The Best SAT/ACT Essay Prep Book

If you're looking for help with the essay on either the SAT or ACT, you should seriously consider buying Write the SAT Essay Right by Laura Wilson and Amie Whigham. Don't be fooled by the title; it's great for the ACT as well.

It looks like this:

And you can order it here (it's only available online): http://www.amazon.com/Write-SAT-Essay-Right-Secrets/dp/1934338788

Full disclosure: I have written SAT and ACT Verbal exams for Wilson Daily Prep, the online branch of Laura's firm, WilsonPrep, for the past couple of years, but I am posting this only because I truly think this is the best essay prep book around. I've used it with most of my students, and I've seen some of them go up three points (from a 7 to a 10) in a matter of weeks.

How good is it? Let's just say that I was inspired to write my grammar and exercise books because of a complete lack of high quality non-College Board/ACT-produced prep material, but that I've never even considered writing anything about the essay. Why would I even bother when I can use this book?

Yes, it can be a little bit corny, but it is also staggeringly effective. It has tons of examples of actual essays, along with their scores and score analyses. In addition, it covers everything you need to know about various kinds of essay structures, theses, topic sentences, and stylistic issues. I can't recommend it highly enough.