Books for Prep | |
 - ok but inadequateIf you plan on taking the chemistry GRE, you should probably get this book. It is fairly inexpensive. However, it isn't as good as it should be and isn't worth much more. The book explain the test and goes over almost all the key material on the exam. It includes one full length practice exam that is unavailable online. It also has a few other practice problems. These are the key reasons to get the book. The downsides are numerous. They basically mean that you need additional preparation. If you have your old text books and notes, they'd help a lot, but I didn't save mine. The book has maybe a dozen errors in it, which can be quite confusing. It really should have been through another printing by now to fix those. It contains only one practice test which i find inadequate. I'd like 5 in total and only two are available online, the offical ETS practice book, and one of the old ETS practice books. This book should have maybe 2 more practice exams in it. Basically, get the book, be careful of the errors, but don't be foolish and think you can rely on this book alone. Rating: - Good place to start, but shouldn't be your only resourceWhile I have been impressed with the Princeton Review materials before, their chemistry review book is a bit lacking. This would be a good book to go through maybe a month or two before the exam, but for GRE studying, the most helpful resources are always practice exams, and the one with this book is definitely much easier than the real thing. Rating:  - Not HelpfulYou would like to think that Princeton Review would do a good job with something like this, but it's pretty miserable. It's obvious that they just hired some first year grad student to write it. The organic section consists of a list of reactions with little to no explanation. No mechanisms are involved and it's just expected that you memorize all 50 some pages of mechanisms. The physical section is absolutely miserable and they don't seem to want to stick to a sign convention when they talk about thermodynamics. The analytical section is not comprehensive. Rating:  - Work in ProgressI used this book to study for the Chemistry GRE. It definitely helped me but it needs alot of work. There are too many errors and the organic section seemed like just a big list of reactions, rather than any system for understanding it. PR needs to add way more practice problems and practice tests, also. This would make it far more useful. I wish they kept refining it and I wish there were some competitors to this book! Rating: - Many mistakes and a lot fo material missingAfter taking the practice test and going through the book, I found a lot of material to be missing. And the material that is goes through, it provides over complicated explanation that you will never need to know. Not to mention so many mistakes and typos that it almost offends me and I got this book for free. If you are looking to study for Chem GRE, find another resource. If this book is one of many others then its ok. page 1 of 2
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