The College Panda's SAT Math: Advanced Guide and Workbook for the New SAT

This SAT math book is very well-organized, making it easy for students to follow and practice effectively. My child worked through the book twice over the break, and it really helped build confidence. The clear structure and variety of problems made a big difference. Highly recommended for anyone preparing for the SAT!

Very useful as a guide to practice for the math section of the SAT. Explanations are clear, and there are very few if any errors. A student who works through the entire book will have a very good grasp of all the topics needed to do well in the SAT math section.

My lovely daughter, and her lovely mom, were both skeptical that dad could help daughter improve her SAT math score.Rightly so. I finished my college calculus career in 1975.Then I found Nielson's Panda book, and we suddenly had a fun and practical way to review our algebra and other core skills required for the modern SAT.The book is not about pandas, but it reflects Nielson's panda-like, cheerful, and thorough approach for studying for the SAT math tests. Think of the movie "Kung-fu Panda" - this is Nielson's tough-love approach to mastering SAT math. There really aren't any shortcuts - you just have to do the work. He makes it practical and fun.Each lesson is self-contained, and reviews an important area that develops skills required for a brilliant score.The lessons can be taken in any order you desire, since they are self-contained. We studied exponents, then expressions (chap 6), then complex numbers, then equation solving, etc. Become a strong panda slowly, by building your skills in areas where you are weak, before moving on to lessons that require your newly honed baby panda skills.I take the lessons alongside my daughter, and allow her to teach me when necessary. She likes to race on the chapter review tests, and usually beats me.Neilson provides many additional resources on his web site, and other study guides as well. Don't pass those up.He really is a very productive panda-man, and I highly recommend his work.

Most SAT prep books out there have a common pattern in their structure: Give the readers a ton of general information, and then proceed to have them practice the knowledge they learned in that chapter. The advantage of this teaching method is that the readers can gain plenty of background knowledge to help them fundamentally understand concepts and applications. However, the main problem with it is the amount of "noise," or unnecessary information that a typical test-taker will end up studying. Although it's useful to know, it is also technically not required to do well on SAT Math. Nielson Phu seems to have known this, which is why he decided to write a prep book that merely shows the readers how to handle each of the specific problems they'll generally encounter on the SAT. He says that SAT questions should be "a simple reflex, something you know how to handle instinctively because you've seen it so many times before."Instead of stuffing the pages with fluff, Phu gets right to the point of how to solve problems, and spends a minimal amount of time on basics. He usually teaches everything by starting with an example right on the first page of the chapter. Some chapters are even made up entirely of problems and how to solve them. This no-nonsense, straightforward way of studying can not only be a time saver, but can also provide a simpler, less intimidating way of viewing math problems.You may argue that it is more beneficial for a student to know why they're doing what they're doing when they solve problems, but, strictly in terms of their performance on the SAT, it does not necessarily help. Some students (like myself) prefer a more specific and concrete way to look at math. And, frankly, even the most drone-like uninteresting knowledgebase like that is all that is really needed to get a good score. It's like learning to bake a cake. As long as two different people follow the same procedure for baking the cake, their knowledge of why certain ingredients are needed to bake it is irrelevant. The result is still the same.That being said, students who are attempting to get into MIT or Cal Tech are obviously much better off fully understanding the intricacies of mathematics if they wish to get ahead, which is why I wouldn't feel comfortable recommending this book to everyone. Its blunt and superficial way of teaching is not suitable for those looking for a deep comprehension of math. But if you want a concise crash course to the test, this is the book for you. Just be prepared to do some self teaching because some of the answer explanations in this book are a little too short, and can make it difficult to understand why you should do certain things to solve them. Of course, by contrast, more mainstream books have a bad habit of using overly complicated ways of saying "it's right because it's right," rendering their explanations equally unhelpful.

Can't recommend this Math study guide enough!! The material is organized, streamlined and a excellent review of the Math problems your student should have learned how to solve in high school. And if they did not learn it or have forgotten, this book teaches them how to easily solve them. Working through this book was a real confidence builder for my student. His Math SAT score improved over 150 points, enabling him to secure the best scholarship our state offers. The cost of this book came back to us many times over.