AP English

Test Prep Books Reviews:

I've perused several AP English Literature 2008 study guides commonly available.  As is true of most years, many of the guides for English are substandard, perhaps even damaging to your test score as they misrepresent what you will encounter on the real exam.  A few, though, may be worth your while. 

I only purchased the Princeton Guide myself as truly representing College Board philosophy and approach to testing.  It's clear that they've been paying attention even to the annual readers' comments in assembling test strategies.  Only two exams, but they're probably the best exams across the competitors.

If you are looking for more, consider the Barron's Guide for the tests only and perhaps the Kaplan Guide for overall quality.

I make no claims about how effective these texts are in the other AP content areas!

	Title (2008 Edition)	Cost	Number of Full Tests	Multiple Choice	Essays	Other Comments
	5 Steps	$19/$13 Amazon	2	Mixed bag; several questions don’t follow AP style or philosophy	OK	Testing tips and strategies are not always sound advice, could damage score
	Barron’s	$17/ $11.50 Amazon	5	Genuine AP questions employed through the book	Advice and tips on essay writing largely unhelpful; some bad advice	For tests themselves, helpful.  Ignore much of  the advice.
	Cliff’s	$11.50 Amazon				Couldn’t find a copy to review.
	Kaplan	$18/ $12 Amazon	2	Few tips and strategies, but effective ones; excellent questions	Few tips and strategies, but effective ones; excellent questions	I reviewed AP English Language book; I assume Literature book is similar.
	Peterson’s	$18/ $12 Amazon	4	Weak questions; often overly simple; don’t follow AP style or philosophy	OK
	Princeton	$18/ $12 Amazon	2	Good strategies and sample questions	Good strategies and solid samples	Recommended!
	Rea.com	$30/$20 Amazon	6 (+3 on CD)	Adequate, but with some questions reflecting wrong philosophy	OK	Written as a “course”—most of this material is useless.
	SparkNotes AP PowerPak	$15/ $10 Amazon	2 (+online test)	Unable to review	Unable to review	Boxed kit: charts, flashcards, study plans displayed are mostly useless.  I could not open box to review materials.