Customer Reviews

Cracking the SAT Physics Subject Test, 2009-2010 Edition (College Test Preparation)

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This book covers all the major SAT Physics Subject Test topics. It will be very easy for you to read and practice if you have taken a one-year introductory course in physics (including mechanics, electricity and magnetism, and miscellaneous topics). If your physics course in high school has only covered mechanics, then you will need a regular physics textbook instead of an SAT physics book to learn electricity and magnetism and miscellaneous topics by yourself before you take the SAT Physics Subject Test.

For AP Physics B or C Test, this book will not have in-depth coverage. Instead, The Princeton Review's AP Physics B or C book will be highly recommended.

My son has taken both the SAT Subject Test in Physics and the AP Physics C exam this spring. We got a study guide for each, since the SAT Subject Test covers some information that is not on the AP exam. This book helped him review Thermodynamics and Optics, which were not on the AP test. It was worth getting for that purpose alone.

But it would not have been enough to get just one book; he needed the AP book for the level C test, since it involves use of calculus (unlike the SAT Subject Test and the B level AP test). We don't have his scores yet, but he thinks he did well and found both Princeton Review books to be helpful.

My freshman daughter used this book to prepare. In her words, "The practice tests in the Princeton Review were nothing like the actual SAT test." The practice tests are based more knowing equations and formulas rather than conceptual problems as found in the SAT. She spent much of her time studying equations that weren't on the SAT. She still scored above 700 which she attributed to classroom learning. It's a good book for covering topics that you haven't studied previously, but "you can learn that from any physics book." I guess the bottom line is, if your physics class every topic in the SAT, this book won't be of much help. Perhaps it's a good book for reviewing. Just don't focus on equations and such.

I purchased this used book from Amazon fulfillment, not from a third party. Used practice test books seem to have the answers already circled. Therefore, they are sometimes unusable as a real test. I have encountered this problem multiple times. Beware!!!!!!!!!

The shipping time was pretty fair...
Also I liked the organization of the book....

Overall, this book is just Great.