<p>AP Psychology:</p>
<p>Read the Crash Course book the morning of the exam and I think I got a 5. It was pure vocab.</p>
<p>Human Geography:
Barron’s is not as good as people claim it is. Some material that were on the test were not covered in Barron’s. Also, its questions (some MC and most of its FR) are irrelevant. </p>
<p>Macroeconomics:
Barron’s is good for this, but there are just a few concepts that it doesn’t cover. I didn’t try PR so I regret it, but I suggest using this along with PR.</p>
<p>Calculus AB:
Kaplan’s provide useful tips on how to use your calculator if you do not already know how to. But its questions are irrelevant and practice tests slightly harder. Avoid Barron’s AT ALL COSTS if you do not already have a good foundation in Calculus.</p>
<p>Comparative Government:
Ethel Wood’s study guide is very useful, but there’s just a few piece of information that it didn’t cover.</p>
<p>Environmental - PR. Consise. Easy to read. I just took notes as I went through the chapters for the month before the exam.</p>
<p>Environmental: definitely DON’T use Kaplan. I felt that it glossed over lots of important concepts and even missed a few altogether.</p>
<p>Chemistry: I used ARCO a few years ago when I took the exam and I it worked pretty well…sorry I can’t elaborate since I don’t remember many specifics.</p>
<p>Human Geo- I’d say Princeton Review was best for this year’s exam. Barron’s was good for getting the basics down.</p>
<p>US History- Crash Course. This covered so much of the multiple choice and helped me a ton on the essays. I would suggest using this above any other review book, including AMSCO.</p>
<p>World History: If you actually learned and did your studies for the course, PR should be sufficient. It is clear, concise, and has bad humor to wake you up
Psych: go for the Barron’s and read a glossary of terms. REA has too much information to memorize; Vocab is CRUCIAL for this exam.</p>
<p>Calculus BC
- Barrons: The best book in the market for this subject simply because it covers everything at a depth other books fail to achieve. Its not overkill, though.
Practice Tests: Good, more Difficult<br> - Princeton Review: While it probably presents everything very simply, there are certain topics that are scantly (if at all) covered. I would suggest this more for a brief review. Do not let the actual thickness overwhelm you. The subject review is lighter than you might think.
Practice Tests: Good, as Difficult, from what I looked over - Kaplan: Definitely more thorough than Princeton Review but less thorough than Barrons. However, the clarity of the material is so much better than either of the above.
Practice Tests: Definitely lot of FRQ review, but I did not really get a chance to give a solid opinion on their tests. </p>
<p>Usually, students feel more comfortable with more than one book at their disposal. However, the practical reality of the matter is that there simply is not enough time (other classes, afterschool chores, and weekend recitals). To avoid stress, I suggest one book–in this case, either Barrons or Kaplan–whichever you feel more comfortable with. </p>
<p>I will try to post later on other books–but I feel as if the above posts already do a good job on that! :)</p>
<p>U.S. Government and Politics
- Crash Course: A really concise and thorough book. However, it should not be read on its own if you have not taken a class.
- Princeton Review: Great coverage of concepts, liked the layout and style of writing. Definitely worth reading for this exam.</p>
<p>This thread is becoming increasingly messy. I’m going to have individual posts for each AP exam so it’s more organized. Give me some time</p>
<p>[ol][<em>]Barrons:
[list=i][li]This book is seen as the best book for self studiers, and rightfully so. It’s also great for people like me, who took the course, and want to brush up before the big exam. I started using it a few months before the AP exam, and it was extremely clear and easy to understand. [/li][</em>]AMAZING. Covered everything on the test. Feeling a 5 (self-study).
[<em>]4.5/5. The book covered almost everything on the exam. There were perhaps only 2 or 3 topics that I don’t think were covered by the book. The practice tests I thought were a little harder than the actual exam. But the difference wasn’t that much. I liked that the book was very straight forward. It was easy to read and gave many examples after a concept is introduced.
[</em>]4/5. I didn’t get a chance to use this throughout the year as much as I’d like to have. It’s a good book and ended up being the only way I studied for the exam. The few topics that I looked at from this showed up on the exam! The exam was super easy. I was hoping for a 3, but I definitely think I pulled off a 4 or 5. If I had to rate this…it would be 4/5 because there was no glossary. Most of the vocabulary is only italicized.[/ol]
[<em>]Crash Course:
- [li]This book just came out earlier this year, and I was quick to go out and buy it. Luckily, it did not let me down! This book is perfect for the week before the AP exam, when you just want to make sure you have everything down. I used it to go through the later chapters such as Abnormal Psych, Treatment, and Social Psych since I did not have enough time to go through the respective Barron’s chapters. [/li][</em>]Read the Crash Course book the morning of the exam and I think I got a 5. It was pure vocab.
[<em>]Conclusion
[list=i][</em>]The Barron’s-Crash Course combo for this exam is great! I was only uncertain about a few out-of-the-blue MC questions on this year’s AP exam. FRQ was very manageable thanks to these two books
[li]Go for the Barron’s and read a glossary of terms. REA has too much information to memorize; Vocab is CRUCIAL for this exam.[/list][/li][/list]</p>
<p>[ol][<em>]Barron’s
[list=i][</em>]I did not like it at all. It went just brief on the issues of the environmental class. The exam actually asks you for specific things which Barrons was not successful at all. I would not recommend this book; anyways it’s easy to retain information from the class.[/ol]
[<em>]Kaplan
- [</em>]Definitely DON’T use Kaplan. I felt that it glossed over lots of important concepts and even missed a few altogether.
