Best Teen & Young Adult Test Preparation
Join the thousands of parents, students, teachers, tutors, and schools using SOAR Study Skills, and find your undiscovered brilliance, today! The SOAR Study Skills book is in over 4,000+ schools and in 35 different countries world-wide. 10 Strategies Covered in SOAR Study Skills: Time & Task-Management Organizing at Home & School Writing Strategies Note-Taking Strategies Test-Taking Strategies Paper Organization Homework & Project Planning Communication Skills Reading Skills Goal-Setting. It's simple, SOAR teaches you what your school does NOT... how to learn. But, teachers have no time or training for teaching the vital learning strategies and "life-skills" students need! Students struggle in school, not because of their lack of intelligence, but because they haven't been taught how to learn! Get your child ahead in school by giving them the proper skills needed to be a successful student and more importantly, a successful learner. The strategies in this book are appropriate for students in: upper elementary, middle school, high school, & college. Guidelines to help parents & educators use this book effectively with students. I found the book to be fun and easy to read and I learned organizational skills that I can use in my office today." -- Bonnie Jo Davis, Author of children's books series, "Mrs. Morgan Rescues..." It is well written and easy to understand.They also have a great website with a free study kit you can download." -- Stephen D., Tutor "Your program helped me change into an A average student in High School after struggling with C's and D's. -- Chelsea S., 12th "Susan ~ This is very exciting....the SOAR® Binder System and handbook are the cornerstone for my study skills class for all 6th graders at St. John's. As a student, I always struggled to earn decent grades in elementary and high school. It took me hours to do homework, I did awful on tests, and generally felt plain "stupid." Since that point, I have made it my mission to help other students learn how to do homework more quickly, study more efficiently, and discover their lost confidence in school. Listen to REAL stories, direct from administrators of public and private schools across the country at: StudySkills.com/educators/case-studies. As the name suggests, our Multi-Media Teacher's Guide (MMTG) is filled with tools to engage students in study skills. The ready-made lesson plans can be the basis of a study skills class, or embedded across the curriculum. Clean, bright, colorful presentations to capture students' interest and reach your visual learners.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"I ordered this for myself it is the required book for an Education course I am taking in college."
"Great book to get kids thinking about goals and study skills."
"Easy to understand, able to set and meet goals."
"A very well organized, easy to understand resource/approach that can help students, parents, and teachers provide guidance for the full range of study skills and time management tools presented."
"As a former middle school teacher who has taken classes for exceptional children with disabilities, this book is excellent!"
"This book has great tips for organization!"
"As school hasn't begun yet, my daughter hasn't implemented the techniques she learned from SOAR; however, she has put them into practice with some things she worked on over the summer with success."
"Although some of the advice seems like common sense, its a nicely packaged book that puts it all together in a system that is perfect for middle schoolers or freshmen in high school."
In addition to all the great material in our classic Cracking the AP Physics 1 Exam guide—which includes thorough content reviews, targeted test strategies, and access to online extras via our AP Connect portal—this edition includes extra exams, for a total of 5 full-length practice tests with complete answer explanations! The Princeton Review has helped millions succeed on standardized tests, and provides expert advice and instruction to help parents, teachers, students, and schools navigate the complexities of school admission.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"A good tool to prepare a student for his Physics exams."
"Book contains useful information, came in good quality."
"Great practice tests that can really provide a physics student with good examples of physics problems that help to simulate the AP exam."
"Good book for reference."
"Front Cover was ripped upon opening the box."
Breaking concepts down into manageable sections and with diagrams and illustrations to cement understanding, exam preparation material is integrated to build student confidence and assessment potential. Andrew Allott was an IB Diploma student in 1974.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is a lifesaver for IB bio."
"My daughter used this extensively to study for her IB exam."
"very useful and helped me prepare study guides for IB Biology exam!"
"My daughter loves the book."
"Met/exceeded expectations as well as facilitated greater understanding of subject material."
"Very helpful guide for my daughter in IB."
"This book has good explaining of the subject."
Best Teen & Young Adult College Entrance Aids
In addition to all the great material in our classic Cracking the AP Physics 1 Exam guide—which includes thorough content reviews, targeted test strategies, and access to online extras via our AP Connect portal—this edition includes extra exams, for a total of 5 full-length practice tests with complete answer explanations! The Princeton Review has helped millions succeed on standardized tests, and provides expert advice and instruction to help parents, teachers, students, and schools navigate the complexities of school admission.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"A good tool to prepare a student for his Physics exams."
"Book contains useful information, came in good quality."
"Great practice tests that can really provide a physics student with good examples of physics problems that help to simulate the AP exam."
"Good book for reference."
"Front Cover was ripped upon opening the box."
Best AP Test Guides
This text is designed for a one-semester or one-year United States history course for students preparing to take the current AP U.S. History Exam.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Since I bought it used, it wasn't of the greatest quality, but it definitely helps for the AP Exam."
"I got this book because I am a freshman in AP US History."
"This is gold."
