<p>Barron's AP books (okay, just Spanish and APUSH) are terrible. They're so bad it's not even funny. The Spanish test fed me bad info about the oral exams, which for somebody like who was self-studying and didn't have a teacher to correct it was not good, and had me focus on arcane grammar that was not once used on the grammar portion of the exam and not necessary for reading or speaking. The review tests in the Barron's US History book are jokes, there are multiple questions on military history and several that are just ridiculously wrong. DON'T BUY BARRON'S. Go for Princeton Review all the way. Barron's costs more for a worthless CD and doesn't even have a history review in it for day-before-test cramming.</p>
<p>I totally agree. I tried to use Barron's for US govt .. what a joke! Personally I think Barron's is great for math and computer science tho --</p>
<p>Kaplan sucks pretty badly, too. Well, at least for SAT II Chem.</p>
<p>barrons saved me on bio and chem</p>
<p>but i agree for subjects like ap gov..its overkill</p>
<p>i used it for ap comp sci because my teacher took all of our test questions directly from there, like word for word. haha.</p>
<p>Barrons saved me on Statistics last year. I heard their review books for other AP tests are pretty bad, but I wouldn't know since I usually get Cliffs and Princeton.</p>
<p>Kaplan SAT II Math Level II is basically useless too.</p>
<p>for any math/science, barron's overprepares you. unless you're short on time, barrons is awesome because it gives you ever hypothetical possibility. i think it's the best book to get 5s or 800s on math/science exams</p>
<p>barons was good for my sat II in physics.</p>
<p>I personally am using barron's for bio right now and I like it a lot. I would rather be over prepared than anything. I like that it has 4 complete practice exams and I like the way it divides up material and throughly explains why all the other choices are wrong. But hey... I'm only taking bio, so i can't say for any other subjects. I guess it all depends on preference.</p>
<p>I bought Barron's for every test I'm taking. I have had great experiences with the Barron's books and I know that in two of my AP classes the teachers use the Barron's books. Those classes are World History and Stats. I liked them a lot so I also got some for my SAT II subject tests - Physics, World History, and Math I.</p>
<p>"Kaplan sucks pretty badly, too. Well, at least for SAT II Chem."</p>
<p>I bought a Kaplan for US Government before I knew all the differences between the books...and considering how many people say they dislike the book, I actually thought it was a great supplement to my class. It's definitely not for self-studiers, but it's nice to just have simple overviews of topics, and charts about all the amendments and acts and such. The practice FR REALLY prepared me for the exam. I liked it!</p>
<p>Barron's AP Psych book was pretty legit.. but as far as English Lit I thought it was horrible.</p>
<p>
[quote]
"Kaplan sucks pretty badly, too. Well, at least for SAT II Chem."</p>
<p>I bought a Kaplan for US Government before I knew all the differences between the books...and considering how many people say they dislike the book, I actually thought it was a great supplement to my class. It's definitely not for self-studiers, but it's nice to just have simple overviews of topics, and charts about all the amendments and acts and such. The practice FR REALLY prepared me for the exam. I liked it!
[/quote]
Well, I remember two things from that book: Tons of misspellings, and incorrect answer letters for the practice tests. I mean, they spelled "environment" (enviromeet) wrong :/.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>eh, well...i guess we'll see how my score turns out.</p>
<p>barrons is good for chem, but i dont like the organization of physics C...its harder to look at than my textbook which kind of defeats the purpose because i go to my review books to dumb things down for me..</p>
<p>I totally agree with you for APUSH. Seriously, some of the multiple choice questions...</p>
<p>I felt Barron's was a terrible studying tool for Gov. Reading through, it just seemed to give generalizations rather than the concrete info that's helpful. It seemed to be for someone who hadn't even taken the class, because it took the time to explain the most basic things (there are checks and balances you guys wow!) instead of supplimenting info you should already be getting in class.</p>
<p>PR actually had a terrible APUSH book, and it lacks a lot of detail.</p>
<p>For APUSH, I liked Kaplan, but REA is always good.</p>
<p>I loved my Barron's for calc & computer science, and so far I'm liking it for chem & psych too.</p>