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 Worth Every Penny, Guaranteed. Mar 05, 2010
Allow me, the author, to respond to my one negative review. First of all, I stand by this book. I have received nothing but overwhelming praise from the many tutors and students who have used The Ultimate SAT Supplement-with the singular exception, of course, of Ms. Patricia Brown. If anyone who purchases this book does not feel that it is the best source of SAT solutions available and worth every penny, I will refund the price of the book - no questions asked. Just send me an email within 30 days of purchase and I'll explain how to return the book. My email is on page 2 of the book. Now, to Ms. Brown's review:
Ms. Brown, who has clearly not read The Ultimate SAT Supplement, has written an irresponsible and ill-informed review. I wrote her the following letter, offering to send her a copy of the actual book to review. She did not respond my letter. (Keep in mind that this is for my first edition of The Ultimate SAT Supplement and was written in September 2009.)
Dear Patricia:
I am responding to your Amazon review of The Ultimate SAT Supplement. My name is Erik Klass. I am the author of the book. I write this with the utmost respect.
To begin, I do think there is a place for alternate solutions to the ones offered by the College Board. I have looked over the College Board's solutions-the best word I can think of is "vanilla." These solutions use the most basic and fundamental of mathematical and verbal concepts. And this is exactly what we would expect: the methods and techniques taught in the College Board book are equally as basic. I imagine you, as an experienced educator, know this already. I would also guess that you use at least one other book to teach methods and techniques for the SAT, while utilizing the College Board book for practice tests. I can safely say that no tutor I know uses the College Board book exclusively. Clearly, while the book's supply of questions is, to say the least, replete, the book's methods are lacking. Allow me to suggest that, in much the same way, its solutions are also lacking. Let me stress: there's nothing wrong with the College Board offering free solutions to its tests-for any student using the College Board book exclusively, these solutions are invaluable. I am simply saying that the existence of these solutions in no way makes another set of solutions obsolete or unnecessary.
Furthermore (and by far more importantly), my Supplement is clearly described (in the first sentence of its description) as a link between my tutorial and the College Board book:
"This book is a bridge that connects KlassTutoring's The Ultimate SAT Tutorial to a source of real SATs, The Official SAT Study Guide by The College Board (4th Edition - light-blue cover with orange stripe). So before you use this supplement, make sure you have these two books."
I cannot overstate the value of my Supplement when used in conjunction with my tutorial. For example, I have a special technique that allows students to solve difficult algebra problems that have variables in the answer choices. To have a solutions manual that uses this same technique is indispensable. A solution (such as the College Board's solution) that uses a different (if perhaps more conventional) method does nothing toward reinforcing the techniques in my tutorial, and may in fact be harmful in that it encourages using a different method, thus confusing the student.
As far as the edition number, my description is correct. I pasted the Amazon description below for you to see:
Product Details
* Paperback: 889 pages
* Publisher: College Board; 4th edition (October 7, 2004)
* Language: English
* ISBN-10: 0874477182
* ISBN-13: 978-0874477184
I wish I knew why the College Board waited for the second book to retroactively reset the edition number. In any case, my goal was to steer clients to the correct book. As you can see above, I did the best I could. (This also explains why I described the cover).
And as for the new edition of the College Board book, I would embrace-and certainly deserve-any low review that appropriately points out the disingenuousness of my materials or their marketing. I went out of my way to change the description to make as clear as possible that my Supplement supports the older version. I even thought about pulling the book, but since the older book contains eight perfectly good tests (more than most students need anyway, and seven of which are found in the newer book), and since the old book can be purchased for considerably less than the newer book (less than $3 according to Amazon), I felt no need to remove the book.
I believe there is great value in The Ultimate SAT Supplement. It is a book on which I worked very hard. It has received praise from tutors around the country. I use it today for my students, and I know many tutors around the country who are doing the same. It is also a book that I feel is worth at least twice what I charge (partiality aside).
I humbly ask that you reconsider your review. I would also ask for you to allow me to send you complimentary copies of both The Ultimate SAT Tutorial and the Supplement. I guess you can say I am putting my money where my mouth is. I am confident that you will discover my books to be exceptional and unparalleled. In fact, it would be a pleasure if you liked the books so much that you decided to use them for your own students. Perhaps I am getting ahead of myself, but stranger things have happened.
Thank you for reading.... I would appreciate hearing from you.
Best,
Erik Klass (author of The Ultimate SAT Tutorial and The Ultimate SAT Supplement)
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
The Best College Board SAT Supplement Available! Dec 14, 2009
Please also read my review on the Ultimate SAT Tutorial. This book goes along with that one, which is hands-down the best SAT prep book on the market. You can also buy this book with the College Board's book if you are just looking for answers and explanations to the tests, but I'd recommend getting the tutorial as well, as this book references the strategies taught in the tutorial. This most recent edition has been updated to go with the College Board's new Official Study Guide, so you get answers and explanations to every single question from all 10 tests.
As I mentioned in my other review, I am an SAT tutor with years of experience consistently raising students' scores on the SAT. This book provides the clearest, most useful answers and explanations to the College Board's book of tests that I have ever seen. If there is ever a problem that I can't remember how to do (yes, it does happen every once in awhile, even when you do this for a living!), I just flip open the Ultimate Supplement and get 2-3 ways to solve the problem. It couldn't be any easier than that!
I highly recommend this book because it was written by someone who knows the SAT inside and out, and it really shows. If you're serious about raising your SAT scores, get the College Board book and then get this book to go with it. If you do the work, you WILL see results. Good luck!
5 of 9 found the following review helpful:
 Complete Waste of Money Since College Board Released Answers Sep 11, 2009
I tutor students full time for the SAT & the ACT, so I consider myself an expert on this topic. This new publication is a complete waste of your money because in July of 2009 the College Board released the second edition of The Official Study Guide, and with that release the College Board now offers FREE detailed explanations online at the link [...].
These types of reference books used to be needed, but are now completely unnecessary unless you don't have access to the Internet.
Furthermore, if you purchased the new second edition of the College Board official study guide (blue & green cover), it has 3 extra tests which are NOT covered AT ALL in the so-called "Ultimate SAT Supplement".
Lastly, the reference in the product description on amazon.com that this book corresponds to a "4th edition" is erroneous--there are only 2 editions of the College Board Official Study Guide that related to the "new" SAT that was implemented in 2005. The old first edition (blue cover with orange stripe) is what
this "Ultimate SAT Supplement" matches.
2 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Along with the Ultimate SAT Tutorial, this is a must-have! Nov 18, 2008
Please read my review on the Ultimate SAT Tutorial. This book goes along with that one, which is the best SAT prep book on the market. You can also buy this book with the College Board's book if you are just looking for answers and explanations to the tests, but I'd recommend getting the tutorial as well, as this book references the strategies taught in the tutorial.
As I mentioned in my other review, I am an SAT tutor with years of experience consistently raising students' scores on the SAT. This book provides the clearest, most useful answers and explanations to the College Board's book of tests that I have ever seen. If there is ever a problem that I can't remember how to do (yes, it does happen every once in awhile, even when you do this for a living!), I just flip open the Ultimate Supplement and get 2-3 ways to solve the problem. It couldn't be any easier than that!
I highly recommend this book because it was written by someone who knows the SAT inside and out, and it really shows. If you're serious about raising your SAT scores, get the College Board book and then get this book to go with it. If you do the work, you WILL see results. Good luck!
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