ATAR Notes: Forum

VCE Stuff => VCE Science => VCE Mathematics/Science/Technology => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Chemistry => Topic started by: Ematuro on February 04, 2011, 04:31:58 pm

Title: Hardest textbook?
Post by: Ematuro on February 04, 2011, 04:31:58 pm
Anyone know which textbook has the most difficult questions? Or the best questions to work out of? I've got a good teacher who explains concepts really well so now I'm just trying to find a good textbook to work out of so I'd like some insight thanks xD
Title: Re: Hardest textbook?
Post by: Greatness on February 04, 2011, 04:55:01 pm
I hear heinamann is quite good.
Title: Re: Hardest textbook?
Post by: pi on February 04, 2011, 05:59:08 pm
Heinemann
Title: Re: Hardest textbook?
Post by: azngirl456 on February 04, 2011, 06:14:52 pm
My teacher says heinemann has the best questions.

Even though the explanations are written in quite simplistic language.
Title: Re: Hardest textbook?
Post by: m@tty on February 04, 2011, 07:27:14 pm
Eh, I never did textbook questions. They were fairly useless, I found. I used Heinemann too..
Title: Re: Hardest textbook?
Post by: luken93 on February 04, 2011, 08:53:37 pm
Eh, I never did textbook questions. They were fairly useless, I found. I used Heinemann too..
what DID you do then?
Checkpoints or prac exams from the start?
Title: Re: Hardest textbook?
Post by: Massofbubbles on February 04, 2011, 09:18:49 pm
Eh, I never did textbook questions. They were fairly useless, I found. I used Heinemann too..

Agreed. I also used Heinemann, and thought the questions were of a pretty low standard.
Personally, I'd recommend the Neap books then Checkpoints.
Title: Re: Hardest textbook?
Post by: m@tty on February 04, 2011, 09:54:02 pm
Eh, I never did textbook questions. They were fairly useless, I found. I used Heinemann too..
what DID you do then?
Checkpoints or prac exams from the start?

ahaha, that's a secret.. ;)

I got lazy with checkpoints too. :)

I just read and understood the material, and answered a few questions here, then did 10-15 practice exams for each semester.
Title: Re: Hardest textbook?
Post by: Readinya on February 04, 2011, 10:35:08 pm
Take a look here:

http://vce.atarnotes.com/forum/index.php/topic,34320.0.html

(my first poll - so proud ^_^)
Title: Re: Hardest textbook?
Post by: Ematuro on February 05, 2011, 01:17:32 pm
wow Heinemann wins by a long shot LOL. By the way, would there be any recommended uni chemistry books that are quite relevant to the VCE course that I could use as well? I've heard learning further ahead of the VCE course helps deepen our understanding so I'd like to check it out for myself.
Title: Re: Hardest textbook?
Post by: pi on February 05, 2011, 01:20:52 pm
wow Heinemann wins by a long shot LOL. By the way, would there be any recommended uni chemistry books that are quite relevant to the VCE course that I could use as well? I've heard learning further ahead of the VCE course helps deepen our understanding so I'd like to check it out for myself.

I sometimes use a book by Raymond Chang called 'Chemistry'
Title: Re: Hardest textbook?
Post by: JoannaMay on February 10, 2011, 09:19:15 pm
My school uses Heinemann too, but our chemistry teacher recommends we also do questions from Nelson and also Study On. I really like the Study On questions, and I like the Nelson explanations, which I think are very clear.
Title: Re: Hardest textbook?
Post by: nacho on February 10, 2011, 09:40:19 pm
If you're looking for challenging questions, i suggest you try Neap and TSFX, textbooks aren't exactly designed to be 'challenging', they're just a resources to develop your foundations.
I use nelson though, it's quite good, heinemann is also pretty good.
Title: Re: Hardest textbook?
Post by: pi on February 10, 2011, 10:16:43 pm
^^ TSFX questions are fairly basic btw. NEAP is much better.
Title: Re: Hardest textbook?
Post by: Ematuro on February 10, 2011, 11:07:47 pm
But are TSFX better than textbooks at least? Also, where would I get NEAP questions from? The NEAP study guide?
Title: Re: Hardest textbook?
Post by: pi on February 11, 2011, 07:56:44 pm
But are TSFX better than textbooks at least? Also, where would I get NEAP questions from? The NEAP study guide?

Yep the NEAP study guides. TSFX has more concise notes, but thats about it.
Title: Re: Hardest textbook?
Post by: m@tty on February 11, 2011, 08:07:29 pm
Geez, you think TSFX is concise? They were almost as long as the textbook minus most of the fluff (case studies and the like/irrelevant content). If you want short and sweet notes, get A+. Seriously, they're concise.
Title: Re: Hardest textbook?
Post by: azngirl456 on February 12, 2011, 05:11:17 pm
If you're looking for challenging questions, i suggest you try Neap and TSFX, textbooks aren't exactly designed to be 'challenging', they're just a resources to develop your foundations.
I use nelson though, it's quite good, heinemann is also pretty good.

Tsfx just copies their questions from old vcaa exams. On the other hand, neap pay teachers to write the questions for their books. So neap is better in terms of exams and questions
Title: Re: Hardest textbook?
Post by: huaxiadragon on February 13, 2011, 07:53:26 pm
Do the heinemann questions to get you started.
Then do some of the review (heinemann has horrifically long reviews)

ONCE you did, go do checkpoints and selected questions from past papers.