“The SAT is often viewed as a deal maker or breaker, instead of being viewed as a test that measures a fairly limited set of skills.” – Michele LoBosco, tutoring center co-founder and writer of a book about acing the SAT.

There are lots of books out there that try to help you crack that scary SAT exam. So which is the right one for you? Check out what these books have to offer you for your SAT prep!

How to Survive the SAT [and ACT] (Hundreds of Heads Books, LLC, 2007)
In this small, handheld book, you can flip through quotes from real students and parents. Get advice, reactions, and tips on how to survive that test all students dread: the SAT. You’ll see firsthand actual guidance from people who have been there and done that.

Although there are no actual SAT practice questions in this book, it certainly has helpful strategies, with charts, boxes, statistics, and horror stories.

Up Your Score: The Underground Guide to the SAT (Workman Publishing, 2006)
With an extensive word list, the 2007-2008 edition of this SAT help book certainly aims to “up your score.” It includes more than 600 words and if you’re not that in to reading a book all the time, you can download the words onto your iPod and study them on the go! The same word list appears throughout the book and uses silly sentences as ways to remember vocab that’s most commonly found on the SAT.

Charts and pictures help to serve as explanations that will make learning strategies easier, while a partnership with PrepMe.com provides a free online test.

How to Ace the SAT Without Losing Your Cool (MJ Publishing, 2007)
This SAT prep book was written by two tutoring center owners, who happen to be sisters. In it, there are instructions on acing the SAT: it is broken down by section, followed by sample practice problems. The authors pose questions to the reader to get them thinking about their own skills (ie. “What happens when…” and “What does this mean?”). It’s almost like the authors are having a conversation with their audience.

There are step-by-step explanations, charts, and a great appendix equipped with parts of speech and sample sentences. The SAT prep book really helps you set goals and achieve them in the time before the SAT, even though there is no beginning to end test provided in the book. To find more advice from the book’s authors, click here.

-Amanda Fornecker