Schaum's Outline of College Chemistry

Rating:
Summary: Can be used as a informative supplement to class room text.
Review: I am a chemistry major and found a lot of informative material included. The book explained the ideas thoroughly and the problems at the end of each section were a good source of review and practice. Everything was straight forward and easy to comprehend.

Rating:
Summary: A good self-study course, if you're interested
Review: I am the reader from Montezuma, NM, and after taking a few more chemistry courses and re-reading the outline, I feel that I should add a few observations to my enthusiastic review from above, which I wrote over 3 years ago.

I own many, many Schaum's Outlines, and am satisfied with all of them. However, before you buy this outline of college chemistry or any of the other Schaum's Outlines, you need to ask yourself what your needs are. If you are looking for a brief review of a subject, you should look elsewhere. If you are taking a course in general chemistry and need a little help with some areas of it, you should look elsewhere--preferably, ask someone with a thorough grasp of the subject to explain those areas to you.

The Schaum's Outlines are best used as a self-study tool. Let's face it, reviewing an entire subject and solving all the problems to gain a solid grasp on the material is difficult and time-consuming, and I suspect few students already enrolled in a course will have the extra time to rehash what they've already been told by reading through a Schaum's Outline, and even fewer will want to go through so many problems--at least in my courses, the problems we are provided are too much to begin with.

For review purposes, Schaum's may help some students, especially if you are reviewing years of material such as I did for my IB exam. However, since you need to know what your course will test you on specifically, you would need to go through the outline along with your notes. Therefore, spending more time reviewing your course notes might be a better use of your time.

Schaum's Outlines are essentially cheaply made textbooks, and, as with other texts, the writing varies widely from one book in the series to another. If a cheap self-study course is what you seek, or you'd like to preview a course you plan to take, by all means go with Schaum's. If you are a student looking for help with a subject, seek it elsewhere.

For help with grades, I suggest you try the Scham's "How to Study" guide and follow their suggestions.

Rating:
Summary: An Excellent Study Aid
Review: This book is concise and complete. The reviews are great, and the problems aren't just busywork--they actually will help you understand the material. For the higher level International Baccalaureate chemistry exam, I have had to review 2 years worth of general chemistry, and this book has helped me immensely.