There are usually tons of reviews in online stores like amazon. People post reviews after they buy things, which is really helpful. Just search for SAT books and tools and you'll see which ones are rated the highest.

you shouldn't just dismiss the unofficial guides. Some of them have better tricks and tips in them that the SAT people won't tell you in the official guide, and that can give you a big edge. It's proabbyl best to have one of each unofficial/official so you can get the official coaching plus the unofficial sneaking.

There's a lot out there like flashcards, study books, and computer programs. But my favorite was this novel called Marino Mission that I read. It's got 1000 SAT words in the story with definitions on the bottom so you can look em up as you go if you don't know what they mean. I guess the story wasn't amazing, but it was pretty good. I actually finished the book because i wanted to, not just for the vocab words. So if you have trouble with vocab you should check it out.

I really liked the Underground Guide to the SAT. It was really good and even funny. The writers made it interesting as well as taught you their secret tricks to get around the SAT writer's traps. Definitely a good unofficial guide.

I'm pretty sure the official SAT guide is prety much the best book out there you can buy. And it's the official guide so you know you're getting real information and not some random crap. Plus, theres the practice tests in the back which are approved tests so you know theyre accurate. It's probably the best guide there is.

The "best" SAT book is probably the big blue Official guide, but there are so many options out there you can probably just use whatever tickles your fancy or whatever will work for your learning style.