Kaplan SAT II: Chemistry 2003-2004

Rating:
Summary: WARNING!! WARNING!!
Review: DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK. WHY? I JUST WANT TO KEEP IT SIMPLE. THE MAIN REASON IS BECAUSE NONE OF THE QUESTIONS IN THIS BOOK WAS ON THE TEST. I JUST WASTED MY PRECIOUS TIME.

Rating:
Summary: Saved Me From Disaster (literally!)
Review: I had seriously been in danger of failing out of my honors chemistry class last year. I knew all the material like the back of my hand, yet when it came to test day, i would make a few simple little errors and end up getting a B or C on the test. Assuming that our regular textbook (Merrill Chemistry) was the source of the problem, my teacher suggested that I buy this review book to provide a different learning interface. And this teacher had ALL her hopes on preparing the class for the SATs--every test contained SAT-style questions, and her efforts to keep her class averages up were easily acheived, as she handed out enough extra credit throughout the year to keep me (remember, the girl with only one A- on a test grade for the ENTIRE YEAR? ) to keep an A for both semesters. So here we were,stuck with this SAT-obsessed teacher, doubtful that this 20-dollar book could mean the difference between succeeding and failing the class. (the teacher even went to far as to offer a 1% increase in the final grade (after finals) for taking the SAT II in chem). so my friends and i all went out and bought kaplan books, occasionally trying a practice test for the heck of it. throughout the entire year, i had no intention of ever taking the SAT (yeah, why would i want that on my transcript? ) but finally decided to spend the $6 after hearing about all the nice things that would come out of it. :) during the month of may, just weeks before the actual test, i attended about 3 review sessions at school, taking a practice test each time--never scoring above a 530. those tests were HARD, i tell you--and so i went into the testing room on the real day feeling pretty depressed. i had a nice month without knowing the outcome of that day, until a little envelope arrived from the college board. believe it or not, i got a 700 on the test. yes, i was amazed...was it really the book that made the difference? definitely.

Rating:
Summary: Got me a 800!!
Review: I used this book in conjunction w/ Barron's and Princeton Review and I got an 800, mostly thanx to this book. Barron's was too detailed, but good for reference and practice tests. Princeton review was 2 broad.

Rating:
Summary: Convinced Me To Never Buy Another Kaplan Book
Review: I was skeptical about ditching the traditional Barron's and Princeton Review study guides and switching over to this book. But, since this seemed to be the latest edition out there, I thought that I'd give it a shot. Basically, after working through the whole thing, taking the test, and receiving my score, I knew that I would never buy another Kaplan book. I expected to get a much higher score after coming out of a very rigorous AP Chemistry class and as, I would later find out, getting a five on the extremely hard AP test. Obviously, I was dissapointed. But I don't know, maybe this just wasn't the right book for me. I knew my chemistry, I just didn't know the SAT II test, and basically, Kaplan did a pretty lousy job of explaining it. It could have given a lot more practice for the totally bizzare 'Relationship Analysis Questions' just because they're so out of the ordinary. Also, the diagnostic tests are pretty bad in that they include quite a bit of problems that you absolutely cannot do without a calculator, even though the SAT II does not allow the use of a calculator. The review section, though, wasn't that bad. Not to say that it couldn't have been better, but I think that it gives a pretty good review of chemistry. If all you need is more chemistry review, then maybe this is a good book for you. But as for me, I'm sticking to Barron's and Princeton Review from now on.

Rating:
Summary: Highly Recommended
Review: I would highly recommend this book to anyone planning to take the SAT IIs in Chemistry. This book was my only study guide for a month and I got a 790. It is well organized and thoroughly covers many aspects of the test. Yes, the book itself is difficult to get through, but if you stick to it, the rewards are worth your while. I particularly appreciated the practice tests that they had at the end, which were a little harder than the actual test itself, but I consider that a benefit for preparation, as well as the chapter they had on stress management and relaxation. This book is another strong success for Kaplan.

Rating:
Summary: IF YOU NEED HELP FOR THE SAT II, THIS IS THE BOOK
Review: The best way to prepare yourself for the chemistry SAT II is to take practice tests and review the material. This book has the best information to help you do that. The only downside to this book is that it goes over many things that will not be on the actual test. I just got my results back and I got a 700+, which I'm happy with. Out of all the test prep books availible, I'd recomeend this one.

Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: The part I liked best about this book is its practice tests. They were harder than the real SAT 2 test, in my opinion, so they give you a good prep. The comprehensive review was quite decent and it covers topics in kinetics not tested on the SAT 2. But make sure you don't just rely on this book because it's somewhat compact.

Rating:
Summary: Well Organized!
Review: This book covers basicly everything that will appear on SAT II chem. I think the most useful feature of the book is the tables. Everything is so organized that you are not going to mess up basic concepts. I got a 670 even though I didn't finish the book. You can get a 750+ if you go over everything in the book. Plus, it's very helpful if you are taking chem 2 AP.

Rating:
Summary: Tests Are Too Easy
Review: This book covers just about all the major topics on the test, but I found that even after going through all the chapters and doing all the quizzes and practice tests, the book did not include some key terms in chemistry. There were also a lot of questions on the test that were not in this book. So use this book for reviewing for the chemistry test, but do not totally depend on it.

Rating:
Summary: Works, but overly difficult
Review: This book does prepare your for the SAT, but I still wouldn't recommend it. I am normally a very good science and math student, but I found a number of things in the book very hard to follow. Even right after reading a chapter, the sections quizzes were extremely difficult and often the only way to figure out the answer would be to look at the explaination after the quiz. Also, the book is filled with problems that require a calculator even though you aren't allowed to use a calculator on the real test and thus would never face such quesitons. There are lots of questions/topics covered that just aren't on the test.

The bottom line is that this book is much harder than it needs to be. It will prepare you for the test, but I don't think it is worth the extra confusion and frustration of extra and overly complicated topics.