Book excerpt: This streamlined and updated manual presents extensive subject review with practice questions embedded in and following every chapter. The book also includes one full-length practice written exam with answers and practice performance test items. Topic reviews cover all New York State Intermediate-Level Core Curriculum topics in the Living Environment and Physical Setting, which includes introductions to astronomy, geology, meteorology, chemistry, and physics. The text is supplemented with instructive line illustrations that have been updated and simplified to that help students visualize science concepts.