Tutor Ted's SAT Solutions Manual: The Ideal Companion Volume to The Official SAT Study Guide, 2nd Edition Solution Manual Edition

As a private SAT tutor, I have three specific criticisms of this otherwise useful book.Since I don't want to come off as cynic, I will cite each criticism with one or more quotes from the book.First, the author cops out on a number hard questions, which is obnoxious because most of my students want the book TO UNDERSTAND THE HARD QUESTIONS. It's particularly annoying with math problems, but it happens in all sections. Instead of clear explanations, the reader is advised to "plug in answers" and gets wandering and circular answers like:Page 112: Test 9, Section 8, Question 2: "If we try each answer choice, -4 works."Page 57, Test 4, Section 10, Question #7: "This one is annoying because the whole sentence is up for debate. It's also tricky because there's a lot of information that the correct answer must contain. They move everything around here to confuse you, but the original sentence is the best. If it ain't broke, don't fix it."Page 94, Section 3, Question 8: "Plug in numbers to make things easy!Page 109, Test 9, Section 5, Question 6: "Solving this one is wicked hard. But multiple choice makes our life easy! Just try each answer choice and use the process of elimination."Page 30, Test 2, Section 8, Question 13: "The quick and easy way to do this one is to plug in a number for n."As a tutor, this last one particularly annoys me because most of my students ALREADY KNOW HOW TO PLUG IN ANSWERS! THEY WANT TO UNDERSTAND THE REASONING BEHIND THE QUESTION! You get the impression that the "perfect score" author simply didn't know how to solve the questions any other way. Or, if he did, he didn't think it was relevant or worth the effort to share that in his solutions manual.I understand that it is often effective to "plug in numbers" on a test like this, but that's not what you expect to get when you buy a book like this. Using that logic, he could have answered every question that way."Question #1: Plug in a number and test the answer.""Question #2: Plug in a number and test the answer."He doesn't do this for all the questions (just half of the hard ones).Next, the author plays fast and loose with some of the vocabulary.Page 17, Section 9, Question 5: "Palpable: obvious, easily observed."Page 18, Section 9, Question 6: "Dowager: an older, respectable woman."Page 138: "Tenuous: Questionable."These definitions KIND OF work, but a simple Google search would have produced better definitions, and I find myself having to apologize to my students because the author was apparently too busy to make that effort for them. I'll put the correct Google definitions below for reference.Palpable: able to be touched or feltDowager: a widow with a title or property derived from her late husbandTenuous: very weak or slightThere are secondary definitions, to be sure, and context is important, but that's not my experience with how the SAT vocabulary questions work.My last criticism is probably the least important, but I still think needs mentioning. The formatting is very messy in this book, and the author seems to equate "humor" with "talking down to his student." The reader really has to search for an answer, and when we get it, we're treated to a surprising amount of attitude. Technically speaking, the book has a Table of Contents, it just doesn't break it down by section, which is what the reader would need. And then, when we get there, we're treated to such gems as:Page 66: "The fancy-pants way to solve this one..."Page 30: "But before we give up hope and cry ourselves to sleep..."Page 77: "This question is much easier when you're a little older. Feel free to write that on your scantron..."Page 89: "Mmmmmm. Time for a rest. Go watch YouTube for a bit..."Page 98: "Wow, the SAT makers are actually aware of fun things like games?!"In my mind, the bottom line is this: the book has merits, but cops out on too many of the hard questions, plays fast and loose with vocabulary, and talks down to the student. I don't want to dilute this review by endorsing another book, but I do encourage you shop around.

Although this book may help many people, especially those scoring lower than 2000, this book is terribly ineffective for high scoring students aiming for the coveted 2400. Yes, it does explain some sections well, but it's extremely vague in many parts. For example, his explanation for SAT Practice Test #5 (Section 9, Question 12), which asks what "crush" most nearly means, simply states "try putting in a word of your own before you even look. I would say "large crowd." Also, his explanation for #15 on the same exact section is "it's real cold, dude." Do these "explanations" truly explain? Do they explain the reasoning behind his brief, unprofessional answers? Obviously, as you can tell from the few examples I've given, no. These two ludicrous examples are only from one section; imagine how many more ridiculous "explanations" exist in the book... No doubt Ted may know the SAT pretty because he scored a 2400, but that certainly does not mean he can teach it well. For instance, in the introduction, he uses an example of a student who received a 2210 and uses bold font. While 2210 is very respectable, many other books or companies use examples of students who received scores of 2350+. Therefore, either he has tutored very, very few students or his methods are simply ineffective.My point is- this book offers very useless explanations. Other books thoroughly go through each answer choice with an actual explanation. Possibly due to laziness, a want for quick profits, or lack of knowledge, "Tutor-Ted" gives very vague, informal, horrid definitions. No doubt Te

Tutor Ted has provided the missing link: the explanations to every single question in the CollegeBoard's "bible", The Official Guide to the SAT."Every SAT student uses the CollegeBoard's text because it is the only one which contains real SAT exams from previous administrations of the test. But unlike every other textbook for the SAT, the CollegeBoard's text does not explain any of the answers in the practice tests, just supplying the answers. Tutor Ted rectifies this gross lacuna in the web of SAT knowledge with his concise, smart, intuitive and even funny explanations of all questions in all sections of those tests.As an SAT prep tutor, I find his explanations terrific and I have adopted many of them into into my own family of teaching methods. I highly recommend this book as an invaluable companion to the standard CollegeBoard text.

I have been a full-time SAT tutor for over 13 years and I was thrilled when I first came across this book. I run a very successful test prep company on the East Coast and I strongly encourage all of my clients to use this book to supplement their SAT preparation. Tutor Ted's SAT Solutions Manual is an outstanding resource for students preparing for the SAT. Whether you are scoring in the 1500s or the more elite 2200 to 2300 range, this book can and will help you.

This manual gives detailed solutions and strategies for every question in every practice test in the Official SAT Study Guide. It is much better than practice tests written by others. This manual is keyed to the tests that are written by the actual test writers, as well as a few retired SAT tests, so there is no time wasted on topics and concepts not tested on the SAT.

At Kweller Prep, we examine hundreds of SAT guides before referring one, and we can whole heartedly recommend this one. The book is worth the $20 just for the fantastic concise vocabulary list at the end of it. Kweller Prep whole heartedly endorses the Tutor Ted Review Guide. This is the best supplement to the College Board Official SAT.

I tutor students for the SAT college entrance exams full time and have found that Tutor Ted`s Manual is very useful to help students improve their vocabulary skills.It provides a better definition of the vocabulary terms as used in the SAT problems than using Webster`s Dictionary.

the explains are not very specific

I feel like this book's questions are easierthan other one's. But overall I liked it andthe explanations were explicit!