SAT Preparation Software

The Big Picture

The Scholastic Aptitude Test. The SAT's. The College Entrance Board examination. Pretty scary sounding words for most high school students -- and their parents. So what should you do? Today's options range from do nothing ("It's an aptitude test, right?"), to hiring a personal coach for your child. Between these extremes lie paper-based study guides, multimedia software programs, and special classes. To see what the experts have to say about these options, check out our feature article on The SAT: How to Prepare.

SuperKids looked at four software programs that variously claim to raise scores, reduce anxiety, and out-smart the test-writers. Do they work? Although no rigorous studies have been published documenting their value, SuperKids believes each of the titles we tested offers the potential to improve a test-taker's performance. If nothing more, studying for the SAT should increase students' familiarity with the exam, and at least temporarily improve their vocabulary.

Which one of these four titles is best for your high school student? All of them cover the same material; they differ primarily in approach and presentation. Read below for cameo descriptions, then click on the titles that interest you to see what our parent, teacher, and kid reviewers had to say.

• RoadTrip for the SAT '97
from Kaplan is a solid SAT preparation tool that focuses on helping students understand the exam questions, and how to tackle them. It is best-suited for students who are self-motivated (i.e. they don't need a teacher and homework assignments to ensure that they prepare), and prefer the interactivity of a humorous computer program to a book.
• Score Builder for the SAT
from The Learning Company offers a straight-forward approach, a well-organized, thorough review of the exam and the types of questions it contains, and strategies for dealing with them. It is best for a student interested in a solid review, rather than learning strategies to attempt to "beat the test-writers." This program offers the easiest-to-follow study plan.
• Your Personal Trainer for the SAT
from Davidson contains good advice and a significant number of practice problems with explanations. This program is very book-like. It is best suited for a student who needs lots of practice, prefers computers to books, but requires little entertainment stimulation.
• Inside the SAT '97
from Princeton Review focuses on "beating the test-writers." It is an interesting program, with lots of valuable advice for the SAT student. This program is best suited for a student who easily picks up new ways of looking at problems. Although the two technical problems we encountered don't render the program entirely unusable, based on our experience we believe most users should wait until bug fixes are available before purchasing this program.

Take a look at the ratings tables below, then click on the titles of the software you are interested in to see the complete review, or click on "PC" or "Mac" in the Buyers Guide column to see the results of SuperKids latest price survey.

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