There are numerous "Best SAT Books" lists available, however, we believe that most of them aren't particularly excellent or detailed.

As a result, I've attempted to develop a much more comprehensive guide here.

In this post, you'll learn which books are essential for SAT prep, which books can help you improve your specific section scores, and which books you'll need if you want to get a high score.

More significantly, you'll discover how to study effectively with these SAT prep books.

What's Better About This Guide to the Best SAT Books?

Because your SAT score is vital for college applications and you'll most likely spend a significant amount of time studying for the exam, you must get the appropriate counsel.

If you take bad advice, it will most likely be too late to raise your SAT score by the time you realize it.

Before choosing your SAT prep strategy, you should ideally vet any advice you receive (including ours).

Before you begin reading each article in your investigation, ask yourself, "Why should I trust this individual online giving me SAT advice?"

That question is answered right here. Here are some of the reasons why this SAT prep books guide is superior to others available online:

• I go into detail on why various SAT books are good and what drawbacks they have. Many of these prep books are newer or less well-known, and so aren't as prominently advertised as books from more popular corporations with larger marketing budgets. Most other SAT book guides simply list a few titles without providing context, but we provide you with every crucial piece of information you need to know before purchasing a book.

• I feel it is critical to identify your shortcomings and where you need to prepare. I'll recommend SAT books for specialized section preparation as well as books for low and high-scorers. Other guides presume that all students are the same, yet we cater to a wide range of test-takers.

• I am not compensated for recommending these SAT books over others. I'm not acquainted with any of these authors. In actuality, I've read dozens of SAT prep books, and these are the ones I'd use if I were studying for the exam. Other websites, like about.com and reviews.com, are paid to change their ranks or receive payments from publishers for mentioning their prep materials.

• I like to think I understand what I'm talking about. I received two flawless SAT scores and have assisted thousands of students in preparing for the SAT. I've worked with test takers of all skill levels, from those who scored about 800 to those aiming for 1530+. Other writers lack the skills required to distinguish between good and bad SAT books, and they end up recommending books as an afterthought.

One important disclaimer: I feel we've produced the best SAT prep articles and resources available.

It assesses your strengths and weaknesses and gives you an organized all-in-one guide, incorporating the best features of the SAT books below so you can know exactly what to study at any moment in your practice.

I want to emphasize that you do not need to enroll in a prep program to perform well on the SAT. If you decide you don't need a program, after all, writing this article may cost us some consumers.

If you don't want to manage 10 books and would rather have an integrated curriculum tailored to your learning style, check out our SAT prep program right now.

In either case, if you're serious about SAT prep, keep reading.

Who Is This SAT Prep Books Guide For?

First and foremost, this guide is intended for students who are serious about test preparation.

You must be driven to achieve a high score and be willing to put in the effort. Because the SAT covers so much content, reading these books will take dozens of hours.

If you only expect to study for five hours or so, the book you choose won't make much of a difference.

In this instance, you should concentrate on taking an official SAT practice test and reviewing your responses. With such little preparation time, your final score won't improve much, so don't expect any miracles.

Purchasing SAT prep books is the first and simplest step in SAT preparation. You will, however, need to put in significant effort to achieve the desired score gains.

In the sections that follow, we explain how to get the most out of each SAT book we recommend.

Second, this tutorial is intended for students who desire to raise their scores by more than 100 points.

You'll need more than tactics to consistently score this much higher on the SAT; you'll need to comprehend the real subject being assessed, that is, the underlying arithmetic ideas and grammar standards.

Don't waste your time on ineffective "tricks" that simply make you feel as if you've learned anything when you haven't.

If you merely want to increase your score by 50 points or so, you can accomplish so simply by retaking the SAT, especially if you've only taken the test once.

Finally, to increase your score using SAT prep materials, you must have an effective study method.

It's not enough to simply read a book from cover to cover; you also need to focus on your shortcomings by brushing up on the material you struggle with the most.

Unfortunately, many students waste dozens of hours reading one book after another to their SAT results. Why? Because they don't grasp their shortcomings and aren't focusing their efforts on them.

