Customer Reviews

Barron's AP Chemistry

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The review in this book is pretty good. That's why I like it. But the practice tests have to be taken with a grain of salt. Many of the questions on there are just ridiculous. 2-dimensional diagrams of pi bonds: probably not on the test (especially the rather crudely drawn ones presented here). And the math is not representative of the AP Chemistry test. On the real test, you are not expected to do complex logarithms and square roots in your head. And, as mentioned earlier, the answer key is riddled with mistakes. These include answers to the wrong question, thinking the question was the opposite of what was asked, and answers that just don't match up with calculations. Also, their explanations are short at best.

Mastering all the contents of this book would guarantee you a 5, but is not always an easy thing to do. I bought this book 2 weeks before the test and found it extremely difficult to cram all of its contents (I have 100 in AP Chem)in such a short period of time. It was even more upsetting when the AP came out to be not even half as difficult.

If you have a solid background of AP Chemistry and just need a review book that is concise with a lot of good practices, I would recommend Princeton Review. ( Trust me, Princeton Review is more than enough to get you a 5. Don't get yourself panic by buying this overly-complicated book)

Barron's AP Chemistry Exam Prep book is better than Princeton Review because after owning both, you realize that Barron's includes more exercises, more complex problems, and better explanations.

HOWEVER, this book is FULL of mistakes. Just way too many for me to list. Not only typos but calculation mistakes, wrong answers, etc. So, as you solve the problems you really have to think and can't always trust the book. If you are going to start studying in September, I would recommend you this book, but if you procrastinate and start in March, then don't get it because it could confuse you.

I like the Barron's Chemistry because it is extremely thorough, almost like a textbook in its approach. The multiple choice questions are a lot harder than those that you will find in some other reviews, and hard is good. I actually taught review classes from this book, and found that it was remarkably complete.

Caveat, there are a few errors here and there, but if you know what you are doing, you will catch them immediately. I have not seen a book that did not have a wrong answer or typo somewhere in it.

My suggestion is to use Barron's through the year, then pair it with a quicker thinner review book at the end, because this book is not a "quick brush up" kind of a book. And yes, do questions from old exams, free response questions, and lots of them.

The Chemistry AP is very hard. You simply cannot be "overprepared."

Overall, this review book is undoubtedly the best out there, for it is much more in depth than Princeton Review. Like every review book, however, it does contain its occasional errors such as stating 25 degrees Celsius is 300 Kelvin. As long as you're somewhat knowledgeable about chemistry topics, these errors can be overlooked. Regarding the practice tests, they seem to be much more difficult than the actual AP exam; it's probably best to just use past exams provided to you by your teacher. Nonetheless, if you're in need of a review before a test or a cram session before the AP exam, this book is certainly recommended.

This book is very helpful, but there are some mistakes. For example, on page 363, Cr magically changed to Cs on the second sentence of the problem. It's still good to supplement your chem class, but watch out for small mistakes like the one I mentioned. They shouldn't be too much of a problem as long as you understand the intent of the questions.

there are so many mistakes

that it's not even funny.

i spent more time figuring out what's wrong in my calculation

(and found out that the book is wrong)

than actually studying for AP chem exam.

The review is too much into details that it looks like a chem text book,

not AP exam guide book.

The review is good, but the practice problems are faulty.

For example, already in Chapter 1, practice problem 8 and 12 have major mistakes. In Problem 8, 10^14 was written 1014, complicating the problem. In Problem 12, the question refers to a concept discussed in chapter 2...

I did not read further, but if I was able to find 2 faulty problems in such close proximity in chapter 1, then there must be many, many more.

I would not buy this book. I have seriously lost confidence in Barron's.

While it can be argued that this book does what it is intended to - provide a review of chemistry as preparation for the AP - it is difficult to justify several glaring issues with it.

1. Mistakes in the book - For a book coming from a company as well-known as Barron's, and for a test as widely taken as the AP Chemistry exam, one would expect that this book would be well-written and carefully checked over for errors. Instead, nearly every two or three pages there are errors that, while not immediately noticeable, can cause a good deal of confusion, especially when they involve miscalculations in example problems or chapter exercises.

2. Example problems - Errors in the problems aside, one would also expect that for a test that does not allow calculators the example problems in this book would be similar to those on the test; that is, they would be doable by hand. Instead, as other reviewers have pointed out, the problems expect you to do such calculations as negative logs and exponents without a calculator, which is totally unrealistic.

3. Over preparation - While I heartily agree that it is better to go into a test over prepared rather than under prepared, Barron's takes it to an extreme. Not only are there equations in the book that will almost certainly not be taught in an AP Chemistry course, let alone appear on the AP test, the level of detail the book goes into frequently ends up making the information cryptic and difficult to comprehend instead of lucid and clear. Indeed, the sheer length of the book is comparable to that of an AP Chemistry textbook, which makes it less than ideal for simply reviewing material before the exam.

Overall, this book will prepare you for the AP test. However, you will in the process be confronted with a tidal wave of typos, calculation errors, poorly written questions, and far more information and detail than is necessary. I'd expect better from Barron's.

I am studying for my DAT now and i think this book is much more sufficient than Kaplan. I took my general chemistry 5 years ago; thats why some of the important concept had faded out of my memory.

I am really scared since i dont want to go back to my gen textbook; i am glad that i picked out this book

The book also very organize and really easy to understand.

I recommend for any students who are struggled with General Chem to have this book.