The Official SAT Study Guide by College Board (2004, Paperback, Package)

This review is for "The Official SAT Study Guide" ("For the March 2005 test and beyond")

I bought this book for a good price new from Amazon.com, but I was skeptical at first. I mean, the test is given by College Board ... and they wrote a guide to help you ace it???

But I've read quite a few SAT and SAT 2 help books by now and believe me: this book is one of the best out there.
I've read books by Kaplan and Princeton Review and they are LOADED with typos that a 6th grader (SERIOUSLY!!) would catch. I also have read guides by Barron's because I took a class that required the Barron's books and they also have one or two mistakes (usually the case where the answer is A and the key at the back of the book says its C but goes on to explain why A is correct).
My guess is that these companies are so in a rush to release a new THICK book every year, that editing is just on vacation?

ANYWAY, this book is boring but so is every single other SAT book. At the beginning, they have these 3 or 5 page chapters that tell you the same thing ("now remember: with math questions, make sure you read the directions ahead of time so you don't waste time on test day" NEXT Chpt: "Now remember: with reading questions, make sure you read the directions ahead...")
BUT, this book really teaches you some neat tricks but basically POUNDS you with practice, practice, and more... you know, which is the only way you can study for these tests.

MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE:
I took this test in April 2006 with very minimal studying before and NO SAT BOOKS READ. I took it again in June 2006 and GAINED about 100 points in reading and math. I dropped 10 points in writing :(
I don't know if it was the book, but I'm willing to put a heavy bet on yes.

OVERALL:
This book is well laid out with enough to keep you busy for a while (reading AND practicing). Not any typos (or at least that I can remember now that I've finished it). GREAT BOOK!

If any down side, its the constant strategy by COllege Board to take make the book seem big to those jittery parents and write some things over and over. Another bad thing is the constant ads to "Don't forget to buy the "Official SAT Online Course" and other College Board products, but they are on the sides of the book and you can just ignore them.

Hope this review helped!
-HS senior in PA