Customer Reviews

Cracking the AP Biology Exam, 2009 Edition (College Test Preparation)

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

 

 

So what happens when you take an AP biology class and you memorize things in the short term for exams then immediately discard them? You end up completely unprepared for the AP exam.

The night before the AP Biology exam, I realized that I didn't know very much biology at all and that I would most likely fail the exam if I didn't do some serious review. After rushing to the bookstore, I figured the PR would give me the most information in the least amount of time (from past AP experience -- see my review for the AP chemistry PR book), so I bought it.

I read each chapter and as I read, the book very much distilled the information down to the bare essentials required for the AP (which likes to test "big ideas"). Now, I can't say that I memorized everything in the 10 hour cram session, but I got a good feel for all the topics and learned all of the big ideas within them. This is not the fault of the book though, that I didn't know all the details: they were there and on some questions of the exam, I would tell myself, "I wish I had learned this fact!", but for the majority of the questions, the broad understanding that I gained was quite helpful.

So I fully reccomend this book to people looking to prepare for the exam. I don't know if it would be suitable for in class tests (use Barron's for that because it's a very detailed summary of Campbell and Reece -- the standard bio text), but for the AP exam it covers exactly what you need. If you're lucky enough to have a few days/weeks to devote to this book, you will most likely get a 5.

EDIT: I ended up getting a 4 on the exam. If I hadn't read the book...erm, well, I'd probably have gotten a 1 or 2.

I don't recommend this book for the AP Biology exam. This book doesn't cover the materials thoroughly; there are many important details missing. Also, there are some incorrect details, which is worse than typo in Barron's books. There's not enough exercise at the end of each chapter. My AP Bio teacher was really good, so this book was actually a waste of money for me. I believe I got a five on the AP exam because of my teacher's review sessions and not this book.