You will not raise your SAT score unless you learn how to address your weak points! It may appear obvious, yet many students struggle to perform this properly.

In my guide to a flawless SAT score, I go into great detail about how to prepare for the SAT. It's also how I developed our online SAT program and all of the technical details for you.

Finally, if you're serious about improving your SAT score and want to study with top prep materials, this is the guide for you.

The Best SAT Prep Books of 2022

In this guide, we'll break our recommendations for the greatest SAT books into the following categories:

• Critical Books: Regardless of your skills or limitations, these are must-have SAT books for your preparation.

• Subject-Specific Books: By far the greatest books for improving your SAT Reading, Math, and Writing skills.

• Books for Top Scorers: These SAT prep books are sure to push you over the edge and help you achieve the highest possible score.

• Low-Score and Low-Motivation Books: These books are fine to use if you merely want to study for a few hours and enhance your SAT score somewhat. Otherwise, stay away from them.

• The Number One Book to Avoid: The book I used to usually recommend for the old edition of the SAT is now on the "Do Not Buy" list. Discover why!

I do not recommend using old SAT materials to study for the current SAT because the format of the SAT changed so drastically in early 2016.

Although earlier SAT sample exams have some parallels with modern ones, if you don't know how the old SAT differs from the current SAT, you'll waste a lot of time preparing for the wrong topics and questions.

As a result, only use books that are updated for the current SAT (books published in 2016 or later), such as the ones indicated below.

You can also use our online SAT prep program more about your weak points and how to strengthen them.

Critical SAT Prep Books

These are the books I feel every test taker should have, regardless of SAT score or ability level.

This is a very high requirement to satisfy; in fact, only two novels out of the dozens I've tested qualify for this title. They are introduced below.

Official SAT Practice Tests

As you may be aware, the SAT is an unusual exam that examines topics in ways you've never seen in school; hence, you must practice with real problems to accurately understand the SAT patterns.

The gold standard for practice questions is the College Board's official SAT examinations. There are now ten official tests.

These aren't precisely "prep books" in the traditional sense, but they combine to form a valuable resource comparable to a book.

Each test comprises actual questions from past SAT administrations given to actual students.

Without a doubt, the quality of official questions is significantly superior to those of unofficial sources such as Kaplan or Barron's.

What's more, all official SAT practice tests are free! The tests are available as PDFs from the College Board website or our comprehensive reference to official SAT practice tests.

Print them out to obtain a true on-paper testing experience.

Pros

• They are, without a doubt, the best set of SAT practice tests available anywhere. If you wish to take a full-length practice test, these should be your first choice.

• Each test can be accessed and downloaded for free.

• Ten full-length practice tests equal a reasonable amount of study time. If each test takes four hours to complete and another two hours to review, that's a total of 60 hours of study time.

• For all questions, answers and explanations are accessible.

Cons

• Most students will discover that the answer explanations aren't really useful for self-learning. Many explanations go something like this: "A is incorrect because A is incorrect. For these reasons, B is correct." In other words, they don't show you how to address the problem from the beginning. If you don't know how to approach reading passages or how to enter numbers for arithmetic problems, you'll need to find another resource to teach you.

• The tests contain no further instructional content. If you struggle with algebra, you cannot rely solely on this site. These are only practice tests and practice questions. There is nothing else!

• There isn't enough practice material for more determined students or those looking for a significant score improvement with only 10 prapracticests accessible. You'll want one test to familiarize yourself with the format and determine your current score level, three to track your progress, one to take immediately before the actual test, and a couple to save as backups. Unfortunately, strong at the SAT, you'll need more practice questions to drill with than you can get from leftover tests.

• You must print the PDFs yourself to work through them on paper. However, in my opinion, this is preferable to having to purchase the tests in hard copy (more on this later).

• Taking practice exams without a system for studying SAT subjects will not increase your score, and the tests provide no direction on how to do so. Remember that mastering the SAT is about strategy as much as it is about substance!

