Customer Reviews

Cracking the AP Calculus AB and BC Exams, 2006-2007 Edition (College Test Preparation)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Let me preface this by saying that I took the AP calculus test in the mid 1980's and now have helped my daughter with a self-study course on calculus in preparation for the 2007 test. After going through a total of 4 study guides, 2 textbooks, and the last 7 years of available free response questions from the actual AP test, I found this guide to be not only inadequate but also treacherous. It will instill a false confidence which will become glaringly obvious to you when taking the real test.

The AP calculus (AB or BC) has become considerably harder in the last 4 years. Like most other books, this book seems to have been developed for the test as administered in the 1990's. In order to pass, not only do you need to know your calculus - it is also mandatory that you know how to use your calculator in order to solve calculus problems. This book completely ignores this basic fact. Unlike other books (see my other reviews), there is no section on this important topic. The only reference is in the first pages when the book states that a calculator is allowed on certain parts of the test and that the Education Testing Service recommends a calculator. The fact is that a calculator and its proper usage are ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL in being able to solve some of the problems on the test (I also fault the testing service for not making it crystal clear that certain problems cannot be solved without the calculator). Princeton Review ought to know this simple fact which becomes obvious to anyone who has looked at the openly provided past free-response questions from the actual tests. For example, a question regarding volumes of revolution of an area between two curves has appeared on virtually every free-response section over the last 7 years. Each problem could not be solved without the use of a caculator in determing the points of intersection to use as your limits of integration. Rather than focusing on techniques of integration (which was a big deal for the earlier test in which calculators either weren't allowed or weren't capable), the emphasis has switched to integration via the calculator.


One last point of advice is that this book does not stress the concepts that are in turn stressed on the current tests - fundamental theorem of calculus, average value of a function by integration, and problems that depend on interpreting graphs and data points.

The book goes through each topic in calculus in a perfunctory manner that appears to have been adequate for the test I took in the 1980's, but not for the current exam.

When chosing a book, keep in mind that the test is no longer a simple can you integrate and take a derivative by hand type of exam. If you can solve the problems in this book, you may be prepared for the multiple choice non-calculator based parts, but you will NOT be prepared for the AP test as a whole.

I bought this book two weeks before my exam, and I am so glad I did. I shrugged off seriously studying Calculus since I did well in the class, but I bought this book for the extra practice and reinforcement of Calculus theorems and rules.

This book helped me take the AB test with more confidence. I did the test problems, which were helpful because they had explanations for every answer. I reinforced on the one topic I had the most difficulty on, the volume of solids in rotation. I actually learned a technique (the shells method) from that book that I did not get to learn in class, and it helped simplify things so much! I actually managed to use the shells method (if you're curious, rotating a solid around the y-axis) on the actual AP exam.

The explanations of the theorems and rules are straight forward, which is a breather after verbose definitions some college texts give. During the year, I wondered what "Trapezoidal" and "Circumscribed" sums REALLY meant, but this book got the point across to me, and after doing the practice problems, I was finally able to do these problems with ease on the AP exam!

One complaint: I bought this book when it was relatively new, so I found a few mistakes in the answer keys. I am sure because I did the problems many times and/or checked it on the graphing calculator. Princeton Review tends to be a little sloppy when it comes to first edition editing.

True, this book is not as detailed as the AP/college course should be, but the book gives you enough information and plenty of practice problems to score well on the AP exam, which is the goal of Princeton Review, anyway. Read this book and do the problems in it ALONG with any helpful notes/the good parts of the school textbook and readers should (hopefully) score in the 4-5 range!

The book is a breeze in explaining any hard-to-understand stuff. Explanations and sample problems with detailed solutions provide a decent understanding of the topic. Everything is fine until this point.

However, there are some fatal deficiencies you might have to keep an eye on. For example, if you are my sort, who studies the topics thoroughly but never gets to do the practice tests, watch out! Although I have done all the examples and problems in the book, they do not go much beyond the basics of the topic, and there is a great chance you will run into surprises with different applications of the subjects in the actual exam. More importantly, there was at least one topic I noticed, that wasn't in the book, when it should have been. In the very last pages of the book, it talks about Taylor Series, which is, along with power series, a major part of the BC exam; however, it only talks about the basics of it. For me, it wasn't a fun surprise to find out, left with a few minutes in the exam, that we also needed to be able to differentiate and integrate the series. Being only an ambitious AB student, self-studying for the BC, I learned this the hard way, so heads up everyone!

I took AP Calculus AB last year, and our teacher gave us about 3-4 weeks during class to review. I had previously done most of the chapters in the book, but during each class, I did all the problems for the practice tests. The explinations were extremely helpful, and after taking the practice tests, the real AP was a breeze! I contribute a lot of my success to my teacher, but when he ran out of practice tests, this book sure came in handy! All of the explinations made the iffy topics more clear, and I'm sure this book was an intergral part of my scoring of a 5!

The book gives great explanations of all needed material, examples with explanations, and many, many, practice questions. The only flaw that I could see is that there is no easy divide between knowledge needed for AB and BC. Even using the part in the beginning that divides up the topics, I could not tell whether or not I was studying needed material. The practice tests were also harder than the actual, which is not a bad thing. In conclusion, except for the lack of division between AB and BC, the book was very good for review. However, buy this book early because no person can get through it in less than two weeks (and that is with two hours a day).

I found this book to be helpful in some capacity. Although it covered all the necessary topics, I did not find it to be that in depth (it would probably help AB test takers more than BC). Some of the explanations made it more confusing than it was without the book. The practice tests were good, but did not provide explanations for the answers, which was a big downside. The essay questions provided in the practice section were so much easier than the actual test, so they didn't help either. Overall, a good basis for studying, but do NOT rely solely on this if you want to do well.

I've always been loyal to Princeton Review when it comes time to review for AP exams. Most of their books for other tests have been very helpful for covering material in depth, as well as discussing tips and strategies for the AP test itself.

This book was different. I kept flipping through the beginning pages of the book looking for information about the test itself, but there is almost none. There is no discussion of what you may or may not expect to see on the test, of what to expect from the multiple-choice vs. free-response sections, or just general tips for taking the test itself.

Furthermore, as other reviewers have noted, there is literally no distinction between AB and BC material. In the front of the book, there is a big outline of what is covered throughout the book (with BC-only topics in italics), but it is not in the sequential order of the book, which makes distinguishing between topics very difficult.

The book did explain a vast amount of topics covered in calculus, but not very in-depth. Each chapter has loads of practice problems, but none are very complex, AP-style questions. Also, there were several topics for which this book only served to confuse me--we learned different methods in class than those covered in this book, but I feel like a review book like this might describe more than one way to work problems...

Overall, this book is okay for basic review, but only if you already know everything about the AP exam, and only if the methods covered and the notations used are exactly those that you learned in class.

Princeton Review's Calculus review book offers a comprehensive review along with 5 practice tests that mimic the actual test! I'm taking the AB Calculus though so I'm not sure how well it treats you BC gangstas but from what I've seen it does that equally well. 5 stars here because it has really been helpful, including everything you would need such as questions at the end of each lesson and a precalculus review at the back. I recommend this to everyone.

This book is really helpful for the AP Calculus test. It gives quick notes on each topic, sets apart what is needed to know for the test and what is not. Then followed by some practice questions and practice tests.

I thought this book went hand in hand with my class. Whatever we were learning, I would flip through this book and look at the examples to help me thoroughly understand the material. Remember this is a REVIEW book, not a substitute for a textbook. I think its good if you use it throughout the year instead of cramming it altogether at once because it is really helpful.