Are the Kaplans AP Chem. study guide books good or should I pick differently?

[Future Doc1]

I have AP chem next year and I'm just trying to get some early prep in.
Any advice as to which book is the best? I'm thinking about the Kaplan AP
chem study guide, edition 2009 but I wanted some 2nd opinions. Thanks.

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[Crazyday]

I don't know about AP Chem, but the Princeton books were good for AP Biology and AP US History. They were very concise and gave only the details you needed.

I read the entire AP Biology review book in a day and I learned more than I did in an entire semester (as in AP Biology, you go two routes in the course, one is micro one is plants, my class went micro). I knew a lot of the micro stuff already, but all of the taxonomy and plants, as well as human anatomy, was new to me.

I can't speak for the other books, nor can I speak for AP Chem, but I was very pleased with the Princeton reviews and I am definitely going to be going with them next year.

 

[orangeANDgreen]

I read the entire AP Biology review book in a day

that must have took a while,

to the OP i used princeton review for all of my AP exams, including AP Chem and I got credit for every exam that I took. I'm sure Kaplan isn't much worse and that you could still easily get a 5 by knowing it, but I liked Princeton better

 

[Future Doc1]

hmmmmn...

I guess I'll have to look for the princeton review books

 

[dmbxvii]

I've heard great things about Princeton Review for AP Chem. For AP Biology, which I took last year, Barron's was the absolute best. I'm taking AP Chem next year too, and to prepare all im really going to do is go over my honors chem notes (from sophomore year, ill be a senior next year) and study for the chem sat 2. During the year, before each test, im going to go over the corresponding chapter in the princeton review guide and maybe look at the online notes. Should ensure me an A

good luck

 

[Future Doc1]

I've heard great things about Princeton Review for AP Chem. For AP Biology, which I took last year, Barron's was the absolute best. I'm taking AP Chem next year too, and to prepare all im really going to do is go over my honors chem notes (from sophomore year, ill be a senior next year) and study for the chem sat 2. During the year, before each test, im going to go over the corresponding chapter in the princeton review guide and maybe look at the online notes. Should ensure me an A

good luck

Really?

I'm gonna be a sophmore next year and I'm taking AP chem.

I'm taking AP bio junior year

I wish I had an honors chem class previously to give me some background;
I had pre-AP bio my freshman year so that will definately help me for AP
bio.

 

[dmbxvii]

not really, i forgot absolutely everything from honors chem. and i took reg bio (there was no honors then, but of course there is now ) freshman yr, then AP bio junior. i honestly didnt need to take bio because since i forgot everything it didn't help me for AP. AP bio is easy as hell

Chem is difficult though. Definitley take the SAT2 at the end of this yr, the AP will make it extremely easy. Do the same thing for bio after ur junior

 

[oran berry]

Get The Princeton Review if you have a good teacher, Barron's if your teacher is not that great. I didn't like TPR at all though. Much too brief.

 

[Halfpint]

Really?

I'm gonna be a sophmore next year and I'm taking AP chem.

I'm taking AP bio junior year

I wish I had an honors chem class previously to give me some background;
I had pre-AP bio my freshman year so that will definately help me for AP
bio.

At my school we had to take honors chem sophomore year before we could take AP chem. So i'm taking AP chem this year(junior year) and AP bio senior. Chemistry is harder than bio if you don't like math but fortunately i do like math. Is pre-AP bio pretty much the same as honors bio?

 

[Future Doc1]

At my school we had to take honors chem sophomore year before we could take AP chem. So i'm taking AP chem this year(junior year) and AP bio senior. Chemistry is harder than bio if you don't like math but fortunately i do like math. Is pre-AP bio pretty much the same as honors bio?

I wouldn't really know but i'd say it's probably similar

Pre AP bio wasn't that hard--at least to me it didn't seem difficult--
but AP bio is probably a different story--In my AP bio class that I'm
gonna take junior year there will be disections and stuff which is really
cool

I heard we'll get to disect a pig

 

[Future Doc1]

Get The Princeton Review if you have a good teacher, Barron's if your teacher is not that great. I didn't like TPR at all though. Much too brief.

Why?

 

[FuturaDocta]

So far, I have heard really good feedback about Princeton review books and only some bad about Kaplan. I actually like Kaplan, so you may want to get a good price on both of them and just soak up as much info as you can. It is the summer, which sometimes leads to pessimism. So, try not to spend too much money. I would just borrow or buy a used review book online.

 

[Crazyday]

You can probably find them at libraries too.

 

[Halfpint]

We did a pig dissection in honors bio. Everyone else in my group didn't want to touch the thing so i ended up doing the entire dissection.

 

[FuturaDocta]

We did a pig dissection in honors bio. Everyone else in my group didn't want to touch the thing so i ended up doing the entire dissection.

lol, I think you posted in the wrong thread buddy. though, this sounds like me freshman year in high school. Except, we did lampreys.

 

[oran berry]

Why?

The Princeton Review is much briefer, so if you had an at least decent AP Chem teacher then this will be all you need. The Princeton Review assumes you have basic knowledge of the material. The Barron's is much more comprehensive and even superfluous at times. If you didn't have a good teacher, you would need this book as it breaks down everything for you and assumes you know nothing about the subject. This would be great for those that want to self-study the subject, but if one already has a nice grip on the material then it might seem boring or useless. As a self-studier, I disliked TPR greatly.

 

[Future Doc1]

The Princeton Review is much briefer, so if you had an at least decent AP Chem teacher then this will be all you need. The Princeton Review assumes you have basic knowledge of the material. The Barron's is much more comprehensive and even superfluous at times. If you didn't have a good teacher, you would need this book as it breaks down everything for you and assumes you know nothing about the subject. This would be great for those that want to self-study the subject, but if one already has a nice grip on the material then it might seem boring or useless. As a self-studier, I disliked TPR greatly.

I'll probably get the barron's one then.