The 9 Best SAT Prep Books To Raise Your Scores!

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Now, it’s time to nail down your SAT prep journey, which includes getting the best SAT prep books to suit your needs. Whether you are looking for a comprehensive guide or just need specific recommendations on prep books for Writing & Language, Math, or the optional Essay, you’ve come to the right place!

Here in this article, we’re outlining the 9 best books for 2024 for effective SAT preparation.

9 Best SAT Prep Books Review for 2024

1. SAT Prep Black Book – Best Overall
2. The Official SAT Study Guide
– Best Study Guide
3. The Princeton Review Digital SAT Premium Prep
– Best Admissions Advice
4. Kaplan Digital SAT Prep Plus 2024
– Best Practice
5. The Ultimate Guide to SAT Grammar
– Best Grammar
6. The Complete Guide to SAT Reading
– Best Reading
7. SAT Vocabulary: A New Approach
– Best Vocab Review
8. College Panda SAT Essay
– Best Essay
9. College Panda SAT Math
– Best Math

Looking for an SAT course? Check out our favorite SAT prep courses

SAT Prep Black Book

Best Overall

A 600-page behemoth, this SAT prep book gets you through all the strategy you'll need to ace the SAT.

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First on our list of the best SAT prep books is Mike Barrett’s SAT Prep Black Book . Mike Barrett’s “Black Books” are no stranger to Test Prep Nerds, as it has been selected as a favorite among our Best ACT Prep Books .

Mike Barrett has been a tutor for the SAT, PSAT, and ACT since high school and his book encompasses the strategies he charges hundreds of dollars per hour to instill in students. Essentially, his purpose in this book as well as in his tutoring is to help students to understand the process-driven nature of standardized test questions, essentially unlocking the secret to how to do well on the SAT with less knowledge and utilizing more strategy.

This book includes step-by-step solutions to every question on all 4 of the College Board’s Official SAT Practice Tests (although these practice tests are not actually included – you will need to either access these 4 official SAT practice tests online for free or purchase them already printed in the College Board’s Book The Official SAT Study Guide. There are more than 600 detailed and easy-to-digest solutions to all the released official practice tests that help you to exploit the thought process of SAT question writers.

This book is intended to be helpful for any student, including those who intend on becoming top-scorers for admissions into elite schools. This definitely differentiates itself from other SAT prep books from major brands, who are not able to prove effectiveness in catering to top scorers, but rather seem best for those shooting for an average to good score.

This book will completely change how you viewed the SAT and give you more confidence in realizing that the SAT is not testing you on your genius but rather if you know how to answer the questions. This book will get you to answering questions in under 30 seconds after understanding that every question on the SAT only has one valid answer.

Top Highlights:

Drawback(s):

The main drawback here is that this book does not actually come with the 4 Official SAT Practice Tests that are explained in-depth in this book. You’ll have to download and print these tests yourself (they are free) on the College Board site .

Final Verdict: If you are looking to be a high scorer on the SAT or want a simpler, more fool-proof method of answering SAT questions, then this is the best SAT prep book for you!