How do you know which SAT prep books are good and which are terrible when there are so many to select from? We've analysed SAT books for you, so you don't have to! This newly updated guide contains our recommendations for the top 11 SAT prep books that can help you reach the results you desire.

The College Board's Official SAT Study Guide, 2021 Edition

Price: About $15 on Amazon

In previous years, the College Board's SAT guide was the most important and necessary book in their study arsenal. Now, I'm advising you to do the exact opposite—don't bother! Why? Because all of its content is available for free on the internet.

The College Board has demonstrated its commitment to transparency by making free online SAT practise tools available, which include helpful video explanations to accompany official SAT questions.

Some students and teachers were dissatisfied when they purchased The Official Study Guide book only to discover that the practise tests were identical to those available online.

Best Overall SAT Prep Book: Kallis' SAT Pattern Strategy

Price: About $30 on Amazon

Kallis' Redesigned SAT Pattern Strategy book has received rave reviews from both students and educators. This book includes six full-length practise tests, totaling approximately 24 hours of testing time.

• Kallis goes beyond the official guide's brief explanations to provide step-by-step answer explanations for each question, which are often realistic and closely mirror official test questions. These in-depth descriptions assist you in comprehending any errors and correcting them for the next time—an important method for boosting your scores.

• The book covers 101 SAT topics and provides a clear, concentrated treatment of essential concepts in grammar, literature, and mathematics. This book provides some analysis of the various question types in addition to material review, allowing you to take a more strategic approach to your preparation.

• Kallis goes over the SAT's structure, format, and themes in great depth so you know exactly what to expect on test day. This review will save you time on the SAT by eliminating the need to read any instructions and allowing you to pace yourself because you will know exactly what to expect.

Best  SAT Prep Books for Instruction, Strategy, and Practice Questions

The following SAT prep books are of good quality, however they have some severe flaws. For subject review and practise problems, the four books listed below are the finest currently accessible. Let's look at the advantages and disadvantages of each.

SAT Prep Black Book, 2nd Edition

Price: About $27 on Amazon

For its smart tactics and exam suggestions, I highly recommend SAT Prep Black Book. The SAT Black Book, as it's known, was written by Mike Barrett, who has spent time studying the test thoroughly. 

• This book is great for students who wish to learn about the SAT's structure, format, and tactics, as well as practical strategies for answering problems and saving time. Barrett customises his guidance based on your desired score, making it suitable for students of all levels.

• It includes comprehensive answer explanations for the first four official SAT practise tests. This book takes you through each question on each practise exam in depth, where the College Board fails to walk you through the steps of a practise problem or explain why other answer options are incorrect.

• It can assist you in changing your mindset when taking the SAT. You can use the book's explanations and tactics to improve your own approach and feel more secure while answering different types of questions. The Black Book is fantastic for tactics, but it's not so great for learning principles.

McGraw-Hill Education SAT Elite 2020

Price: About $30 on Amazon

McGraw-Hill Education SAT Elite 2020 is a good pick if you're seeking for a comprehensive understanding of the SAT's structure and content. This large book, which is more than 950 pages long, goes through the SAT in great detail, from the number of questions to the time constraints for each part, so you know precisely what to expect on the test.

• It includes eight full-length SAT practise tests, as well as a diagnostic exam. Five of the tests are in the book, while the other three are available online. These are all quite realistic, and each question has detailed response explanations.

• The book's practice questions are realistic and resemble official questions. Specifically, the Math questions feature real-world scenarios you'd likely see on the SAT, with problems revolving around topics such as temperature and selling tickets for a performance.

• The book is extremely strong in its presentation of SAT Math concepts. It breaks down all the major topics in detail, from expressions and linear systems to less commonly tested ideas such as geometry, basic trig, and complex numbers.

• It offers sound recommendations on how to plan out your SAT study time. Starting your preparation with a diagnostic SAT practise test and using the findings to construct your study approach is recommended in this book, as it is in our own SAT prep programme. It also contains some crucial strategies, such as improving your calculator fluency so you can tell when it will help you and when it will just slow you down.

Barron's SAT, 29th Edition

Price: $20-$25 on Amazon

Barron's SAT, 29th Edition is yet another comprehensive SAT prep book with plenty of material study, example questions, and SAT practise exams.

• The book includes four full-length practise tests as well as access to two more full-length practise tests online. This provides you with a plethora of practise possibilities. It includes a diagnostic exam, which is a useful tool for getting you acquainted with the SAT, getting you into a testing mindset, and identifying any shortcomings you'll need to address in the future.

• Barron's is a very comprehensive book that covers the majority of the SAT topics. It's usually more successful for high scorers who can engage quickly with the content and retain focus throughout because of its dense style. This SAT prep book will undoubtedly provide you with important practise if you can split and scaffold the information in a manageable manner.

The Princeton Review's Cracking the SAT, 2020 Edition

Price: About $21 on Amazon (and $38 for 2019 premium edition)

The Princeton Review's Cracking the SAT, 2020 Edition prep book, like Barron's, gives a full review of the SAT, covering fundamentals like grammatical rules and mathematical functions, as well as strategies for handling exam questions and managing your time.

• It includes four full-length practise tests and one online practise test (or, if you upgrade to the premium edition, three more online practise tests, for a total of eight practise tests!).

• The book includes detailed answer explanations for practise questions, allowing you to consider how you can approach similar issues in the future and on test day. You can score your practise tests using an online component.

All of the SAT prep books mentioned above have advantages and disadvantages. They do, however, give quite comprehensive preparation in all important areas: practise questions, topic review, and methods when used together.

