SAT II Chemistry preparation

Grativity
Mon, 15 Jun 2015 02:50:20 +0000

Hey guys,

I’m a rising senior in an American high school. I plan to take SAT chemistry in the coming October, so I decided to look at SAT II Chemistry Sparknotes and read the information, but a LOT of the stuff there is very esoteric and hard to understand. I am stuck on the first chapter on the site. I have ordered 2 books via amazon, Barrons and PrincetonReview, but they are yet to arrive; I have to wait a week more for the books (I’m now in a country out of US).

Although I have taken introductory chemistry class when I was in sophomore, I have forgotten nearly all the stuff that I learned in school (save for balancing chemical equations and other super-basic/easy stuff), so I pretty much have to self-study without any school class to guide me. I do have a Chem II/Physics II class next semester, but I do not think that it will be a lot of help because it is a class that COMBINES Chemistry and Physics, and because I have test in October, which is pretty early in the semester. I say this not as a complaint but as a plain fact :). Is there any good way to self-study SAT Chemistry over the summer break? Is it just I who find the Sparknotes SAT Chemistry so difficult?

I also went to Khanacademy (general Chemistry) and general Chemistry Sparknotes (not the one specifically designed for SAT Chem-prep students). I found out that these two sites teach things that is vastly different from sites designed for SAT Chemistry-prep students. For example, the first chapter in SAT Chemistry Sparknotes goes in depth about structure of matter, including Resonance structures and molecular shape, etc., whereas Sparknotes Chemistry, as far as I know, doesn’t really go in depth about such topics. Should I solely study materials specifically designed for SAT Chemistry, or is it better to incorporate regular Chemistry materials when studying for the test?

If you have any other suggestions/comments for me, I will be more than glad to accept them. Someone help me, I am having a LOT of difficulty studying for this test.