<p>Hi,</p>
<p>I have Barron's, Princeton Review, Petersons and 5 Steps and am self-studying.</p>
<p>Firstly, how hard are the Barron's MCs compared to the real test? Those are the only ones I can actually do well on--I usually get 80-90 percent of them right. On the Peterson's test and 5 Steps books, I got only about 40 correct. Are these harder than the test? My goal is a 5.</p>
<p>Also, on the essays, which prep book(s) give the best advice?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>i remember thinking last year that PR was the best book, and i took tests out of all of the books you have except barrons, and i seem to remember that Peterson had it pretty close, but i am not sure about that. last year the multiple choice questions were definitely manageable and i knew the answer to about 80% of them and guessed on the rest. what i found really useful about the 5 steps to a 5 book was their change/continuity charts for each period, i would definitely know those charts. thats really all that i remember about apwh, good luck on the test!</p>
<p>I self studied last year and I used Barrons for the details and Princeton review for the nice overview. Sometimes I alternated between both, for example, on a section which I thought might not be covered as much I used princeton review.</p>
<p>The best thing you can do is take practice tests, I took PR, Barrons and Kaplans tests. PR I did poorly on when I took them, they are actually harder than the real test. I dont remember how I did on Barrons.</p>
<p>Overall, I think I did not too bad, got a 5 on the test. </p>
<p>For essay strategy btw, Princeton Review was helpful, but I never really did any timed DBQs or essays before taking the test.</p>
<p>Last year, I only used the Barron's and got a 5.</p>
<p>The test isn't as bad... but i went overboard with the Barron's... If you can memorise the Barron's pretty well, you'll have np.</p>
<p>for the essay prep in Barron's.. it's WAYYY overboard... but the structure is good.... read the essay and use it's structure but dilate it a bit and you'll be fine... make sure to check your timing on the test!</p>
<p>barrons seemed to overprepare alittle. I strictly used princeton and feel that i got a upper 5</p>