Editor Reviews:

Product Description:
This up-to-date edition of the Advanced Placement Spanish test preparation manual comes paired with three audio compact discs that offer practice and review in listening comprehension plus Spanish conversation exercises in which students must give spoken replies to questions that they hear on the recording. The manual features one full-length practice exam with its Listening Comprehension section presented on one of the audio CDs. All questions come with answers explained. Also featured in the manual are vocabulary lists and practice and review exercises. All practice tests reflect the most recent major changes in the AP Spanish test format.

Rating : - Spanish Teachers, don't bother if you have a previous version
One star! Let me explain. This book does have a lot of practice activities but the 2008 is quite misleading. There is very little that is new here. Barron's has the vocabulary lists, same listening practice, same reading practice as it has had since at least 1996. I guess coming up with new material cuts into the profits. Very little here will help with the new test formats. The paragraph grammar fill in with root word is recycled from a previous edition and doesn't allow the use of perfect and progressive tenses even though the AP exam does. The conversation speaking section is really messed up since their dialogs are impossible to interact with unless you have listened to the dialog previously which you cannot do on the AP test. For example, one between the student and a college guide has instructions for the student to indicate where to go first on the tour, then the guide answers "oh, I see that you've heard a lot about the science program." These conversation dialogs were not written according to the new guidelines and are the same ones that Barron's used in their messed up, rushed 2007 version. Also, the reading sections are not from authentic sources even though the college board is now using authentic sources. Overall, this book is harder than the actual AP test (buy a released version from 1998 or 2003 and you'll know what I mean) which one would think is a good thing but it is not. They are more difficult (especially the reading) because Barron's has gone out of its way to use extremely obscure vocabulary. Unless you have a great chance at a five you will be extremely frustrated by this book.

I suppose for students studying on their own this book would be ok although it doesn't matter really, unless you are pretty close to fluent or have had extensive traditional instruction in the language you'll fail anyway or if your lucky get a three which is good for nothing. However, language teachers don't buy this book if you have any previous Barron's edition. These greedy money suckers come up with ten new pages and call it a new version except in this case the 2007 version and the 2007-2008 version are almost exactly identical.

It's too bad there isn't an AP practice book filled with practice activities and with no explanation about the test, no vocabulary lists, no wasted pages - just practice. 100 dialogs, 100 reading selections, etc. Now that would be a real practice book.