Customer Reviews

Barron's AP U.S. Government and Politics (Barron's AP United States Government & Politics)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm giving this three stars because it does appear to cover the subject information. However, this review book, like most Barron's books, really caters toward students who prefer comprehensive, in-depth summaries and are willing to invest a lot of time studying over a long period of time. It reads more like a simplified textbook than anything. Some points:

- It's very wordy. Very, very wordy. Most of the book is made up of headings followed by long blocks of text. Some sections seemed completely unnecessary. For example, there is a page that describes Obama's particular methods of appointing Cabinet members and who each of his Cabinet picks were. Considering that Obama is only three years into his first term (two at the time this book was published), I doubt he'll even show up on the test--so why bother including this at all?
- The key terms are not bolded. This was the most annoying thing about the book, aside from the wordiness. The author does include a list of key terms at the beginning of each chapter, but proceeds to embed them in paragraphs without any special formatting. This made the book extremely difficult to skim, and I found myself simply googling the terms rather than hunting for them in the text.
- There are many examples, which make up a large part of the text. Personally, I thought there were too many alluded to and few well-explained.
- The questions don't match the actual test. They are harder. This is a given with most Barron's books, of course, and some people like this.

The book wasn't all bad:
- The multiple choice questions at the end of each section were helpful.
- All questions, multiple choice or free-response, were explained.
- If you have the time to go through each section thoroughly, then you'll definitely come out well-equipped for the test.

Overall, I feel like this review is tailored toward a specific type of student. I prefer succinct and concrete writing (CliffsAP is generally good with this) over Barron's textbook-like style. Additionally, I had three exams to study for, and buying this book less than a month in advance of my test was my fault, not theirs. It's a textbook supplement and evidently not for people like me. ;)

As an A.P. American Government teacher, I highly recommend this book. In fact, there are only three review books I allow my students to access, and this is one of them.

I needed to take the Praxis II Government/Political Science test in order to continue teaching US Government at High School. The Chapters matched the content of the test, while the end of chapter review questions and the two practice AP tests contained many questions that were similar (and a couple even duplicated) to the Praxis test questions.

A good source of review.

Terrific book. I teach AP Government and Politics, and I previewed all of the other AP test-prep books before purchasing this one for my class. Bought 20 copies, and the students are thrilled to have their own books to underline and annotate. I would purchase Barron's again.

This is a great and very useful study guide for my son's AP U.S. Government class that his teacher recommended students to buy.

Recieved very quickly, much faster than I expected! Excellent Service. Book is brand new with not a scratch on it. Thank you!