<p>Any suggestions on strategy, books, or online courses would be most appreciated. If you are not taking a World History class concurrently, does it make the most sense to study out of the AP prep books (and if so, which ones) or will the SAT II prep books suffice?</p>
<p>Oh thanks for asking, I was going to make a topic about this.</p>
<p>I self-studied for the World History SATII with Barrons and Kaplan books. The Barrons provided a lot of detail that, as I read it, seemed excessive, but turned out to be really helpful for the test. Kaplan was an effective review of Barrons and provided the 'bigger picture' for each chapter. </p>
<p>I don't have my results back yet, but I think I did fairly well with these two.</p>
<p>Thanks jjw. Did you consider studying out of any AP World History books?</p>
<p>Nice thread. Those who did self study of WH, when the results come out can you post them here with the texts you used? Thanks.</p>
<p>I didn't consider studying with an AP textbook...not that those aren't good to use!</p>
<p>I just went on amazon.com and read the reviews of various history books...</p>
<p>and sure I'd be happy to tell you my score when it comes out tomorrow!</p>
<p>Use Kaplan world history book. I had exact same problem(didn't take world history class, had AP Euro instead). Although practice tests in the prep book are harder than the actual test (I got 670 on the practice test), but I still got 800 anyways in the real test. Just go over sections on African history (very obscure), american history( like Incans, Aztecs), maybe Asian history (especially China & Han empire)</p>
<p>so kaplan is the best study guide. are there any other books that might help me? Where there any periods on the test that books missed?</p>
<p>kaplan book basically covers everything. if you have enough time, try to read all of the sections in the book, but if you are a procrastinator (like myself), just go over african & asian history (which i did like the night before testing date).</p>
<p>Everything? I don't take history as a subject, so my knowledge is zit. Everything?</p>
<p>reading sections are about 300 pgs. long, so it should cover everything (it's like buying a textbook). Test tips, practice tests account for only 70 pg. So i would say it's pretty comprehensive. I don't know, maybe I can't necessarily speak for you, cuz i took european history class</p>
<p>Kaplan is <em>very</em> comprehensive. Just about everything I saw on the test was covered in the book (Not that I necessarily remembered it <em>at the time</em> but it was in the book <em>grins</em>).
Also, if you have absoloutely no knowledge of World History (And I speak from experience Lol), I'd reccomend studying the European History carefully. I recall someone gave me that advice when I was studying for the test and they were quite correct... a nice percentage of the questions deal with European history :)</p>
<p>I would argue that although Kaplan is comprehensive, Barrons provides a far more in-depth "glimpse" at history (although, granted, the latter reads like a tome). The SAT II World History, in my opinion, is more a test of strict memorization than intricate analysis (check with the compilation of questions from previous tests to confirm this point; most, if not all, of the questions are asked in the most straightforward manner possible). Studying from the AP study guides (Barrons and Princeton Review, in particular, come to mind) could be equally beneficial, though the practice tests reflect neither the structure nor difficulty of the SAT subject test. I spent the five days prior to the test date reading the Barrons SAT II review book several times, and thoroughly; this, in conjuction with prior knowledge garnered from a year of AP World History, was sufficient in allowing me to perform well on the test. (I scored an 800.) </p>
<p>All the best!</p>
<p>I self studied with the barrons book for a week. Pulled out a 730. I was surprised considering that I had to read 400+pgs and I didnt remember any of it. Try to get a book to compliment the barrons like PR or kaplan so you can get an idea of the bigger picture. I think thats what prevented me from scoring a 750+. Make sure you give yourself enough time also, unlike myself.</p>
<p>I have Kaplan 2004-2005. Does it mean that i may miss some new tricks of the test?</p>
<p>DOLO- I would think not. When I studied for US History I got the Kaplan book that was a year too old, and it worked just fine.</p>
<p>thanks, and do you manage to deal with every question during the test or is it too hard to do all the questions becouse of the time limits</p>
<p>I had plenty of time... I went through the whole test twice.</p>
<p>I self-studied off of the Kaplan book because most other brands either combine World History with U.S. History (princeton review), or were very brief in length. Even so, I didn't feel that Kaplan World History was comprehensive enough. For example, the first question on my test was covered only in 1 sentence throughout the entire Kaplan book. Nevertheless, I would still recommend Kaplan, but try to supplement it with study guides from a World History AP friend.</p>
<p>I used Barron's, and did some pretty random, half-assed studying, and I got a 700 (I'm retaking in December). I'm going to used it again, and read a chapter a night until I get through the book at least once, probably twice though.</p>
<p>The test really does requite memorization, it's very straight-to-the-point and wants the facts, so just do the best you can with remembering, even though it is VERY specific. :)</p>