<p>I plan on taking these three tests in November, which strategy books do you recommend, Kaplan, Barrons, Princeton or other?</p>
<p>For United States History
Literature
Spanish</p>
<p>I am also considering Math 1.</p>
<p>Celita, you’re going to get a bunch of different answers. </p>
<p>For US History, I recommend a textbook
For Literature, I recommend that you read books
For Spanish, I don’t know
For Math 1, I’d get a math book and learn math 1.</p>
<p>There’s a thread for book recommendations.</p>
<p>Well for US history, I doub’t I’d have time to read through a 1000 page textbook again. :-/ Note, I took the class during Junior year, though I am fuzzy on many parts. </p>
<p>I am definitely aiming for over a 700 on each test.</p>
<p>I looked at the thread for book recommendations, and there are quite a few conflicting opinions about US history:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Sparknotes Review Book with 3 Online Tests (A,C,D)
Great for last week review and refresh.
Recommender’s score: 790.</p></li>
<li><p>Princeton Review (AP) (G)
Great prep for the SAT II (some identical questions!)</p></li>
<li><p>Kaplan (A, B, C, D, G)
Read it cover to cover a week before the exam and felt really prepared. It really helps for stuff you didn’t cover in class.
Recommender’s score: 790.</p></li>
<li><p>AMSCO (AP) (B, C, E)
It is the most conversational textbook-ish thing I’ve ever read. Amazing at reviewing material. The practice tests are helpful for review, even though they are AP practice tests. Note: The recommender for this book is the same as the one for the Barron’s book.
Recommender’s score: 800.</p></li>
<li><p>Barron’s (F+, H)
This book is MUCH harder than the real thing, and the recommender got 30-40 mistakes on each practice test despite getting an 800 for the actual test. Use if if you want to be very well prepared, but do not fret over a bad score, because it is highly inaccurate. Note: The recommender for this book is the same as the one for the AMSCO book.
Recommender’s score: 800. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>For Spanish</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Barron’s (A, C, D, H)
Slightly inaccurate practice tests, but the fact that there are many of them compensates for this.</p></li>
<li><p>Kaplan (B+, E, G)
The book is extremely organized and in-depth so it is more for learning rather than for reviewing. Regardless, it gives in-depth lessons and explanation of grammatical rules (very important in Spanish). Tons of great practice questions, as well as a great diagnostic test. My score went from a 650 to a 740 with this book.
Recommender’s score: 740</p></li>
</ul>
<p>And nothing for Literature is recommended in that thread. </p>
<p>Btw, I do have AMSCO myself. I used it for the AP test. I also have Kaplan for US history for the AP. On the AP I got a 4. </p>
<p>Oh and here is the key for those letters on those recommendations:
A - Accurate practice tests.
B - Good for learning material you don’t know.
C - Easy to read and understand.
D - Not a lot of superfluous material.
E - Teacher recommendation.
F - Slightly harder than the real thing. (Write F+ if it’s a lot harder than the real thing)
G - Good practice questions (outside of the practice tests)
H - A lot of practice tests (more than 4)</p>