Book Review: 10 Real SATs

College Admissions Book Review:

10 Real SATs (2nd Edition), by The College Board

Paperback - 681 pages (August 2000), published by The College Entrance Examination Board; ISBN: 0874476542

There's an old song lyric that goes, "Ain't nothin' like the real thing, baby." Well, if you're planning to prepare to take the SAT I, you can get your hands on the real thing with this book. As the name trumpets, 10 Real SATs is just that and a little more. In addition to getting 10 honest-to-goodness, College Board-certified SATs upon which to practice (two new SATs from 2000 have been added in this edition), you'll find strategies to approach each type of test question. That's good news, especially for those of us who have struggled through those nasty critical reading passages.

As for a classic SAT-prep strategy, however, you might want to consider using 10 Real SATs in conjunction with a separate test-prep book such as The Princeton Review's Cracking the SAT (ISBN: 0375756221), perhaps the benchmark in SAT test-prep books. The advantage of having a separate book devoted to SAT strategies is that more emphasis can be focused on how to unlock the secrets behind the questions. There are other SAT-prep books on the market, but if sales success and longevity are any indicators of value and effectiveness, the Princeton Review book stands alone at the top. At a bare minimum, though, 10 Real SATs is a must for anyone looking to increase his or her performance on the SAT I.

-Reviewed by Dave Berry