Customer Reviews

5 Steps to a 5 AP Physics B & C, 2008-2009 Edition (5 Steps to a 5 on the Advanced Placement Examinations Series)

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

 

 

Haha... just the day before AP Physics C Exam, I decided to give my brain a little rest from constant E&M preparation and surf the web for a while.
This book, based on my interpretations, lacks depth for AP Physics C.
Just like the Immortalix pointed out in the comments on author's review, there are not a lot of detailed descriptions or even some formulas on the curriculum for Physics C in the book. For instance, book only mentions inductors for a page and nothing more. Also, book doesn't even have a partial derivative (which is fairly simple) to get the electric field. If the difficulty of the AP Physics C question was just plugging the numbers in for the unknown variable, which is difficulty of AP Physics B, it would be fine. However, Physics C is not. I personaly found Princeton Review much better for AP Physics C than McGrawHill because it had lots of examples where you can get the GIST of doing the questions and also know more specific type of things that I must look for when using certain laws. 5 steps to 5 felt too fundamental oriented and lots of time I ended up searching somewhere else for an answer. As a result, McGrawHill book didn't even get a bent mark in the middle (Because I didn't open it enough).
If this book was just for the AP Physics B, hands down this book is better than Princeton Review. I found the explanations and tone of the writings much more friendly and easier to approach to.
However, I would not recommend it to AP Physics C students because you will not get anything out of it. Unless, you have no idea what Physics is about.

I strongly recommend this book if you want to get ready for AP Physics exam. The only negative side of the book is the low number of practice problems.

The book had easy to understand chapters, difficult/concept-illuminating problems and is a pretty good start in studying for the exam.
However, it also has quite a few typos. I know this doesn't sound like a big deal but a few of the typos were pretty major. Then I kind of wondered if I missed other major typos then perhaps I didn't learn some things very well or wrong. So that's just another thing to think about. Perhaps next years version of this book will eliminate this problem.

Okay, full disclosure: I'm the author. I'm also an AP Physics teacher, reader, and consultant, so I know what it takes to do well on the AP physics exam.

The biggest misconception folks have about Physics is that it's all about math, about numbers and equations. Sure, there's a bit of that; but you'll find that the surest route to success in AP Physics is to work toward a strong CONCEPTUAL understanding of the natural world. I don't mean that AP Physics is easy. No. But I virtually guarantee that it's not as hard as your textbook, teacher, and friends make it out to be.

This book, unlike your textbook, is intended to be READ. The style is clear and straightforward, inserting mathematics where necessary (rather than everywhere, just to look fancy). Try it. My own students swear by _5 Steps to a 5_ as the best exam preparation they could ask for.

Check out my school (Woodberry Forest School) and me (via "Nachoman's Baseball") on the web. Send me your feedback.

greg

In class, we had not gone over AP Physics B thoroughly. This book was a quick, easy and entertaining way to learn the entire subject. I was able to read the entire book twice throughout the year and it was a huge help. It's explanations of difficult concepts are great and easy, and there are many techniques it uses that are outstanding. A week before, I supplemented this book with Princeton's (which was a lot more difficult but also a stellar book) and took the exam today. I am not sure how well I did, so I cannot say if this book was influential or not, but though it had a few mistakes which were all rectified in the next edition, it is great.

this book, especially practice tests are filled with errors that make it impossible to learn

Bought this book based on a friend's rec. and loved it! Got a 5 on the AP, and well that's the proof!

The only reason you like it so much is cause you wrote the damn book

This item came in great condition...too bad I didn't get a chance to use it to comment on it's helpfulness.
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