Read Online Cracking the AP Biology Exam 2012 Edition College Test Preparation Princeton Review Books

Product details Series College Test Preparation (Book 12) Paperback 384 pages Publisher Princeton Review; Student edition (September 6, 2011) Language English ISBN-10 0375427252

Cracking the AP Biology Exam 2012 Edition College Test Preparation Princeton Review Books Reviews

• I am so thankful for this book. I basically used government class as a study hall the entire year, so without this book I would have failed. Luckily, our classroom tests happened to be very closely aligned with the AP exam, so before every unit test I would read the corresponding chapter in this book while highlighting key information, and then read the chapter again. That's it. Compared to the (busy) work assigned in most classes, this book is great; it weeds out the important stuff, gives you a handy glossary (know all those terms and you'll get half the questions on the AP test right), gives you TWO practice tests (I only had time to complete one, but I recommend at least doing both sets of FRQ's), and basically saves you a load of time and worry. What I love most about this book is that the information is concise, but it doesn't skimp on words when explaining concepts; everything I had trouble wrapping my brain around suddenly "clicked" when I read this book. I will say that rushing through this book the week before the test doesn't guarantee you a five; what you put into it is what you get out of it. For me, it was especially useful to highlight and sometimes take notes in the (huge) margins, since I tend to skim passages without absorbing anything. Needless to say, without this book I wouldn't have gotten a five.
• Compare to the AP Physics 1 and AP Physics 2 books from Princeton Review, this AP Chemistry Review book is a much better one. It covers all the materials needed on the actual exam and no more. It deleted some stuffs no longer on the exam (organic chemistry) compare to other review books such as Barron, saving you a great deal of time and making your studying process much more efficient. There are plenty of practice questions after each chapter with through explanations which really strengthen my knowledge that I missed in class or already forgot. Some errors do exist but overall it does a pretty good job summarizing the revewing stuffs needed for the exam.
• I recommended that my AP US Government students buy this book because I think it is the best with regards to the curriculum alignment. I especially think that the practice tests are more aligned with real AP multiple choice exams than 5 Steps.
  
  Two things that could be better
  1. Some of the information (even in the practice tests) is random and not likely to appear on the AP exam.
  2. The free response questions are not configured or scored the way real AP free response questions are done. They aren't written in the format that is always used. A student is much better off completely disregarding the free response questions in the book and using the actual, released FRQS (plus rubrics) found on the Collegeboard website.
• I have gotten almost all the available ap physics 1 tests (ap physics 1 essentials, barron, 5 steps to a 5) and I have to say this one does the job the best (for me). I have a physics teacher that doesn't do much explaining and this book makes up for it. It has a perfect balance of how easy (ap physics essentials) and how hard (barron) the ap physics 1 test should be (from what I have heard from last year's test takers. While I do enjoy the simplicity of 5 steps to 5, it really doesn't cover enough materials in detail to make up for my teacher, but if you have a great teacher and just need to review everything quickly at the end of the year, I think 5 steps to a 5 is your best bet. I will update my review after I actually take the test and after I review my scores.
• I bought this book along with the Barron's Review book to assist me in studying for the rather rigorous AP World exam. After successfully completing the course and exam, I would recommend these different books for different types of studying. The Princeton Review is much better used as a review rather than a fact-packed supplemental guide (as I believe Barron's is). Also, this book contains lots of test taking strategies, and how to actually write the 3 types of essays we are required to know how to compose (something I was NOT taught in class!). This portion of the book is much more in depth than the Barron's Review. Overall though, if you're looking for a comprehensive review, go with Barron's; if you just need to refresh major ideas, I highly recommend this one. Either way, these books will help you if you're trying to get a 4 or 5 on the exam!
• My daughter was given the flash cards from the Barron's version of this book to study from. They were terrible. They would have been good for someone to use throghout the year, maybe. But they had far too much material on them to really be called flash cards. And nothing was spelled out in simple language.
  
  The format of the Princeton Review book was much easier to follow and made working toward understanding the material better kind of an adventure. She really liked the pretest and the unit quizzes. She could see improvement as she went along, which was a big relief.
• This is the WORST review book for the AP physics 1 exam. The absent information (rotational kinematics, rotational momentum) or scarcely elaborated information (circuits and series) are just some of the issues in this book. None of the questions came close to those that i saw on the AP test because they were much easier. The AP test is more concept based and involves little to no empirical calculations. I do not recommend this book. I did well in my class but what made the test difficult was its radically different design from the practice AP test College Board released to our teachers, what was in this review book, and the curriculum because this was the first year that the new test was released. I unfortunately yet fortunately earned a score of 3. The stats are mortifying; over 66% of test takers failed. Much worse than the Physics B fail rate which was less or at 50%. I suppose there won't be any reliable test prep material for this exam until next year since major changes were made (MAJOR). I recommend taking your time enriching yourself and trying to get a deep, fundamental understanding of physics which I am doing this summer because my teacher and review book failed in helping me do that. Save your money and use it to rent a good physics book or use free online resources. Good luck future students!