<p>I'm going through PR now, there is a lot of math, its easy but time consuming. Same for the balancing questions. On the actual test is the math trivial to do in your head, or do you need fast arithmetic to finish the whole test.</p>
<p>There is very, very little actual math on the test. Knowing little things like the fact that one mole of an ideal gas occupies 22.4L is helpful, but really, the math is very simple.</p>
<p>If balancing equations is time-consuming for you, you need to practice. On the May SAT, there were probably three or four balancing problems, and you don’t want to spend more than 30 seconds-a minute on each.</p>
<p>I would agree that arithmetic wasn’t really a huge issue for me, but it might be a good idea to consciously make an effort to improve on that whenever you run into one of those diluted solution or composistion by mass problems that require some calculations in your head. I really wouldn’t worry about it that much though.
As for balancing equations, I also recall them being a slight problem for me (especially those redox equations), so I don’t know… supposedly there are about 5 on every test so if you can get good at that it could lead to some easy points… Maybe just like one day going online and spending thirty minutes on some practice problems could help, I don’t know.</p>