Customer Reviews

Biology (Cliffs Studyware)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I purchased this book for the purpose of touching up my biology knowledge for a standarized test. I had already taken an AP Biology class in high school and a physiology course in college. This book was very effective in condensing an entire semester long course into a short 200 or so pages. It truly mentions ONLY the very fundamental concepts of biology. I would recommend this book to those who wish to review a biology course that they have already taken. This book is entirely too brief for those with no previous background information in the area. For certain topics that my high school and college courses failed to cover, I needed to rely on more thorough text books for further detailed explanations. Some aspects of biology are just too in-depth for these short cliff notes to cover. In conclusion, this book is a great resource if you are looking for a quick, to-the-point review!

WOW this book is so short, yet so great! it is just like my bio book (close to 800 pages) but only, its 208 pages and it is just facts, none of the needless filler. The TOC is also just like the one in my bio textbook, but agian, the info it leads to is MUCH MUCH MUCH quicker to grasp!

This is a good supplement for those taking a biology class. Explains things in a nice, condensed version. Reinforces knowledge in an easy, concise manner.
Recommend to parents helping their children with their high school biology class.

This book is definitely written in a reader friendly manner. It's nice and brief. It gets right to the point without having to read the same passage over and over again. I also recommend:
The Ultimate Study Guide for Biology: Key Review Questions and Answers with Explanations
(Volume 1: isbn 1933023007)
(Volume 2: isbn 1933023015)
(Volume 3: isbn 1933023023)
These three study guides helped me to get excellent grades. They had the kind of questions that I got on my college biology tests. The Biology Cliff Notes made biology learning a lot faster.

After a 23 year hiatus from biology, I found Cliff's biology to be a great refresher text on the subject. Well written, it covers the basics in an excellent general overview. For the Georgia GACE exam though, it lacked specific details which were asked on the test. Cliff's provided the skeleton and I used XAM Biology and Praxis Science to put flesh on it. As a quick review, this book is 5 Stars. As a source to study for GACE exam, it only rates 3. So I rate it as 4 stars overall.

I used this book to help me prepare for the PRAXIS II content knowledge test in biology (it's one of those awful standardized tests). It was generally very good at covering all of the topics necessary in a concise and easy-to-understand manner. There were occasions when I was less impressed by the way in which a topic was explained or laid out, but it is definitely a good supplement or review for someone who has other sources for learning or re-learning the material. (My main gripe was with photosynthesis.) But for a 200 page book on the vast topic of biology, it certainly did its job, and helped me pass my test.

This little biology book was good a few years ago; now the information is out dated for current tests. It is also too brief for use as a study guide alone. Time to put this one in the archives.

This book is pretty good for basic biology introduction. The material is clear and concise though some of the information is a bit outdated. It is a good book if you're looking to brush up on basic biology concepts before returning to school (college) or for parents wanting to get a refresher to help high schoolers on their homework, but don't expect this to help you sail through College Biology without reading or doing the work.

I used this book to study for the Praxis Biology Content Knowledge test. This is a good little book in many respects. It explains some things well and acts as a nice guide to jog your memory and/or point out what you need to review. Unfortunately, it explains a lot of things rather poorly and lacks a lot of diagrams and flow-charts that would make concepts easier to understand. I had to go back to my class notes for those.

I disagree with the prior comment; this QuickReview was terrific preparation for the Praxis Biology exams. It will not teach you biology -- presumably that was learned elsewhere and why it is called a "review" -- but it is a great refresher, and it is hard to imagine not passing the exams if you understand what is written here. Four stars because it needs to be updated; the human genome was not yet sequenced when this was published nine years ago. Also some updated taxonomic classifications are needed. The only other thing that might be helpful for the exam would be the flash cards but I did not try them.