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| Hack the SAT: Strategies and Sneaky Shortcuts That Can Raise Your Score Hundreds of Points | 
 enlarge | Author: Eliot Schrefer
Publisher: Gotham
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
Buy New: $7.75
You Save: $7.25 (48%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (13 reviews)
Sales Rank: 49088
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 7 x 0.7
ISBN: 1592403697
Dewey Decimal Number: 378.1662
EAN: 9781592403691
ASIN: 1592403697
Publication Date: July 17, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
A top SAT coach?whose high-scoring strategies earned him $300 an hour from Manhattan?s elite private-school students ?now makes his unique, proven secrets available to all.
Money can buy academic success, and the SAT is no exception. Harvard honors graduate Eliot Schrefer discovered this lucrative truth when he took a job at the nation?s most exclusive test-prep firm. He has helped hundreds of his clients raise their scores an average of 300 points and reel in admission to exclusive colleges. Now, in a guide that is as unique as his tricks, Schrefer brings his extraordinary pointers to every anxious applicant.
This user-friendly rescue manual delivers such scoreboosting features as:
? a killer vocabulary list, including words the SAT has repeated for decades (and why reading Vanity Fair magazine is smart test prep)
? cheap tricks to master the math section (surprise! you learned all you needed to know about SAT math by the eighth grade)
? how to be a grammar genius without cracking another book (bonus: discover the tiny subset of grammar rules that is the SAT?s secret lover)
Schrefer writes in a snappy, conversational tone, dishing gossipy anecdotes about former clients while presenting advice not found in competing books. With a design that is as vibrant as a gamer?s virtual world, this is the ultimate weapon in the quest for test-score triumph.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
 Decent, but not enough examples November 30, 2008
I am a high school math teacher with a large library of SAT books. This one is in the middle of the pack. It has a humorous, fun to read approach, and it does cover all math topics, but it doesn't give enough nearly examples to give students a chance to master the ideas therein. It should be supplemented with a good book for drilling problems, like Barron's.
( Note: I am only evaluating the math section).
 Nervous yet? You will be, after reading this book. November 11, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I found this book while buying an SAT guide for my nephew, and spent about an hour reading it. While I was impressed by the rates the author charges his students to tutor them (hundreds!), I wasn't impressed with the book. The book seems overly obsessed with scores and scoring higher. I scored above 2300 on the SAT and got into every college I applied to --- including Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, and the top small colleges --- but reading the book with its intense focus on scoring made ME nervous.
The mentality that the author is coming from seems pretty typical of the prep school crowd, at least the ones that I went to college with. And prep school kids do need to do more in order to stand out; it's much easier to get into H/Y/P from the great public high schools of the Midwest than from Eastern prep schools. And prep school kids seem to have this whole stigma against the good public universities, so they regard attending them as a failure, whereas from my Midwestern high school we just saw it as normal and going to an Ivy as a bonus. I don't envy them. But the mentality is intense and neurotic enough to drive anyone crazy.
As an example, he suggests that everyone take the test preferably three times, unless they get a high score to start with, and he gives a whole schedule on which to take the tests so that you have multiple tries. He gives suggestions for which subject tests it's easiest to get a good score on. Some of the practice questions are even about the SAT itself. And periodically in the middle of a hint, he'll say things like, "There's a lot riding on this test." In case you're not feeling enough anxiety already.
People do best on things they find fun. It seems to me that the best way to study for the SAT is to look at it as a puzzle and a challenge, and try to enjoy it. Focusing on scores seems like a way to get nervous for no reason and not to enjoy studying because you're focusing on an abstract thing far in the future. Better to enjoy the present moment.
I'm now an alumni interviewer. Last month I attended a session with admissions officers giving us an introduction to alumni interviewing. We looked at a few real applications (anonymized), and spoke frankly about the merits of each case, using honest language such as "This applicant sounds like a real tool.", debating about whether the applicants seemed to have social skills, and looking at the extent to which the applicants had taken advantage of their high schools' opportunities. It really is true that admissions officers think carefully about the whole person. Scores alone won't get someone into college: a top school could fill their entire entering class with 2400's several times over. Scores are just a signal. High scores and low grades means that the applicant wasn't trying. Low scores and high grades mean that the applicant may not test well, or that their school grades too leniently. And then admissions officers move onto reading the letters and essays.
Of course it is important to study for the SAT, but focusing on scores seems like a bad way to do that, and a good way to get overly nervous about it. In the end, I bought the Laugh Out Loud guide to the SAT --- it's written by a PhD and comedy writer and it seems to communicate a better spirit of fun. My hope is that it will give my nephew a good feeling about the SAT that he can maintain while taking a dozen practice tests in the Official SAT book.
No matter what, just have fun.
 FUNNY AND HELPFUL August 31, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
My son read this book and enjoyed it. He is 16 years old and he does not usually read a lot of books unless required. He stated that this book was funny and he feels it will be helpful when taking the SAT test. Get this book for your child to read and they will not complain about reading it like other prep books. There were some errors in the book, but the author mentions them on his site at www.eliotschrefer so it's all good.
My son looks forward to reading other books by the author, since he has a very interesting writing style.
A Mixed Bag August 14, 2008
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
This book is truly a mixed bag. On one hand, it's funny, easy to read, and contains some smart tips. On the other hand, it contains very few examples and some embarrassing errors, which caused me to question its accuracy.
I applaud the author for writing a concise SAT guide that is accessible to the typical student. However, I would strongly advise readers to use this book in conjunction with the College Board's own preparation guides. On its own, this book does not provide adequate background material - or examples - for the average reader.
finally some humor about this topic July 30, 2008
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
I'm a youth services librarian and am constantly being asked for SAT review books. They are traditionally tedious and painful - somewhat like the test itself. This is such a relief - there is so much angst involved in this process and this book takes a lighthearted approach that is appreciated by all. This is not just my adult view - I have shown this book to the kids themselves - my own daughter actually laughed reading passages aloud comparing them to her own experience with the test. Laughing about the SATs? Works for me - I ordered it for my library and have recommended it to other librarians.
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