| I really wanted this book to be useful in preparing for the MSAT exam, but I was thoroughly disappointed. The information in each section is very unorganized, which makes the book very difficult to even read, let alone absorb information from. The content covered is also problematic. Especially in the history section, some content (such as British rulers) is covered in way more detail than the test requires you to know, while other topics (such as Native American and Asian history) are barely mentioned or completely ignored. Even the kind of information in the book is not useful. Instead of giving the most important and useful information on a person or topic in a concise and organized way, this book meanders through subjects, mentioning an anectode about one person here, commenting on another topic there. I often felt as though I were talking to someone who was trying to prove how much they knew about a particular topic by throwing out random and often obscure facts to impress me. I also bought the practice exam with detailed answers produced by ETS, and found that much more useful. Although this test does not contain any review of the subjects covered by the MSAT, the detailed answers to multiple choice and essay questions give suggestions about what content to study. For me, making a topic list from the practice exams then looking up that information in subject-specific textbooks worked the best. I ended up setting aside the REA book in frustration, and hardly using it at all. |
MSAT - The Best Test Prep for the Multiple Subjects Assessment for Teachers (Test Preps) Books In Print, Audio Books.