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Which books did u feel prepared u best for the sat II physics?

By Adjlad (Adjlad) on Thursday, June 10, 2004 - 09:18 am: Edit

bump

By Sandwraith (Sandwraith) on Thursday, June 10, 2004 - 09:42 am: Edit

I had no previous physics experience and used kaplan and princeton review. Kaplan sucks. It goes over the basics- no math, just an overview of the topic. However, for me that may have been a good thing. I got familiar with the topics before delving into the mathematics in the Princeton Review. My advice is this: if you only have a week or two until the test or you already know some physics just use Princeton Review. Otherwise Kaplan is useful for just getting your feet wet.

By Crypto86 (Crypto86) on Thursday, June 10, 2004 - 11:05 am: Edit

Kaplans is awful even if you have two months to prep. Simply put, Kaplans is no where near the difficulty of the real test, so using it would be wasting your time. I used SparkNotes with 2 weeks before the test and it helped me a ton. The questions on the real test don't have as hard equations as some parts in the SN book, but they are still pretty difficult (at least in some sections). I know I got 6-7 wrong and I omitted 3, but that is still good enough for an 800. I know almost for sure I didn't get an 800, but I'm hoping for 750+, and I would be happy with 700+ actually (that way I will have 700+ on all my SAT IIs). So get PR or SN and go for it!

By Joshjmgs (Joshjmgs) on Thursday, June 10, 2004 - 06:06 pm: Edit

DO NOT USE SPARKNOTES!!!!!!!!!

they give an extremely false impression of the actual SAT II. The ONLY thing that I like about sprknotes is that they give you all of the equation at the end of each section. But thats it, they are HORRIBLE. Their tests are nothing like the real one, the conceptual questions are too easy, theyre math questions are too complicated.
Thats my 2 cents.

By Adjlad (Adjlad) on Thursday, June 10, 2004 - 11:09 pm: Edit

bump

By Isabella (Isabella) on Friday, June 11, 2004 - 03:34 pm: Edit

I will second the recommendation for the PR book. Excellent.

By Ti83plus (Ti83plus) on Friday, June 11, 2004 - 06:51 pm: Edit

barron's... got 800

By Physicskid123 (Physicskid123) on Saturday, June 12, 2004 - 01:15 pm: Edit

PR all the way! It was my bible - 800.

By Crypto86 (Crypto86) on Saturday, June 12, 2004 - 03:20 pm: Edit

Crap - I should have gotten a PR book... I got a SparkNotes one and I thought it was pretty good. The practice tests in that were harder than the regular thing (mostly because of all their crazy equations), but I still think the SN one is way better than Kaplans.

By Doerame (Doerame) on Saturday, June 12, 2004 - 03:23 pm: Edit

if there was one test for which i recommend PR it would be this one... my other favorite sat II books are sparknotes, but PR is definitely good for physics

By Crypto86 (Crypto86) on Saturday, June 12, 2004 - 03:57 pm: Edit

Was the SN one really that bad?? I mean it had some useless equations, but I thought it was pretty good. I got 680s on the practice tests, so what do you think I can get on the real thing? So far I have 6-7 known wrong and 3 omit, with probably some more wrong too.