Gruber's Complete SAT Guide 2009 (Gruber's Complete SAT Guide -12th Edition)

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description

More Than 7 Million Gruber Books Sold!

"The best book on the SAT" -CBS Radio
"Gary Gruber is the leading expert on the SAT" -Houston Chronicle
"Gary Gruber is the most prominent guru of SAT preparation." -Chicago Tribune
"His methods make the questions seem amazingly simple to solve." -Library Journal
"Dr. Gruber knows the ins and outs of the SAT." -Los Angeles Times

Get the Skills That Unlock the Answers

With the explanation to a question, you can answer that one question. With the Gruber strategies, you can answer thousands of questions! These strategies show you how to think about problems best, and can be used consistently on every SAT test.

The Fastest, Easiest Way to Improve Your Score

Features the Exclusive Gruber System That has Raised Actual SAT Scores by More than 600 Points!
Unique Diagnostic Test Shows You Why You Got Questions Wrong-And How to Correct It
Tips of Writing a High-Scoring Essay
Inside Info on How SAT Questions Are Created
Student-Praised Writing, Vocab, Math and Reading Sections
5 Full-Length SAT Practice Tests with complete explanatory answers keyed to the Gruber strategies and basic skills

Effective Study Tools That Are Actually Fun

101 Most Important Math Questions You Need to Know
The World's Shortest SAT Test (16 Questions)
The 291 Most Important SAT Words
Proven Strategies for Solving Questions Quickly
Tons of Practice SAT Questions, with Every Answer Keyed to the Gruber Strategies and Basic Skills
The Gruber Prefixes and Roots that can give you the meaning of more than 150,000 words

Use the Most Trusted Methods

More schools use Dr. Gruber's books for SAT courses than any other SAT books.
PBS chose Dr. Gruber to train teachers nationally to improve the nation's SAT scores.
National learning centers, state agencies and state education departments have contracted with Dr. Gruber to improve SAT scores and critical thinking ability.

Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

Gruber's New SAT February 17, 2005
30 out of 35 found this review helpful

I knew that the Gruber SAT books for the old SAT were great, so I purchased this book when I saw it in the bookstore. I haven't gone through it in depth, but it seems to be one of the best SAT books for the new version. It has a lot of helpful features like the "101 Most Important Math Questions You Need to Know How to Solve" and a very thorough "Math Refresher" that will definitely raise your score. The word list is great, as the definitions are very concise and easy to remember. The 5 practice tests seem to be very realistic. The grammar review is phenomenal. It goes over basically all the grammar one could possibly need to know for the SAT, and it also seems to contain some extraneous information that will be very helpful for a high school English class. For some reason, my high school teaches no grammar, so I need all the practice that I can get for the writing section. This is probably one of the best SAT books for actually learning the material. The Kaplan and Princeton Review books won't help you learn a lot, though they will provide you with a lot of practice. The three best books for the new SAT are, in my opinion, McGraw Hill's SAT I, Barron's How to Prepare for the New SAT, and this one. They are also quite thorough, and you don't need to purchase more than 1 or possibly 2 of the 3 to be well-prepared for the test. Good luck :)

5 out of 5 stars

I got 2190. I think that's pretty decent. June 15, 2006
17 out of 20 found this review helpful

It's all you need. Not cluttered like Barrons. Not vague and inaccurate like Princeton. Not full of typos and errors like Kaplan. It's nice and concise, and if you decide to study many months before the SAT, it has a comprehensive list of vocab words. The lessons are easy to understand. Watch out for the occasional typos though, like any other book. It has good practice too. My advice: PRACTICE!! Whatever you get wrong on the practice tests, check the answer explanation and learn from that. If you're still confused, go back to the lessons because they're pretty good on Grubers. Out of the books I've seen, I think Gruber's is the most dependable. Was recommended by a friend who got 1590 on old SAT.

5 out of 5 stars

An indispensable New SAT book October 4, 2005
16 out of 20 found this review helpful

I am a teacher at a private high school and had used Gruber's New SAT book for a four week SAT preparation course with 28 students. All students took the March 2005 SAT and the course was in preparation for the June 2005 SAT. When we tabulated the scores for the June 2005 SAT we were thrilled that the average increase in the math was 120 points, the verbal, 100 points and the writing 110 points. Some students increased more than 600 points total. Although students were attentive in class, and although I believe I am a good teacher, I know that the students could not have achieved such great results without Gruber's book.

5 out of 5 stars

The best SAT textbook I've used so far. February 15, 2007
8 out of 9 found this review helpful

This is not the kind of book that is mainly about strategies to get you through the test (Princeton Review's "Joe Bloggs" comes to mind, here...), so it's not recommended for last minute studying. However, when it comes to actually teaching the things that you need to know, Gruber's is really, really good.

