How to Prepare for the SAT II Physics

Rating:
Summary: Topics are well explained, but the book needs a new edition
Review: The topics are very well explained, detailed and full of exemples. But the kind of practice tests and sample exercices is far away from the SAT II test reality. While the book contains exercises that need mostly hard calculations and deep knowledge of the subject, the test is based on the most important physics concepts and reasoning, and calculations are rarely needed. Some answers to the practice tests are also wrong and badly explained. Anyway, if you don't rely on exercises, but instead on the concepts the book explains, you'll surely be able to get a high score, just like I was.

Rating:
Summary: Try Cracking SATII series
Review: This book has poorly written, overly extended sentences making the information hard to understand. To top that off, calculations are made wrong in this book. An actual answer to a calculation was 68, the book claimed it was 77, and to make it even worst the books multiple choice answer was 80. I am in the middle of studying with this book and I'm EXTREMELY dissapointed...

Rating:
Summary: DON'T BUY THIS BOOK!!!!
Review: This book is a TERRIBLE review book. I took introductory physics this year (I'm in high school) and I have a B+ average so I was expecting a decent grade. The questions they ask you in this book are NOT the questions you see on the test. They are much harder and involve more problem solving... the thing is, on the real test, it is mostly conceptual, with very little problem solving (thus, you are not allowed to use a calculator). I ended up not being very familiar with the questions they asked and I got a 580, which I'm very disappointed with (and it's kind of pathetic considering I took physics for a whole year!). There are tricks to EVERY SAT TEST. Most of the other books tell you what to look for and how to eliminate answers, etc. This book expects you to learn information, which is pretty darn impossible, even if you have taken a physics course. Look for a book that explains how to solve problems without having to know everything physics related, because I know there has to be a way. I am taking this test again and I am DEFINATELY not using this book!!!!

Rating:
Summary: The Cover Looks Good!!!
Review: This book is for a laugh. If this is your last week or so in preparing for the test and this is the only resource u have, I will consider urself "screwed". Its true that this book is concise, but it is so abridged that if u don't already know the material, you will end up staring blankly at the pages and trying to find other references. Personally, physics puts me to sleep, but this book just makes it even worse. The quality of the print is so bad that it drags u into a hypnotic state. Also, some questions contain wrong answers. When reading the book, if u already know some physics, u will find that they cut out a lot of important stuff and the topics r not organized properly in the book. If u want to score high and go into some elite but expensive university, I urge u not to buy this book; even reading this wasteful editorial is more useful than reading the book. This book is a symbol of evil and should not be trusted. I'm dead serious about this. Go get princeton or watever; leave this book to your last choice. Out of pity, I gave this book 2 stars. Its just sad, very sad. If its not for my kindness, this book properly rate negative 2 stars. Wish u test takers good luck and score an 800 like me =)

Rating:
Summary: The Cover Looks Good!!!
Review: This book is for a laugh. If this is your last week or so in preparing for the test and this is the only resource u have, I will consider urself "screwed". Its true that this book is concise, but it is so abridged that if u don't already know the material, you will end up staring blankly at the pages and trying to find other references. Personally, physics puts me to sleep, but this book just makes it even worse. The quality of the print is so bad that it drags u into a hypnotic state. Also, some questions contain wrong answers. When reading the book, if u already know some physics, u will find that they cut out a lot of important stuff and the topics r not organized properly in the book. If u want to score high and go into some elite but expensive university, I urge u not to buy this book; even reading this wasteful editorial is more useful than reading the book. This book is a symbol of evil and should not be trusted. I'm dead serious about this. Go get princeton or watever; leave this book to your last choice. Out of pity, I gave this book 2 stars. Its just sad, very sad. If its not for my kindness, this book properly rate negative 2 stars. Wish u test takers good luck and score an 800 like me =)

Rating:
Summary: Horrible.
Review: This book is pathetic. Do NOT use this book either to learn or review physics, unless you just want to solve problems. Concepts are explained in vague language, instead of rigorous, logical one. I'd rather recommend AP Physics from Princeton Review, despite its easy problems.

Rating:
Summary: Ridiculous! Not useful at all.
Review: This book should be completely revised by Barron's immediately. I live in Japan and bought this book to prepare myself for the SAT II Physics. I'm attending a Japanese high school have learned all the stuff in Japanese, and I relied on this book to review all the concepts IN ENGLISH. Unfortunately, The explanations are ambiguous and do not explain "why" something occurs. In addition, there aren't enough charts, diagrams, graphs, etc. to support the written explanations. To make matters even worse, there are countless typos all over the book, and most importantly, the questions are not even close to what actually appeared on the SAT that I took. I'm going to purchase a different book and retry for a better score. NOT RECOMMENDED!

Rating:
Summary: Ridiculous! Not useful at all.
Review: This book should be completely revised by Barron's immediately. I live in Japan and bought this book to prepare myself for the SAT II Physics. I'm attending a Japanese high school have learned all the stuff in Japanese, and I relied on this book to review all the concepts IN ENGLISH. Unfortunately, The explanations are ambiguous and do not explain "why" something occurs. In addition, there aren't enough charts, diagrams, graphs, etc. to support the written explanations. To make matters even worse, there are countless typos all over the book, and most importantly, the questions are not even close to what actually appeared on the SAT that I took. I'm going to purchase a different book and retry for a better score. NOT RECOMMENDED!

Rating:
Summary: From a Physics instructor
Review: This book summarizes many important subject matters by avoiding many fundamental explanations and description. I used this book only for its problems and sample test. Even the sample test do not accurately model that of the Real SAT II physics.

Rating:
Summary: From a Physics instructor
Review: This book summarizes many important subject matters by avoiding many fundamental explanations and description. I used this book only for its problems and sample test. Even the sample test do not accurately model that of the Real SAT II physics.