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SAT PERFECT SCORE: The 7 Secrets of Acing the SAT
In this new landmark study, Dr. Tom Fischgrund became the first researcher ever granted full access to these high academic achievers by the College Board. Weaving together in-depth interviews with perfect-score students, insights from their parents, groundbreaking statistical analysis, and exclusive College Board data, SAT Perfect Score reveals the seven key secrets that separate the cream from the crop ... and they're not what you'd think.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
5 people want to read
About the author
Tom Fischgrund
17 books1 followerTom Fischgrund is a best-selling author of six books that have sold hundreds of thousands of copies. They include: 1600 Perfect Score (Regan Books/HarperCollins), The Insider’s Guide to the Top 10 Business Schools (Little Brown), Match Wits with the Harvard MBAs (Random House), and Barron’s Top 50 (Barron’s). He has appeared on The Today Show, and his books have been featured in popular newspapers, magazines, and radio programs around the country. With a PhD in Political Science from MIT, an MBA from Harvard, and a vivid imagination, Tom predicts the future of America in the time of Trump in his political thriller, Trump’s Second Term: What If President Donald J. Trump Had Won Reelection in 2020.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 22, 2025
I just finished reading the same 1 page essay for an entire book. 😮💨
Tom Fischgrund
Title: SAT perfect score: 7 secrets to raise your score
Author: Tom Fischgrund
Page count: 245 pgs (excluding bibliography)
Genre: Test Prep/Academic Study Tools
From The Author of: Trump's Second Term: ‘What if President Donald J. Trump Had Won Reelection in 2020’, ‘Barron's Top 50: An Inside Look at America's Best Colleges’, ‘Fischgrund's Insider's Guide to the Top 25 Colleges’
Background:
I am an 18 year old looking to get high scores on my upcoming SAT test. I did well in school, but had to drop-out at 16 to prioritize my family and mental health among a multitude of things. Got my GED immediately after this and graduated in 2024 when I was 17. Still have faint symptoms of the “gifted kid syndrome” still rolling around in my head and am confident (maybe too much so) that, even with my little amount of prep, and my PSAT score of 1070, I can too be a perfect scorer come May. That being said…
Review:
The “SAT perfect score: 7 secrets to raise your score” by Tom Fischgrund is a 3-part guide on how you, as a parent and as a kid, can defy your expectations and skull-crush every academic goal that stands in your way. On the surface this is what the book appears to be. But underneath its layers we can come to understand that Tom wants the reader to know that the leading, if not only way, you can ever conceptualize a perfect 1600 score is by applying your preparation holistically, finding a balance, and being a learner for life.
He conveys his ideas by using real life examples from non-extraneous students that got a 1600, no less, no more, on their test. He compared their economic situation, social status, mindset, studying habits, everything and then some. This book presents all of his findings wrapped in a cute and concise bow, and the results might shock anyone that’s only perception of exceptionally high academic achievers is Urkel or Harry Potter’s Hermione Granger.
Strengths:
01. The book is extremely well-organized. It is very clear that the author had a lot of data to translate to us, and in the wrong hands this cohesive 245-page book could have unnecessarily turned into a Stephen King novel (no shade).
02. By the end of the book I did feel more empowered to continue my studies and work hard at this goal, regardless of the time constraint.
03. If you're looking to provide assistance to your kid that doesn’t take as much thought into their school life as you think they should. Or a student who knows where they're going, but just needs the keys to those doors. Maybe even a school who wants to see the rise in their student bodies’ overall educational effort. Doesn’t matter who you are, the information in this book can be twisted to fit into any mold.
04. I liked the little SAT test score sheet images on each chapter’s page.
Weaknesses (objective):
01. Too much repeated information. I found I was starting to skip ahead at the end of the book to see what relevance this topic had with the chapter’s current purpose because I’d heard it again and again and again at that point.
Weaknesses (personal):
01. Too much repeated information.
02. Said the phrase “turn on” when talking about teenagers too much for my liking. It was in the context of being basically “put onto” something new they’ve never tried before, but it just made me cringe every time I saw it.
03. Did I mention that there was TOO MUCH REPEATED INFORMATION. Oh I did sorry, I just wanted to make sure you memorize that for the test it felt like the author was going to give us on the 5 points he continuously echos and sneaks in at least 10 times every chapter.
