Cracking the SAT U.S. & World History Subject Tests, 2011-2012 Edition (College Test Preparation) Rating :
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful.
Incomplete
By Mieu
When I prepare for a test like the SAT's, I just don't have 6 months to do it. I usually have a month or two. I doubt that I'm alone in that. The issue with this otherwise well-presented book is that it states, clearly on the first page of each half-section (one for World, one for U.S.), that this is not a complete review for the material and you must be in either a U.S. or World history class to know what you need to know. As a home-schooler, this didn't help me guide my study in the slightest. Even if I'd been in a public school, what if I was taking the World subject test 2 years after my World History class had finished?
Going through it, it is clear they were not kidding. Much is missing from the coverage of the two topics. This is a "rough guide" to to the YEARS COVERED by the tests. That's it. What you will glean will be a few good practice tests, a rough guide to the areas covered, and a recommendation by the book itself to look elsewhere to be fully prepared. Disappointing. The Crash Course and REA series did a much better job (albeit for the AP tests) of covering the actual material on the tests. Frankly, even though they're meant for the AP, I found the material came up on both tests. Only buy this book if you want practice tests and an introduction to the format/coverage of the SAT II's. There are probably more helpful books out there that do that.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Two practice exams!
By Scrapple8
The Princeton Review Guide to "Cracking the SAT U.S. & World History Subject Tests" has the insane idea of packaging study guides for two different exams in one book. Do you want help for only the SAT U.S. History Exam? The Princeton Review makes you buy a guide for World History, too. This review will only consider the first half of the book, which prepared you for the U.S. History Exam.
There are three chapters which review United States history, totaling about sixty pages. The review is pedestrian: it assumes that your studies have covered the of the exam, and their review gives you the big picture of american history. See the Kaplan Guide to the S.A.T. U.S. History Exam for a better outline of American History. Read this guide to solidify the big picture, but don't use it for your study outline.
Princeton has a few "Tricks" for taking the exam, which are primarily common sense test-taking tips that are not hard to master. While it is useful to hear these tips and make your own judgment as to whether they are useful, Princeton goes overboard in ramming certain ones down your throat. Their particular bête-noire in this study guide is `era.' Most of their explanations are not really explanatory, but they are examples on how to use `era' to narrow down your choices. See the McGraw-Hill study guide for A.P. U.S. History to find the type of educational that I expect to see in answer explanations.
The main reason to use this text is to practice on two full-length exams for U.S. History. If you can take ten full-length practice exams before sitting for the real exam, you should not have any jitters about the test. While the Princeton Review practice exams are helpful, $19.95 is an expensive price for those two exams. My solution was to borrow the book from the local library. Three weeks is sufficient time to read their summary of U.S. History and take the exams.
There is one major error in the answer explanations. For test 2, question #62, the answer and explanation refer to some mysterious question about the institution of the federal income tax, while question #62 is about the Korean War, which is technically called a police action because Congress did not officially declare a war in Korea. The War Powers Act of 1973 was supposed to address these concerns.
Question #57 in the second exam illustrates why I prefer explanations that give facts and interpretation, not test-taking tips. (D) is not associated with Transcendentals, who eschewed material possessions and communed with nature. Choice C is partially correct. Though Transcendentals focused on the individual, there were two short-lived utopian societies, Fruitlands and Brook Farm. The Oneida Society was hardly a Transcendental one, and John Humphrey Noyes was hardly a Transcendental. You have to judge whether the flaws of one answer compensate for the incorrectness of the other. Taking enough practice exams help you make that judgment.
The first exam was harder to me than the second exam, yet the conversion of the raw score to the scaled score was more forgiving for the second exam.
Product Description
If it's on the SAT U.S. or World History Subject Tests, it's in this book. Cracking the SAT U.S. & World History Subject Tests, 2011-2012 Edition brings you:
-Practical information on the what, when, where, and how of each SAT History Subject Test
-Reviews of proven strategies such as Process of Elimination and Era-Based Thinking to solve complicated questions
-Comprehensive and up-to-date review of key historical eras in U.S. and world history
-Key strategies to help you crack quotation, map, and political cartoon questions
-Planning and organization tips to get you all the way to test day!
Cracking the SAT U.S. & World History Subject Tests, 2011-2012 Edition also includes 4 full-length practice tests with detailed explanations (2 for each subject test).
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #496376 in Books
- Published on: 2011-03-08
- Released on: 2011-03-08
- Original language:English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 10.80" h x1.06" w x8.20" l,1.60 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 464 pages
Features
- ISBN13: 9780375428166
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
No comments :
Post a Comment