For many high school students, taking the PSAT/NMSQT is their first concrete step toward preparing for the SAT and planning for college. This exam also serves as the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, enabling the highest scoring test takers an opportunity to win one of several scholarships. This manual presents a diagnostic test and six full-length practice tests with all questions answered and explained. It also presents vocabulary-building word lists, an… More >>
#1 by Paul Kafasis on July 1, 2010 - 7:57 pm
This book is extremely poorly edited and filled with errors. Although there are explanations for every question on the practice tests, many are entirely wrong. Example: How many 2 digit numbers are there which do NOT contain the number 9? The correct answer is 72. Their answer? 71…how? Subtract out “..the ten numbers from 90 to 99 plus the 9 other numbers that end in 9: 9, 19,…,89″. That’s a direct quote, and last I checked, 9 had just one digit. This is simply one of many examples of poor editing, and completely incorrect answers/explanations. Definitely try something else.
Rating: 1 / 5
#2 by Jane Hunter on July 1, 2010 - 8:58 pm
I agree somewhat with what other the reviewers said that “this book has too many errors,” and it does have a lot of erros. However, I don’t think that there is another PSAT book on the market that parralels all the things in this book. First of all, the writers went into great detail about all the question types and there were TONS of practice problems and a test to review each question type to diagnose your weak areas. Then there was a 1300 word vocabulary list and a succint PSAT high frequency word list. There was even roots to help with unfamiliar words that you may encounter on the day of the test. And lastly but not leastly–there were 10 practice tests. This is probably the best PSAT, SAT, and even SATII:Writing book that there is out there. The mistakes are nothing compared to the breadth of knowledge and tips that this book provides. This book is definitly worth every last penny.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by Bob on July 1, 2010 - 9:41 pm
Thanks to this book I did so well (1360 — I only got 1040 when I took the PSAT in 10th grade) that I am really feeling confident about my SATs this spring. The book taught me everything I needed to know. I improved much more than my friends who took courses. The tactics REALLY helped a lot. I found out that I could get a higher score by not trying to answer all the questions. The math sections in particular were great. Even though your PSAT scores aren’t sent to colleges, you want the experience of good scores before you take the SAT. GET THIS BOOK!
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by Anonymous on July 1, 2010 - 11:14 pm
Although the number of practice exams was helpful, this book was filled with errors and the answer explanations were hard to understand. Look for another book.
Rating: 1 / 5
#5 by H. Liu on July 2, 2010 - 1:07 am
Okay, at first glance, this book looks great. 7 tests (one of which is a diagnostic), compared to the other new PSAT books’ 2 or 3, and a giant vocab list, holy crap – MUST BUY, right?
NO. This book has tons of errors, and yes, I am talking about the 12th edition released in 2004. I’m talking like ~2-6 completely wrong answers a test, and even more typos and wrong underlining, which is extremely frustrating, especially under timed conditions. It’s the TWELFTH EDITION for christ’s sake. Also, this book covers some math that is not on the real test, and is overall, known to be way harder than the PSATS actually are. You will get ~40 points lower than you should, which is not necessarily a good thing. The errors and the crappy questions are the cause for the low score, not because it is “challenging” you and is making you a better test taker by giving tough questions. Do not buy. It’s a waste of your time and money.
Rating: 2 / 5