You'll probably benefit from a subject-specific SAT prep book if you want to focus even more on a certain SAT section. The books listed below are my top picks for SAT Math, Reading, and Writing.

Best Books for SAT Math:

Dr. Steve Warner's 500 New SAT Math Problems

Price: About $40 on Amazon

Dr. Steve Warner's most current SAT Math preparation book is 500 New SAT Math Problems. He goes over each section of the test: Algebra I, Algebra II, Algebra III, Problem Solving and Data Analysis, and Geometry and Complex Numbers (the College Board calls this last topic Additional Topics).

• Dr. Warner provides comprehensive and clear content review and instruction, just as he did in his previous series.

• This book organises SAT math principles by difficulty, with Level 1 being the easiest and Level 5 being the most challenging. This structure guarantees that math problems from all curriculum areas are interwoven, as well as allowing you to focus on specific chapters based on your level. Level 4 and 5 topics and problems, for example, will be most beneficial to students who have already scored in the 700s. 

• Each lesson in this book has been meticulously planned, and the practise problems are realistic, aiding in the reinforcement of your comprehension.

• The explanations for the answers are clear and include a variety of problem-solving methodologies. As previously said, these kinds of multidimensional explanations appeal to many types of learners and assist you to thoroughly grasp and correct your errors for the future.

Dr. Jang's SAT 800 Math Workbook New Edition

Price: About $25 on Amazon

Dr. Jang's SAT 800 Math Workbook for the New SAT, 2019 Edition is an excellent (and big) math prep book to add to your SAT book collection, with more than 400 pages. 

• The sheer number of math practise questions in this book—over 1,500!—is by far its most astounding strength. You can schedule yourself and answer practise questions for days on end, so it definitely provides for a "learning by doing" approach. 
• question types are organised by difficulty level, you can split them up and tailor your math practise to your specific needs. Start with Dr. Jang's diagnostic test and work your way through the book's ten sample tests as you prepare.

•         The SAT math problems created by Dr. Jang are often realistic representations of what you'll see on the exam. The book focuses on algebra and incorporates basic trigonometry, with questions divided between non-calculator and calculator portions (just like the actual SAT does). It also gives you a good idea of the concepts, format, and rules you'll see on the SAT Math part.

PWN The SAT: Math Guide, 4th Edition

Price: About $28 on Amazon

PWN the SAT is aimed for high-achieving, motivated students who want to achieve the highest possible SAT Math score. Techniques, Heart of Algebra, Passport to Advanced Math, Problem Solving and Data Analysis, and Additional Topics in Math are the five main sections of the book. To teach you the principles tested on the SAT Math, each category is split down into its component concepts.

• It contains realistic practise math problems, both with and without a calculator, to help you prepare for both types of questions. Each chapter also has a collection of official questions of a specific type to aid in the practise of key abilities.

• You can sign up for supplementary materials and see video answer explanations that lead you through the practise problems step by step on the PWN SAT website.

Best Books for SAT Reading and Writing:

The Critical Reader: The Complete Guide to SAT Reading, 3rd Edition

Price: About $33 on Amazon

While breaking down the SAT Reading section into separate pieces may seem difficult, Erica Meltzer's Complete Guide to SAT Reading does a fantastic job of explaining the skills you'll need.

• It provides useful ways for responding to queries. The SAT Reading part, unlike your English class, does not allow for subjective interpretation. This book will assist you in finding the one and only correct answer to reading comprehension questions.
• This book teaches you how to seek and identify vital information quickly and efficiently, in addition to time management and reading comprehension strategies. It teaches you how to tackle paired supporting evidence and data interpretation questions, which often need you to examine tables or graphs.
• It includes a list of common, multiple-meaning words with their numerous definitions, as well as ways for determining the meanings of words and phrases using context clues.

The Critical Reader: The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar, 4th Edition

Price: About $30 on Amazon

The Ultimate SAT Guide by Erica Meltzer Grammatical explains the most important grammar rules you'll need to know for the SAT Writing section and performs an excellent job of familiarising you with how the section will appear and the kind of questions you'll be asked on test day.

• The questions are realistic and similar to the ones seen on the SAT Writing section. They're all linked to the context of a broader passage, just like the SAT questions.

• It dissects important skills and grammar rules so that you can learn them separately. You'll be able to apply grammar and usage principles to practise problems once you've learned them. Meltzer's book will teach you all the guidelines you need to know to earn a decent SAT Writing score, rather than just picking an answer that sounds right.

Key Tips for Studying With SAT Prep Books:

When it comes to studying for the SAT from books, there are numerous possibilities. Rather than reading them cover to cover, you should devise a strategy and split each book down into smaller, more manageable chunks.

• To give yourself a pre-test and get a feel of your beginning level, or baseline score, I recommend using an official College Board practise test. Score it using the answer key, and then evaluate your findings to see what parts of the test you should focus on throughout your preparation.

• You could even save one of the tests to take immediately before the official SAT so you can see how far you've progressed. As previously said, the other tests can be utilised as checkpoints along the road to assess your progress and, if necessary, change your study strategy.

• A general book like Kallis' or Barron's could be used in conjunction with a subject-specific book like Steve Warner's Math book or Erica Meltzer's Reading and Writing guides. To get the most out of your learning, you can pick how much time to commit to each subject based on your goals and needs.

• There's plenty of room here to tailor your study strategy to your specific strengths, weaknesses, and objectives. To actually stay to your strategy, you'll need a lot of forethought and self-discipline. You'll also benefit from considering what works best for you in terms of remembering information, being organised, and maintaining interest.

• If all of this sounds like a lot of "study prep" before you even start on your test prep, you might want to look into SAT prep choices other than using a SAT book list.