The SAT reading section is designed to test your comprehension skills to see how you will fare in a college environment. What does it test? SAT reading pays special attention to your command of evidence by giving you evidence-based passages and asking you to identify an author’s use of evidence to support their claims.
Moreover, you will also come across questions that ask you to figure out words in a given context. These words are widely used in different college-level courses. However, to do well in the reading section, it is essential that you have a strong grasp of reading comprehension and you know how to derive substance from a given passage.
Thankfully, there are many great books available for you to build a solid foundation by learning what the SAT reading tests you on and how they set up traps to trick you. Here are the 10 best books for SAT reading prep.
In this Article
- 10. SAT Reading: Science and Social Studies
- 9. New SAT Reading Practice Book
- 8. SAT Reading: History Passages
- 7. SAT Reading Course Book
- 6. Reading and Writing Workout for the SAT
- 5. SAT Reading & Writing Packets
- 4. Barron’s SAT Reading Workbook
- 3. SAT Reading: World Literature Practice Book
- 2. SAT Reading & Writing Prep
- 1. The Critical Reader
10. SAT Reading: Science and Social Studies
The SAT reading passages that you will encounter on test day will come from different fields. Two of these fields are science and social studies. The passages that appear on SAT are carefully selected to test students on their reading comprehension skills. Due to this, the best thing to practice in advance is to familiarize yourself with the subject matter. This book has extensive coverage of tactics, strategies and detailed answer explanations for hundreds of reading passages.
Key Features:
- 400 questions with detailed answer explanations
- Essential strategies and tactics
- Extensive review of science and social studies passages
- Additional explanations for paired passages
Get it from here.
9. New SAT Reading Practice Book
The best way to ensure a high score is to solve as many practice questions as you can. The New SAT Reading practice book is the ideal companion that offers ten full reading practice tests and a total of 520 practice questions.
The practice tests in this book offer hundreds of questions from all the four subject areas typically tested, i.e. Fiction, social science, natural science and global conversation.
Key Features:
- 10 Full reading practice tests
- 520 practice tests questions
- 2080 answers explanations online
- Time-saving advice and proven strategies
Get it from here.
8. SAT Reading: History Passages
The global conversation, or more commonly, the history passages that appear on SAT, are especially troublesome for many students. Due to the quirky use of the English language, students often get confused about the meaning of a passage. This book is designed to help you understand how to derive meaning from the passages.
Key Features:
- Contains 50 SAT reading comprehension passages
- 500 SAT Reading questions
- 2000 detailed answer explanations
- Extensive coverage of civil and human rights issues
Get it from here.
7. SAT Reading Course Book
The SAT reading course book breaks down individual question types into distinct and thoroughly explained steps. Each lesson provides a combination of demonstration, practice and reviews to teach students how to tackle their trouble areas. Each lesson is followed by drill exercises to help consolidate concepts.
Key Features:
- Contains more than 750 questions
- Three practice tests
- More than 40 drill exercises
- Time-saving advice and proven techniques
Get it from here.
6. Reading and Writing Workout for the SAT
Princeton review’s reading and Writing Workout for the SAT is a comprehensive book on the various topics tested on the SAT. It features hundreds of practice questions and strategy-based lessons to help you maximize your score and save time.
Key Features:
- 240+ total practice questions with complete answer explanations
- Quick quizzes throughout each chapter to help assess understanding
- Step-by-step walk-throughs that demonstrate tips for each type of question
- Detailed answer explanations that showcase each skill and strategy
Get it from here.
5. SAT Reading & Writing Packets
This book takes a unique approach to both reading and writing sections of the test by offering what is known as “packets”. Packets are simply tiny lessons that are designed to deliver specific information regarding SAT topics. You get to learn curated knowledge about the various reading and writing topics in easy-to-digest chunks. Moreover, you will also find more than 400 questions with detailed answer explanations.
Key Features:
- Question-type specific packets
- More than 400 practice questions
- Detailed answer explanations
- Covers all 4 subject areas- history, social science, humanties, sciences
Get it from here.
4. Barron’s SAT Reading Workbook
Barron’s SAT reading workbook is a comprehensive guide for the various question types featured on the test. You will find numerous practice exercises on reading comprehension, words in context and graphical analysis.
Key Features:
- Diagnostic test
- Three full-length Reading practice tests
- Answers and explanations for all questions
- Test-taking tips and vocabulary review
Get it from here.
3. SAT Reading: World Literature Practice Book
SAT is notorious for featuring difficult passages from world literature. The crafty English typical of such passages can pose quite a challenge for students. This book offers 50 curated passages that are followed by drill exercises to help you grasp the difficult prose.
Key Features:
- 50 passages from world literature
- 500 practice questions
- 2000 detailed answer explanations
- Classic and modern literature
Get it from here.
2. SAT Reading & Writing Prep
Kaplan’s reading and writing prep is an extensive book that offers a concise review of effectively tackling evidence-based reading and writing sections. It offers ten evidence-based reading and writing practice sets with detailed answer explanations.
Key Features:
- 19 Comprehensive Evidence-Based Reading and Writing Practice Sets
- More than 150 practice questions with expert explanations
- Methods and strategies to improve your score
- Full Reading and Writing and Language practice test sections
Get it from here.
1. The Critical Reader
If you want the best lessons and extensive coverage of all question types, get this. The complete guide to SAT reading breaks down each question type and provides in-depth explanations and numerous examples demonstrating how to work through each question. You will also learn how to identify key information in passages quickly without wasting time.
Key Features:
- Includes more than 250 practice questions
- Each chapter covers a single question type
- Numerous techniques and tips to improve speed and comprehension
- Strategies for difficult questions
Get it from here.