Review: The Complete Guide to SAT Reading 3rd Edition by Erica L. Meltzer

The Critical Reader: The Consummate Guide to Sat Reading, 3rd Edition by Erica 50. Meltzer (2017)

This review is for the tertiary Edition of Ms. Meltzer's popular Disquisitional Reader series. This version was released in September 2017, and if you lot are wondering whether it is worth information technology to purchase the newest version…yes, admittedly information technology is.

Should I buy the 3rd Edition?

While this edition of the book contains much of the same materials that the 2d edition did, the practise sections have been improved and expanded greatly. You might not think there is annihilation new as the page counts for both books are the same, but the 3rd edition uses a smaller font allowing for more data to be packed in on each page. Too, since the 2d edition was published the College Board has released iv more official tests and analysis of all 8 released tests is included. Ms. Meltzer has gone through the entire book and adjusted her guidance to conform equally closely as possible with the new Saturday.

How do I use the book?

This is not a volume to rush through, complete all of the practice questions and expect your score to magically amend. Rather, I have suggested ii approaches for students who want to self written report with this volume.

Option A for students with express experience with the SAT or scoring beneath 330 on the READING section

  1. Beginning at the beginning and work through the book one affiliate at a time. Split the practice questions in half, and so that you can see if yous retained your understanding of lesson. Do one-half one day and do the rest some other day. Pay attending to why you are choosing wrong answers equally this is key to making progress in the Reading department.
  2. When doing practice tests, endeavor to identify the question types for yourself and apply the lessons that relate to those question types.

Pick B for students who are scoring above 330 or have express prep time (less than three weeks)

  1. Go through the College Lath tests yous have completed (or do 2-4 of them) and place the types of errors yous make the most.
  2. Identify the chapters you need to work on, but don't skip to them immediately. (patience, grasshopper)
  3. Commencement with the outset affiliate and if information technology is Non 1 of your problem areas, start with the exercise questions and exercise about half. If you are consistently getting them right, then you probably are solid in that area and tin movement on. If not, and so back track to the lesson part of the affiliate, do the the lesson, and then finish the do questions. This will prevent yous from thinking you empathise a question type when in fact you were but a good guesser.

I am at present going to repeat what I wrote for the previous version of this book.

My Original Review

This is my #i volume suggestion for students who struggle with the reading section of the SAT, with some reservations. If English language is your second language, and you never read for pleasure, this book won't go yous a perfect reading score. Virtually ESL students accept holes in their vocabulary, cultural knowledge, and reading abilities that get them stuck in the mid-600s for the Reading/Writing Department. No SAT report book will fix key Reading and Writing Skill issues. Also if you are not skilful at self-studying, then yous might need some hand-holding with this volume considering the contents are dumbo.

If you didn't fall into one of the previous categories, and so I would propose y'all buy this book. The volume is broken down into an overview of the examination and test taking skills then a chapter on each of the types of Reading questions you will encounter. Each affiliate takes a question blazon and breaks it down to the smallest details and explains how to approach the question and what constitutes a wrong reply. There are thorough explanations of both the correct and the wrong answers so do questions to practice your new knowledge. In the back of the book is a interruption down to the start viii Higher Board tests, identifying each of the reading questions blazon, so that students can identify the questions that requite the the most trouble and review those chapters.

Only The Facts:

  • 349 Pages
  • Targeted practice for the Reading section just
  • No full tests, just targeted practice questions
  • Paper Quality: Excellent. Y'all can write and erase without worrying nigh tearing through
  • Quality of Answer Explanations: Excellent

This book is available through Amazon. Why are yous still here? Get buy the book!

The Complete Guide to SAT Reading

** A Note on theft

Frequently on SAT forums, at that place are pleas for "copies" of the Meltzer and College Panda books. Some make the excuse that books are too expensive, while others say that Amazon won't ship to their country. This is disheartening considering I understand the years of hard work that went into producing these books, and the authors practice then with the basic intention of wanting to give students the highest quality materials. The costs of cocky-published book is carried past the authors, and they are taking a adventure that nobody volition buy it. The lesser line is that if you are getting a pdf of a volume then you are stealing intellectual belongings.

It might seem like it is meaningless, only it is a slippery slope to the point where content creators volition just stop creating content. When the College Lath changed the Saturday in 2016, many experienced tutors walked away from the manufacture. Still, Ms. Meltzer stuck with it, revised her books, and kept working to give students an culling to the "SAT prep Juggernauts" that rushed to print and produced inferior exam prep materials. If you detect the price of an SAT prep book too expensive then Higher Text books are going to give you a heart attack, and if Amazon doesn't deliver to your land, consider contacting the writer directly to run into if he/she can help. I know this probably won't make everyone stop, but silence often gives tacit approving to a trouble.

Link to SAT Reading Guide for Literature Passages
Click here to become a gratuitous guide to Sat Literature Passages

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