|  | Authors: Richard Ku, Howard P. Dodge
Publisher: Barron's Educational Series
List Price: $14.99
Buy Used: $5.00
as of 11/24/2009 03:46 CST details
You Save: $9.99 (67%)
New (40) Used (28) from $5.00
Seller: curtsbooks
Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 8338
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: 8th
Pages: 384
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.4
Dimensions (in): 10.7 x 8.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 0764136925
Dewey Decimal Number: 510.76
EAN: 9780764136924
ASIN: 0764136925
Publication Date: January 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Contains minor moisture wrinkling. Text has some answered questons..
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 6-10 of 20
 Far too many errors and not enough like the real test April 14, 2009
P. Mann (Los Angeles)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book is puzzling. Two authors, each with an M.A. (though I don't know in what), can't seem to take the time or effort to get things right. Frankly, they should be embarrassed by this mess. On the practice tests, there are problems with no correct answers, problems with multiple correct answers, and problems with errors galore. Here are some specific examples of errors, from the minor to the egregious.
Page 311, problem 18: The problem asks for the ratio of p to q if 4.05^p = 5.25^q but fails to state that p and q cannot be zero. (This is a mathematical error but not spectacularly important to students preparing for the test.)
Page 311, problem 20: We're told that cos(67) = tan(x) and asked to find x. The actual number of solutions is infinite.
Page 309, problem 8: Two points in the second quadrant have coordinates (x,y) and (y,cy). But how can that be since the first y must be positive and the second negative? This is a serious error.
Page 312, problem 24: The problem involves a deck of playing cards. Playing cards are not proper for the real test. This is a moderately important error since it might lead students to believe (falsely) that they must understand a deck of cards.
Page 317, problem 50: The problem asks for arcsin(cos(100)) but requires you to change from degrees to radians in the middle of the problem. Why mathematical point is there in that nonsense? Students who learn Barron's tomfoolery such as changes from degrees to radians in the middle of a problem are not preparing for the real exam; they are preparing for Barron's exams.
I've chosen only a few pages close together to give an idea of how many errors there are. The book really is, I believe, awful preparation for the actual Subject Test and does not convey the feel of the real test. There seems to be little or no effort, for example, to put questions in order of difficulty, and there seems to be little effort to use the types of questions that the actual test uses.
I give this two stars, though, because parts of it can be useful. I would not, however, recommend the book for a student who plans to go it alone. I also would especially not recommend it to a student who becomes discouraged by the difficulty of the Barron's tests. There are certainly better guides out there.
 I love this book March 26, 2009
Jonathan
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
true, this book is rife with errors
true, the problems in this book are impossibly hard
and true, the answer key is pretty off...
but you know what this is still the absolute best SAT IIC prep book in the world...
I pretty much had to teach myself algebra (I & II)and I bombed precalc so I basically never expected to get more than a 500 on this test... but guess what I got on the Math IIC.... a 740... definitely could've been higher if I didn't have an idiot proctor and had an actual clock in the room but still, this book literally saved my butt... well rather this and my trusty Ti-89... I didn't even finish the review in it either... I only did about 3/4 of it and one practice test... (got a >400 score on it too...)
this isn't the first case of this happening either, my brother and a friend I recommended this book to also got 800's on this test...
so basically Ti-89 + Barrons FTW...
Great Review, Great Tests, Great Result! November 22, 2008
lazydaizy102 (Newhall, CA)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
I took the SAT II Math IIC twice, once sophomore year and again my junior year. The first time, I used Kaplan only and scored only 640. Since this was an egregious result, I decided to take it again the next year, except with more preparationg and rigorous studying. I bought the Barron's book and took advantage of its 4 tests (hard questions but great practice). The second time, I got a 770, which is considered a TOP score for the SAT II Math IIC. From what I've discerned from all these review books, Kaplan is too easy, Princeton Review is just right but not particularly challenging, and Barron's is much harder. But don't we all want to practice hard questions than easy ones for a test?
Math Level 2 bible... October 26, 2008
Ashraf Eassa (New Hampshire, USA)
4 out of 6 found this review helpful
If you're planning to major in anything remotely math related, chances are, you have to take the SAT Math Level 2 exam. There are lots of books on the market, but I think Barron's is by and large the best resource to prepare if you're dead set on getting a (near) perfect score. Why?
It covers all the material you'll ever need in excrutiating depth. This may not appeal to everyone, but it's better to have everything there for those who want it, than to skimp on the meat and potatoes required for the 800.
Also, the practice tests are harder than the real thing! This is good! If you can master doing well on the exams provided in here, the real thing should be a piece of cake. It's important to note that having harder questions forces the development of math maturity and reasoning skills, so even if the questions aren't the same, the mental workout you get is more than worth it. (Plus, when you realize the real test is so much eaiser than this, you'll be relieved)
This book isn't for everyone, however. If you're serious about getting an 800, this book is what you need. For those aiming for low-to-mid 700s, I'd reccomend the Princeton Review, as its tests are more representative of the real thing, and the material covered is less in depth, but presented in a "friendly" way.
I reccomend to everyone, though to pair Barron's with the official SAT math practice test book as well to gauge your performance on the real thing. While your scores on Barron's may suck, you'll feel pleasantly surprised when you ace the CB tests! (but save those for the very end)
So, yeah. It's $10, and it'll help you ace the SAT math 2. What more could you want?
 good October 24, 2008
Wen Yi
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book is really good for practice, but I don't recommend this book for common student.It is too hard.
Showing reviews 6-10 of 20
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