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.

New edition has comprehensive coverage of the material, and twice as much practice as previous editions. I use it with all my private students.

Having already had 2 students enter college, I have looked at a lot of PSAT/SAT prep materials over the years. It's hard to find any that are geared toward the more competitive students who already are performing decently but want to have confidence that they've fully cataloged ALL the types of questions, and want insight into the real 'gotchas' of the test. This book does exactly that, is straightforward to read, and doesn't waste your time with any nonessentials. While Nielson's book is indeed geared toward those aiming for seriously competitive scores, I'm sure it would also be helpful to those who just wanted to understand the "what" and "how" of SAT. Don't bother with the super-thick, fluff-filled guides churned out by the 'bigger' publishers -- too much bloatware in this books! They seem to think the page count justifies their cost, I guess. This book lays out the scope of the problem types in a no-nonsense manner. If you need a general introduction to 'what is the SAT', how long does it take, etc. then perhaps skim through the beginning chapters of one of those 'fluff' books. But then come use Nielson's for actual study/prep. One small criticism (not even worth a point/star off on review) is that, like ANY and EVERY prep book not directly published under CollegeBoard (i.e., CollegeBoard or Khan Academy) the problems are unofficial. Why is that important? Because the test authors have a *very particular* manner of authoring the problems (and answers) so they fit their standardized mold. (Which, by the way, is why all those practice tests in the 'big fluff' books are nearly worthless and even misleading. It's just more heft to justify the price.) So just be sure that if you use the CollegePanda then (as Nielson also tells you) do the REAL PRACTICE on OFFICIAL (new) SAT tests & practice questions.

The exercises in this book are essentially identical to the previous version (for the non-digital SAT). The solutions provided contain very little strategy and zero Desmos. The hard questions are pretty hard and even quite SAT like—the only 3rd party content I’ve been able to say that about—so I think they can provide good extra practice for reasonably high scorers who have exhausted the entire Question Bank and all BlueBook tests. It says it’s “for students aiming for an 800”, but students who fail to learn strategies beyond this book are not 800 bound. In all, it’s good practice for math content, but it’s also just a minimal update from the old book and not meaningfully “Digital SAT” specific.

Perfect for students

Totally to the point for the SAT math and very helpful guide.

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.