Kaplan SAT II: World History 2004-2005

Rating:
Summary: Not Bad
Review: although the book contains good SAT II Level material, the questions at the ending of every chapter are very vague and unclear.

Rating:
Summary: Worse then Barron's but useful
Review: I bought both the Barrons and Kaplan for my World History prep. Barrons is the better of the two, but Kaplan is very useful. Its advantages include 3 excellent practice tests, with scales, quick summaries and MC questions at the end of every section and high print quality(no crammed lines, easy to read). However it has flaws. It lacks visual aides(maps,pics, etc.). It lacks chronological flow and that makes it rather difficult to read and get through. If you have the money get both books, however if you have to pick get the Barrons.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good cand concise but not enough to get you an 800
Review: I used this book to study for my SATII and read it twice, while i was enrolled in an AP euro class. I took world history class the year before (though not an AP). After reading it twice and taking the test, I got a 720.
Good: concise review, covers most of the questions.
Bad: questions at end of chapter arent helpful, not enough info to get you an 800, practice tests are much harder than the real thing, and the score scaling is curved way too much (although it may be that way because the tests are harder than normal). Also no maps whatsoever in the review section, although some in tests.
According to the scaling chart, 12 wrong, 83 right is an 800, which was definitely not the case. I took my test in june, when people who took AP World History test were takin the SAT II, so there was probably less curve at that time of year.

Rating:
Summary: got an 800; can't complain!
Review: i used this book to study, and, lo and behold, i got an 800 on the real world history test. admittedly, i was enrolled in ap world at my high school and did very well in it, but this book really does a good job of helping you nail down the key topics and terms (though i still get confused when trying to remember the greecian schools of philosophy). i would MAJORLY suggest using the real sat ii book as well (borrow it from the library and make photocopies, if you must), because several of the questions on the released exam appeared on the real test. the practice test's scaled scores are pretty accurate of your real performance, too.

go buy it.