I have never been a big studier because I am generally a good test taker but I definitely felt like I needed some review before taking the Social Studies Content Knowledge Praxis II. I bought this a few days before my test. It had a brief overview of all of the topics on the test organized by category (it's still pretty long...but much shorter than the ones in other books). It isn't super-comprehensive, but has enough details to jog your memory. I read the sections that I needed the most review on and skimmed the others. The practice tests were sooo helpful. They really familiarized me with the types of questions on the test, plus going over my wrong answers was a great review. I studied from this book for about two days and passed the test on my first try....actually getting a rather high score. Couldn't ask for more!