SAT Prep Black Book, Second Edition

The only other essential book I recommend for SAT prep is The Black Book by Mike and Patrick Barrett.

Unfortunately, the book alone is insufficient, and even with the practice exams above, you will almost certainly require additional assistance (as I explain below).

What it does include, though, is so fantastic that I feel every SAT prep student should read it.

The Black Book will effectively teach you how to think about the SAT. But what precisely does this mean? Here are a couple of such examples:

You will discover that the SAT is intended to be a predictable, standardized test.

It must test fundamental topics to be administered to all pupils across the country, but it must also be tough, as this frequently distorts questions.

It describes how, on the SAT, every response must be correct, or else test takers will argue that their incorrect answers are correct.

As a result, your primary goal should be to eliminate all incorrect response choices—especially on the SAT Reading.

When I took the SAT and was studying for a perfect score, I immediately understood the concepts in this book.

This resource has changed how I approach helping our students at Study Help Me.

Overall, the Black Book coincides the most closely with my ideas on how to achieve the SAf any book on the market.

Pros

• It provides a very clear explanation of the SAT. Its principles will not only alter your perception of the SAT but will also inspire you to work more by demonstrating that any student can thrive on it.

• The book contains more useful practical strategies than most other SAT publications. This book, unlike other popular prep books, does not rely on ineffective tactics.

• It does not assume that assume they are the same. Rather, the book proposes that you try out a few different tactics to find which ones work best for you.

• The book includes detailed answer walkthroughs for all Reading, Writing, and Math questions on the first four officials SAT practice tests (included in the recommended "book" above). Each explanation clearly explains how to approach the topic and obtain the correct answer.

Cons

• To use the book properly, you must have a lot of self-discipline and understanding. You must be self-motivated and willing to experiment with multiple tactics to discover which one works best for you because you are learning from your mistakes with no one to advise you. Following a set of clear principles may be less confusing for some kids.

• The essential content is missing. If you struggle with word problems, for example, this book will not help you grasp the subject on its own. I believe in identifying your weak points and then mastering them through focused preparation and practice problems. This book provides a basic approach to SAT preparation but does not teach you the precise information you'll need to know.

• It's fairly extensive (more than 550 pages! ), with answer explanations that frequently sound repetitive; however, this is due in part to the structure of the SAT itself (remember, it's a standardized test, thus some skills are tested in the same way).

• I disagree with some of the main concepts in this book. For example, the authors suggest that rather than aiming for a specific score, you should try to achieve a certain skill level. Setting an SAT score objective, on the other hand, I believe is a useful motivation.

Again, I strongly recommend these two tools to any student who is studying with (or just with) SAT prep books.

In our SAT prep program, we cover the majority of the fundamental ideas in the Black Book and also provide focused practice on individual skills.

As previously said, you will almost certainly want specialized instruction in each area to be able to shore up your shortcomings. Following that, we supply you with crucial resources for each SAT subject.

Best SAT Books by Subject

Aside from the essential SAT books mentioned above, you'll most certainly require additional assistance with specific SAT areas.

Here we discuss the finest SAT prep books for Reading, Math, and Writing. All of these books adhere to my SAT prep philosophy:

• Divide the SAT subject into skills and then receive specialized training in those areas.

• Make use of realistic, high-quality questions that can help you prepare for the SAT.

• Cover only what is a necessary, not advanced material that will not be on the SAT.

Best SAT Reading Prep Book

In my experience working with thousands of students, the most challenging section score to improve is SAT Reading.

This portion requires logical reasoning skills, which are more difficult to master than math principles or grammar standards.

As a result, it's critical to understand the types of questions that will be asked and how to approach them systematically.

Erica L. Meltzer's The Critical Reader: The Complete Guide to SAT Reading, Fourth Edition is my pick for the finest SAT Reading book.

This book breaks down the SAT Reading portion into question types and skills, and it does an excellent job of presenting the foundation of what each question asks.

It also shows how to use a paragraph to arrive at the proper answer.

