<p>Hey CC. I've decided to take SAT Chem this November. It's going to be my first and last time for it. However, I took Chemistry in 10th grade and I'm going to be a senior this year. The past year rendered me ignorant of what I had learned. The course was also an Honors one (which is why I think what I learned was not indelible). I keep hearing you need AP Chem for the test. I stopped dreaming of a 770+ after hearing that. I honestly have no hope of achieving that now because of the class type and the huge amount of time gap since I took it. I'm going to order prep book this week. The question is, which book? I keep hearing Princeton Review or Barron's. I am going to spend a minimum of 10 hours a week on Chemistry as I will have to read the whole book from beginning. I do not care for an 800. I only care for 700+. Which book should I buy? Will 10 hours a week be enough for that prep book for me to score a 700+? Thanks!</p>
<p>Barrons has too many unnecessary details. I’d recommend Princeton review because it’s concise and to the point . 700 is not too hard to achieve so you can manage it .</p>
<p>I used Barron’s SAT chem book. Since you still have about 2 months till the test, I would read the book and do the practice problems. I studied for about 30 min a day until i finished reading the book. After that I did 1-2 practice tests a week and whatever I got wrong I would reread the chapter. Don’t worry too much I studied all of the functional groups and none of it was on there. If you are super nervous, just keep reading the book from cover to cover until you like your practice test scores</p>
<p>@Harsh1296
Hey I got a 790 this past June and I went through both PR and Barron’s. Some say PR has more accurate practice tests, but imo the Barron’s practice test more closely mirrored the actual test. However, I thought the info in Barron’s was incomprehensible. Bottom line get both: PR for info and review and focus on Barrons for practice tests. BTW, i was not in AP chem and got this score. Also, I probs would have gotten an 800, but I was so anxious the night before that I got about 4 hours of sleep and during the test almost had a panic attack for the first couple of minutes, lol. First time it happened to me, but it all worked out in the end. So I would say still aim for that 770.</p>
<p>Also, just some general tips.
Take as many practice test as you can. I would suggest the Barron’s practice test and all of the past chem exams that you can find online plus the one in the SAT subject test BB. Also, study every single question in the BB because some questions are almost exactly the same and several of the same concepts appear. Luckily, i took that practice test the day before so I remembered what I needed, but I would have benefited significantly if I took the time to actually look through and review every question. Also, the first couple of practice tests I got a 650, but then it slowly started to increase and after 8 tests, I got in the 770-800 range. While reviewing info will be great especially considering your position with the time gap, practice tests are key.</p>
<p>I’d say start with the Princeton Review and finish it take all the practice tests in it. After that start Barron’s, like stated above Barron’s has some unnecessary details, go through the review take all the practice tests. Finally go back and review the Princeton and take a practice test from the college board.</p>
<p>So do you guys want me to primarily use Princeton Review, study really hard from that, take all practice tests, and jump to Barron’s practice test? But as stated above, doesn’t Barron’s have superfluous material? Won’t I have to go through Barron’s cover to cover as well for the tests? That’s very onerous, considering I only have 2 months. I will try, however. Just to make it clear once more, PR-read whole, practice tests —> Barron’s-practice tests?</p>
<p>Yeah that would work, I myself would say that if your in a time crunch don’t do the PR practice tests though. Also, trust me when I say you need the Official Study Guide for the SAT Subject Tests. </p>
<p>I would get Barron’s- it actually overprepared me for the test (800), so in my opinion it’s great to review from Barron’s. However, I do recommend working from an easier book first since you haven’t taken AP (which covers basically everything on the test). </p>
<p>In conclusion, get PR and Barron’s. I have to warn you that Barron’s practice tests have some errors, so always check the complete explanations for each mistake. Some of the explanations are actually incorrect and others are correct, but don’t line up to the answer they give, and I’ve found that taking out those questions bumped the practice test scores up.</p>
<p>Barrons. I studied it the night before the test w/ no extra prep (other than chem h) and got a 780. Follow the standard procedure: do the diag, study your weak sections first (the more time you have, the more sections you should study), and then take all the practice tests in the back. </p>
<p>So after taking the tests, should I memorize each question? As in, do I memorize the whole tests by heart from the PR and Barrons and Official SAT Subject Tests books? </p>
<p>no one does that. Practice them more than once but there’s no need to memorize questions.</p>
<p>My D took SAT2 Chem right after AP Chem. She just used the Barrons and PR to review the materials that were not covered in the AP Chem and did a couple practice test in them.</p>
<p>Here is a website with over 500 practice questions for SAT Chem: <a href=“https://www.learnerator.com/sat-subject-test-in-chemistry”>https://www.learnerator.com/sat-subject-test-in-chemistry</a></p>