How to Prepare for the Advanced Placement Exam (Barron's How to Prepare for the Advanced Placement Examination. Physics B) [Paperback]

Jonathan S. Wolf (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0764104756 | ISBN-13: 978-0764104756 | Publication Date: January 1999 | Edition: 2nd

Offered in this manual is a diagnostic test with answer key plus two full-length AP Physics B practice tests modeled on actual exams.

Product Details

• Paperback: 460 pages
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series; 2nd edition (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764104756
• ISBN-13: 978-0764104756
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 7.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,297,193 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Questions accurate of AP-style, but explanations are bad, December 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Prepare for the Advanced Placement Exam (Barron's How to Prepare for the Advanced Placement Examination. Physics B) (Paperback)

First of all, the AP exam is majorly difficult so if you haven't put any effort in your class the test is going to be a nightmare.

The Barron's book is strong in it's practice exams. I found the questions to be of the same style and difficulty as on the AP, especially the multiple choice. And for some of the easier chapters (vectors, 1-D motion, waves), the summaries aren't too bad although the information is a little muddled.

But that's all that's really good about this book. The answers for the practice questions are to difficult to explain and a lot of the time just plain-out incorrect. They might explain how to do it mathematically and show the calculations which would be completely incorrect. Or they'd write the incorrect equations. If you're a strong Physics student most of this shouldn't bother you, but there were a few questions where the method they used to solve the problem was entirely incorrect. Also when the book tries to explain the more complicated stuff, the language is just no basic and clear. And they introduce a lot of simplified versions of the common equations, obviously meant to increase speed, but mostly just confused me.

This was the only book I used to prepare for the exam so I don't know how the other prep guides are in comparison. But I wouldn't recommend this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars horrible, July 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: How to Prepare for the Advanced Placement Exam (Barron's How to Prepare for the Advanced Placement Examination. Physics B) (Paperback)

I used this book along with Princeton Review to prepare for the test two months ago. The Princeton Review one is excellent, and this one is terrible. Though I can't say I got a 5 because of Princeton Review, this one is absolutely ridiculous. It has two chapters on problem solving, which are actually not very useful. The review chapters are extremely confusing, and a lot of the explanations, equations, and even basic concepts, are wrong. There are very few examples. The practice problems after each chapter are way harder than the real test, making them practically useless, and ridiculously many of the solutions are wrong too. Wrong concepts, explanations and solutions are all over the place. It also has a chapter on rotation and a whole 15-page chapter completely devoted to relativity, which aren't even on the B test except for torque, rotational statics, and the mass-energy relationship, which added up don't even need half a chapter. There are also appendices, some of which are totally useless for the AP test, like the infinite series for the sine function. This book is absolutely horrible, so don't get it.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent review of the Physics B curriculum., May 24, 2000

By 

Brian Smith "criacow" (Vancouver, BC, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Prepare for the Advanced Placement Exam (Barron's How to Prepare for the Advanced Placement Examination. Physics B) (Paperback)

I find it interesting that the reviewer before me -- who gave the book one star -- wrote the review on 15 May 2000, when the AP exam was not until two days later.

Having used this book almost as my primary source for most of the fourth quarter, I have to say it does an excellent job of what it says it will -- helping a student prepare for the AP Physics B exam. From problem-solving strategies to excellent short summaries of each topic to sample exams to even a review of algebra, the book provides everything needed to succeed on the Physics B exam.

With a teacher who was out with a serious illness for most of the fourth quarter, I knew I'd need extra help if I was going to get through the AP exam. (It's one of six I took, so it's not like I haven't experienced the "fun" of these exams before). I picked up this book and found myself quite happy with it, and its review of dozens of test topics definitely helped me through both my physics class and the AP exam itself. In retrospect, I wouldn't have done as well as I did without this review guide.