Cheap SAT Resources?
There are many private test-prep tutors and tutoring companies out there, of varying quality. Some of them are outstanding and can help you to improve your score significantly … if you can afford them. If you want to familiarize yourself with the SAT on a budget, you could buy a test-prep book instead. You can even find many such books for free at your local library. But these books are usually huge, and they don't work well for everyone. You might try browsing the collection of books at your local library or book store, and you might find one that is written in a way that makes sense to you. Or you might not. If you search at your library, you might also find that the books are out of date. The SAT changed its format radically in the spring of 2024, and most libraries don't turn over their collections very rapidly. If you'd prefer an online course over a thick book, there is also Khan Academy's SAT Prep Course, which was developed in partnership with The College Board® (the company that creates the SAT) and is also available for free.
Official College Board Resources
But assuming that you're already well-educated and you don't need a three-pound test-prep book or a 50-hour course, why not just take practice tests, which are freely available from the same company that writes the real tests? The College Board publishes 7 practice tests that you can download in PDF format, and 7 digital practice tests that you can take using their free Bluebook™ app. If you have taken AP® classes, you may already be familiar with Bluebook. In addition to free practice tests, the College Board also generously maintains a free public databank containing nearly 3000 practice problems.
Unofficial Supplements to Official Resources
Unfortunately, the free resources provided by The College Board have their flaws. The College Board should be praised for making abundant resources available, but they should be ridiculed for the quality of some of their productions. The practice tests and the practice problems all have explanations
, but these explanations have about the same level of clarity as the federal income tax code. (In their defense, The College Board is presumably aware of this problem, and this is probably why they are partnering with Khan Academy to generate walkthroughs for the practice tests. These walkthroughs are scheduled for release sometime in the summer of 2025.) The practice problem databank is another great idea poorly implemented. The interface is clunky and inconvenient and does not always produce legible PDF files. We here at Perseus Prep would like to offer the following supplementary preparation materials to accompany the official College Board resources.