Customer Reviews

Cracking the SAT Chemistry Subject Test, 2007-2008 Edition (College Test Preparation)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Contrary to the other reviewers so far, I found this book to be quite helpful. The information was presented in a very straightforward fashion so as to make it easier to conceptualize. The book covers every type of question to the extent that come exam day, there are very few surprises.

That said, there are a few misprints, but they are so innocuous that they are hardly even worth noting. For example, the two mentioned in another review are there, but the correct answers are listed on the exact same page. Another (still minor) error is in one of the chapter summaries on pg 147, where the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation is written in place of the equation for the equilibrium constant (but, again, those who actually read the material will not be too confused by it).

Those aside, there are no factual errors in this book (that I noticed, anyhow). The drill questions and summaries at the end of each chapter serve as great ways to quickly brush up on some facts you may have forgotten as you get closer to the test day. The book doesn't throw excessive information at you like some others do. All around, it teaches what it needs to and does so well.

Last, I'd like to address the common criticism that this book's practice tests are "too easy." I had heard the same complaints before buying this book, but ended up being quite pleasantly surprised by the results. Let's let the numbers speak for themselves...

My scores on the practice tests: 710, 770, 670 (the 670 was on the day before the test)

My score on the actual test: 780

I wanted a book to help me review for the NY Chemistry CST(Content Specialty Test). This has many important concepts, but it's not enough. What I really wanted was a book that basically taught me Chemistry without me having to take a class. This is good for a quick review, but not for understanding everything in the high school curriculum. The review is very helpful and shows the major important points, but I just wanted more. I heard that an AP Chemistry book has more info rather than SAT 2 books.

This is book is an amazing review not only for the SAT chem, but also for the ACS exams... It throughly goes through everything covered in chem from atomic theory to equilibrium.

I got an 800 after reading this book. I recommend it to all! However, if you just begun chem, you might not know what some of the content is. Perfect for AP students though...

I took the Chemistry SAT II last June of 2008 and i have to say this book helped me a ton. My chemistry teacher normally does a lot of math and few concepts, so by the time i picked up the book to start reviewing i was behind on concepts.

The book was very good for me to review the concepts and i found the summaries at the end very helpful for last minute review before test day. There were some typos like in the acid-base chapter summary the wrong formula was put in but that stuff is trivial.

Simply enough, I found that the book was very good to review with for the Chem SAT II and it worked out great for me. I took the first two practice tests and scored 710 and 770 respectively. I ended up scoring an 800 on the real test.

I will never buy another Princeton Review product because of the errors in this book and the way it was set up. I paid the full price for this book, and I feel cheated.

The book was full of simple errors that could have been fixed with simple, basic proofreading. Part III has the answers and explanations in a table for all the practice questions, and the answer for question 6 on page 209 is blank. While explaining the types of questions there is a bubble filled in wrong. They say the answer is True, True, but False, True is bubbled in (pg 14). Again, these are mistakes that could have been fixed by simple proofreading, and because of them I do not trust the other answers and explanations in the book.

I also had numerous problems with the way they actual review material was set up, but these problems were so closely related to how I was taught chemistry so I'm not going to comment on them.