<p>Hi,
I'll be taking AP Chem in school this upcoming school year, and I was wondering which prep/review book I should get to aid me in the course as well as in studying for the eventual AP exam. It seems like a lot of CCers recommend Princeton Review, but all the recommendations are from before the new version of the exam, and the new version has terrible ratings/reviews on Amazon... So if you are familiar with the new AP Chemistry exam, can you please recommend a prep/review book for me to purchase?
Thanks!</p>
<p>Well I took the new AP Chem three months ago and used Princeton Review and AP Chemistry Crash Course.
(I only got a 4 though. z.z And the proctor called time ten minutes early AND there was announcements going on for five full minutes)
I have to say that the AP Chem Crash Course helped me a lot. Actually both helped quite a bit. A few of my classmates used Barrons, and afterwards, they complained about how it was nothing like the exam.</p>
<p>The Princeton (Cracking the AP Chemistry Exam, 2014 Edition with three stars and 45 reviews on Amazon atm) is a lot easier than the actual exam. In addition, there were about 10 mistakes or so in the practice questions. But it has a good amount of diagrams and such, which was a big help. But again, it was about 10x easier than the actual exam. </p>
<p>The AP Chemistry Crash Course by Adrian Dingle is like a mini-textbook. Very concise and pertinent.
It’s good for refreshers and it may also help you understand concepts better. The negatives about this book is that it doesn’t have much practice problems, so you may being reading out of here and practicing elsewhere. </p>
<p>But by 2015 there might be new prep books, so you should wait.
And chances are, they’ll be a lot more accurate than the 2014 ones that are available now.
If your desperate though, go look up the teacher’s guide to the AP Chem course and read through it. It’s a PDF file somewhere on the internet.</p>
<p>Honestly, I just recommend that you just pay attention in class and study assiduously on the topics that are taught at the moment. If you master everything bit by bit as you go along (I wish I had, but I neglected my first semester), the AP will be a breeze. And last thing, reading is important for this AP exam. There’s less math on this new one than on the old ones. So just make sure you understand the whats and hows and whys in addition to the math.</p>
<p>The best prep is to pay attention in class and try out last years and prior years open ended. I scored a 5 on the new exam, and have to admit Barron’s, which is known to be good at over-preparing, really wasn’t that helpful. If the new edition is better, then Barron’s is a good choice.</p>
<p>@CeLcel and @kevinjuan
Thanks for your quick replies! I understand that I’ll have to pay attention in class and work hard, and I plan (/hope) to do that. I just want to purchase a review/prep book in addition to my class to further prepare for the exam next year. I think I may look into getting the AP Chemistry Crash Course then, since it seems to be a pretty good book. But I suppose that I’ll wait a bit until the new 2015 books are published to make my purchase, in case any other company publishes a good book. Thanks again! :)</p>
<p>Use Bozeman science and Khan academy on youtube. Unless there’s been major changes in the new editions, none of the books are really that great for the new exam format. Also, I have a pdf of the official practice exam, which was invaluable to my studying last year. pm me your email and I can send you a copy. </p>
<p>Okay, thanks for your suggestions! I just pmed you</p>
<p>Hi,
I took the AP Chemistry exam this year. I had both the old Princeton Review book (before they revised the test) and the new Barron’s book. The old princeton review book was pretty helpful for practice problems, but I didn’t end up using it that much. The new barron’s book has practice tests that reflect the AP test that was released by College Board, but all of the tests are pretty much identical and not that helpful.</p>
<p>However, I think that Barrons does a lot better of a job summarizing all the topics needed for the test, even though their tests are pretty lacking. I used their chapters to refresh my memory on some topics that I forgot about.</p>
<p>I ended up getting a 5, but my teacher in school was very rigorous and probably over-prepared me. I didn’t see that much of difference between old practice tests I had taken, and the new test, so i would recommend waiting for 2015 like everyone else said. </p>
<p>Okay. Thanks for your reply @nutellapikachu!</p>