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　　The experts at The Princeton Review provide the information and strategies students need to succeed on the math, verbal, and essay sections of the SAT. This new 2011 edition offers three practice tests and exclusive access to additional review and practice questions online.

The Princeton Review Cracking the SAT 2011ed最新版

　　The math refresher is good -- it's not a math textbook in the sense that it will, in vivid detail, teach you the fundamentals of mathematics beginning with "2 + 2 = 4", but it does give you a great refresher of all the topics you (should) have learned. If you're shaky about performing basic algebra, then you don't need an SAT prep book -- you need a basic mathematics book. It also shows how these basic math tools can be applied to the SAT, by showing how to solve several "famous" or "representative" problems to give you a feel of the kinds of problems you'll likely encounter.

　　The grammar/essay sections are good, too. It goes over the fundamental errrors that you'll likely encounter without attempting to write the next great treatise in English grammar. So with the rules in here, you'll feel comfortable answering the questions on the real test. I went from a 650 (62 MC, 10E) to an 800 (80 MC, 12 E) simply by learning the rules given in this book's grammar section.

　　The best part, by far, of this book is the set of three very accurate, very SAT-ish practice tests. They're slightly more difficult than what you'll encounter on the SAT, but not by any significant margin. The math questions are sufficiently convoluted in wording and the content is great. The passages are of SAT level and the questions are very much in the flavor of the test. The writing/grammar questions are also superb -- any error that you can find on the real test, you'll find in this book on these practice tests. So, all in all, good practice that will demystify the content/format/questions on the test.

　　Now, for the bad:

　　Firstly, the reading comprehensions "tips and strategies" are just god-awful. This book explicitly states to "not read the passage and just skim it for the gist". Are you kidding me? That's how you miss out on big points on the reading comprehensions, especially the tone/overall meaning/theme questions. In fact, I was so naive as to follow their advice and got a lower score than I'd deserved (the first time I tried their method and scored 680CR, but when I retook and read through the passages without skimming, I scored a 760.) It's for this that I dock a star -- the section's called "critical reading", not "skim through and hunt for factoids which will invariably be out of context".

　　The book also doesn't have enough practice tests. The SAT is very much like any intellectual or artistic pursuit -- one's skill is directly proportional to the amount of practice that one has. And if you're using this book as your sole source of preparation, the three tests, while well designed, will run out quickly, and you'll very soon need to buy some more. For this, you can either buy PR's 11 practice tests or the Official SAT Study Guide which has 8 tests created by the ETS (guys who write the SAT). In this case, I'd go with the Official Guide -- no test can be as accurate as one written by the guys at the ETS. Not a huge downfall, especially since most people won't take that many tests, but it's nonetheless a caveat for those aiming for relatively high scores.

　　All in all, a very light and fairly entertaining read that will get you familiar with the SAT and help you raise your score. But if you're really serious, you're going to need to pair this with another book to provide an alternate perspective (I'd reccomend Barron's), as well as with the (New) Official Guide for practice tests.

　　读者评价：

　　I borrowed this book from the library just for the practice tests. Unfortunately, the Princeton Review's idea of what the SAT should cover bears little resemblance to the actual SAT. The reading comprehension on the test I did had the reference line numbers in the questions consistently off by 5. The math section tested for memorization of facts, such as the definition of a function and specific rules of triangles, in a way that one might expect to see on a subject test but is completely out of tune with the pure logic-based approach of the general SAT. The essay prompts were questionable at best and nonsensical at worst. Some of the answers for reading comprehension and grammar were just objectively wrong.

　　This book is misleading, poorly edited, and just frustrating. If you've never studied for a standardized test before, you might find the test-taking tips useful. If you're a bit more advanced or are looking for realistic practice tests, give this book a pass.

　　The first time I took the SAT in January (with no reviewing), I received a score of 1660 (1140). I was not content with this score, so I decided to take it again in an attempt to earn some merit scholarship money. I bought the Princeton Review book and studied (not just looked over, but actually took the time to do the activities) it rigorously throughout each chapter. I focused primarily on the Critical Reading/Vocabulary sections since that score was 100 points lower than my Math score. I brought the book to class with me and in my free time, I would crack it open and continue to work. I did not even get a chance to work on the practice sections because of time constraints (I bought the book two weeks before I was supposed to take the test). I guess you could consider it cramming, but with solid time put into the practice activities, my confidence and abilities increased immensely. I only got a chance to skim over the math sections, though. I just received my test scores a few days ago from the November test date and they are a true tribute to this Princeton Review SAT book. My math score went up 100 points, my critical reading score went up 70 points, and my writing score went up 80 points, making it a total point increase of 250. My final score turned out to be a 1910 (1310).