Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review
(15 customer reviews) 6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Great for what I needed it for,
May 8, 2010 E. Beck - See all my reviews
This review is from: AP United States History w/CD-ROM: 8th Edition (Advanced Placement (AP) Test Preparation) (Paperback)
The other reviews stating the lack of thoroughness of this exam book are correct; however, the purpose of a review book is to REVIEW. By the time you are trying to study for the actual exam, you should already know most of what you need to know from your class. If you don't, this is not the book for you.
Also, I disagree that the multiple choice practice tests are "too easy." While they do vary in the level of difficulty, when I took the actual exam, there were multiple questions that seemed to be straight from the book, which was very comforting. The explanations for the questions are decent, although there were several questions where their answer as incorrect.
Overall, however, using this book solely, I feel confident in my success on the AP US History exam and would recommend this to any AP student who has at least some background knowledge in US History and as been in even a slightly rigorous course.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Not up to AP standards,
January 18, 2010 Jessica E. Bowen (Marlborough, MA USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: AP United States History w/CD-ROM: 8th Edition (Advanced Placement (AP) Test Preparation) (Paperback)
As a teacher of APUSH, I buy many review books to have on hand for students to look through and as a source for practice multiple choice questions. This book is great on quantity, but definitely sub-par on quality. AP style multiple choice questions are about much more than memorizing facts. They require analysis of historical trends, knowledge of cause and effect, etc. They're quite sophisticated. The questions provided in this book just don't reach that level. Compare these two examples:
From the REA book:
As a result of the Spanish-American War, the United States gained possession of Puerto Rico, Guam, and
(A)the Philippines.
(B)Cuba.
(C)Bermuda.
(D)the Panama Canal Zone.
(E)Hawaii.
A style more typical of real AP questions:
The Spanish-American war spurred building of the Panama Canal by
(A)demonstrating the need to shift naval forces quickly from the Atlantic to the Pacific
(B)demonstrating the ease with...Read more
7 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Better resources available,
August 29, 2009 J. Farrand "Cowzar" (Northern NJ USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: AP United States History w/CD-ROM: 8th Edition (Advanced Placement (AP) Test Preparation) (Paperback)
I was a first year AP US teacher when I purchased this book and another by the Princeton Review.
Both books are intended to be complete resources for reviewing for the AP Exam, but the Princeton Review is substantially better in all areas.
The selling point (I thought) in the REA book was the "Six full length practice exams" it advertises. Though these tests are long, the questions are simplistic and are little like real AP questions. Most only require the student to know a definition. The essay questions are acceptable, but instead of explaining different approaches to writing the essay and evaluating the sources (like the Princeton Review) this book simply gives example essays.
The biggest failing is the lack of depth about the AP test or proper strategy. The first chapter of the Princeton Review goes into great detail about how to prepare and what strategies to use on the AP Test.
This book does have lots of questions on US History,...Read more
