Customer Reviews

Cracking the SAT II: History, 1999-2000 Edition (Annual)

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Don't make the same mistake that I did. If you are studying for the SAT II in US or World History, buy the Barron's instead, NOT Princeton Review. The Princeton Review focuses on blatantly obvious test-taking tips and leaves you totally unprepared for the SAT II. It basically tells you, "Just don't fill in two answers for one question and you'll be fine." The book gives a grossly inadequate review of history. For example, in the World History section it reviews the entire history of China in about ten sentences! There are NO practice questions outside of the practice tests. The practice tests do not reflect the real SAT II at all, as I found out when I took the test. Don't believe the unsubstantiated showy claims of the book publisher. If you want to succeed on the SAT II, don't waste your money or time on this awful book.

I thought this book would be good because in general, I feel that books by TPR are accurate. However, this book is completely wrong. In addition to an index that points to the wrong pages and "review", there was nothing there. One test on World History...Thats it. No practice questions, Vague strategies we've heard a billion times before. Tests that are exceptionally easy; if I were you, I would just study using your textbook, cause this is no review book.

The book starts out all right, with helpful tips, but the questions in the practice tests (or the first one, anyway; I haven't taken the others) leave a lot to be desired. In at least four out of 95 questions, the answer they give is flat-out wrong. (Among others: they say that the U.S. gave non-military, World War-related aid to the Soviet Union in 1939 -- the U.S. gave aid to Allied powers, and the USSR was Axis then, and that the only Allied Powers during WWII were the US, the USSR, and Britain. What about Canada/Australia/the Free French/Italy in the second half of the war/China/etc?) And even when it is accurate, it does not explain why the correct answers are correct -- unlike other test preparation books. It just gives the letters of the correct answers, not the reasons, not the facts, not how you could have gotten it. Not very helpful, that.

Nothing was on the test. Don't buy it!

I thought this book would be good because in general, I feel that books by TPR are accurate. However, this book is completely wrong. In addition to an index that points to the wrong pages and "review", there was nothing there. One test on World History...Thats it. No practice questions, Vague strategies we've heard a billion times before. Tests that are exceptionally easy; if I were you, I would just study using your textbook, cause this is no review book.