Customer Reviews

Cracking the SAT chemistry Subject Test, 2009-2010 Edition

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am a science teacher and think this is the best SAT2 prep book for the Chemistry test.

Each chapter is followed by questions of the three types you will find on the test, and there are 3 excellent practice tests in the back.

There are explanations for all the questions in the back.

One issue: The Henderson-Hasselbach equation never shows up on the Chem SAT2 (of course now that I've said that it probably will!), so skip that part in the Acid/Base Chapter.

Supplement with Thomas Evangelist's McGraw/Hill SAT2 prep book. NOT for the review, but for the 5 tests he has written for the book. Some of the questions that come up in those tests are irrelevant (like the Nernst equation), but the tests are excellent for practice.

My son didn't sign up quickly enough to take the Chemistry subject test in June (when the material would have been fresh) so we were looking for a good review book to prepare him for the test in the Fall. I can't say enough about this book! It provides great review material and three complete tests with answers and explanations.

My son took the first test without doing any review - he scored a 530. He then read the explanations for the answers he missed and started skimming the review sections for any gaps in knowledge. A couple of days later he took the second test and scored a 630 - woohoo, definite progress. Again, he read the explanations for the answers he missed and did more review. He took the third test a few days before the actual exam and scored a 680 on that one. Again, a little more review and he was set for the actual test. Because the subject tests deduct points for incorrect answers, one of the most valuable things my son learned from this process was to not answer questions he didn't know - especially those he couldn't narrow the answer down (with certainty) to a 50-50 choice.

Test day came and he was completely relaxed and confident. I won't give his exact score, but he did score in the 700s and I know there is no way he would have done nearly as well without using this awesome resource.

Total time for him to do all of the above - about 10 hours spread over less than two weeks!

This book is far too shallow. It does not go into enough depth in terms of material. I have taken this test along with 2 siblings. Please choose the 2009 Barron's SAT Chem book instead - that covers all material and ensures a 750+. My entire family scored 800 with that book. This was our first book, which we bought and I used at first (and got 710, not satisfied). Do not purchase this.

it was so helpful! if u're in a rush to study or not, this book is PERFECT for you! i had only one day to study and i was able to finish the book and it covered everything i needed to noe! i highly recommend it.

I'd like to start out with the fact that I did score an 800 on the exam. And that I studied from the Princeton Review book literally until I had to get out of the car. From this, it seems as though it would warrant a five-star rating. And maybe it does. I'd also like to say that this may not have been my chief source of review. My Chemistry teacher prepared our class heavily for the exam, adding an entire unit of Chemistry concepts found on the test that we didn't specifically go over and an extra lab to help up visualize what certain compounds look like. She even moved the date of the final exam to the day directly before the SAT test. My teacher also recommended Barron's study guide, saying the Princeton Review guide was riddled with errors, even in some basic formulas. She claims to even have found them while skimming the book. I only found one, and that was in the third practice exam in the third section, question 42. The correct answer is Chlorine, although it is listed in the book as Carbon. I confirmed this with the table in my textbook and from one online.

The practice exams, however, I considered the most useful part of the book. Princeton Review succeeded in making a very faithful mock exam. There was even an occasion where a question had the same answer bank, but to a different question. So, for that I am glad I purchased the book. Although, there was a gap between my practice exam scores and my actual exam score. My practice exam scores, in order, were 770, 780 and 730. The third exam was by far the most difficult, much more difficult than the actual exam. And even though many of my mistakes could be prevented from reading a little more carefully, it's still incredibly disheartening to receive such a low score, especially if you're taking it the night before the exam, like I did. Still, these exams gave me a very good feel for the actual exam, despite the difficulty level. And if Princeton Review intended on making the practice exam more difficult than the actual exam to have us prepare more, then it worked.

Overall, I was glad that I bought a study guide, but I would have bought the Barron's study guide if I knew my Chem teacher recommended it at that time. But really, there's no better preparation than a Chemistry teacher who knows that his/her students are taking the exam.

I just took the satII chem test yesterday. This book didn't help me at all, since I was aiming for the 700's. I had to skip about 13 questions because I relied on this book, and it didn't cover the material as deep as it may appear on the test. It's really bad if you're aiming for 750+. For 600-650, it's more than enough. That's why it's "cracking" the test, not "acing" it.

This book covers so much from my AP Chem course and really helped because chemistry is a lot of content! This provided a nice review before the SAT chem test and got me a 760/800! I only got a 3 on the AP Chem exam (it is entirely different and unnecessarily challenging), so dont think that because your AP class is hard you won't get a good grade on the SAT Chem. It's a lot easier (nonetheless still a lot of content) and this book is great for review.

The practice tests were hard. I think I got around 630-680 on each, but who cares, 760 on the actual exam!

I hadn't taken a chemistry course for two years and I picked up this book, read through it all and did the practice tests and I received an 800. This is a great book for preparing for the test.

I would strongly recommend this book in reviewing for the Chemistry SAT. It offers lucid explanations for basically all the topics covered on the Chem SAT test. While the practice problems that it offers are a bit on the easy side, this book is enough to get you the score that you want.

I got this book to prepare for the June test so I've been trying to quickly study what I can. This book is great because it isn't boring! I can read through about 2 or 3 chapters a day and completely understand everything. Since I'm currently in a chemistry class it's obviously easier for me to grasp this stuff but for the few subjects that I haven't yet learned, I am able to learn it well. I havent taken any of the practice tests but I use this along with the Sparknotes online studying thing. I sure hope this helps me get a good score on my SAT!