I've had problems in the past with textbooks that are riddled with careless errors that caused significant confusion, but I can't say that I found any major errors in the book, or even any typos. What's also nice about this book is that it gives approximately equal emphasis to each of the sections- I've had books that completely ignore verbal while focusing on math, and vice versa, but Gruber's gives you a thorough grounding in everything.

1) The diagnostic section was great. The book opens with a short math and verbal diagnostic, but also had a section about "the 101 math questions that you most need to know how to solve", which was great for pinpointing lingering issues that I had.

2) Regarding the math section: It's quite thorough, with lots of handy practice questions interspersed throughout the lessons. One caveat: I didn't use this section all that much, because I had separate books that were entirely devoted to the math portion. However, I still found it to be extremely helpful when I did use it.

3) The verbal section is fine. It focuses mainly on the vocabulary portion of it, which I personally feel is unnecessary- the SAT only has a few vocab questions, and it's not really worth the time to spend hours and hours improving your vocab for a couple points. They did cover it thoroughly, though, with sample questions. I would really like to see some more sample reading passages in the next edition, but they do have tips for reading long passages in the "Strategies" section.

4) The grammatical section is the best I've seen- I haven't come across any other textbook that comes close. It's also the section that I needed most, especially since I (and most people I know) haven't been taught proper grammar since... never, really. What's nice about it is that it actually teaches you grammatical rules, including those about misplaced modifiers, dangling adjectives, etc., instead of mostly expecting you to wing it. In fact, I think that the grammar they taught in the book was actually more difficult than what the SAT required: I shed tears over the grammar section when cramming, but I breezed through the writing portion when I took the actual test, so I think the level of difficulty is a good thing. The only problem I had was that in the part about the essay, it didn't thoroughly emphasize the fact that you need clear examples in your essays, either from history, literature, current events, or personal experience. Otherwise, it helped my score to no end.

The practice tests at the end were really nice, and there were a lot of them, with thorough explanations for each answer. Two thumbs up.

I recommend it unreservedly, if only for the grammar section alone.

4 out of 5 stars

Excellent strategies, but hard tests July 15, 2008
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

I work for a tutoring company. With my employer's permission, I use this book after my students have exhausted all of my company's prep materials.

This is an excellent book for SAT tutors; a average-to-good book for students using this book as their sole source of preparation; an excellent book when used in conjunction with the SAT exams published by the College Board.

This book teaches critical thinking strategies which are essential for not only the SAT, but other examinations you will take in high school and college. I cannot recommend the strategies highly enough. Other SAT test prep books teach you tricks. The Gruber book teaches you thinking strategies which will serve you for years to come.

I will focus on the math content, as that is what I usually use this book for.

-Critical Reading Section-

The questions in the review tests are a little harder than the actual SAT. The critical thinking strategies are useful.
The vocab list is extensive, and perhaps a touch overly difficult, but it would be a good list for a student to work with if they want to do very long term preparation (12+ months plus) for this test.

-Writing Section-

The writing section is an afterthought, in terms of content review other than the practice tests. If this book ever gets revised, this is the section that needs to be beefed up. (The writing section hasn't been expanded from the 10th edition.) The practice test questions are a touch harder than the actual SAT questions.

However, this book has a section on writing the essay which would be helpful for many students. It also has a section on grammar that should be required reading for every high school student in this country. Grammar is not taught extensively in schools anymore, and this book gives you a back to basics course in the subject.

-Math Section-

Math Practice Test Questions- Unlike the SAT, the questions sometimes seem to be randomly placed within the section. An entire section can be very easy, and the next section can be brutally tough. The questions are tougher-to-much-tougher than the actual SAT. (Students using this book on their own should be made aware of that.)

Questions on the practice test are linked by a numerical code to the content review (covered below) as well as the general math strategies (covered at the start of this review). As such, they can serve as a reminder of the general math principles that the were just part of a specific test question. It's helpful if you get the question wrong, or omitted, and can even be helpful if you get the question correct.

Math Content Review- Excellent. If anything, it overprepares you for the test. It covers some areas (such as set theory, and certain geometric formulas) that are not covered on this test. This section can be a godsend if you are weak in this subject.

After each content review section, there are 50 practice questions which cover what you reviewed. These questions are much harder than what's on the test.

-Summary-

This book prepares you for a test that is more difficult than the actual SAT. But the strategies it teaches, as well as the essay review and grammar review sections mentioned in this book, are worth their weight in gold.

This book should be used in conjunction with the book of SAT exams published by the College Board. (The Official SAT Study Guide) You will likely score higher on those more realistic practice tests than the harder Gruber practice tests.

-Addendum-
The 10th and 11th editions of this book are 99.95% the same as the book under review. If you can buy a copy of those books (at what I assume would be a very inexpensive price), you are getting this book.

This book has been "revised" by slapping a new cover on it and printing the year 2009 on the cover (as opposed to 2008 for the 11th edition.)

(This is logical to do from a business perspective but it is worth mentioning, anyway.)

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