Barron's AP Psychology

 (20 customer reviews)

I used this book to prepare for the AP Psychology exam and was thrilled! I had never taken a psychology course before and thought it would be challenging to try to succeed on the exam to earn college credit. It was easy to read and the practice test questions were extremely similar to those on the actual exam. I was excited to hear that I received a 5 on my exam... and the only aid I used was this book! I would recommend this to anyone.

I am in the process of studying for the AP exam. I think that this book gives a great overview of all of the different topics. They are quick, but informative, and there are test questions specifically for each topic, so that was very helpful.

However, I am becoming increasingly frustrated with repeated questions. In one practice test, the exact same question was on their twice. I just took the one on the CD after taking all of the ones in the book, and I noticed a good amount of questions that I have already seen. There was one about systematic desensitization that I have seen on two separate tests.

Also, I have noticed a few contradictions in the book. For example, in the review part of the book it says that rational emotive behavior therapy is a specific type of cognitive behavioral therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapies "combine the ideas and techniques of cognitive and behavioral psychologists." Then, in a question in practice test 2, it asks "What kind...Read more

My son just finished the 10th grade. Midway through the year, he registered for an online Psychology class, not AP. We decided that it would be worth it to register for the AP Psychology test in May, knowing that his AP result could not hurt him and might help. Perhaps a month before the exam, we ordered this book.

There are two sample tests on paper and two on CD. These were great, because there was a table to key the missed questions to the subject areas. This helped to identify strengths and weaknesses. It is certainly easier to do this using the CD test, since the program tabulates that information for you; it is much quicker than manually scoring and matching up paper test results. If he uses an AP review book for any future classes, I would certainly pay the difference and get the CD.

The bottom line: he passed the AP exam. He was the only student in his online class, so no study partners, no class discussions, and not an AP course to begin with...Read more