Hi everyone… I’m a sophomore btw.
I really want to take the world history subject test, but my 9th and 10th grade history didn’t cover any of the portions, and I’m quitting history in junior and senior year. However, I completely self-studied for math level 2 and literature, and got really good scores.
So, my q- are the books solely enough to ace the world history test, or do you need a proper school course? If the books are enough, can you please suggest the best one to study from?
AP World History Barrons is great, but if you want practice tests you have to buy the SAT World History Barrons. They are both great, but the AP book covers a bit more material which could be useful.
Hello. I’m a sophomore as well.
I’m taking both the AP world history exam and the SAT II subject test, but like you, I haven’t taken an AP World class. We covered pretty much 3/4 of the material in 2 years of history classes, and my teacher told me that I should take the AP exam but self-study to go over all the information. You say that your 9th and 10th grade history classes haven’t covered ANY of the topics; what exactly have you been doing in History class, then? :stuckouttongueclosedeyes:
Anyways, to answer your question, I have both PR and Barron’s for AP World. Both of these books claim that all you need to ace the test is inside the prep book, and I don’t doubt them. The books may seem shorter than your average textbook, but they really do a good job of consolidating all of the information to not waste any space (Sorry, no more pictures!) I personally decided to go with Barron’s because I feel that it is more full and will help me to earn a 5. I’m going to give my friend the PR one…
Please note that I don’t have an SAT World History prep book, but just the AP ones. I feel like they are very similar, but my teacher warned me that the SAT II is much more detail-oriented, while the AP is more focused on big ideas. The AP prep books do, however, supply you with all of the details as well as the big ideas, so I would recommend that you study from one of those (I recommend Barron’s.)
Best wishes!
You can definitely manage with just self studying! Use as many online sources as possible in addition to prep books that you decide on, that way you have a broad range of material to work with. These websites should be good starting points for you 
http://www.varsitytutors.com/ap_world_history-practice-tests
http://www.learnerator.com/ap-world-history
http://www.softschools.com/quizzes/ap_world_history/
Thanks!