5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An amazingly written review book that will hold your interest., September 8, 2008
Let me start off by saying I am a big fan of the Princeton Review line of test prep books. I feel that their books are able to get across the most important topics for the tests in a concisely written way.
This book did not disappoint. There are five parts to the book, including an intro section, a multiple choice section, an essay section, a practice test section, and a glossary section.
My initial impressions: "Wow, this guy can write." I have never read a test prep book as interesting and well-written as this one. The author gets his point across, explains it in easy to understand terms, and adds a little humor into the mix.
The intro section basically breaks down the entire test, including the timing, types of multiple choice questions, and essay style.
Both the multiple choice sections and the essay sections make up the content of the book. Th multiple choice section provides good strategies and breaks down several long reading passages into small segments, each with questions, answers, and the thought process behind why that answer was correct. The essay section provided a few sample essays, and something especially helpful was the checklist of what to include in the essays, something the book calls the "Idea Machine."
As usual, two full length practice tests are included. Based on the actual test, I think the Princeton Review did a good job with theirs. The passages, questions, and essay topics were typical of an AP test.
One of the hidden gems of the review book is the glossary section. It consists of pretty much all the vocabulary needed to ace the test. For added emphasis, the author even stars the ones that are absolutely necessary to know. I particularly enjoyed the humorous definitions. I couldn't help but smile as I read over them, and I feel that the author's easy to understand writing style really helped me to remember the words.
Now for some of the cons. First off, this is one of the shortest review books I have used. It is probably about half the size of a typical review book for some other subject. I would have liked to see more practice problems as well-other than the two tests, there were only a handful of other multiple choice questions. And finally, the author should have expanded on the essay sections, with a some more tips or examples added in.
All in all, this is a great review book. If you are in an AP Lit class with a good teacher, then get this book as a supplement. It will refresh your memory in the weeks leading up to the test. However, if you are planning to self-study, or you have a bad teacher, then this book alone will not do the trick-you need to read a lot of the books and poems in the suggested reading list for the test. The Cracking the AP English Literature Exam Test Prep is a great conceptual book that explains important strategies to improve your score. I highly recommend this book.
Here's some added advice: All the test prep books out there supposedly come out with "new" editions every year. However, if the AP test itself is not revised (for example Chemistry in 2007,) then the review book will stay the SAME. Same content, same tests, everything. I suggest that you purchase the older editions of these books-nothing ancient, just up to a few years back, in order to save a lot of money. Remember to do some research on AP test updates if you are planning to do this! Hoped my review helped!
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