Meltzer's approach to SAT Reading prep is the most similar to mine: drill questions skill by skill so you can detect trends.

Pros

• It provides an excellent skill-by-skill overview of the Reading part, as well as helpful techniques for each question type. This is the method we employ in our own SAT prep program.

• There are a lot of good, realistic passages and questions. Meltzer employs passages that are strikingly comparable to those found on the actual SAT.

• The book includes a useful guide that lists the SAT questions by skill so you can receive even more focused practice.

Cons

• The price is a little expensive for a book that just covers one SAT section (about $30-$35).

• It is written in the dry and clinical language of an academic textbook. There are no graphics to break up the text, thus it feels quite stiff. I enjoy this format because it cuts away the fluff, but it can be too dense for some students. This means you might not even finish the book since it is so boring.

• Its lack of inventive page layouts and massive amounts of material on large pages can get tedious—similar to reading a phone book.

Best SAT Math Prep Book

My SAT philosophy Math is that learning the underlying topic is the best method to dramatically increase your Math score.

Getting familiar with arithmetic questions and mastering basic tactics, such as putting in answer options, can help you make some progress, but if you have gaps in your core math knowledge, you'll rapidly hit a wall.

Your best bet is to find a book that can teach you math content in an organized manner while also providing practice problems to help you focus on individual skills.

It should also take into account your skill level, as math questions that are too difficult or too easy for you would be a waste of time.

For these reasons, I recommend Steve Warner's SAT Math series. He has published several SAT prep books for beginners, intermediates, and advanced students, as well as a collection of 240 SAT Math problems categorized by topic and complexity.

Pros

• Math ideas are taught in clear and helpful lessons. They provide strategies to improve your capacity to solve problems and assist you in determining what a question is asking.

• All of the practice questions are fairly realistic, with clear answer explanations.

• It is critical to tailor your SAT Math practice to your skill level. If your score is less than 600, there's no incentive to focus on the toughest questions on the test. Warner's books provide you with the relevant practice for your arithmetic level.

Cons

• The book categories are too broad, making it impossible to drill specific math subjects. Our SAT curriculum, on the other hand, divides huge themes into smaller ones. For example, in algebra, we study linear functions, single-variable equations, and systems of equations. You may more effectively spot your deficiencies and practice them in your preparation if you focus on each specific talent.

• If you want to boost your score significantly, you'll need to purchase additional SAT Math books, which will cost you around $100. This is quite expensive for essential pages of practice questions.

• Math questions might become repetitious from book to book, s if generated from templates. You should implement these publications with real practice tests to acquire a better understanding of how the College Board phrased SAT Math questions.

• The SAT features several unique, out-of-the-box arithmetic questions that I haven't seen effectively covered in Warner's books.

If you're having trouble with basic SAT Math (say, 500 and below), I recommend augmenting your studies with Khan Academy's math modules.

This website is a free tool that offers an enjoyable approach to practicing your practicingtal abilities.

Even though it is not focused on the SAT, I believe the core Khan Academy program provides greater training than its SAT preprogramme.

Best SAT Writing Prep Book

Understanding the grammar rules and how they appear on the test is the best way to excel at SAT Writing.

You must also answer a large number of high-quality practice questions to guarantee that you master the SAT patterns (this is how we built our online SAT program to teach you grammar!).

I'm going back to Erica L. Meltzer for her SAT grammar books. Meltzer does an excellent job of reducing all of the laws of English grammar into what you need to know for the SAT; you won't learn any arcane grammar ideas that aren't on the SAT.

Meltzer outlines the tested rules simply and covers their foundations in case you've missed grammatical rules from school.

Unlike her solitary SAT Reading prep book, Meltzer has two SAT Writing prep books:

• The Critical Reader: The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar, Fifth Edition: This book covers all SAT grammar principles and provides tasks to help you learn how to examine grammar in the context of passages

• Fourth Edition of The Critical Reader: The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar Workbook: As training material, this book contains hundreds of SAT practice questions, comparable to six full-length Writing tests.

Both books are insufficient on their own, which is a significant disadvantage.

