Questions about Barron's Chemistry book

Test Preparation SAT Subject Test Preparation
1

<p>Hi everyone!</p>

<p>I am planning to take some SAT Subject Tests after 6 months or more [ I may take 7 tests], so I thought I better start preparation from now [I hope it isn't too late].</p>

<p>I got Barron's 2009 Chemistry preparation guide as well as the one for Biology.</p>

<p>I started with Chemistry and I did the diagnostic test, and got a 570...</p>

<p>So I started reading the book, and so far I found 3 mistakes, which made me very disappointed about the book. However, my real problem with this book is the material it discusses. </p>

<p>The book starts with talking about very easy basics for a LONG time... Then it QUICKLY jumps into VERY WEIRD stuff that I never heard about. Things like the spin of electrons and the magnetic quantum number, mass spectoscopy, atomic spectra,maximum multiplicity <a href="I%20did%20not%20reach%20further%20chapters%20yet">check page: 68-76</a></p>

<p> My questions are: </p>

<ul>
<li><p>Will the ** REAL SAT CHEMISTRY ** test topics like that???</p></li>
<li><p>Is the College Board book sufficient for me to get an 800? or do I need to lose hope of getting this score because I could not understand the above-mentioned stuff in the Barron's book?</p></li>
<li><p>Is everything in the Barron's book tested in the REAL test? or are these merely some background info to help me understand the important stuff??</p></li>
</ul>

<p>Thanks for Help!</p>

2

<p>Still waiting for help…</p>

<p>[Four mistakes in the book so far…]</p>

3

<p>First of all…7 tests!!! At most a college is going to want 3 (I know Harvard does) but most just request two and some want ONLY two leaving a good 5 tests wasted. Please reconsider the number of SAT IIs you’re going to take.</p>

<p>Now, for the questions. I took the Chem SAT II in June and don’t remember any quantum mechanics being asked (the spin, quantum numbers, etc). I think there might have been a problem with mass spectrometry in which you have to know what it is in order to solve the problem, but I’m not 100% sure if it was on the SAT or the AP test. </p>

<p>Princeton Review’s Chem book also had a chapter on quantum mechanics, so it’s very possible I just lucked out of having them on my SAT. </p>

<p>That said, however, if you plan on taking chemistry in high school or college, it is extremely important to understand quantum mechanics because it will show up in the course material. What I’m trying to say is, if it’s not important for the SAT, it’ll be important later.</p>

<p>As for CB’s own books…their subject test prep is one giant book that has all the subjects in them, so you’re not going to get as much attention paid to chemistry as you would in Barron’s or PR. If you are relying on the prep book to teach you everything, CB isn’t going to be enough. It’s good if you want a practice test to gauge how hard the real SAT is going to be though. </p>

<p>And lastly, no, not everything in Barron’s is going to be on the real test. There will be no book in which the content matches the real test exactly. Besides the basics (like stoichiometry), the test will rotate topics. </p>

<p>One last thing…all of Barron’s practice tests are much harder than the real thing. I took them, got low 700s, and got a 800 on the real exam. I learned all my content from an AP course though, so I don’t know how big the discrepancy is if you’re self learning the content.</p>

4

<p>Barron’s is notorious for having unrealistic practice tests and mistakes in their books. But that can be seen as a boon, since the real test will probably seem much simpler and straightforward.</p>

5

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<p>Thanks for help!
I know the CB book, I just wanna use it to know the REAL level of the REAL test…
As for the Barron’s book, I think its way harder than the real thing, but all I want is to know what things to memorize and give attention to, and what things I only need to understand without memorizing. I just found some YouTube vids explaining the things I could not understand from Barron’s book.</p>

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<p>I agree with the part that says that it may be a good thing for Barron’s to offer very hard tests, but I can’t see any boon in the mistakes they make…</p>

<p>Thank you both for help!</p>