Customer Reviews

Student Study Guide for Biology

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I have bought a lot of student study guides in my life, and many of them have been nearly worthless. This one is not. The main textbook goes into so much detail that it is sometimes easy to lose sight of the main points of the chapters. This study guide does a wonderful job of bringing the key concepts into focus. The chapter summaries are clear and concise, covering all the main points of the chapters without going into too much detail (you can read the main text if you want detail). Latin word roots are explained (to help with memorization) in each chapter, and the in-chapter questions and post-chapter quizzes are fantastic, with answers and explanations to the questions provided at the back of the book.

This book helped me a lot in test preparation for my college course with its review questions. My professor still tested the class on even more details though. Therefore it will not guarantee you an "A" grade.

I would recommend this book to someone who does not have the time to read the textbook over and over again.

If you read the text, review the study guide, and look at material online (has quizzes and tests as well as animations), you will make an A. Guaranteed!

this book has been a big help in studying for exams! The regular text book is good, but so big it seems overwhelming at times.

My instructor actually used the book for study questions for our class---he highly recommends it as well.

I will start by saying the usefulness of this guide is directly related to how your classroom/lecture course is set up. If your instructor focuses on the textbook in class, this guide will be very useful. If your instructor tends to use the book to reinforce their own lecture material you may be sorely disappointed having purchased what has just become a large coloring book.

The reason for this disconnect is that the guide seems to take large leaps of logic in reviewing a chapter. Oftentimes the focus for review is a throwaway comment hidden in the chapter that is of sufficient importance that it justifies intense questioning from the guide.

And the flowcharts... Damn the flowcharts!

The flowcharts are -awful-. They are poorly designed and just add to any confusion the student might have. The text often does not explain the complex interactions between cells, proteins, etc that the review guide expects you to know. Is it vital for you to understand the interplay between energy levels as they heat up car paint? No! 99% of the time your instructor will expect this knowledge to come from your prerequisite/concurrent chemistry class, or simply ask you to identify what is going on when solar energy is absorbed. (Note: The textbook does an excellent job explaining this, which the guide undoes quickly)

So depending on your instructor, you may be better off using the MyBioLab package's self-assessment quizzes and review material. I certainly was more satisfied with the online review than this guide.

I encourage you to look through the guide yourself on campus. It might not be right for me, but it may be perfect for you.

This book really helped me review material for my Honors Biology Course in college. Written from a different perspective than my teacher, it was beneficial for memorizing and learning crucial information.

Very helpful when used with the textbook and during lecture. Has interactive review and sample test questions to assist with learning the material. Very good investment if you will use it and not just say you have it.

We were able to find the study guide for the textbook my daughter was using in her AP Biology class. A great resource.

This book was in almost perfect condition. It came sooner than expected, which was wonderful! I know that my daughter will get great use from it this year.

This book was for a simple biology class. The topics in this book are relatively simple, but somehow they managed to put in an enormous amount of text in here. It's good explaining and there are some charts that help summurize, but overall, it was a little over complicated and hard to get basic principles from the book alone.