How to Prepare for the Advanced Placement Examination AP, American History

This book will probably not suffice on its own, but coupled with my textbook and the internet, I was able to cover all the material in a couple months. My AP class wasn't very good and I didn't know anything about history. I bought this book and used the outline at the back of the book to cover what I needed to know- the rest wasn't very helpful, but the outline made up for it. I did use the Princeton book to supplement, but it wasn't as helpful. I would recommend this book for someone who is in a sub-standard class and looking to seriously learn and reivew - this book will probably not work if you start review a week before the test.

I found this book an excellent guide for the essay portion, which is very helpful if you didn't write enough essays/DBQS during the year (which is my case, because I have a not-so-great class). Although my writing skills are pretty good, the book provides much more details than how to write the common 5-paragraph essay. It has especially good approaches to almost every type of prompt that appears on the AP test. However, if one is looking for a complete and informative review on US History (also my case, since I didn't study (that much) during the year, ugh! History is my least favorite subject, anyway!), the Barrons is definitely inadequate. Not mentioning that it is very hard (and boring) to read, it doesn't provide a detail analysis of each time period. I'm currently using the KAPLAn one, but the Princeton Review also looks good. Princeton Review, as usual, does not bore you out like the Barrons or the KAPLAn. After the AP test I'll be taking in May, I'm sure I'll be able to rate each book much better, though.

I disagree completely with the other reviews! This book definitely was a huge part of me securing a 5 on the AP Exam. If you are student who did what they were supposed to do throughout class and are really looking for a test prep to be used as a test prep and not as a textbook because you didn't study during the year, you'll definitely get what you are looking for in this book! It tweaks your test taking skills and gives you insight into the AP Exam that the other test preps don't (and I know because I have four AP US History Prep Guides).

This book is great. I had the 1996 edition of this guide and it helped me a lot. I used the book to help me write my essays and DBQ's, all of which I did usually well on. The book helped me to memorize history for my quizzes and exams. However, there is a downside. There's only one complete AP exam in the book and that doesn't provide enough practice. Otherwise, I referred to this book throughout all of my junior year up until the AP exam in May. By the way, I got a 5 on my AP exam, not to mention an end-of-the-year award for excellence in AP US History.

This book is the complete review for the AP test. It has everything you need to study, including a convienent outline. I highly reccomend it.