Product Description

Problem Solved.

Problem #1: You want to sharpen your writing skills for the SAT, but don't have a lot of time to study. We get it. Everything you need to achieve your goals on the Writing section of the SAT is in this book. No long-winded lessons. Just what you need to score higher.

Problem #2: You don't know what to expect on the new Writing section. Don't worry. This book contains two entire chapters devoted to writing effective essays in the style and tone that the SAT graders want. Plus, you'll find in-depth coverage of all the topics tested in the multiple-choice section's Usage, Sentence Correction, and Paragraph Correction questions.

Problem #3: Studying for the Writing section is boring. Let's face it. Studying for the SAT is never going to be a lot of laughs. But the payoff is huge -- and the tools in this book are a straightforward path to your goal.

You don't have to put your real life on hold while you prepare for your future.

This comprehensive workbook includes:

• 3 realistic writing tests with detailed answer explanations

• Strategies for avoiding common language pitfalls

• Techniques for mastering the qualities SAT graders look for in a high-scoring essay

• Hundreds of practice questions, drills, and quizzes to help you sharpen your skills

Why Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions?

When you want advice, you probably ask your friends. Or parents. Or teachers. And each of them can probably give you some good advice about taking the PSAT. So why do you need Kaplan? Because your friends, parents, and teachers probably haven't invested millions of dollars developing realistic practice exams and test-taking strategies. Kaplan has. And when a test changes, we're prepared with the most up-to-date materials.

When it comes to the PSAT, your friends know what works for them, but do they know what works for you? Kaplan has helped millions of students -- all kinds of students, from perfect-score seekers to students who run screaming from algebra problems -- reach their individual goals. More than 65 years of test preparation experience -- it's all in this book.Sign up for our free email newsletter, the College Edge, and we'll keep you posted about college admissions trends and test changes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #318955 in Books
• Published on: 2004-07-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

Customer Reviews

Pretty Good, but the number of questions is incorrect
This book is a decent book. It gives you 3 practice tests, lots of practice sets, and teaches you too. However, they do mention that they don't know the question amount because the college board didn't release it. I know that the writing section had 49 questions, but they only put 38 in this book. Also, there were a few errors, but overall I'm satisfied with this book.

The book came out before the New SAT but it's great!
As we all know, the new SAT writing section is exactly the same length as the old SAT II Writing. It is also the easiest section on the new SAT.
I thought I wouldn't need to buy a book on this section because I always got a decent score on every practice test I took. I was WRONG!
This book helped me tremendously. In fact, the book shows you [ALL] the errors that the SAT will test you on. After completely reading the book and doing all the exercises -- I came to a conclusion -- I have cracked the Writing section.

If we exclude the essay from the Writing section -- we are left with 3 things.

1. Identifying Sentence Errors
There are ONLY 16 common mistakes the SAT tests you on in this part -- they are:

Subject-Verb Agreement When Subject Follows Verb
Subject-Verb Agreement When Subject and Verb Are Separated
Subject-Verb Agreement When the Subject Seems Plural
Confusion of Simple Past and Past Participle
Confusion of Infinitive and Gerund
Non-Idiomatic Preposition After Verb
Wrong Word (tricky but easy)
Wrong Tense
Number Agreement Problems
Pronoun in the Wrong Number
Pronoun in the Wrong Case in Compound Noun Phrases
Pronoun Shift (can't miss those)
Pronoun with Ambiguous Reference
Faulty Comparison (tend to be hard)
Misuse of Adjective or Adverb
Double Negative (incredibly easy if you don't overlook them)

2. Improving Sentences (easiest of the three)
The SAT test ONLY 5 common mistakes in this part -- they are:

Run-on Sentences
Sentence Fragments
Misplaced Modifiers (can be confusing to solve at times)
Faulty Parallelism
Faulty Coordination / Subordination

3. Improving Paragraphs (hardest of the three)
There are ONLY 3 basic types of improving Paragraph questions the SAT tests you on -- they are:

General organization sentences
Revising Senteces questions
Combining Sentences Questions.

When I took the New SAT test on January 28th, I managed to ace the Writing section. This is because the errors tested were exactly the same errors found in the book -- so seeing the exact errors but in different sentences was second nature to me. I also managed to finish Section 10 which has 14 Improving sentece questions so quickly that I was giving out the answers to my friend sitting next to me (don't try this).

Now get this book and ACE the Writing section.

Shall I say more?

Excellent book to cure writing fears
This book is very good because it goes over each of the writing parts, one section at a time. Within the sections, they give you the specific errors and rules for grammar. The questions that appear at the end of each section and subsection (after each grammar rule) gives extra needed practice.
Reading this book, I finally got an idea of the basic writing grammar skills, and went from answering 7/14 right (in one writing section) in 25 minutes, and working with someone else, to 10/14 in 9 minutes by myself (in the same section, different questions). That's pretty good considering reading this book in less than a week.

It could have a few more problem sets like the critical reading book, and there are noticible mistakes in writing in the book. For a book that is intended to teach grammar, that's a little dangerous.