<p>I know this board is a great place to get the informed student opinion. Thanks in advance for any feedback.</p>
<p>So, my daughter is planning to take the SAT Biology test in June. She's just taken AP Biology, did very well in the course, and thinks she did very well on the AP Exam.</p>
<p>My old college roommate is an AP Biology teacher in Massachusetts. Without notice, he mailed my daughter a copy of the REA SAT Biology prep book. He claims this is THE book ... better than Barron's or Cliff's ... and way better than PR or Kaplan. According to him, the difference is that the REA book uses real SAT Biology questions and the text coverage straddles that middle ground of being comprehensive enough without being overkill (especially for someone just coming out of a good AP Bio course).</p>
<p>Anyone with any thoughts about the REA Biology prep book? We haven't heard of anyone out here who used it, although my son used a REA book for the Calc B/C exam a couple of years ago and he thought it was really good.</p>
<p>Thanks for your help!</p>
<p>Anyone?</p>
<p>If not REA, then what? Barron's? Cliff's? PR?</p>
<p>Thanks for sharing your opinions.</p>
<p>Hi. This response is for those who WILL take (not have taken) SAT II Biology.</p>
<p>This may be years later, but the editions of all the books you mentioned haven’t changed much, if at all. </p>
<p>I found REA to be a waste of my time, except for little details I learned in Honors Biology and almost forgot. It’s good for going in-depth on topics you might not really need, and does have mistakes. Plus, the reviews on Amazon are NOT good at all. I haven’t tried the practice tests yet, but there are a lot. I don’t think they have a 200-800 conversion scale.</p>
<p>Anyway, PR gives the broad picture of every topic, and Barron’s, with a little more time, gives the broad picture and then some. PR is good for students with limited time. Barron’s is good for those with more time. Of course, I recommend both to be used throughout the year for better review. Also, SparkNotes reminds me of PR; some paragraphs were so similar that I did a double-take. You could try it, though. No harm in that.</p>
<p>Do ALL the practice tests in PR, Barron’s, and SparkNotes. I honestly believe that PR comes closest to predicting your score on the real SAT II Biology test. Others might have different opinions…</p>