Customer Reviews

High School Chemistry Tutor (High School Tutors Study Guides)

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You cannot learn chemistry soiely from this book. But that is not what this book is for. This book is a series of chapters on the topics included in a high school chemistry course. Within each chapter are a series of questions and solutions that are very pertinent to the topic being addressed. However, there is no explication of the topics or discussion of the general principles of chemistry other than those included within the solutions offered. So, if you have a rough familiarity with the topics this can help you flesh out your understanding.

So, as supplementary material to a course you or your child is taking or as a refresher this book is very appropriate and quite useful. However, if you don't have some grounding in the topic you might get lost fairly quickly. Don't get me wrong. It isn't that it dives into the deep end of the pool too quickly. The topics included aren't that esoteric. It is just that if you aren't used to working with formulas and the terms of chemistry you might find it a bit confusing until you get acclimated. Also, there are a few typos - so BE CAREFUL.

The book is printed in a way that it looks like it came from a typewriter which is very odd in 2003. And there is no color. All the diagrams are in black and white. Nowadays, color ink isn't that expensive! And used judiciously, it can help explain some concepts more clearly. Of course, color can be misused as glitz and actually confuse things, but that is not what I am arguing for. I think it wouldn't be that painful to modernize these books to current standards of media presentation and that it could actually help the students using the book.

I do recommend the book. Just realize what it is intended for and I think you can get quite a bit out of it. If you expect a course in high school chemistry, you won't find it here.

Having had good luck with other study guides by this publisher, I ordered this one unseen. I expected plain formatting on paperback quality paper, and got that. I did not expect "typewriter-style" formatting that was obsolete twenty years ago, and rather poorly done even by those standards. The book is almost impossible to use because of this, and there is absolutely no excuse for it. Do not buy this.

Our 15 yr old son thinks this is a good supplement to his high school text book. It gives in depth reviews of the problems. May offer some helpfull insite that the teacher didn't review in class.

The Chemistry Tutor was helpful and informative. Bought this for my 15 year-old who said it really helped her with information not covered in class or by her teacher.