I am a junior in high school right now. I took a college biology introductory course last semester and I want to take the SAT subject test in May. But after reading most of the reviews Amazon, it seems that the Princeton Review is too easy and Barron’s is too hard and doesn’t reflect the actual test.
I was thinking that I should just read my textbook (from the college class) and take two official practice tests instead of buying a prep book. What are your thoughts? Should I buy a prep book or just read the textbook and take practice tests?
Go with Barrons. It will certainly overprepare you, but if you peruse this book and master everything, it’s like an easy 800. I would say that it’s worth it.
I used the CliffsNotes “workbook” for AP Biology. To be honest, it is more like a hybrid textbook-workbook, but it is comprehensive and condensed (at least to me). There are also a lot of practice questions that really helped out. If you want a SAT Subject Test Prep Book, then you could go Kaplan, which I used with the CliffsNotes workbook. Kaplan is heavily focused on organismal biology but has a lot of practice tests. Although people criticize Barron’s workbooks for being too difficult, I would say they are just too time-consuming; students use the prep books to cram a week or a day before the test. I use Princeton Review for the AP Exams because I find them to be useful in that they touch upon nearly every concept that I need to know.
I slightly went off-topic, but my recommendation is CliffsNotes.