Introduction
So you're looking for a good study guide to the Advanced Placement United States History Course (my, that's a handful. It's aka APUSH) -- you go to the library, but you see rows and rows of study guides. Columns and columns.
Barron's, Princeton Review, CliffsAP, Rea, Kaplan, SparknotesAP, the list goes on.
I was overwhelmed. It looks like the first challenge in APUSH wasn't the homework, but deciding which study guide to use.
Which one is better? Which one is better for the fairest price? Which one suits your style?
"Higher Score, Guaranteed" promises Kaplan.
"The Leader in Test Preparation" claims Barron's.
Experts here, experts there. ... "Fastrack" ... "Success"
... Well, that doesn't help.
"Look through them yourself" was the typical answer -- well for some of us who do not appreciate the idea of "life" in a bookstore browsing through endless versions, copies, editions of study guides of the same course, as well as for the rest of us who love to save money and buy from Amazon.com.
...There must be an easier way!
Well you've come to the right place (perhaps you were beginning to doubt that, seeing my narration up there).
I had to go through trial and error, and here are the experimental results.
Highlights
There is not much that is special from the introduction, but then again, that's usually what the prep books are good at (as well as the things that we've read over and over again, and do not need =P -- I just skimmed the whole introduction)
Each chapter is organized in a very concise manner. If I look at the Barron's books for example, they are in those wide pages with the text that span left to right. This book is relatively small (approx. 25 x 16 cm) that the text is less overwhelming.
As for the blocks and blocks of text, it's APUSH. We'll have to get used to it ;)
The book is also extremely organized as its headings stand out, while many other study guides only "bold" their words, with little headings for quick references and flipping.
What is noteworthy is the list of key terms > I often find these useful for a quick review before a quiz or a test. Barron's for example, does not offer this, and while CliffsAPs for example, does offer this, Cliffs is lacking in many other areas that AMSCO is one book that has many of the important things together.
Furthermore, the multiple choice questions are extremely benefiting. They are both accurate (in terms of difficulty), as well as challenging (making it not obvious), yet also does not do what some study guides do (which is make the question so hard that there is no point in doing them).
Finally, the DBQ-essay "learning" section is quite helpful, especially the 9 DBQ examples that are offered. The essay section does not stand as much. It's not that I really use any of the prompts, but it's good to have them there =P, especially for any future self-studiers who might be interested. As they say, practice makes perfect =P.
Disadvantages
Sadly, there are some things that are not so great about this book. While it's questions are great, it's answers are not - in fact, there are no answers provided for the multiple choice, essay questions or DBQs. None. Nata. The multiple choice questions' answers may be found from rereading the entire chapter, and yet the book does not provide the answers, especially with the questions that have two choices that are very "close" to each other.
The lack of answers for the essay questions and DBQs are even more frustrating -- while other books would elaborate on the different terms that should be included in writing the essay, the book has none.
To get the answers, it appears that the students must pay an additional fee to "order" them, adding onto the frustration.
The book also lacks a good "multiple-choice-explaining" section, only briefly explaining but not elaborating on the types of questions available as well as how to approach each type -- However, this wouldn't be a problem to most of us, as we would have been taught how to do so already.
Recommendations
This book IS recommended. Despite is one fatal flaw (of providing no answers to MCs AND essay questions AND DBQs), the answers are generally "hinted" in the chapter descriptions.
It is condensed yet outlines the key terms and themes that characterize each chapter, making it a very useful book to "read" before a quiz or a test. There are many who've spend the last two weeks before their AP exam reading this book over and over again, ending up getting a 5.
I would have gotten this book for APUSH and probably none else. It's just so much neater than what the other books offer, and though no answers are offered, we can find them out anyways. My own APUSH teacher literally told the class: "I highly recommend you get this book".
I thought that book wouldn't be enough so I ended up borrowing Barron's and CliffsAP. They...didn't add on much.
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