AP Bio - Cliffs vs Barrons

[thejamespark]

What are some difference between the Barrons version and Cliffs verson.
I know that Cliffs is an excellent resource for most of the people on this forum but has anybody used both versions and thought one was better than the other or about the same.
Let me know your thoughts. Thanks

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Jsaxon]

Cliffs is straight up facts, while barrons is more readable (not to say its not full of facts).. when i started studying, cliffs was too dry so it was mostly barrons, but half way through i switched to cliffs because when you have a good grasp on everything (haha in bio i dont know if this is possible) i personally found cliffs better in the sense that it presents the information in a short concise manner. With that said, barrons has a great chapter in taxonomy which really explains the info in such a way that it sticks! Use both, i am bombarding myself with any possible bio resource, ANYTHING!! I call it the shock and awe method lol...

 

[thejamespark]

Cliffs is straight up facts, while barrons is more readable (not to say its not full of facts).. when i started studying, cliffs was too dry so it was mostly barrons, but half way through i switched to cliffs because when you have a good grasp on everything (haha in bio i dont know if this is possible) i personally found cliffs better in the sense that it presents the information in a short concise manner. With that said, barrons has a great chapter in taxonomy which really explains the info in such a way that it sticks! Use both, i am bombarding myself with any possible bio resource, ANYTHING!! I call it the shock and awe method lol...

yeah thanks man. I finished the Barrons and there were some sections I have to brush up on but Ive been wanting to check up on the Cliffs but wasn't sure if it was worth my time to do it but I think it would be better to go over it since it is "short concise" which would be useful now since I got the grasp of the whole Barrons book.

I started with the Cliffs at first but like you said, it was extremely dry and felt that it was not set up in a way that I can really understand and organize my thoughts.
So I pretty much tossed that aside and just went with Barrons and I liked the setup of the Barrons as it went step by step with the information.
I think I will take a look at the cliffs now since I pretty much understand all the concepts for it.
Thanks for your response 🙂

 

[thejamespark]

hmmm....

 

[DrRoyal Pains]

I am using both. I started studying with Cliff's, but heard that Barrons was great also, so I went to Barnes & Noble and picked it up. Barron's kind of reminds me of a little kid picture book because its packed with images, which for me makes it a lot more fun/easier to understand. It also has WAYYYY more questions than Cliffs, which is sweet. If your contemplating whether or not to purchase it, def. do it. The more BIO you expose yourself to, the better. I personally have 4 text's for BIO.

 

[thejamespark]

I am using both. I started studying with Cliff's, but heard that Barrons was great also, so I went to Barnes & Noble and picked it up. Barron's kind of reminds me of a little kid picture book because its packed with images, which for me makes it a lot more fun/easier to understand. It also has WAYYYY more questions than Cliffs, which is sweet. If your contemplating whether or not to purchase it, def. do it. The more BIO you expose yourself to, the better. I personally have 4 text's for BIO.

thanks bro. I have the Cliffs but was just contemplating if its worth to look over the same material from a different text and use up my time you know?
I definitely enjoyed reading the Barrons version with all the pictures and stuff 😛
But I will definitely be reading the Cliffs, it will be good review I suppose and possibly little information that was missing in the Barrons.
Thanks for the response

 

[journeybegins]

If you have the time, definitely use both.

Kaplan is also not bad either for the Senses-Eyes, Ears, Bone material. Barron's does not cover this at all.

Whatever helps the information stick, stick with it? hahah


I would recommend having a primary "to-go" bio prep book. It's up to you what you want that to be. Know that in and out. Then branch out to other books and see how other books present the material from another view.

Cliffs' chapters are not that bad. I do like their taxonomy chapter better than Barron's because it gives more phylum and division names.

I do agree that Cliff's AP presents the information in a concise way, but the information doesn't flow as smoothly as Barron's. But I still suggest using both if you have time 🙂 It doesn't take that long to read Cliffs or Barron's AP either. I mainly retain information from writing so having to write notes on everything on Barron's AP took a really long time. But reading Barron's without writing down anything only took about 2 days. However, it depends on how much you retain after you read and knowing what works for you.

You should find and use whatever helps you to retain the material.

 

[Dusk]

Don't know if this helps at all, but my primary source of bio info was Cliff's. I supplemented that with datqvault and dat destroyer. I managed a 21, so unless you're shooting for a super high bio score, I think cliff's will suffice.

 

[phy241]

I think Cliff's is a pretty valuable resource, that's all I read for the Biology section, and ended up with a 23. I read the book very carefully once, and quickly browsed through it I think 2 more times. Keep in mind though that my physiology background was pretty decent, so even though Cliff's is not great for that section, I knew it from my undergraduate classes. So I would suggest using a different resource for anatomy and physiology.

 

[thejamespark]

thanks guys. i really appreciate it. i'm going over the cliffs as we speak and there are some information that would have been useful to know that wasn't labeled in the Barrons but u eventually find out by doing the problems.
I'm not a fan of the way its organized but is very concise with the wording.

 

[Demps]

I used both AP Cliffs and Barrons.

I guess I agree with the fact that Barrons is more readable.

BUT!!!!!

I'm not gonna comment on which is better from one another. I felt whatever is missing from Barrons, I found useful info in Cliffs and whatever I felt missing in Cliffs, I found in Barrons. So both of them together covered a lot of areas for me.

But if you HAD TO choose one, I will go with Cliff's.

Say you don't wanna pay for any? then yea go to Barnes & Nobles. Leech of all you can, that is all free.

 

[kster]

Cliffs' chapters are not that bad. I do like their taxonomy chapter better than Barron's because it gives more phylum and division names.

I took one look at the taxonomy chapter in Cliff's and was thinking there was no way I'd memorize all that...not in the time that I have to study with everything else I need to cram into my brain. Kaplan's is the exact opposite...very bare minimum and they even say that a lot of the things presented are for illustration purposes and weren't things you needed to know for the test. I'm sure it's somewhere in between...i just don't know where.