I recently decided to take the Subject SAT and the APs. I wanted to know which books would you recommend for preparation of the Subject SATs (specifically Physics, Maths 1 and Maths 2) and if these books would also allow me to prepare for the APs too.
Thanks a ton.
I don’t know much at all regarding which SAT II books are better, but one thing for certain is that SAT II Math books are not adequate prep for the AP math courses (Calculus AB/BC, Stats) since the topics are nearly disjoint.
Agree with @MITer94
The AP courses are much harder than the SAT II Math subject tests, so you might want to go through an actual course at your school to prepare for those (unless you are mathematically talented, in which case you could learn it all by yourself).
For the SAT IIs, use Barrons, Princeton Review, and/or 5 Steps. I think Barrons is usually harder than what the test actually is, so it overprepares you. Princeton Review I like because its difficulty is good. 5 Steps has those 500 question books which are useful, but often times some of their numbers or questions are incorrect (so know what you are doing, and know when they get it wrong).
Personally, I found the Math IIC test to be relatively easy. I took the test in January of 2014 (I think? I don’t remember) and I had taken pre-calculus in 10th grade and was taking BC during the year of 2013-14 (11th grade). The highest level topics on the test are Law of Cosines and Sines (only like 2 questions), with a lot of geometry on the test as well.