Customer Reviews

CLEP Chemistry (CLEP Test Preparation)

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When the clep administrator at my institution informed me that no one he had ever given the chemistry clep to had passed, I decided to take the preparation very seriously. I began researching how other people had passed the test and ordered several materials. After 8+ years of no chemistry, my chemistry knowledge was not very good, so I had to prepare more than someone who just finished a high school chem or college intro chem course. If you are starting from scratch or just want to make sure you pass this test, then this is what I would recommend. Begin with the Wiley, "Chemistry Concepts and Problems: A Self Teaching Guide." This book is written in a continuous question and answer format that reviews and tests your knowledge to build a strong foundation of chemistry knowledge and problem solving. Then simultaneously study REA's "CLEP Chimistry," by Peel (I strongly recommend getting the book and CD with two practice tests included) with the Chemistry CLEP Professor software. You will find the REA book to be very summarized. I bought that first and felt like I needed more help. I found the CLEP Professor and gave it a try. My comprehension and retention immediately began skyrocketing, in addition to my practice test scores! The CLEP Professor follows the exact format and order of information of the book, but fills in a lot of the gaps. You may opt to purchase a general chemistry textbook to look up additional information on specific questions, but I would not recommend studying it alone to pass. There is too much information not focused for the CLEP exam that will make you forget what you need to know. You can also research anything you need to know more about online making the textbook unnecessary. I would recommend at least one month to go through these three materials. You should plan to spend about two weeks on the Wiley Self Study and two weeks on the CLEP professor and REA book together. That will give you 6 practice tests to work on. I recommend taking one practice test while you are studying the last two materials every other day. This will show you what you are learning and what you need to learn. Spend one month and about a total of $150 and you can save two semesters of time and about $2000. You should pass easily if you follow the three steps of this program: 1-Wiley Self-Teaching Guide, 2-CLEP Professor and REA CLEP Chemistry, 3-Take practice tests and look up material you are unfamiliar with. I hope you do well.

I own at least a half dozen REA CLEP titles, all of them are pretty good. The history, psychology, and sociology are the best. The problem with this title is that it has to cram 2 semesters worth of Chemistry into a hundred pages or so. A task I don't think can be done. It's not necessarily the authors fault. It's a good attempt, but if you try to use this book alone, you will fail more than likely. My suggestion is to go here on Amazon and purchase a college level text book and study guide that is one or two editions old. (Chemistry doesn't change all THAT much!) I bought both a textbook and study guide for $6.00 plus shipping! Remember, that this CLEP test, unlike others, tests you over 2 semesters worth of material. This isn't something you can pick up in a week or two and pass if you haven't been around the material before. Good Luck!

REA does a good job of giving you a summary of general chemistry, but when it comes to the CLEP test, it really misses a lot of important information and teaches many things that are not covered.

I did pass the chemistry CLEP, but I used several other books. I was short on time (about two weeks of study), so I didn't get to fully work on most of the books. Two notable books I used in my study were Chemistry: Concepts and Problems: A Self-Teaching Guide (Wiley Self-Teaching Guides) and Cracking the AP Chemistry Exam, 2009 Edition (College Test Prep). "Chemistry: Concepts and Problems" is a great book that "completely" covers the information in most general chemistry classes. There's problems for everything and it really forces you to learn and memorize the material. Another great book was "Cracking the AP Chemistry Exam, 2009 Edition. I used the 2007 edition, but I'm sure that the newest edition is just as great. I thought that "Cracking the AP Chemistry Exam" was very focused on what you needed to know for the CLEP, even though it was written for the AP. After the test, I reviewed the book and found that most of the information was in there. Another recommendation is to use all the information available freely online. Google is your friend.

If you have plenty of time to study for the chemistry CLEP (1 month or more) go for Chemistry: Concepts and Problems: A Self-Teaching Guide (Wiley Self-Teaching Guides). If you are short on time, check out Cracking the AP Chemistry Exam, 2009 Edition (College Test Prep). Be sure to look online on message boards for information on the CLEP.

Good luck!

I'm giving this book three stars because it's useful but it's full of errors. I contacted REA about an errata for it and they didn't have one at the time (I created one and you can download it from 4Shared - just search for "CLEP Chemistry"; for some bizarre reason, REA refused to make an errata easily downloadable on their website - if they have one now you'll have to call or email). Nevertheless, this book was still useful to me and I recommend buying it.

I used this book in conjunction with a college chemistry textbook to pass the CLEP. If you can get past the errors, this book really helps narrow the field of study. You'll definitely still need a college chemistry textbook to go along with it for further reading or for sample problems to work. Please don't view this as an additional criticism of the book as it's unreasonable to expect that a book of this size could give you everything from a one-year general chemistry book. This book reinforces key concepts and helps you focus on what's really important.

The two practice tests in the book are excellent and were crucial to my passing score (test one is easier than the CLEP but test two is about on par with the actual CLEP test). The tests have a few errors in them but are better than the main text. You might also consider purchasing a sample chemistry CLEP test from CollegeBoard (for $10) just to have third test (I did). By the way, if you're interested, the college chemistry textbook I used was "Chemical Principles - The Quest for Insight" 3rd Edition by Atkins & Jones - the same book MIT uses for it's free OpenCourseWare. Good luck on the CLEP - it isn't easy!

I love the REA Clep books and they had never let me down before. However, this one was not as good as its predecessors. The lessons were hard to follow and I ended up calling my former chemistry teachers for help because the book was not working for me. I also found several errors in the practice tests. At first I wondered, could I really be that dumb? Was there some law that I overlooked? Well, no. Not according to logic. And not according to my chemistry teachers. This book is okay but it needs to be edited some more.

I'm giving this book three stars because it's useful but it's full of errors. I contacted REA about an errata for it and they didn't have one at the time (I created one and you can download it from 4Shared - just search for "CLEP Chemistry"; for some bizarre reason, REA refused to make an errata easily downloadable on their website - if they have one now you'll have to call or email). Nevertheless, this book was still useful to me and I recommend buying it.

I used this book in conjunction with a college chemistry textbook to pass the CLEP. If you can get past the errors, this book really helps narrow the field of study. You'll definitely still need a college chemistry textbook to go along with it for further reading or for sample problems to work. Please don't view this as an additional criticism of the book as it's unreasonable to expect that a book of this size could give you everything from a one-year general chemistry book. This book reinforces key concepts and helps you focus on what's really important.

The two practice tests in the book are excellent and were crucial to my passing score (test one is easier than the CLEP but test two is about on par with the actual CLEP test). The tests have a few errors in them but are better than the main text. You might also consider purchasing a sample chemistry CLEP test from CollegeBoard (for $10) just to have third test (I did). By the way, if you're interested, the college chemistry textbook I used was "Chemical Principles - The Quest for Insight" 3rd Edition by Atkins & Jones - the same book MIT uses for it's free OpenCourseWare. Good luck on the CLEP - it isn't easy!

waste of money, waste of time.. lots of error. did not help me with my study