<p>I'm going to self-study Chem this year, and I was wondering would you need to go over all the chapters from Brown's Central Science: Chemistry book? There are 1000 pages with 22 chapters, so I thought it might be more info than needed for the AP exam.</p>
<p>I used the book by Zumdahl and Zumdahl (although I didn't self-study). There are probably chapters in that book that go into each group and period which you don't really need to know, and the Organic Section contains much more than necessary. Each chapter will contain some extra information. CB says that the exam covers more material than anyone is expected to know so don't read every single word. Princeton Review is a good supplement.</p>
<p>We used the tenth edition of the Brown-Lemay book in class last year, and we didn't cover every chapter, though we covered most. We didn't go over the chapter on Chemistry of the Environment, Chemistry of the Nonmetals, Metals and Metallurgy, and Chemistry of Coordination compounds. We covered some of the nonmetals and metals material when we covered the periodic table though. There's quite a bit of extra material in the other chapters, too, but we learned that material for science competitions. So no, you don't need to go over everything, but it will only be of help if you do have extra time and decide to go over the superfluous material.</p>
<p>I self studied using Brown/Lemay/Bursten a few years ago, and I went up to around nuclear chem I think. Didn't really study organic. I got a 5.</p>
<p>We used Zumdahl and Zumdahl, too, and that had about 24 chapters. Like soemone above me said, the Organic Section went into way too much detail, but that doesn't mean organic material didn't show up on the test. </p>
<p>Reading the textbook was probably the only way I could have gotten a good grade. I didn't read the organic section, just Barron's notes on that, and I was fine for the organic questions on the test.</p>
<p>So I think you probably should read most of the textbook. Chemistry doesn't seem like the easiest course to self-study for. I think you'll really need a lot of commitment.</p>
<p>Our class used the Zumdahl book, though we actually never "used" them. (My teacher lectured us the stuff that we needed to know.)</p>
<p>AP Chem was one of my most favorite classes I've ever taken, though it took some adjusting initially. Good luck with the self-study.</p>
<p>Are you guys self studying AP chem with no background in chem at all? Is it possible to self-study chem from scratch and get a 5 with only books? How easy is it to comprehend the material? Are any of the information abstruse? Thanks.</p>
<p>JenJones, I think a lot of the information is difficult, and I honestly wouldn't have been able to go through it without a teacher. </p>
<p>Besides that, teachers know a lot of side information that textbooks don't always give you. My teacher was constantly spitting examples out at us, of electron deficient and excessive elements, of ligands, of complex ions, of colorless compounds and colorful ones. She repeated them all the time, and it got annoying. Until the AP test, where a ton of those examples showed up and I wouldn't have had any clue how to answer them if she hadn't nailed them into our heads. </p>
<p>So I wouldn't recommend self-studying Chem, but if people want to do it you can't stop them.</p>
<p>Well, I do have a small background in chemistry. I know the basics, and I knwo for sure that I will have a teacher who can help me if I do not understand something, but as I was reading the book, it really interested me, so I think I'll be fine if I self-study chem.
Thank you for all the help!</p>