[Doug85]

Thanks everyone for the advice.

[jhawk07]

I would suggest the AP chemistry book printed by the Princeton Review, it is made for the test, but has tons of info, and breaks it down to manegeable steps without overdoing the explanation, it is very straightforward. It also has practice questions and shows you how to do each and every question. Also you can go to your local bookstore (like Borders and Barnes and Nobles) and buy a sheet, more like a folder type of thing called SparkCharts, (they might be another brand). They are all on this rack that turns, they have them in Chemistry, Physiology, Nursing, Stats, English, etc. It has tons of facts on it, that you can go to quickly for help or too get a fact that you need to complete a problem. I also think you can go to SparkCharts.com to get them. They are about 5 dollars each.

Originally Posted by Doug85

Please help. Chemistry, for some reason, sticks in my craw. I took it in the fall of '03 and ended up dropping it. Next semester I am ACING that class!!

What advice or tips would you give to a complete Chem dummy? any books, study guides, etc? thanks!

[PhoenixGirl]

I just finished up chem this past semester... plan ahead for tutoring! Either use your schools tutors or use smarthinking.com

My book came with a free smarthinking.com membership. I used it a lot. There was a point in the semester where I thought I would fail because of balancing chemical equations. Now I can balance intro chem equations with the best of em. The tutoring really helps!

Just stay ahead! Read ahead! Don't ever fall behind, and you will be okay!

Rebecca

[blue eyes]

Originally Posted by PhoenixGirl

I just finished up chem this past semester... plan ahead for tutoring! Either use your schools tutors or use smarthinking.com

My book came with a free smarthinking.com membership. I used it a lot. There was a point in the semester where I thought I would fail because of balancing chemical equations. Now I can balance intro chem equations with the best of em. The tutoring really helps!

Just stay ahead! Read ahead! Don't ever fall behind, and you will be okay!

Rebecca

I had the same problem - could never balance chemical equations. When I finally managed to understand it my tutorial group was told balancing chemical equations wasn't examinable!

[RNJoAnn]

I just started Chemistry last night and according to the syllabus, my instructor added "Suggestions for Success":

1. Keep up. Keep up with the material on a weekly basis. Spend 8 hours outside of class reading the textbook and doing the problems. The best approach is to read the material before it is covered in class.

2. Have good notes: Be sure to come to lecture and take as good notes as possible. If necessary, rewrite your notes after the lecture. Many students benefit from rewriting notes onto flash cards.

3. Join a study group.

4. Get help. If you find yourself getting lost, get help right away. Find out if there's Science Learning Lab at your college and ask for a tutor. If you have problems with the math, go the Math Lab. He said that most students fail chemistry because they don't know the math. The prerequisite for General Chemistry I at our college is Introductory Algebra.

[z's playa]

Originally Posted by blue eyes

I had the same problem - could never balance chemical equations. When I finally managed to understand it my tutorial group was told balancing chemical equations wasn't examinable!

What do you mean it wasn't examinable?

[Fiona59]

RU saying there were no equations on ur exams???!!! The worst exam I ever wrote was four pages of chemical equations, 1 page of match column a to definition in col. B and 1 final horrific page on Organic Chemistry (we spent all of three hours on it in the introductory course). Marks ranged from 25% to 82% with the class average being 56%!! That chem class started with 31 people and 14 wrote the final. What can I say but I passed. Never needed another chem course and was in no hurry to volunteer. Photon, speed of light, I don't care....

[Doug85]

Originally Posted by jhawk07

I would suggest the AP chemistry book printed by the Princeton Review, it is made for the test, but has tons of info, and breaks it down to manegeable steps without overdoing the explanation, it is very straightforward. It also has practice questions and shows you how to do each and every question. Also you can go to your local bookstore (like Borders and Barnes and Nobles) and buy a sheet, more like a folder type of thing called SparkCharts, (they might be another brand). They are all on this rack that turns, they have them in Chemistry, Physiology, Nursing, Stats, English, etc. It has tons of facts on it, that you can go to quickly for help or too get a fact that you need to complete a problem. I also think you can go to SparkCharts.com to get them. They are about 5 dollars each.

Thanks! That's perfect. Does anyone know of any other books I can use that would also be helpful?

[CritterLover]

The only thing I can really add is to be sure you are comfortable with algebra. Several of the RNs where I work are going back to get their BSN, and I often help them with chemistry. I've noticed that they frequently get hung up in the math, and then they can't concentrate on the chemistry concepts. Good Luck!

[blue eyes]

Originally Posted by z's playa

What do you mean it wasn't examinable?

Just means a question on balancing chemical equations wouldn't be on the exam. However, there was a question on one of the MCQ quizzes (we have the quizzes after completing each topic) on balancing chemical equations, so it wasn't left out entirely.