The first one does not have enough SAT Writing questions to allow you to drill grammar rules thoroughly. 

Meanwhile, the second one does not teach grammar rules and does not group questions by rule.

These issues can make studying more difficult for students, but I still believe these are the greatest SAT Writing books available.

Pros

• Each book has a clear writing style and articulates SAT grammatical principles clearly.

• The books cover only what you need to know for ththatriting and leave out unnecessary information. Many SAT grammar books contain too many arcane rules that aren't assessed on the SAT.

• All of the Writing practice questions are reasonably realistic.

Cons

• There is no advice on how to study. The books provide a good overview of the SAT, but there is little guidance on how to use each book to maximize your Writing score.

• Each book, like other SAT resources, is a tad pricey—around $30. They have nice information, but I believe Meltzer could attract a lot more people if she reduced her costs.

• In a single book, I'd like a more cohesive, skill-based approach. Ideally, you'd practipracticeidual grammar rules with practice questions before combining them all in a full-length practice test. We believe in a unified, smooth experience and combine test content, customization, and feedback into one package at Study Help Me.

Best Books for Top SAT Scorers

As you can see, you have a lot of work ahead of you. You'll be studying for much over 50 hours if you have 10 full-length practice exams and more than five SAT books at your disposal.

You can significantly improve your score by following the guidelines we recommend.

If you still need more practice, I recommend Barron's SAT prep books, particularly if you seek a perfect or near-perfect score. I recall using these books for SAT study in high school.

While their questions aren't as good as those on official SAT practice exams, they're a nice backup source to utilize after you've completed all of the other SAT study books listed above.

Pros

• Each book contains a large amount of content, including hundreds of practice problems and extensive explanations with numerous examples.

• The books are highly comprehensive, covering every last detail of what you need to know for the SAT. Outside of what's in these books, you may be confident that little nothing gets tested.

Cons

• The topics can become too tough for what is required on the SAT. Some questions become unreasonably difficult in ways that you would never see on the actual test. If you aren't yet a Sant expert, you won't be able to notice this and may wind yourself wasting time studying useless subjects.

• The books do not provide clear guidance on what is and is not important for the SAT. A grammatical rule that appears only once on the SAT, for example, receives the same amount of pages as a grammar rule that appears eight times on the SAT. Algebra, in particular, is extremely vital yet receives far too little attention. These are not the books to use if you only have a few hours to study for the SAT.

• Not all SAT techniques are excellent. For example, I'm conflicted about the SAT Reading passage tactics outlined in these books.

Best All-in-One Book for Less Motivated Low Scorers

So far, my advice has mostly been for kids who are motivated to raise their SAT scores.

But I know that some students simply want to put in a few hours of prep, get some practice with the test, and then take the SAT and forget about it.

PPersonalthat increasing your SAT score is the best approach to increase your chances of admission to college for the majority of test takers.

If you don't want to put in the work to improve your score, I strongly advise you to reconsider your approach to exam preparation.

Still, some of you will lack the time or willingness to prepare better. If you just want to get the SAT out of the way, I recommend Kaplan's SAT Prep Plus 2023.

It's a one-volume study guide that covers all three areas and includes a variety of practice problems and examinations.

The book does not excel at any of its tasks, yet it covers the essentials for SAT preparation. It also has more reasonable content than other all-in-one SAT books, such as The Princeton Reviews.

The truth is that I dislike this book. I'm not even sure I like it. I don't recommend it unless you want to raise your score and are prepared to put in the necessary study time.

However, if you want a single resource that is simply consumable and does an adequate job of teaching you the fundamentals, this is the best one available.

Pros

• It includes five full-length practice tests and covers all three SAT categories.

• It's reasonably priced at around $30 for the range of SAT curricucurriculaers.

• If you're new to standardized testing and frequently feel like you have no idea what to do, the book gives some simple test-taking tactics that can net you a few easy points.

Cons

• Practice questions are frequently unrealistic—the book does not phrase questions in the manner of the SAT and does not always assess ideas effectively. Furthermore, the questions do not deceive you in the same manner that the real test does.

