The AP Test: Choosing The Best Cram Book

At the end of any AP course it is strongly suggested that you take an Advanced Placement test. After an entire year of work many of the things that you may have learned at the beginning of the year need to be revisited, and this is where AP crunch books come in. They are not replacements for a textbook, or year long course, but rather a last minute refresher of what you have learned. And don't be mistaken they make a HUGE difference in how well you do on the tests. I have taken three tests myself, and have known many people who have used prep books, and many people who have not. On the 1-5 AP grading scale, a thoroughly studied prep book usually has a 1-2 point boost to ones score. This is a substantial difference, especially when college credit is on the line. Bottom line, they are very inexpensive, reliable, and if you want to do well you will want to pick one up.

AP tests cost $87 dollars, and the same credits at a major college would be almost ten times that. I recommend buying your AP prep book on Amazon. There they usually run between 5-20 dollars which is totally worth the price when you consider how much money you could be saving in the long run. There has recently been a growing trend of high paid tutoring for AP tests that usually runs for hundreds of dollars and is about as beneficial as a good AP prep book. If you are very strapped for cash there are some great AP sites out there that can be a great help as well. For around $10 you can get a great book that will really help you out on a test, it is absolutely worth the price.

On amazon there are many different brands: 5 steps to a 5, Barron's, Kaplan, REA, Princeton Review etc. When choosing a book the year 2010 edition, 2011 edition, etc has been relatively meaningless in my experience. The books are usually comprised of two sections, a summary of the information covered in the course, and a large practice test section. Personally I find the practice tests in most of the books to be subpar, I recommend finding a better and more interactive practice test online, the course review however is very, very useful and for me the longer and more detailed the better. I try to find the book that has the longest summary section, and in my personal experience that is the Princeton Review. Overall I recommend them because I have enjoyed their book layout and information. At the end of the day the most important thing is having a book, and brand isn't too important.