Cracking the SAT

Cracking the SAT is The Princeton Review's SAT test prep series of books. Several versions of Cracking the SAT exist--the most popular is the overall SAT test prep series, a new edition released every year featuring new review questions, samples from actual SAT tests, and other review materials. Subject Test editions of Cracking the SAT help students prepare for SAT Subject Tests in topics like Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Math 1 & Math 2, and foreign language Subject Tests.

Cracking the SAT Test Prep Editions

Every year, The Princeton Review releases the Cracking the SAT edition for the following year. Recently, Cracking the SAT 2012 Edition appeared, and no doubt The editors of the Cracking the SAT test prep book are preparing the 2013 Edition right now.

Cracking the SAT is a massive volume, stuffed with around 800 pages of review materials and SAT test prep help. The book's slogan is "If it’s on the SAT, it’s in this book," and they're not far off. The 2012 Edition includes 5 full-length SAT practice tests, 4 of them printed right in the book and a password that gives readers access to an online practice test. Each of the three review sections contains practice questions with detailed answers and explanations. The Princeton Review includes a new list of the most frequently tested SAT vocabulary words with each edition--called the Hit Parade, this list is adjusted with each edition to account for the most recent SAT tests.

Like other popular SAT test prep books, Cracking the SAT includes advice from SAT tutors around the country on how to get the highest possible score on the student-written essay section, help on SAT basics, strategies for managing your time during the SAT, and a well-written and kind of funny chapter on popular SAT myths. A final section, on organizing your own study sessions and planning for test day, is useful for first-time test-takers.

You can find Cracking the SAT for sale for around $20 in bookstores or order a copy online from a discount book retailer for a few dollars less. Be warned--you should use your online password for the online practice test within a month of buying the book. The online password expires five weeks after you buy the book.

Cracking the SAT Subject Test Editions

Subject Test Editions of Cracking the SAT are similar in style to the SAT prep versions with a focus on a specific subject tested by the College Board and the SAT. Each Subject Test consists of 20 multiple-choice questions. These tests are used to prove a student's proficiency in a particular subject or as part of admissions requirements to certain top-tier universities.

The Princeton Review publishes a Cracking the SAT Subject Test Edition for each Subject Test offered by the College Board:

Literature
United States History
World History
Mathematics 1 (covering algebra, geometry, basic trigonometry, algebraic functions, and statistics)
Mathematics 2 (algebra, geometry, trigonometry, functions, and advanced statistics)
Biology
Chemistry
Physics
Chinese with Listening
French
French with Listening
German
German with Listening
Modern Hebrew
Italian
Japanese with Listening
Korean with Listening
Latin
Spanish Spanish
Spanish with Listening

These Subject Test Editions are similar in scope to the SAT prep books but focus exclusively on material covered in past versions of SAT Subject Tests. The books are slightly shorter than the Cracking the SAT general test prep book--around 600 pages long--but cost the same as the basic version of the book.

Looking at the Cracking the SAT Physics Edition, it is set up very similar to the general SAT prep version of the book: the same guide to the basics of the SAT Physics Subject Test as you'd find about the SAT general exam, pages and pages of sample problems, drills, and answers with lengthy explanations, and (for those of you that know physics) a review of work problems, energy and power problems, linear momentum, rotational motion, electric potential and capacitance, and electromagnetic induction, including reviews of critical formulas.

Since the SAT Subject Tests are short multiple-choice tests over the basics of the subject being tested, it may not seem necessary to buy a separate study guide. Cracking the SAT does a good job of collecting practice SAT questions and providing explanations of the answers, but the Subject Test guides seem like little more than page after page of review over the same material.

The Princeton Review is not the most popular source of SAT prep material--that honor goes to College Board, the creators and administrators of the SAT test. The overview of the SAT test put out under the Cracking the SAT brand name is a wonderful guide to all things SAT, and is at least competitive with the popular Tutor Ted's series of SAT prep books. Cracking the SAT's Subject Test reviews are not as useful, especially to students who have mastered a subject so thoroughly that they have elected to take an SAT Subject Test.