<p>School is going to start in a few weeks, and I want to get a little head start. I'm going to be a sophomore and am taking AP European History and AP Biology. These will be my first two AP classes ever, and I'm a little nervous to say the least. I was thinking that I'll skim through a review book for each class before school starts. I'm going to be very busy during the fall, and I do not want to struggle or fall behind in the classes.
What review books do you recommend?</p>
<p>AP Bio: There’s no way to know. All the companies will probably be changing around their books now that they’ve actually seen the test. Do NOT use one from any other year! The ones from more than a year ago are from the old test and the ones from last year were just guessing.
In general, CliffsNotes is the best at AP Bio. The only thing I hate about them is their diagrams. VERY bad. Otherwise they’re definitely the best you’ll find.
As far as which books have the best practice tests, it’s impossible to tell now- nobody knows yet. I think the worst last year was Barrons- half of their answers- TO THEIR OWN QUESTIONS- were wrong. But nobody got the types of questions down pat- they’re probably going to redo it for this year.
AP Euro: Nothing’s fantastic. (APUSH is worse, though.) I used Princeton (effectively self-studying and cramming as my class was a joke) and got a 4. I have no idea if anything is better- the information was all there and it wasn’t terrible to read through, but there were some minor inaccuracies. (You’ll find them everywhere, though- 5 Steps for APUSH was full of mistakes.) Just don’t count on perfection.
While I think the worst book is 5 Steps, I believe it has the best tests.
Good luck!</p>
<p>The AP euro REA crash course seems to be reviewed the best. There is also a book called Modern European History but people say its too long, dull, and is like another text book instead of a review. Yet it is very informative.</p>
<p>Thanks for the answers so far. For Euro, I think I’ll get AP Achiever. I was thinking the 5 Steps for Biology because it had really good ratings. Princeton Review was trashed for their new book after the reformatted test. For now I think I’ll get the 5 Steps, then buy another once school starts and I’ll have my teacher’s opinion. Thanks!</p>
<p>I can’t speak about AP Euro, but I’m also taking AP Bio this coming fall. Our AP Bio teacher MADE us buy the CliffsNotes 4th Edition (the one for this year since the test changed). There must be something good about it, then. I haven’t really used it yet, but it must be at least decent.</p>