Many of you who are considering buying this text are probably doing so for either a regular college course or for one of the Regents College/Excelsior College exams. I decided to earn a second bachelors degree and am working through Excelsior College. This is the required text for one of their exams. I can say that the book is thorough and covers the material that you need to know to pass the test, completely. Like many psyhcology and sociology texts, the subject matter can be dry, but the author seems to do a better than average job of dealing with this. I feel that the fact that I got an 'A' on the exam says very positive things about the text and its ability to prepare you for the testing.