<ol>
<li><p>Skeletal System? There was 1 question about it on the BB SAT II, but other than that PR and Baron's Biology E/M don't go over it. So to anyone who actually took the Biology Sat did you encounter any questions about the skeletal system, such as what bone is this called/ what type of joint is it,. e.g ball and socket, etc..</p></li>
<li><p>Eye and Ear? In the BB SAT II, there was no questions about the ears and eyes. PR Biology didn't have any information about it , but BR said that sometimes it does go over it and gave you a diagram to study. So again, for those who took the SAT Biology Test before, did you even encountered questions about the eye and ear?</p></li>
<li><p>Scientific Equipment+methods? Such as diagram of the microscope, and the differences between the SEM, Phase-contrast microscope and the TEM, and other stuff like "ultracentrifuge and "freeze fracture". Again, the Baron book went over this, but The PR didn't. So did you encounter any of these questions when you took the SAT Biology Test?</p></li>
<li><p>Scientist Name+dates
In the Baron, those end of chapter quizzes tests you on famous Scientist names such as who discover Imprinting or did test about dog salivation. However on the PR Book it didn't focus on any of the names. So if you took the test, did you encounter any questions about the scientists?</p></li>
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<p>Thank you very much in advance. I don't want to study superfluous information that won't be tested on the test</p>
<p>bump !!! same here guys please help both of us!!!</p>
<p>Yes skeletal system occasionally will come out.</p>
<p>Yes, since it came out in the BB it definitely can come out. This is one of the reasons why I prefer Barron’s to any other prep book; because other prep books leave out info on stuff like the ear and eye but include junk that won’t come out. </p>
<p>yes, this definitely comes out.</p>
<p>umm indirectly? you have to familiarize yourself with names of theories which sometimes have scientist names in them. E.g. Hardy Weinberg equilibrium/equation. Other than that you do not need to know who Hugo (forgot his full name but he was related to mutation) was. Recommend you be safe and learn very famous ones like Louis Pasteur though (just in case)</p>
<p>Also, you must know this: (all the test prep books I’ve seen did not talk about this at all)
- Traits of common animals.
E.g. what is a cardinal, eagle, earthworm, scorpion and many more. This is not an exhaustive list but the SAT loves to give questions about specific species instead of stating their genus, Family, order, class, phyla etc. (though knowing traits of these will help you answer questions). The most common type of animals that will be tested are exceptions to the normal classification system or an species that appears to be in another group. E.g. Crayfish and platypus. Once again, this is not an exhaustive list and you should just google up some common animals and learn a bit more about how diverse wildlife on earth is in your free time. </p>
<p>Also, know your biomes well and don’t adamantly stick to the common names of biomes that the books state. In my November paper, a few distraction alternative names for biomes came out and I ended up leaving the question blank because I had no idea what they were (not going to state the specific names though cause it’s against college board regulations; you can find it quickly by searching for the nov 2013 bio post though <em>cough</em>)</p>
<p>Hope this helped. If u need more clarification, feel free to ask me.</p>
<p>bump! I’d like to know too. However, if you look at the reviews on Amazon for Barron’s, the book is all you need. Still, someone please answer.</p>
<p>Thank you, Hindsight1. Am I the only one who finds it incredibly annoying that all topics aren’t covered on each prep book? It just makes it unfair to those who didn’t study the topics just because their prep book didn’t cover it.</p>
<p>Which book did you use?</p>
<p>Ok about the question on whether Barron’s is all you need, it depends on your target score and your current biology knowledge.</p>
<p>Barron’s is by far the best book I’ve used for preparing for the November SAT II biology test. It was accurate in providing information for most sections (though as stated above sometimes there will still be stuff that do not come out and you will have to trust your common sense and gut feeling (unless you want to study excessively). </p>
<p>Regarding the Barron’s practice tests, they are insightful though slightly too specific. Nevertheless, it serves to be excellent for helping you to prepare for the actual exam and some questions from the practice tests actually came out (though rephrased).
For me, I used the book with the cd-rom because it gave 2 extra practice tests (somewhat helpful). However, do note that Barron’s is slightly too detailed and is sort of overkill but nevertheless, it is better to be over prepared than under prepared.</p>
<p>Princeton review (another book I bought), is far less consummate but has better practice tests in my opinion. It is also useful for those who do not have a strong background in biology because it explains the information simply. Barron’s on the otherhand is for those who are strong biology students.(however, I used Barron’s to self-student the taxonomy, ecology and evolution chapters because I wanted to be sure I hit the points that could possibly come out)</p>
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<li>As for kaplan. It’s terrible. It’s too superfluous with points, which could otherwise be summarized into a sentence stretched on for 2 paragraphs… Even the practice test was verbose. At times, I felt I was doing critical reading because some of the blurbs giving background information about experiments were excessively long. Kaplan is also far too specific to the extent that the extra information is useless. At least for Barron’s the extra information can aid you in answering rare questions. This, if you are considering kaplan, pick another book instead.</li>
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<p>Alright, thank you very much and good luck with your university applications (if you’re in that phase)! I’ve got a strong biology background, however I did the UK curriculum. I’m sticking to Barron’s. No choice anyway :P</p>