Best Teen & Young Adult Book Notes
Macbeth SparkNotes No Fear Shakespeare (03) by Shakespeare, William [Paperback (2003)].
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"It brought home the humor as well as the pathos of questions of relationships with family members, the relationships between characters with different levels of social status, questions of loyalty and revenge and other examples of human behavior, even when some of the characters may not be human."
"I was recently offered a role in a local community theater production of William Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” The play’s director encouraged all actors to gain a deeper understanding of Shakespeare’s words, to better perform each part. While I was memorizing my lines from the left-hand pages, I quickly discovered I could learn my character’s deeper motivations for what he was saying by referring to the modern English paraphrase."
"I'm going to spend the most time on the inside, so why would I buy a poor-quality interior? The Barnes and Noble series of Shakespeares, though much uglier on the outside, have really helpful notes and references throughout, and are printed on a spacious layout and great-quality paper."
"Guide for the Perplexed time (since Amazon's listing of Formats seems designed to generate confusion): This is a review of the Mass-Market Paperback edition of "The Tempest" under the label of "Folger Shakespeare Library," published by Washington Square Press, edited by Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine. The OTHER formats (paperback, Kindle, Audio) currently listed by Amazon are of completely different editions of the same text, without the facing-page notes, period illustrations, and other features of the Folger/WSP editions; some of them without even line-numbers, to judge from previous reviews. Calling the newest version of the series just "Folger Shakespeare Library" somewhat confuses matters, since that is also the name of the actual sponsoring institution in Washington, D.C., which houses a major collection of Shakespeare editions, and related and period works of all kinds. In any format, the Mowat and Werstine edition is also to be distinguished from its predecessor in "The Folger Library General Reader's Shakespeare" series, edited by Louis B. Wright and Virginia A, LaMar (1961; also from Washington Square Press, and possibly also under its Pocket imprint), with the same basic facing-page design, but different notes and illustrations, and without the concluding essay and annotated bibliography ("Further Reading.). Those interested in a text edition of the play with notes restricted to the vocabulary, and without introductions on Shakespeare's stage and use of language, may want to take a look at Burton Raffel's "Annotated" edition, either in its paperback format, with the notes at the foot of the page, or its Kindle edition, with the notes hyper-linked to the text. To turn to the text being edited: "The Tempest" was probably the last play written entirely by William Shakespeare, sometime in 1610-1611. For those not already familiar with the play, it is the only one of Shakespeare plays without a recognizable source for the main plot, although there is documentation for many details in the voyage literature of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, especially the earlier years of the Virginia colony. As has long been noted, "The Tempest" is one of the few Shakespeare plays to observe the so-called "classical unities" of (elapsed) time and a single place, in this case, a few hours nearby and on an enchanted island."
"It's Shakespeare; who are we to critique the writing?"
Best Teen & Young Adult SAT Study Aids
The Official SAT Subject Test in Physics Study Guide is the best way to get ready for the SAT Subject Tests in Physics. The College Board, a not-for-profit membership association, connects students to college success and opportunity through major programs and services in college admissions, guidance, assessment, financial aid, enrollment, and teaching and learning.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"This is the most essential preparation book for the new, revised SAT and PSAT (beginning in March 2016 and October 2015, respectively) because it’s the only physical source of official revised SATs—the practice SATs in all other books are nothing more than subpar imitations of the real thing. However, the PDFs of all 4 tests in this book, along with answer explanations, can also be downloaded from the College Board website for free (google "SAT Practice Tests - The College Board"). In addition, there are no score conversion tables provided: you will have to visit the College Board website (google "Scoring your SAT Practice Test #1") in order to convert your raw scores (total number correct on each section) into scaled scores (400-1600 scale, with additional sub-scores). On the other hand, the physical book does still have its advantages over a bunch of PDFs—perhaps most importantly, the tests are already printed out for you (for now, the SAT is still a paper and pencil test, and you are allowed to write on the test, so in the interest of practicing the way you play, you should never attempt to take it on a computer screen). Many of the one-star, harshly negative reviews of this book have nothing to do with the quality of the book and practice tests themselves; it's simply that the reviewers had expected 4 different practice SATs from the ones released digitally as free PDFs earlier in the month, and were thus disappointed when they saw the same tests in this book. This book contains 326 pages of SAT prep advice, much of which cannot be found anywhere else, and another 458 pages of the practice tests and answer explanations that can be found online. Although much of the first half of the book is superfluous, and parts of it are indeed available online through Khan Academy, it does offer some moderately helpful tips in its first 326 pages, including a test structure recap, concept overview, practice questions and explanations, as well as an essay rubric, scoring guidelines, sample essays and an introduction to the PSAT. However, I must applaud the College Board for increasing its level of transparency, and for releasing the tests in PDF form to benefit those who cannot afford to buy the book, as well as adding detailed answer explanations (though very often, the explanation provided in the book is