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26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
a comparative guide to the guides, May 16, 2007
I am familiar with, I think, every AP Micro- and Macroeconomics prep guide currently on the market, having worked extensively with all of them. The first three I list below are fairly interchangeable; I have no clear winner to announce if you're having trouble making a decision.
As far as I know, all of the editions below are out of date in the sense that they still include a lot of discussion of the Keynesian Consumption Function (aka the "Keynesian Cross") diagram on their macro sections. As of summer 2008, this was removed by the AP board from their list of graphs you have to know.
These books haven't caught up yet with that major change. (Be warned that although that graph will not appear on the free response section, the Keynesian multipliers involved with it may still appear on the multiple-choice section.)
Anyhow, here are my comments in full:
Princeton Review: Cracking the AP
This is apparently the most popular title on the subject of preparing for these two AP economics exams, but I suspect this may be due to superior marketing on the publisher's part rather than anything else. The explanation section is a little elliptical to use for anything other than review. If you're trying to conquer the exam merely with a test guide, then this would be a bad choice for you. On the plus side, the difficulty of the practice questions herein resembles most convincingly that of those found on the actual AP exam: I've noticed other guides seem slightly too easy. I put this at the top of the list because Princeton comes out with a new edition nearly every year, unlike the other publishers. This means that mistakes are kept to a minimum, and the book's contents can change with the contents of the AP exam itself, which the College Board occasionally makes adjustments to.
ISBN-13: 978-0375765353
Barron's AP 2005 (make sure you get the second edition)
I suppose this is probably the best one, but as I said, there's no clear leader. Its advantages are that the explanation sections (with the exception of the one on international trade and exchange) are the best and most readable. But there is only one practice exam. Worse, some of the things that I know are on the AP exam, such as the production function and the three-sectioned Keynesian supply curve, make no appearance in this book. I would probably buy this one in combination with the McGraw-Hill one to be really safe: focusing on the explanations from this one, but bracing yourself for the level of difficulty you see in the McGraw-Hill questions. Be sure to get the revised 2008 edition if you choose this one: the previous edition had a lot of errors. This one doesn't.
ISBN-13: 978-0764133619
McGraw-Hill: 5 Steps to a 5
A solid job. It has two practice exams, but I believe there are a handful of concepts covered by the AP exams that simply are not covered in its explanation sections. I suspect the level of difficulty is actually a couple of degrees above what you can expect on the real exam.
ISBN-13: 978-0071437127
Kaplan AP Microeconomics/Macroeconomics
On the plus side, I can say the Kaplan has a useful glossary at the end. But the questions simply aren't hard enough: they're not reflective of what you're going to see on the actual exam. In addition to this, there are definitely about 5 or 6 errors in the practice exam they give you.
ISBN-13: 978-1419550829
Cliff's Ron Pirayoff
Avoid this disaster. Written by a former teacher at Burbank High School, it's riddled with errors. Not typing errors: downright errors. The author's knowledge of economics was not equal to the task of writing such a guide: he is frequently dead wrong about things. Many of the questions have more than one correct answer, and some have none. I hope this thing will soon go out of print.
ISBN-13: 978-0764539992
Rudman's Questions and Answers to the AP Macroeconomics
A monstrosity. Privately published, evidently by some guy in his garage. This is not a joke: the thing is spiral bound, and the font suggests it was crafted by some old-fashioned typewriter. None of this means the book is bad though, although this book is bad nevertheless. It's almost unbelievable. Undoubtedly the worst book on this list. There is no explanations section; there are no free-response questions: there is nothing but practice multiple choice questions. But these are highly abstruse, riddled with errors, contain no explanations of the answers and, most inexcusably, decline to employ the kind of terminology and graphing models beloved by the makers of the actual AP Exam. In fact, there is not a single graph anywhere in the book. You probably think I'm kidding.
ISBN-13: 978-0837362069
Economics for Dummies
Despite the title, if you're going to try to ace the AP Macro and Micro exams with just one book, I would have to say this is the best choice I'm aware of. Not too hard, not too easy. Although it has no practice exercises, your understanding of all concepts covered -- and in the way the College Board likes them covered, and using their terminology -- will be most meaningfully strengthened by an extended acquaintance with this volume. My colleagues and I have been repeatedly astonished to see how well done it is; it contains all the graphs, charts, and equations that you'll need. And though the book doesn't make one mention of the AP exams, honesty compels me to list it here because I regard it as the most comprehensively helpful prep guide for these 2 tests. The only disadvantage I can think of is that you might feel less than kingly with this title under your arms. But are you interested in results, or what?
ISBN-13: 978-0764557262
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Economics Explained, May 15, 2006
After taking the test, I can say that this book was very helpful in learning the material without actually taking the course. I found no flaw in the book, though I wish I had started reviewing earlier. Make sure you practice drawing the graphs like they say, because you are going to need them for the exam.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Truly amazing book for AP Econs, November 14, 2007
I dont know if this will be a good review for this book
but I want to say that this book was truly amazing for me to
study AP economics without any help of others.
I bought this book in Feb and studied a month.
I didn't have any background knowledge about introductory economics.
Probably I can say that the only thing that I knew was "supply and demand." and that's why I had hard times studying alone with the book.
So I searched for a private institution but it didn't quite satisfy my expectation. It seemed the teacher didn't prepare much for the class.
so after 4 or 5 days, I quit it and started again with the book.
I read and wrote the book about 20 times I think.
Even though I couldn't understand some parts, I just passed the chapters
and came back later. I used the Internet a little bit, too.
and in March and April, I couldn't study AP at all because of the midterm exam in my highschool. and for about 2 weeks in May, I reviewed what I've done during the winter vacation.
I finally got 5 on both Micro and Macro. I think almost all(99%) questions on real AP exams are quite similar to those of this Princeton AP book.
Being able to draw graphs without looking the book and to explain on your own words are the key elements for AP Econ, I think.
(Sorry for my poor English. I am actually Korean and it was particularly difficult to study because English is my second language.)
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by Frank Musgrave
