Customer Reviews
AP Prep books are Prep books, not Text books
I took the Biology AP this year (freshman year). I'm sure it helped that I had a decent teacher and a very good text book (Biology Concept and Applications, Starr/5th Edition. Brooks/Cole Thompson Learning publisher, I have an extra copy if you'd like to buy it--diablodeloszorros@yahoo.com). My teacher went ahead and ordered the class the Princeton Review AP Bio book, but I decided to do a little research first before getting mine. While I was studying, all my friends were teasing me, haha you have a different prep book. Turned out most of them didn't get a 5, and I did. This book is relatively well written and simple enough to understand. It covers just enough detail so if you read over something, you will remember all that you need. It has study questions at the end of each section. There were two things that bothered me about this book: at the end of each section there isn't a list of terms you should remember, and there are only two practice tests (I think--I burned the book after the exam). However, I had access to many AP bio books (Kaplan, Princeton, the 5 steps to a 5 one, a few others), and looking through them, they didn't seem all that great. The practice tests help, so copy a few of those out or get your teacher to. Use this book to supplement your class if you want a 5. No AP Prep book is a text book, it is important to not only use this, but also your class notes etc... However, this is one of the better AP books available. Good luck.
Excellent AP Book
Cliffs AP Biology is BY FAR the best AP Biology book on the market. No other book comes close!
This book is concise, effective and comprehensive at the same time. While other books use 4-10 pages to go over one topic (like photosynthesis), Cliffs AP covers the same material in 2-3 pages! The material is written in a simple and easy to understand fashion and comes complete with diagrams, pictures, charts and bolding, which make it simple to learn.
Not only that, the book covers lab and has a FULL practice exam.
The one thing i loved about this book was that after each section, there were 10-20 "review quiz" problems over the section which came complete with essay topics.
I bought this book approximatly 1 week before the AP Biology exam. In class we were using the Cambells Biology book (wonderful), and i read the Cliffs AP book, did the practice problems, and got a 5 EASILY!
Simply put, Cliffs AP Biology is the ONLY AP BIO book you will need.
Good Review Book
I got a 4 on the AP Biology test, and it's thanks to this book that I didn't get a lower score. I was unfortunate enough to have a teacher that I really couldn't learn from, she would lecture on about one topic and never teach anything else. I turned to CliffsAP for help.
The book makes the information easy to understand, and contains a fair about of review questions (about 20 after each chapter). I'd bombed the mitosis/meosis test we took before I got this book, but when I was studying for the AP test I read their section on meosis and suddenly it all made sense. The book helped me to really understand and grasp the topics we needed to learn on the test. I'd definitely recommend this book.