not the simplest way to solve the question). As was done in the old (current) SAT Official Guide, this edition should have included single-page answer sheets for each test, with only the letter answers to the questions on each test, which would have made it much easier to grade the tests yourself. Instead of simply using a single answer page to correct your test, will you have to flip through 40 pages of answer explanations in order to correct your practice tests. For the essay, you're going to want to rip out the pages from the book (it's hard to write without doing so) because at the moment the College Board has yet to provide a digital option, and because you're going to want to practice using the actual essay space, to get a feel for the proper length (always write by hand, unless you are injured or have a disability, and try to avoid the temptation to type it--good typists can type 2-3 times as fast as the average person can write by hand). For some reason there is currently no way to download the Essay Space PDF online (ahem, College Board, please get on this), but if you want to practice filling in the bubbles, then you can google "Answer Sheet - New SAT Practice Test." Thus, if time management is a major issue, then the SAT might be a better test for you: SAT Reading = 1.25 minutes per question (75 seconds). ACT Reading = .875 minutes per question (52.5 seconds). SAT Grammar (Writing and Language) = .8 minutes per question (48 seconds). ACT Grammar (English) = .6 minutes per question (36 seconds). SAT Math = 1.4 minutes per question (83 seconds). ACT Math = 1 minute per question (60 seconds). Please keep in mind that this book is not necessarily the best source of SAT strategy. However, one benefit of using them is that they also include additional (non-official) SAT practice tests: most of my private students find the 4 tests included in the book to be insufficient for a full preparation. Flawed as these synthetic tests may be at times, it's nice to have 10 extra diagnostic exams to prepare with while the College Board cooks up a new batch of actual SAT practice tests. The Ivy Global Ivy Global's New SAT Guide, 2nd Edition and Barron's Barron's 6 Practice Tests for the NEW SAT, 2nd Edition books serve well for this purpose. The Ivy Global book includes 3 tests (including an extra PDF test that is free to download online), and the Barron's book contains 6 tests. Overall, the quality of the Ivy Global tests is better, but there are fewer tests than the Barron's book, and the Ivy Global guide costs 2.5 times as much. If you need more help with SAT strategy and want to focus on particular types of questions, then the Ivy Global book could be a good choice--it has nearly 500 pages of mostly helpful SAT prep advice and practice questions drills in addition to the 3 SAT practice tests. The Board likes to wax poetic about how much better the new test is, and all the various areas of knowledge it’s going to test, but as I learned from the last time the SAT was updated 10 years ago, the proof is in the pudding: the actual College Board tests. In the introduction to the book, Cynthia B. Schmeiser (Chief of Assessment at the College Board) writes that “the new SAT is clearer than ever.” Having completed all of these tests with my students already, I don’t know if I would agree with that observation—the math sections can be quite tricky at times, and starting the test off with a seemingly interminable 65-minute Reading section (the longest reading section on the current SAT--3 reading sections total--is only 25 minutes long, and the lone reading section on the ACT is only 35 minutes long) isn't going to attract many new students either."
"Many students have complained that College Board books do not contain explanations to the problems on the practice tests, only an answer key. I should note that others have independently published books with explanations to the College Board practice tests, but I am not familiar with those and cannot compare them. -- The DVD has a "Math Concepts Reference Guide" which is identical to the "SAT Mathematics Review" on the web site and in the preparation booklet."
"This book really helped our son to prepare for the new style SAT and to understand the differences from the previous format."
"This is the most essential preparation book for the new, revised SAT and PSAT (beginning in March 2016 and October 2015, respectively) because it’s the only physical source of official revised SATs—the practice SATs in all other books are nothing more than subpar imitations of the real thing."
Best Teen & Young Adult College Guides
From sharing a bathroom with 40 strangers to sharing lecture notes, The Naked Roommate is your behind-the-scenes look at EVERYTHING you need to know about college (but never knew you needed to know). Hilarious, outrageous, and telling stories from students on over 100 college campuses cover the basics, and then some, including topics on. Harlan Cohen is the New York Times bestselling author of the Naked Roommate series and is one of the most widely read and respected syndicated advice columnists for teens and twenty-somethings.
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Whole family howled when my grandson opened this gift."
"Gave this as a gift to a college bound freshman and it was really fun for him to read and laugh at with new roommates!"
"Excellent college advice book!"
"Sent this as a gift to two nieces as high school graduation presents."
"Great book for your college-bound kid."
"Got this for my sisters who are going off to college in September, and they loved it!"
"good reading material for freshman."
"I bought this as a gift for a niece who was moving into the dormitory."
Best Teen & Young Adult Advanced Placement Study Aids
In addition to all the great material in our classic Cracking the AP Physics 1 Exam guide—which includes thorough content reviews, targeted test strategies, and access to online extras via our AP Connect portal—this edition includes extra exams, for a total of 5 full-length practice tests with complete answer explanations!
Reviews
Find Best Price at Amazon"Book contains useful information, came in good quality."
"A good tool to prepare a student for his Physics exams."
"Great practice tests that can really provide a physics student with good examples of physics problems that help to simulate the AP exam."
"Good book for reference."
"Front Cover was ripped upon opening the box."