• There are several inaccuracies in the answers and other materials, showing inadequate quality control. Many of these errors will be obvious to you, but if you don't detect them, you'll learn incorrect facts and techniques.

• Once you surpass 600 in a segment, the tactics become less effective. To get beyond this phase, you must master specific topics and devise tailored techniques based on your shortcomings.

The #1 SAT Prep Book to AVOID Buying

Unlike the rest of this material, I have one explicit recommendation against purchasing an anAT book.

This is especially noteworthy because previous to 2015, this was the best SAT prep book to buy!

So, what is the title of the book? The Official SAT Study Guide, 2020 Edition, to be exact.

It feels strange to advise against purchasing this book because, for years and years, this was the book to use to study for the SAT.

This guide used to have ten full-length practice exams that could only be obtained by purchasing the book.

But here's the issue today: everything in this book is freely available online.

Simply go to the College Board website and download PDFs for each chapter of the book. (The practice exams in it are my top recommendation at the start of this essay.)

So, why is this tutorial being distributed for free? All of this is part of the College Board's effort to make the SAT more accessible to test takers while also reducing educational inequity.

Such an initiative is wonderful, and I applaud them—but it also means that The Official SAT Study Guide is now obsolete. Furthermore, the content outside of the practice exams is cursory and unhelpful.

Pros

• The guide includes eight official SAT practice tests that have been pre-printed for you, so you don't have to print them yourself.

• It can be pulled apart and used as firewood or birdcage lining.

Cons

• Everything in this guide is free to download from the College Board website (which is two additional practice tests not in this book).

• Because there is no instructional material in the book, don't expect to gain any skills or content. If you struggle with algebra, this book will not suffice. The College Board is well aware that the majority of test takers purchase it for the exams.

• Taking practice tests without a learning method will not increase your score, and the book provides no information on how to do so.

Other Free Resources to Help You Plan Your SAT Prep

Knowing how to use SAT books is more important than purchasing them. The more preparation books you have, the more critical it is to create a consistent study approach.

We've written comprehensive SAT/ACT guides to assist you with your SAT/ACT preparation.

But before you buy any books, take a realistic SAT practice test to see where you fall short. If you're not sure where to begin, see our advice on how to put up a diagnostic practice exam.

After taking this first practice test, you'll need to check through your findings carefully to identify your shortcomings; this will help you decide where to focus your preparation time and money.

For example, if you did well on the Reading and Writing portions but struggled with Math, you should focus your preparation on Math and possibly invest in the SAT Math books mentioned above.

Setting a target SAT score is also vital so you know what your end objective is for your SAT prep.

Students aiming for 1200 (600 on Math and 600 on Evidence-Based Reading and Writing) should employ different tactics and study materials than those aiming for 1600. If you want to get a high score.

Finally, create a study plan that works with your schedule and allows you to determine the optimal time to take the SAT. 

Is Using SAT Prep Books the Best Option for You?

There are numerous preparation strategies accessible, and book study is simply one of them.

To thoroughly investigate all of our alternatives, let us first determine whether using SAT prep materials is appropriate for you.

Students who study for the SAT with books do so for a variety of reasons. Some people utilize books since they are less expensive than other options such as prep programmeprogramsrs.

However, the greatest SAT books can be expensive: if you buy all of the top books, you'll spend roughly $200.

This is comparable to the cost of our online SAT prep program, which goes beyond books by leading you through your studies step by step and inspiring you to study time.

Other students use SAT prep books because they are self-motivated and enjoy self-teaching.

If this is not you, books can be a dismal way to spend your prep time.

Without a proper study technique, you can put in dozens of hours and make little progress since you don't rerecognizeour shortcomings and how to address them.

Studying and learning from your mistakes is by far one of the most significant techniques to enhance your SAT score.

If you can't do this consistently, you'll need some assistance getting started. 

What's Next?

Knowing your SAT target score is essential for success. Read our step-by-step guide to determine the exact SAT score you should aim for on test day.