Kaplan 12 Practice Tests for the SAT

Comprehensive and substantial questions for SAT takers!. This bool also provides a detailed explanation for each question, therefore more suitable for students who speak English as a second language.

My son got a perfect score after struggling with this book. I guess it means it is helpful.

This book is likely the best buy currently on the market to complement the Collegeboard's Official SAT Study Guide. Unlike previous KAPLAN publications on the New SAT 1, it contains a myriad of additional practice, which is strongly modeled upon the exercises of abovementioned Official Guide. In particular, the grammar-related exercises of the Writing Section show identical error patterns to those of the Official Guide, and the Sentence Completions practice is featuring the traditional SAT vocabulary without venturing out into the kind of exotic vocabulary which is so often found in other books, but which is unlikely to ever make an appearance in the real test. This apparent duplication of question types is not a bad thing. The scope of the SAT 1 is actually rather limited, and optimizing one's score often comes down to additional reliable practice, which is just what this book offers. Note that in earlier publications on the New SAT 1, KAPLAN made some serious errors in test format and content, probably as a result of a lack of initial information about the ultimate format and emphasis of the New SAT 1. This book settles at least that problem: the 12 practice examinations overall follow the official test, both in test structure (number of sections, number of questions and time allotment per section) and in test questions. A serious word of caution, though, about the Mathematics practice in this book. Whereas the authors seemed to have closely followed the patterns of the Official SAT Guide for the Writing and Reading Sections, they seemed to have ventured into unnecessary improvisation in the Mathematics Section. I find some of the exercises, particularly the ones defined as High Level, far from representative for the exercises in the real test, as it has been administered for the first time in March, May and June of this year. In particular, there's a lack of emphasis on questions related to the freshly added pre-calculus topics, such as the study of quadratic functions, and the vertical and horizontal shift of polynomial and absolute value functions. Other High Level questions are either too hard for the SAT 1 or very unlikely to appear in the New SAT 1 - in fact they are more likely SAT 2 Level 1 questions - and therefore serve no other purpose than bringing the student into a state of confusion or even panic because he is unlikely to do well on these questions. Last, but most certainly not least, the authors of the Mathematics Practice in this book, in all their diligence to come up with creative High Level problems, seem to have failed to provide them with correct and appropriate answers and explanations. I have come across multiple annoying mistakes - answers and explanations that are just plain wrong! - and an even greater amount of answer explanations which are, although factually correct, unclear at best and bound to confuse the prospective test taker. Having a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics, I think these problems need urgent follow

I've probably read every SAT book on the market at this point. I can say that in terms of sheer practice, this one is outstanding. The students that I work with say that these tests "feel" like the SAT. The Princeton Review tests are just plain awful and are either overly difficult or too easy. There's also something else that I've noticed. If you become really acquainted with the questions from the practice tests in the Offical Guide by Collegeboard, you'll notice very apparent parallels between the questions in this Kaplan book and in the Official Guide. This is especially true for the math and writing sections. Some of the writing questions in certain sections literally follow the same error pattern, just using different sentences. And the math questions just use different numbers in many cases, but the same concepts and ideas are tested. I find this to be invaluable. It gives the students a chance to continue practicing with "real" questions after we've exhausted all of the questions in the Official Guide. I highly recommended this product to practice with as close to real SAT questions as possible.

I found this book, because of the great explinations, to be better than princeton review's! The explinations, as the first reviewer said, were supurb and REALLY helped with understanding the content. The grading scale is FROM COLLEGE BOARD! While the tests are not perfect, it is well worth buying!