<p>$195 on AP released EXAMS from the collegeboard store? I'd really like the practice. But It's too expensive. Do you think its worth it? Or should i stick to the review books from the library? </p>
<p>Im taking: AP Physics B, Calculus AB, Statistics AP, Biology AP, and self studying AP Psychology.</p>
<p>What do you guys think?</p>
<p>No. They are in review books, and your teachers should have them as well. Even college board probably has them.</p>
<p>What do you mean, “they are in review books”?
That the released exams are in the review books? Is that legal?</p>
<p>That there are very similar questions in there. AP questions on any given subject are pretty standard because there are certain things you just have to know anyways.</p>
<p>I don’t think you should spend almost 200 dollars lol. Just review, lots of people do fine with review books; and your teachers should have a lot of ap questions from the actual ap tests. Buying 5 ap books is pretty expensive in itself if your planning to buy the ap questions along with the review books. Actually, my calc teacher gave me this huge packet with tests from as far back as like… 1960 (or maybe it was 1980, idk… some time long ago)</p>
<p>Yeah don’t buy them. If you can do the prep books’ tests, then most likely you’ll be well prepared for the actual thing. If the prep books’ tests weren’t similar to the actual one, then prep book companies would’ve faced bankruptcies already.</p>
<p>Have you come across this last year: [“provided</a> by the College Board for AP Exam preparation” - Google Search](<a href=“http://www.google.com/search?q=“provided+by+the+College+Board+for+AP+Exam+preparation”&filter=0?]"provided”>http://www.google.com/search?q=“provided+by+the+College+Board+for+AP+Exam+preparation”&filter=0?)</p>
<p>^yes i have the link to it. Anyhow, I’ve managed to cut down 195 to just 95 because I have to buy the exams for physics seeing as how our phyics teacher doesnt have any of them. I’ll also have to buy the psychology ones because im self-studying. So i need real practice since there’s no teacher in my case.</p>
<p>As a general rule the prep book tests are inferior to the real College Board tests. College Board tests are very sophisticated and contain much more attractive wrong answers. Glad to read that you have limited the cost. You definitely should buy the Psychology exam especially since you are self-studying. Barron’s and Crash Course are definitely the two best Psychology prep books.</p>
<p>Here is a link to a free GRE Psychology practice test. The test does have questions that are harder than those on the AP test. Even so, it is good practice and it is free.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/gre_0910_psychology_practice_book.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ets.org/Media/Tests/GRE/pdf/gre_0910_psychology_practice_book.pdf</a></p>
<p>^thanks for supporting my decision. I didn’t want the STATs exams because i remembered my teacher saying she’d give me all the AP exams she bought from CB; I don’t need Calc AB because my teacher has all the tests as well and the same for BIO. So, Physics and Psychology it is! Just one question: I bought only the 2007 AP exam for Psychology. Do you think I should’ve bought the 2004 one as well?</p>
<p>The more practice, the more likely you get a 5. So, buy the 2004.</p>
<p>^Well I haven’t done any of the practice tests in the review books and the one provided by that link you posted. But was not buying the 2004 AP Psych exam a mistake?</p>
<p>Hmm, maybe you should learn the rest of the material first, and then do a practice test to see how well you did. If you score well, you won’t need the 2004 exam. However, if you score not well and you’re running out of practice tests, buy the 2004 exam. However, I do not know how long the shipping is. So, you need to take account of that too.</p>
<p>^yea i have like 3 more chapters to cover and ill be done completely (im estimating that to be in roughly 5 days) Would it be a good idea to do all the practice tests in the review book and then do the CB one as the final final exam?</p>
<p>You can’t beat the real tests. So yes, you should buy the 2004 exam. Let me explain in more detail why the so-called practice tests are inferior. The prep book practice tests are typically written by graduate students, editors or teachers. The real tests are written by ETS experts and are refined and tested over a period of years. Real tests have very cunning distractors. The prep book practice tests rarely match this level of sophistication. In addition, the Course Description booklet contains a very precise statement of the percentage of questions assigned to each of the 14 units. Now note that your 2007 released test matches this distribution. Now check the practice tests in your prep book. Do they match this distribution? No, they do not. So yes, you should buy the 2004 released test and you should use Barron’s and Crash Course. Both of these prep books are definitely based upon a study of the real released test.</p>
<p>^I am already using the BArrons. Like I’ve said, I have three chapters left. If you say that both prep books are based upon a study of the real released test, then wouldn’t it be logical to say that their practice tests are similar to the real test as well? Yes, I understand that they may not have cunning distractors but they should match the real thing pretty well, no?</p>
<p>One more thing. Take a look at the 2007 Released test and note how many questions are based upon key terms and examples of key terms. By my count 2/3 of the questions on all of the released tests are based upon key terms and examples of key terms. Another 15 percent or so are based upon the 62 key psychologists specifically listed in the AP Psychology Course Description booklet. The new AP Psychology Crash Course book has a superior collection of examples. It also has a very unique chapter (Chapter 17) that provides a summary of the key contributions of each of the 62 psychologists listed in the AP Course Description booklet.</p>
<p>Glad that you are using Barron’s. It is generally excellent. I have studied all the released tests. They are far more sophisticated than those in Barron’s or those in any other prep book. Your point is well taken. If Barron’s is good then why aren’t the practice tests good? Because the authors probably didn’t write them. Even if they did they cannot possibly match the level of sophistication of the real tests. Why not? Because the real tests are written by teams of experts. They are tested and retested for validity and reliability. Each wrong answer has a specific “allure” or attractive power. Barron’s and the other prep books have a bunch of questions written by “work for hire” writers. While a few of the questions may be ok must are inferior.</p>
<p>I honestly disagree, you should know the material anyways, so a real test isn’t going to be a big issue. Study. and like i said, ask the teachers of the AP subjects if they have any. Our teachers have 5-10 different past tests.</p>