<p>I have bought a TON of prepbooks/textbooks for AP Tests/college classes...</p>
<p>AP Chem Prepbooks: PR, Barrons, Petersons, 5 Steps to a 5, Barrons SAT Chemistry (which seems to be really good for AP)
AP Chem textbooks: Zumdahl, Young, a bunch of others that don't seem as good</p>
<p>AP Phys C prepbooks: Cliffs, 5 Steps to a 5, Barrons, PR
AP Phys textbooks: Halliday/Resnick, University Physics(Young), University Physics(Resse)</p>
<p>ok... so I got all that stuff... which ones should I use to study for AP Tests? I really need opinions for Chem because that is the one I'm most worried about.</p>
<p>I also have a ton of CB practice tests for all of those... should I spend more time reviewing the books or practicing?</p>
<p>So, did you just come into an enormous amount of money that you didn't know what to do with? This would seem ridiculous if you are not taking the courses, I would think.</p>
<p>You should probably spend more time doing tests (but not now, in spring when you've covered everything). Doing the actual tests is the best way to prepare for basically any standardized test. From what I've heard</p>
<p>Chem: PR and Zumdahl
Bio: Cliffs and Campbell
Physics: PR and ?
Calc: PR and ? (my class uses Larson's, imo a great book)</p>
<p>That's an interesting way of going about things... </p>
<p>Most people ask which books to buy, and then buy the ones that people recommend. You buy all the books and ask which you should use. Very interesting...</p>
<p>First, no I am NOT taking any of these AP courses (I took calc ab in 10th grade though and physics B last year), but I am taking a few of them at the local college, so I had to buy one textbook per subject (had to get $1000+ worth of textbooks/lab manuals/other stuff this year just for those classes). Why am I taking the AP test after I'm taking the college class? Because the local college sucks and I have a feeling that the credit won't transfer. Why do I have two/three textbooks per AP? They were cheap...</p>
<p>I got all of the prep books because... well just because... I'm sure there's some kind of undiagnosed medical ailment that I have to justify it</p>
<p>If you think that's a lot of stuff, I haven't even mentioned the books I have for other APs... I just like having a lot of resources available. I end up not using 90% of them. (I had SAT prep books from CB, PR, Barrons, Kaplan, RocketReview, and some other minor stuff... I used absolutely none of it - my parents knew that I didn't use any of that and wasted a ton of money, but they didn't mind because my SAT score ended up being really good... if it hadn't been good, I wouldn't be alive today after wasting all that money)</p>
<p>Anyway, back on track... any more recommendations?</p>
<p>I plan to focus more on using prep books rather than textbooks, but some of the prep books worry me because of their simplicity. I've looked through Cliffs Bio and PR Chem and they just seem way to easy. And, I think I'll do all of the CB practice tests I have in May.</p>
<p>Chem: PR f'sho
Bio: I have Cliffs, but I haven't actually read anything out of it yet...haha
Phys: I like PR
Calc: I bought Barron's, but I ended up studying from a 10-year-old PR book from the library. (In hindsight, I wish I stuck with Barron's.) My math genius friend used Peterson's and liked it.</p>
<p>@shravas: It is not "supposed", it is heh. From personal experience, that Arco/Peterson book is one of those textbooks where the author just speaks to you, gives you mnemonic devices, and helps you learn the material like having a good professor would. (Another textbook which I enjoyed is Meyer's Psychology, similar style)</p>
<p>*Remember to go through the practice exams, I can tell from personal experience that just going through old standardized exams is the best way to ace the new ones. </p>
<p>For calculus BC, I did independent study, senior year, slacked off, didn't even study, just went through every Multiple choice released and all years worth of FR questions (one month before AP test) and ended up getting a 5. (Well.. I did take AB before and got a very good foundation)</p>