Do you want to improve your SAT Math score?
Easy.
Just look up “SAT prep” on Amazon and you will find 3,000 results.
Get more specific by searching “SAT Math prep book” instead to narrow your search
down to just 567 results.
OR, you could narrow your search down to just 3 books, each of which have been proven to
improve the SAT Math scores of hundreds of students, including myself and real-life friends
of mine, who have seen SAT Math improvements of 100, 200, even 300 points.
Hey guys, Greg Smith here, and today I am going to give you the ULTIMATE guide of SAT
Math books and other online resources.
To compile this list, I have done EXTENSIVE research.
I’ve reached out to friends and family who scored perfect 800s on their SAT Math section
and I have sifted through hundreds of College confidential forums and Amazon reviews.
I’ve also used my own experience as an SAT tutor to determine which books are most readable
and easy to self-study with.
To keep things organized, I am going to organize these books and resources into different categories.
First, I’ll discuss the best resources that you can use to find authentic practice tests,
then we’ll break down how you can best prepare for the SAT Math section, depending on your
current score.
One last thing before we get into this list-- PLEASE click that like button, because I am
putting lots of hours of work in behind the scenes, especially for researched videos like
these.
If you’re new to my channel, I post tons of college admissions related content just
like this video, and I’m also planning on doing more vlog-type videos so you guys can
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So if that's content you are interested in, please hit that like button and subscribe.
Now, let’s jump right into the ultimate guide for SAT Math prep books and materials.
I am starting off my list with practice test materials because throughout my research,
all of the 800 scoring SAT math students had one thing in common: they all took practice
tests, AUTHENTIC ones, and lots of them.
In fact, one of my high school friends who I just had lunch with last week scored a perfect
1600 on his SAT.
He told me that no prep book he ever used was more useful than continuous practice.
Using high-quality practice tests is crucial so that you can measure your progress as you
study for the SAT, and taking practice tests also gets you used to working under timed
conditions and discovering patterns in the way that the College Board structures their
questions.
Luckily the College Board offers the Official SAT Study Guide Book with 8 REAL full-length
practice exams.
If you don’t want to pay for the book, all eight exams are available online, and I have
included a link to both in the description.
Now, personally, I would just buy the book for $18 because this thing is THICK, so if
you're going to print out all eight practice exams, you're probably going to waste more
than $18 in ink and paper.
But the choice is up to you, I've listed both links in the description.
Side note: If you plan on buying any of the books that I mention in this video, I’d
really appreciate it if you used the links provided in the video description.
These links will bring you directly to the Amazon page for the book that I am describing,
so you know that you’re buying the right book.
Also, when you use my links to order your books, I get a small commission that actually
helps me to buy stuff such as the camera equipment, it just really supports me a lot at no extra
cost to you, so please use those links.
Now, if you’ve burned through those 8 SAT practice tests, luckily for you, there are
some online resources you can use to get even more authentic College Board practice problems.
Sign up for a free account with Khan Academy to get some real SAT questions.
And finally, if you’ve exhausted all eight practice tests and Khan academy, I would argue
that studying using pre-2016 authentic SAT problems is probably more useful than using
up-to-date Princeton Review, Barron's fake practice test problems.
I’ve included link to the old official SAT study guide, which includes 10 authentic practice
tests for the old SAT.
One other amazing, FREE resource that you can use as you’re working your way through
these authentic practice test is the website 1600.io.
Basically, this website contains hundreds of detailed video breakdowns of real SAT problems.
Whether you’re uncomfortable with the material that a question covers, want to learn how
to solve it more quickly, or simply don't know how to start, using these video breakdowns
as you study is incredibly useful to your understanding and to improving your score.
Some of the packages on 1600.io cost money, but if you sign up for an account using the
link in the description, you can get detailed answer explanations for Official SAT tests
#1 through 4 100% for FREE.
Shoutout to my brother Chris for telling me about this incredible resource!
Now, we’re going to discuss the books you will need to best prepare for the SAT Math
section.
There are HUNDREDS, if not THOUSANDS of options here, but I’ve effectively boiled this down
to just THREE books that you need, depending on your score level.
Oh, and by the way-- which SAT video would you like to see next?
A prep book review for reading and writing?
My complete list of SAT math tips?
Whatever you guys want, just comment in the description, and I will deliver.
First, we’re going to talk about the best SAT prep book option for students who are
currently scoring below the 600 range.
