading training starts out with an overview for the rules that all the SAT Reading questions have to follow, then it goes on explain little differences for using that training against specific kinds of reading questions.The writing training includes a grammar review of all the grammar concepts that appear on the test, which is helpful because a lot of kids never learn that stuff in school. Then it explains how to use those rules to answer real SAT questions.The math training is similar, because it includes a math review of the concepts that appear on the test, then explains how the SAT tests those math concepts. The book does a good job of explaining how math questions on the SAT are different from math questions on a normal test.The best part of the book is the walkthroughs. The training is helpful, but it can be hard to apply it on your own without examples. There are hundreds of walkthroughs for 4 real SAT tests where the author shows how to use the ideas in the training to answer those practice questions. This is the part where you really start to understand how the test works and how it's just the same few things over and over again.I like this book because it covers everything you need to know. Some people like to get a bunch of SAT prep books but this one seems like it covers everything on the test, and I'd rather just use one book. I definitely recommend this book because it makes the test a lot less intimidating.
M**L
The strategies really work.
This ended up being really useful. It was confusing at first because the book doesn't contain any practice questions, but you can just get those questions online using the links in the book.When you use them to follow along with the walkthroughs in the book, it really helps make the training click.
A**R
Buy for the strategy but not for the tests.
The beginning is fine for strategy but the tests don't seem to align well and the mos of the book was useless.
Trustpilot
2 months ago
2 weeks ago