[<em>]**Princeton Review **
[list=i][</em>]Worked the best for me. Great book
[<em>]Concise. Easy to read. I just took notes as I went through the chapters for the month before the exam.[/list]
[li]Earth as a Living Planet (TEXTBOOK)[/li][list=i][</em>]Great book.[/list][/list]</p>
<p>[ol][<em>]Barron’s
[list=i][</em>]Extremely helpful. I basically skimmed through the vocabulary at the end of the chapters the night before and I’m pretty confident in my score, but I think it helped that I had a really great teacher too who really knew what he was teaching.
[<em>]Barron’s should have been more detailed than just explaining general concepts because the MC was very specific.
[</em>]The Barron’s is way too easy.
[<em>]Barron’s was good for getting the basics down.
[</em>]Barron’s is not as good as people claim it is. Some material that was on the test was not covered in Barron’s. Also, its questions (some MC and most of its FR) are irrelevant.
[<em>]4/5. Having a good grasp of history, geography, and current events will help you immensely on the APHG exam. I feel that the exam itself just tests your knowledge of certain vocab. That said, Barrons is a fairly good book that should prep you well for the exam if you study it extensively. The MC on Barrons is easier than what you’ll see on the exam.
[</em>]5/5. It made the essays extremely easy. The explanations are clear. Reading this book and learning most of it well will guarantee you a 5 if you’re reasonably smart. The exam is straightforward stuff. This is really all you need to self-study for the exam. [/ol]
[<em>]Princeton Review
[list=i][</em>]I would also recommend using Princeton Review for a more thorough review.
Princeton Review is much better though you can’t really get that much better at the FRQs. I was lucky, knew all the FRQs
[*]I’d say Princeton Review was best for this year’s exam.[/list][/list]</p>
<p>[ol][<em>]REA
[list=i][li]Never, ever, ever, ever buy this book if you’re planning to do Comp Gov. I can tell you that, of the questions on the exam, the book only covered 1/3 of the questions and virtually none of the FRQs (besides two).[/li][</em>]2/5. Pure crap. It’s way too short for sufficient preparation. The review questions at the end of each chapter test what you’ve read and are extremely easy. When you get to the practice test, you’ll encounter questions that weren’t even covered in the text. It basically fools you into thinking you’re prepared and then owns you in the end with a practice test that’s way harder than you expected. I bought this to self-study for the two exams thinking I would save some money (two for one is good, right?) but I regret it. I ended up not taking this AP because this book was horrible and I didn’t have enough time to order good ones. Don’t get this unless you have money to blow and want a concise review after taking the class or after reading through better and longer prep books. If you use this by itself don’t expect a good score.[/ol]
[<em>]Ethel Woods Guide
[list=i][</em>]Ethel Wood’s study guide is very useful, but there are just a few pieces of information that it didn’t cover.
[*]A very useful book if you read it carefully from cover to cover.[/list][/list]</p>
<p>[ol][<em>]REA
[list=i][</em>]Not as bad, but still pretty bad. The practice exams weren’t even close to resembling any of the actual exams.[/ol]
[<em>]Princeton Review
[list=i][</em>]As always, top notch. My teacher is very good if you actually pay attention so I got most of my information from him, but we didn’t have time to cover some very important sections so I had to rely on Princeton Review for these sections and there were several questions on the test (including an FRQ, which the rest of my class bombed but I got right) that I can thank Princeton Review for helping me get correct.
[<em>]5/5.This is the perfect book for studying for this exam. I read the entire review several times in the month before the exam and it really condenses everything in a way that the information is stated simply yet thoroughly. The review chapters were life savers when it came time for the FRQs on the exam. The practice multiple choice modelled the exam perfectly. I would highly recommend this book for anyone taking this exam. This book is sufficient for preparing all on its own.
[</em>]Great coverage of concepts, liked the layout and style of writing. Definitely worth reading for this exam.[/list]
[<em>]Crash Course
[list=i][</em>]5/5. I really don’t think there is a better book out there when it comes to tackling the MC portion of test. Everything you need to know for the test - I promise you. Because of this book, I came out confident from the test knowing that I had answered at least 55/60 questions correctly on the MC.
[*]A really concise and thorough book. However, it should not be read on its own if you have not taken a class.[/list][/list]</p>
<p>U.S. Government: Princeton Review, as usual, was a lifesaver.</p>
<p>European History: Ehh, Barrons glossed over a few things that were emphasized on the test. Probably good enough for a 3-4, though.</p>
<p>Calculus BC: Princeton Review is a godsend.</p>
<p>Environmental Science: Barrons was far too wordy for my taste. The companion book to Living in the Environment helped somewhat.</p>
<p>5 steps to a 5 was great for physics and chem IMO, those really prepared you well in the review chapters</p>
<p>AP Comparative Politics: “AP Comparative Government and Politics, a study guide” by Ethel Wood. Great for me, cramming the few days before the test. Clear and it has repetition enough so you remember things, but not so much you get really annoyed. And I remember one of the AP questions being very much like a question in the review book, I was glad.</p>
<p>AP Calc AB and BC: Barron’s. Not good. I discovered a mistake very quickly when using it (My calc teacher agreed, it was a mistake) and there were way too many words, numbers and examples would’ve made better explanations.</p>
<p>I took other tests, but feel pretty neutral/not really good at making criticism for the books, so I’ll leave it at that.</p>
<p>Just wanted to put it out there last year for Comp Gov I used Ethel Wood and REA. I basically failed all the REA tests (so difficult!) but read Ethel Wood maybe a week out from the test? ETHEL WOOD is amazing. Literally the exact AP in book form. I breezed through the test and got a 5 
10/10 recommend Ethel</p>