Book could, and should be improved by publisher.

Half way through the test, I started thinking about "deleting" the results so that I could test again after getting better studying material.

The book did not cover a lot of what was on the test. What pulled me through with a 65 was my love of history, luck and the process of elimination.

Here is a hint: study up on American history between reconstruction and the great Depression. Much has happened to this country in that time period that is not common knowledge.

Good luck.

I just took the CLEP test for History II two days ago and was actually surprised by my score. After reading this book (twice) and practicing the questions, I felt prepared considering history is actually my worst subject. On the day of the test, however, my stomach dropped. I felt like at least half of the questions weren't covered by the material in the review section of this book. I agree with one of the previous reviews that it is hard to prepare material for a test that changes twice a year, but we're dealing with history. The two topics that repeated themselves the most on my test that I had felt were not covered properly are black history, and pragmatism.

My school doesn't assign grades for CLEP, just credit or no credit. I was surprised with my score only because by the time I had completed the 120 questions, I thought I had failed. I had to use a lot of reasoning skills to do as well as I did (which was barely above passing). This book can help you pass the test and receive credit. However, if you're worried about getting as high a score as possible, I highly recommend only using this book to supplement a different study guide.

The CLEP series of U.S. History I& II has aided me to get college credits for these subjects.

I DID pass the History II CLEP, and the only thing I studied was the contents of this book, so it wasn't a complete waste. (Having just passed the CLEP hours ago, this is still very fresh in my mind.) But, while the book was better than nothing, meaning I don't think I could've passed the test without it, it seems very far off base as far as subject matter. The CLEP exams are changed every 6 months, so I can see there being some difficulty in keeping content fresh, but this is history we're talking about. How fresh does it need to be?

Lots of black history questions were asked, while this topic wasn't covered in near as much detail as the test itself reflected it should have been.

The first section of the book gives an overview of history from 1865 to present (2004), broken up into categories like Reconstruction, The Depression, World Wars, etc. But info isn't laid out in any sort of timeline, so I found myself jumping from info about the Carter Administration back to FDR and his New Deal, then back to the first George Bush. It made it more difficult to comprehensively read, what with all the past Kennedy's, Johnson's, Roosevelt's, Bushes, World Wars, etc. This back and forth frustrated me to no end, but perhaps someone else with a better grasp of history wouldn't mind. I would suggest a timeline of presidents from 1865 to present also.

I enjoy history, but have never had a good teacher in school, and detest remembering details like dates and names. However, I made flash cards based on the 2 practice tests and their answers, and drilled relentlessly for 3 weeks. The problem was evident 5 minutes into the test, however. Only about half of what I studied was even questioned. The other 50% of the CLEP questions were on topics this book did not even address.

While the 2 practice tests included in this book were helpful, and the explanation-answers even more helpful than the 'study guide' sections, I feel I would have been better prepared if I'd supplemented with another text book (it does recommend this, btw). Unless you know your history, or you graduated from high school recently, you might want to shop around, or supplement.

I thoroughly read this book twice and took the accompanying exams a few times until I was able to answer most of the questions correctly. There were, however, so many questions in the actual CLEP exam that were not included in this book. I ended up scoring 53 and received grade C from my college. If you just want to pass the exam, this book may be adequate. But if you want to get a very good score, you also need to read a college textbook and study properly.