If you’re currently scoring in this range, the easiest way for you to improve your SAT
score past the 600 mark, even into the 700s, is to fully understand the material being
tested.
I went on a search for the SAT Math Prep Book with the easiest to understand, most complete
content explanations.
I wanted to find a book that you could buy, pick up, and just teach yourself the fundamentals
of algebra and geometry with.
And guys, I’ve found it.
If you need a brush up on the content of the SAT Math section, I highly recommend that
you get your hands on the Kaplan SAT Math Prep textbook.
This book has a whopping 4.9 out of 5 stars on Amazon, and at just $11.50, is the cheapest
option on this list.
While this Kaplan textbook does not teach you a lot of the time-saving tricks and strategies
that a lot of other prep books do, it does have the most complete and easy to understand
content explanations ever.
The book breaks math concepts into individual sections, with little mini-tests that you
can use at the end to test if you really understand the material or not.
The book also does a great job of avoiding super advanced, tangential math topics that
are never really covered on the SAT Math exam.
If you’re scoring below or around 600 on the SAT Math section right now, and you're
looking for a book that will get you the most score improvement in the least amount of time,
click the link in the description and buy this book now!
It will save you hours of stress.
If you’re scoring between 600 and 700 on the SAT Math section, you have a pretty good
grasp of the material being tested.
However, you’re still being tripped up on some of the trick answers that the College
Board puts into their tests.
You might be running out of time at the end of each section or you might be unable to
solve the last few questions in each section due to their difficulty.
You aren’t aware of the many flaws inherent in a multiple choice math test, and you certainly
don’t know how to take advantage of those flaws effectively.
So, I recommend to you the PWN the SAT Math Guide.
The PWN the SAT Math guide goes through the content of the SAT math section systematically.
It doesn’t explain the material as fully or as smoothly as Kaplan does; instead it
teaches you the quickest and easiest ways to arrive at the correct solution, even if
you're not really solving the problem in a traditional way.
As the author says in the preface of the textbook,
“You need to not only learn the material, but also learn to identify opportunities to
circumvent long-way solutions with either deft calculator skills or non-mathy techniques
like plugging in numbers.”
If you study this book through and through AND supplement your practice with authentic
SAT tests, it is fully possible to arrive at a score of 800 on test day.
Read the reviews yourself if you’re not convinced-- I’ve included a link in the
video description to the PWN the SAT Math Guide.
Now, I’ve mentioned that if you use the PWN the SAT Math guide correctly, it can get
you into the high 700s and even to that highly coveted perfect math score.
But, for those of you who aren’t convinced and want to be rock-solid sure that you’re
walking out of the test center having scored an 800 in math, I have the perfect recommendation
for you.
I used this book when I was studying for the SAT Math section, and WARNING: it is OVERKILL.
The sheer amount of practice problems and extra material taught in this book would probably
be scary to 90% of the population.
But for the crazy 10%, which SAT math book do I recommend?
None other than Dr. John Chung’s SAT Math Textbook.
This book includes 60 high-level tips for the SAT Math section aimed at helping you
to eliminate answer choices easily, identify patterns in SAT math questions, and pick up
the pace without sacrificing accuracy.
The book also includes a whopping 16 full-length practice tests, which you can use to supplement
your learning (but NOT as a replacement for authentic college board tests!)
I remember that after working through Dr. Chung’s SAT Math Textbook, the authentic
College Board questions were ridiculously easy.
Warning: If you are not already consistently scoring in the 700s do NOT buy Dr. John Chung's
SAT Math book!
It will be a waste of $28 and you will be very sad.
The target audience for this book is high achievers who are already scoring well on
the SAT but want to ensure that they will get an 800 every time.
That said, if I just described you, ABSOLUTELY go buy it, this is by far the best SAT Math
prep book on the market, and I have the most updated edition of the book in this video's
description.
These books have helped me, my real-life friends and family, and hundreds of people online
to improve their SAT Math scores by hundreds of points.
But, like I mentioned earlier, buying these books is a waste of money if you're not sure
exactly how to self-study for the test.
That’s why I made THIS video which teaches you exactly how to self-study for the SAT,
step-by-step, save yourself hours of stress and watch that right now!
Oh, but before you do, just give this video a like if you haven’t already, like c’mon
man it’s just the click of a button and it costs nothing and it shows me how appreciative
you are of this content, and ALSO please subscribe if you want to encourage me to keep posting
free content for you online.
That’s it for today guys.
Peace.