<p>Hi, I'm self studying SAT Chemistry. I'm using Barron's, just like (I suppose) the majority of people are doing. My questions is, just how much do we have to memorize?</p>
<p>I mean, in the Barron's book, there are a couple of pages introducing how someone made a discovery, and someone created a new conception... and so on. Do I have to remember all this history related stuff as well?</p>
<p>BTW, can I really trust the Barron's book? If I could understand everything in this book, would an 800 be easy?</p>
<p>(While I'm on this subject, I have to say this SAT Chem is really just a lot of memorizing. I thought it would include more calculations, etc. Very different from how chem is taught in my area.)</p>
<p>Just for your info, I have not used the Barron's for SAT Chemistry.</p>
<p>As for the historical deeds on who discovered the subatomic particles and etc., it is really rare that you will actually encounter it in the exam.</p>
<p>The actual test is more or less a huge math test, mixed in with some concepts.</p>
<p>You gotta know polyatomic ions, extremely important. I've never had to memorize constants. I remember for my exam (June/07), there were lots of equations to be balanced; it was a lot of arithmetic...</p>
<p>I barely studied for my SAT II and did fine. You can afford to miss a few and still get 800.</p>
<p>On the Barron's book, there are like 20-30 polyatomic ions. Do I really have to memorize so many?
Is there really no need to memorize the constants? (In Chem? In Physics?)</p>
<p>Not much constants you need to memorize. Ya, Duper, i took the june 07 chem test and there were so many equations needed to balanced, eyeballing/redox.. I took like 20 different practice tests and never encountered that many on a test...</p>
<p>For example. the Barron's book doesn't introduce individual oxidizing/reducing agents. Should I memorize which substance are strong oxidizing agents... etc?</p>
<p>I actually agree with the starter of the thread on some of the questions...Another questions: is it possible for a person to do well on the SAT II chem. if they didn't learn about half the topics on the test in the school chemistry class but reads it off one of the self-study books like the princeton review or barron's??? I'd really appreciate if someone could answer that question for me! :D....I'm so confused about this..I'm pretty good at chemistry...but because of slow kids in my class..we didn't get to cover as many topics as we should've so now I'm trying to study on me own....soo if someone could answer my question, I"D REALLY APPRECIATE IT!!</p>
<p>meh, I looked over the Barron's book and I think it's utter crap. There are so many things in that book that have no chance in hell of appearing on the actual test. Get Princeton Review. the subject review is great and the practice tests are really accurate... </p>
<p>it's probably in your best interest to memorize all of the polyatomic ions and their charges.</p>
<p>
[quote]
For example. the Barron's book doesn't introduce individual oxidizing/reducing agents. Should I memorize which substance are strong oxidizing agents... etc?
[/quote]
your better off learning what makes something a stronger oxidizer. I believe it gets stronger as the electron affinity increases and that pattern can be deduced from the periodic table. This way you don't have to memorize anything.</p>
<p>It is definitely possible to do well on the SAT II Chemistry subject test if you only study from prep books. Granted this requires a lot of hard work and dedication to your studies. For instance, one of my friends who took a general chemistry course last year didn't learn the topics too well. He ended up getting a 510 on the subject test. However, over the summer, he has been using 2 different prep books (Barrons and Sparknotes) and constantly reads a few chapters each day. He reads the same concepts from both books to see how the two books teach the same ideas and does a few problems as well. He's been taking practice tests recently and consistently scores around 740 now.</p>
<p>Coming from a person who got a 780 in Chemistry but who wasnt very good in class, I'd say its less memorization and more how fast you can apply the formulas to each problem. I hated the bio one which was pure memorization, but the Chemistry one is a few things to know and the rest is just how fast u can correctly apply it</p>
<p>Tip: Since you get no calc and a crappy reference table, remember most of the strong acids and polyatomic ions and all that junk, along with the trends on periodic table and stuff like that...because they dotn give you anything that clues you in on that stuff on the SAT II Reference table</p>