Kaplan 12 Practice Tests for the SAT [Paperback]

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 up on!

Overall though, I believe this book is, at least at this point in time, the best out there for additional practice to complement the Collegeboards's Official SAT Study Guide, which is and remains the sine qua non of any successful SAT Test Preparation.

I am a student, practicing independently for the SAT. I bought this book because it had decent reviews on amazon. I have to say that this book has some terrible mistakes that can't be even called typos. I took only the first practice test, and I akready discovered grammatical errors on the verbal and writing sectios that are supposed to test on the same mistakes! Some of the answers are poorly explained and some reading passages do not (at all) adhere to the real SAT format- questioons on these passages are usually very ambiguous.

On the other side, I believe this is the best practice test SAT book on the market other than the Officail SAT Guide. If one runs out of the "real" questions, not many decent practice test options are left...

I bought this book solely because it was the only book that offered the most number of practice tests for the SAT Reasoning Test. Generally, I found the practice tests to be solid, reliable and closely resembling the real exam itself. However, I have to say that the vocabulary questions of the critical reading section are much easier than that of the real exam. The maths section is also not comprehensive enough as there seems to be a lack of polynomials and graph-transformation questions.

I was irritated by the fact that a surprising number of questions in the later practice tests were recycled from the previous tests, particularly the vocabulary and essay questions. Also, the fact that grammatical errors exist in the critical reading passages pinpoints a lack of editing on the writer's part. On the brighter side, the explanations provided together with the answers are comprehensive enough except for the sample essays which I found to be overtly simple. In fact, when I compared the sample essays with those provided at the official College Board website, I found that a grade 6 sample essay in this book would at best be awarded a grade 4 according to College Board standards.

Notwithstanding the blemishes and imperfections of this book as outlined above, I would still recommend this book as additional practice for any SAT candidate. However, one should still attempt the practice tests in the Official College Board blue book before buying this book.

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