Cracking the AP U.S. History Exam, 2010 Edition (College Test Preparation)

Princeton Review is usually right-on in terms of amount of detail; for example, PR is perfect for AP World History and AP Chemistry.

This APUSH version, however, simple leaves too much out. I bought it intending to use it just as a quick review (my main book, which I highly recommended, is the fantastic AMSCO book). But PR is just barely adequate as a review.

For example, it skims over the Progressive Era in 1 and a half pages, mentioning President Taft in just one sentence. The book skips right from the Progressive Era to WWI, without mentioning the Spanish-American war (and American imperialism) at all.

I attribute the 5 I got on the test to AMSCO. Princeton Review's APUSH book leaves much to be desired.

I recently took an AP US History course and bought this book on previous experience with the AP World History book (which I got a five in).

This book is really handy because it internalizes the major eras of all the periods covered by the AP Exam. I found it particularly useful for the essay questions on the AP Test. However, I would discourage anyone from using this book if they are learning things from scratch without taking a history course. It's much better to take an accompanying US History course as this book tends to be more broad than others. Also, the "important" terms are bolded and indexed, making it extremely easy to search for specific terms in a period.

EDIT: 10/9/2011
I got a 5 in the AP US History exam too.

This book is great for those of us who are too busy or can't concentrate on our textbooks. This book helped me a lot in my APUSH class because it's much easier to read and much shorter than the textbook. The questions for each section should tell you what you understand or do not understand in that section. You can use it as an indicator on what part of your textbook you need to read more carefully to get that A on your tests and 5 on the AP test.