Rating: (3.5/5)
🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪⚪⚪⚪
All and all good book, could’ve been shorter.
I recommend this book to:
Test takers that are trying to raise their score/get a perfect score (100%)
Test takers who are just trying to get their book count up that also happen to be relevant to the topic at hand (85%)
Parents that want to help their test taker get the best score they can (50%)
Someone who is just getting back into reading for fun (25%)
Tom Fischgrund
Title: SAT perfect score: 7 secrets to raise your score
Author: Tom Fischgrund
Page count: 245 pgs (excluding bibliography)
Genre: Test Prep/Academic Study Tools
From The Author of: Trump's Second Term: ‘What if President Donald J. Trump Had Won Reelection in 2020’, ‘Barron's Top 50: An Inside Look at America's Best Colleges’, ‘Fischgrund's Insider's Guide to the Top 25 Colleges’
Background:
I am an 18 year old looking to get high scores on my upcoming SAT test. I did well in school, but had to drop-out at 16 to prioritize my family and mental health among a multitude of things. Got my GED immediately after this and graduated in 2024 when I was 17. Still have faint symptoms of the “gifted kid syndrome” still rolling around in my head and am confident (maybe too much so) that, even with my little amount of prep, and my PSAT score of 1070, I can too be a perfect scorer come May. That being said…
Review:
The “SAT perfect score: 7 secrets to raise your score” by Tom Fischgrund is a 3-part guide on how you, as a parent and as a kid, can defy your expectations and skull-crush every academic goal that stands in your way. On the surface this is what the book appears to be. But underneath its layers we can come to understand that Tom wants the reader to know that the leading, if not only way, you can ever conceptualize a perfect 1600 score is by applying your preparation holistically, finding a balance, and being a learner for life.
He conveys his ideas by using real life examples from non-extraneous students that got a 1600, no less, no more, on their test. He compared their economic situation, social status, mindset, studying habits, everything and then some. This book presents all of his findings wrapped in a cute and concise bow, and the results might shock anyone that’s only perception of exceptionally high academic achievers is Urkel or Harry Potter’s Hermione Granger.
Strengths:
01. The book is extremely well-organized. It is very clear that the author had a lot of data to translate to us, and in the wrong hands this cohesive 245-page book could have unnecessarily turned into a Stephen King novel (no shade).
02. By the end of the book I did feel more empowered to continue my studies and work hard at this goal, regardless of the time constraint.
03. If you're looking to provide assistance to your kid that doesn’t take as much thought into their school life as you think they should. Or a student who knows where they're going, but just needs the keys to those doors. Maybe even a school who wants to see the rise in their student bodies’ overall educational effort. Doesn’t matter who you are, the information in this book can be twisted to fit into any mold.
04. I liked the little SAT test score sheet images on each chapter’s page.
Weaknesses (objective):
01. Too much repeated information. I found I was starting to skip ahead at the end of the book to see what relevance this topic had with the chapter’s current purpose because I’d heard it again and again and again at that point.
Weaknesses (personal):
01. Too much repeated information.
02. Said the phrase “turn on” when talking about teenagers too much for my liking. It was in the context of being basically “put onto” something new they’ve never tried before, but it just made me cringe every time I saw it.
03. Did I mention that there was TOO MUCH REPEATED INFORMATION. Oh I did sorry, I just wanted to make sure you memorize that for the test it felt like the author was going to give us on the 5 points he continuously echos and sneaks in at least 10 times every chapter.
Rating: (3.5/5)
🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪⚪⚪⚪
All and all good book, could’ve been shorter.
I recommend this book to:
Test takers that are trying to raise their score/get a perfect score (100%)
Test takers who are just trying to get their book count up that also happen to be relevant to the topic at hand (85%)
Parents that want to help their test taker get the best score they can (50%)
Someone who is just getting back into reading for fun (25%)
May 11, 2018
First reading: 9/8/2013 -- This book is more about creating a home environment that prepares kids for success in general. The author interviews 160 Perfect Score kids and their parents to discover how the kids aced the SAT. The author notes that this perfect score much more of a lifetime approach to learning, than a one time test, which I appreciated, as a homeschooling mom. Self-motivation and passion were also mentioned in the 7 secrets.
Second reading: May 2017
Second reading: May 2017
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews