When I signed up for the Biology SAT my freshman year it was just to take advantage of having just taken the class. When I saw my friends studying and taking it much more seriously than I, I decided to get this book. At the time I wasn't aware of the other options, since this is the only one my friends had.
When I got it I had a month until the SAT. Though it was somewhat challenging to finish in that time- I dedicated one weekend to just it and nothing else in order to finish- The relaxed and casual writing stopped me from stressing out and allowed me to be interested in what I read. The night before the test I took the two included practice tests and decided on taking the Ecology version.
I just got my scores back and I got a 720- the same score as a friend of mine who had been paying for a personal tutor for months to prepare for the SAT. I will definitely be using Princeton Review next year for the Chemistry SAT!

If someone were to come to me and ask what book to buy for the Biology E/M test, I would tell them this one and no other, instantly. It's really that good! I'm a High School Sophomore that took the test with the help of this book. I had taken a normal biology class my freshman year and had forgotten most of it. With the help of this book and 1 month (really!) of intesive studying (2-3 hours every weekday), I got a near perfect on the Biology Exam! For those wondering, I took the E. I cannot recommend this book enough, the writing style is clear and consise, with no unneeded information. Truly everything you need and nothing you don't. Also, it's not dry text book style writing! The writers really took time to make the information not plain old boring. There's only so much you can do to Biology to make it interesting, but hey, they pulled it off! Buy this book and watch your scores soar. It's that simple.

I HAVE NOT DONE THE SAT YET , SO I CAN NOT COMMENT ON HOW EFFECTIVE THIS BOOK IS IN SCORING HIGH ON THE TEST.INSTED I AM GOING TO DISCUSS SOME SLIGHT (HOPEFULLY) PROBLEMS THAT I HAVE COME CROSS:
1)ON QUICK QUIZ #1 PAGE 67, QUESTION # 10 "WHICH TERM BEST DESCRIBES A CELL MEMBRANE?"
(A)Semipermeable
(B)Permeable
(C)Selectively permeable
(D)Impermiable
(E)Trasparent
ON PAGE 63 LAST PARAGRAPPH "....The cell membrane lets some things through and restrics tha passage of other things.For this reason, it is said to be selectively permeable "
SO YOU WOULD PROPABLY GO FOR ANSWER (C), BUT YOU WOULD BE SURPRIZED WHEN YOU GO TO PAGE 355 TO CHECK YOUR ANSWER THAT THE CORRECT ANSWER IS (A), YOU MIGHT THINK IT IS AN ERROR AND THE ANSWER IS ACTUALLY (C)- i mean common it is hilighted in the text in page 63. AND ONCE YOU MAKE YOUR PEACE WITH IT , THE CONFUSION STARTS AGAIN ON PAGES 69,70& 71 WHERE THEY REFFER TO CELL MEMBRANE AS "SEMIPERMEABLE BARRIER THAT REGULATES WHAT ENTERS AND ...."
SO FAR I STILL DO NOT KNOW IF ACTUALLY THERE IS ADEFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO TERMS.

2-ON PAGE 137 "KEY WORDS" AT THE END OF CHAPTER 7, THE WORD "KARYOTYPE" IS LISTED,HOWEVER IT DID NOT APPEAR ONCE THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE CHAPTER.

3- ON PAGE 146 BEGINNING OF SECOND PARAGRAPH , YOU ARE ADVICED TO "GO BACK TO CHAPTER 7 FOR FEW MINUTES .......(PAGE 130)" , BUT THE INFORMATION ON PAGE 130 IS IRRELEVANT TO WHAT YOU ARE TOLD TO REVISE.

OTHERWISE , I THINK THE BOOK IS VERY INFORMATIVE, WRITTEN IN EASY LANGUAGE AND INTERESTING STYLE. I AM REALLY LEARNING FAST AND ENJOYING IT.

Cracking the SAT Biology E/M Subject Test, 2007-2008 Edition (College Test Prep)

First let me start off with a background. I was a junior when I bought this book and I was barely pulling C to C+ in my AP Biology Class. The Class seemed standard and the teacher was great. My problem was that, as interesting as biology was, I found it hard just to memorize so many things in such a short period of time ( The textbook was 2000+ pages!)

The time to take the AP test came and I needed to review. I was starting to look for more of a 3-4 then the 5 i wanted. I bought this book in hopes of just passing the test. Well this book did that and much more. What this book has to offer is tremendously useful. After taking the test, I saw that this book went over just the things that were the MOST important topics of the exam ( about 60% of the AP biology topics take up 80-90% of the exam).

This book goes into detail on the important topics which is split up into chapters. After each chapter is a chapter review test which helped you remember each topic in a very strategic way. It sound pretty typical but they way the book is constructed helps you remember TREMENDOUS amounts of information in its relatively short review section ( roughly 3/4 of the book the last 1/4 is a Practice Test)

I was pulling a C in the class but I managed to get a 5 on the AP Biology test. Just think about what wonders it can do for you. I bought the other CliffsAP review book and that one turned out to be pretty much useless to me. I highly recomend this book if it is the only book you can afford to buy for this Class.

My son had a great freshman biology teacher, but she knew she wouldn't get to all the topics the test might cover. She noted which ones these were for us in the table of contents, and we focussed our attention and time on those. We did work through the entire book anyway; it took from when we received it (March-ish) to the test date (June-ish.) Results: 740, plus a perfect 600 on the biology section of the state standardized tests (not directly helpful, but still perhaps listing on college apps later.)

Especially if you're doing a lot of self-studying, I reccommend getting more than 1 review book. Make Princeton Review one of them. It is an organized, clean, no-nonsense format, with chapter summaries and quizzes and lots of charts and diagrams for you visual learners. It'll give you all you need to know. Just as importantly, it won't give anything you don't need to know.
The other good one is Kaplan. As usual, Kaplan is good at explaining.
Barron is very minimal and the format is a little chaotic so the facts are all jumbled up in your head.

As a third-year college biology student, I grabbed this book from the library on summer break for a quick review of my first year bio classes. It is exactly what I was looking for. It manages to deliver, in about 250 pages, a review that is not too detailed, but not too terribly skimpy on information. The rest of the book covers test taking techniques and gives you two full-length practice tests. Good choice for anyone looking for a quick review of the subject, as well as anyone who actually does have to take the test!

In response to another review, I would like to point out a couple of mistakes I did find in the text (which managed to bump it down to 4 stars). Pp. 313-314 talk about a virus with a genome made up of DNA being replicated using "the host's RNA polymerase". Quick quiz #1 on p. 333 asks the same question in questions number 2 and 3. Pp. 314 and 317 have an inconsistency in the order of events in the lytic cycle. And there is another question (I can't locate it right now.) In the chapter on organ systems, in which the cerebrum is said to control muscle movement.

All in all a good text, with a small number of errors, but I'm sure they could have done better.

I bought this book in hopes of using it in preparation for the SAT M Biology exam. I never got to reading the book, but I did look through it after taking my exam.

On the whole, this is a very, very thorough book. I love the Princeton Review; the writing style is absolutely amazing, diagrams are well-drawn and labeled, and there are many supplementary facts throughout the book that you won't learn in your regular AP biology class.

Another thing I love about the book is that it is so thick. You may think that's a bad thing, that it's so long, but the truth is that the Princeton Review has done an amazing job of designing the book, so that each page has many diagrams and only the information you need to know. Thus, the book itself is very easy and fun to go through, as each page is not a long page of text like a normal biology book is.

I personally feel that, if you are a good biology student, you shouldn't need to study for the exam at all. But if you need to reassure yourself, this is the only book you need to get.

My son and I studied for several weeks and this book was the best we came across. The sections were easy to read, it really boiled the subject down to the bare essentials and made it very easy to understand and the practice tests were great with no mistakes (unlike the Barron's book which unfortunately had several mistakes on each of the tests) It really seemed to cover the entire range of subjects in Bio and made it fun to do.

This is a really helpful book!It has all the diagrams to explain the materials so that you won't get lost.It is so intresting that I just want to reveiw!This book makes reveiwing fun!I love it.

After comparing the other comparable titles, this was my choice for the classroom. I needed an approach that was quick, no nonsense, very accurate, and thorough. The Princeton book also helped my students quickly learn a few extra topics that my course leaves out, so I really counted on it. In addition to the content, useful and frequent review questions help the student double-check him/herself. A thorough section on test day tips and strategies is also quite good. Real tests at the end of the book round out this great text. Top notch - no reservations giving in my highest rating.