AP English Lang & Comp Prep Book Reviews

Test Preparation AP Test Preparation
1

<p>So I know that there is a general forum thread for AP book recommendations, but it seems like every list is different and is recommending different brands and sometimes even editions. I figured that we could probably help future AP English Lang CC's (and future retakes!) by reviewing the material we used. I know that I would have loved to have a resource like this, especially when our options are so stratified between Princeton Review, 5 Steps, Barron's, Kaplan, AMSCO, and more.</p>

<p>So I'll start.</p>

<p>BARRON'S, ED. 3: Not a great book. The information it gives for rhetoric is very general and should be picked up in your typical AP English Language & Composition class. Also, the practice exams are MUCH harder than the actual AP exam and released exams. If you are looking for "over-preparation," this may be for you, but I know that others aren't a big fan of how the book explains its answers. On the other hand, I did like how this book explained periodic sentences, loose sentences, metonymy, and synecdoche. However, again, these should be picked up from just sitting in your AP English Lang & Comp class.</p>

2

<p>Cliffs is pretty good. It has 3 practice tests, though I never really took a close look at them in order to verify their accuracy.</p>

3

<p>Cliffs is what most ccers go for - and I believe it has 6 (yes, six) practice tests. I didn’t like PR, though 5 steps is okay.</p>

4

<p>It really has 6 practice tests…? I’m pretty sure it only has three O_O</p>

5

<p>I used Barron’s and PR: PR has a more intensive list of rhetorical fallacies and discourse modes, whereas Barron’s prepares you more on grammar things and has an extremely intense glossary of terms. The tests from the Barron’s books were killer, but I feel like it’s better that way, because the actual test felt manageable by comparison. Also, my teacher used practice tests from Kaplan which were easier than Barron’s but still tougher than the real deal.</p>