I consider this was a great book for me, in my case I was going to take the SAT II on Biology after a whole year without taking Biology class. This was a little scary for me, but when I picked up the Kaplan book, I was relieved, this book has a great review for the test, it covers everything in molecular and ecological biology. Even if biology is not my strong point, I could understand everything without problems and I could feel more confident the test day.

The book is excellent if you need a full review for the test, it has a lot of material, so if you don't need to review a certain material, you can just take the diagnostic test and check which chapters you can skip, and just review what you really need. Also it includes a section with tips for preparing better for the test day.

I fully recommend this book, but, if you are a good Biology student, and are looking for some light review, you might find that the book has too much material

To be blunt, it's not what one would want when preparing for the SAT II Biology. Although it has a lot of review material to read through, a lot of it is garbage. The diagnostic / practice tests share that similarity.

For one, it's overly difficult. The only SAT II in which this tactic might work is the SAT II Math Level 2 (IIC). But this isn't the Math Level 2 exam. This is Biology, and the SAT II Biology cares about certain concepts and terms. Kaplan will overwhelm you with useless, obscure facts that would rarely show up on the actual exam.

I can say this because I took the SAT II Biology exam. It was a bad day for me; I found out my grandfather died of a heart attack, my uncle was diagnosed with cancer - right before the test. I still managed a decent grade of 740. Do I owe it to Kaplan? Not in the least, and not ever. I dropped Kaplan after I realized, from the Real SAT II I took (You're supposed to wait, but I tempted fate), and managed an 800. Comparing the Real SAT II, the SAT II Biology I took, and the Kaplan Tests, Kaplan proved to be quite off.

In fact, it might discourage you. My friends and I were scoring significantly lower than we normally would - biology is one of my strong points - and we couldn't help but wonder why. Despite this, it still managed to get three stars. The review was acceptable, and if you put your head to it you could gain some extra points; however, if you learn by practice the practice problems, the diagnostic, and the 2-full length practice tests will be worthless. I learn through intense practice and repetition along with reading. Some people just learn by reading; in that case, it gets the stars there - you might learn better by just reading.

Overall, no matter how you learn you will want one book to prepare for the SAT II Biology Exam: CliffsAP Biology. Even if you're not taking the AP Biology exam, it's the number one biology review for both the AP and the SAT II. With CliffsAP I managed a 5 on the AP Biology Exam in May. It's a comprehensive review necessary material. If you have the extra buck, or your library carries it, make sure to pick up the Real SAT Subject Tests and perhaps the Kaplan (to provide some sort of marker, although it might prove futile). All extra review cannot hurt, but make it a point to use CliffsAP Biology.

I used the 2003-2004 edition when I was prepping for my own Bio E/M SAT. Overall, I was pretty pleased with what I got.

This is definitely a pretty solid 'workbook', runs through all of the nuts & bolts of everything from physiology to molecular bio. I had my bio teacher helping me prep back then, and it definitely worked better.

Sometimes, this book can get a little overwhelming with all the terms and functions to understand and memorize. A key example would probably be the parts on physiology. However, it does a pretty good job of breaking the material down to a summary in the end. Sure, I did get to read through the whole book, but it would not have been possible without anyone else nearby who I could have asked about confusions that may have arisen from this book.

I would have given this book 4.5 / 5. But considering that there's no 4.5, I'd have to settle for a 4.