Customer Reviews

Barron's How to Prepare for the AP Spanish Advanced Placement Examination

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

 

 

I was just reading the previous review, and he is right. This book is just frustrating and demoralizing. First of all, the reading section in this book is nothing like it on the real AP test; the real AP test reading selections are actually quite easier. The listening selections were somewhat helpful for the AP test... the actual clips were probably just as hard to understand as these were. Other than that, this book was of no help for me for the AP test. Because of this, I thought I would earn a 3, when in fact I earned a 5. I would highly recommend the NEWEST VERSION of AP Spanish: Preparing for the Language Examination by Jose Diaz if you want a great grade on the exam. The test was very, very similar to the activities in this book, maybe because Jose Diaz is a table leader at the AP Spanish readings. If you purchase Diaz's workbook, make sure to buy the audio CDs and answer key seperately if your teacher does not use it as a supplement in class like mine did.

I'm going to take the AP Spanish Language Test tomorrow, and I do not feel very well prepared. Granted, there are other factors besides this book as to why I feel this way, but this book certainly did not help. I was attracted to this book because it had 4 CDs. A very dumb reason in retrospect. I should have read reviews before buying. Sigh...

I just took one of the practice exams the other day and got all except for a few of the multiple choice problems wrong. In my class, though I'm not earning perfect scores, of course, I can usually get the majority of the questions right. I am fairly certain that this book is meant to make the test seem harder than it actually is. And, on top of that, there are no answer explanations after the exams. There are explanations in the practice sections, so why wouldn't there be any for the test?

In one part of the book, it says that it is not good to learn vocabulary by memorizing a bunch of lists, but that's exactly what the book has for the speaking portion. Tons and tons of lists. There are portions where you can use the words in context, but still, it just seems so excessive. Books like this should supplement a course, not try to teach you every word in the whole language.

Now, it is my own fault for not being prepared. I certainly could have used my resources better. This book just was not helpful, though.

One star! Let me explain. This book does have a lot of practice activities but the 2008 is quite misleading. There is very little that is new here. Barron's has the vocabulary lists, same listening practice, same reading practice as it has had since at least 1996. I guess coming up with new material cuts into the profits. Very little here will help with the new test formats. The paragraph grammar fill in with root word is recycled from a previous edition and doesn't allow the use of perfect and progressive tenses even though the AP exam does. The conversation speaking section is really messed up since their dialogs are impossible to interact with unless you have listened to the dialog previously which you cannot do on the AP test. For example, one between the student and a college guide has instructions for the student to indicate where to go first on the tour, then the guide answers "oh, I see that you've heard a lot about the science program." These conversation dialogs were not written according to the new guidelines and are the same ones that Barron's used in their messed up, rushed 2007 version. Also, the reading sections are not from authentic sources even though the college board is now using authentic sources. Overall, this book is harder than the actual AP test (buy a released version from 1998 or 2003 and you'll know what I mean) which one would think is a good thing but it is not. They are more difficult (especially the reading) because Barron's has gone out of its way to use extremely obscure vocabulary. Unless you have a great chance at a five you will be extremely frustrated by this book.

I suppose for students studying on their own this book would be ok although it doesn't matter really, unless you are pretty close to fluent or have had extensive traditional instruction in the language you'll fail anyway or if your lucky get a three which is good for nothing. However, language teachers don't buy this book if you have any previous Barron's edition. These greedy money suckers come up with ten new pages and call it a new version except in this case the 2007 version and the 2007-2008 version are almost exactly identical.

It's too bad there isn't an AP practice book filled with practice activities and with no explanation about the test, no vocabulary lists, no wasted pages - just practice. 100 dialogs, 100 reading selections, etc. Now that would be a real practice book.

This book has definitely helped me with my AP test. With this book, i am more confident and i know that i will do well on the AP test. It has helped me with my worst topic on the AP test, the essay. It was very helpful and i don't know what i would of done without the book.