The Berkley Review Science passages, correct information to learn from?

[userman]

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It is very uncommon, but every now and then I come along a tidbit of information on the BR science passages that confuse me. I was wondering if I should take them as fact and learn from them, or if I should just take them as an isolated piece of information and forget about them after the questions.


For Example:
"The molecular mass is the most significant factor in the energy required to undergo a phase change." (from passage XIII of chem chamter 7)


Is this correct? Doesn't sound very right. I always thought intermolecular forces were the most important factor...

 

[LostInStudy]

Umm, no that's correct. If it wasn't then ethanol would require more energy than undecane or something larger. If they're the same size then yes, you go to intermolecular forces but otherwise its Molecular mass. They do teach you material in the explanations and you should try to pick up the concept while you're reviewing although I would go back to the chapter in that question because I guarantee you that was covered in the text (maybe not in that chapter but probably in the first two chapters).

Hope this helps,

-LIS

 

[userman]

Oh thanks

I am not currently going over the book
I'm going over notes that I took over the book several months ago

This has been allowing me to efficiently cover the material extremely fast and effectively (4 chapters a day and ~13 average for the passages)
But unfortunately it has the disadvantage of allowing some information to slip through...

 

[AlexB]

out of a couple of hundred problems so far, BR has had the least intrinsic errors than other review companies (I'm looking at you, Kaplan). I think I've seen perhaps one error, which is quite low. I'd approach everything from the perspective of it as a fact.

But, I understand your point about some answers being complicated. I'd read it and try and understand it a first time, then put the book down and make a note in your schedule to come back to the explanation 5 days later (just an arbitrary #). You'll get it then.