Summer vacation is a time to relax and unwind, but students enrolled in advanced placement (or AP for short) classes for the coming school year are already planning for the exciting challenge that awaits them. It’s never too early to start thinking about the standardized AP exams you’ll have to take at the end of the year to get college credit for your class. These exams are rigorous, and the one for AP chemistry is notoriously tough for many students. That’s why we’ve put together this updated 2020 guide to help you find the best AP chemistry review book so that you’re ready when the big day arrives.
Why Use an AP Chemistry Review Book?
Why wouldn’t you want a comprehensive study guide to help you prepare for one of the toughest exams you will take in high school? You’re going to be studying anyway, so it makes sense to use an AP chemistry review that is actually designed with your particular exam in mind.
Besides from learning chemistry, we are aware that acing exams is also important for students.
The best AP chemistry study guides are updated each year to reflect the changes that are sometimes made to the AP chem exam, and they are a great value, especially when you consider how much more efficient your study plan will be. It’s definitely cheaper than the college chemistry class you’ll have to take if you don’t pass!
If instead of AP chemistry exams, you are preparing the chemistry SAT subject test, check of this other guide.
Furthermore, all the 2020 edition has been recently released for most of these review books. Get your hands now in a completely updated text and get ready to ace your AP chemistry exam in 2020!
As a side note, if you are simply interested in “self-learning” chemistry, check out this other review on the best chemistry books for self study.
The Best AP Chemistry Review Book for 2020
Let’s cut right to the chase with what is, in our opinion, your best choice for an AP review book this year: Cracking the AP Chemistry Exam 2020 Premium Edition: Practice Tests & Proven Techniques to Help You Score a 5, from The Princeton Review.
Why we like Princeton Review’s AP chemistry book:
Cracking the AP Chemistry Exam 2020 checks all the boxes for us. The study guide is well organized, follows the most updated AP chem curriculum, and offers good advice on creating a study plan and test taking skills. Information in the book is clear and concise, and the publisher has a solid track record of eliminating content that no longer appears on the exam.
Each chapter ends with some multiple choice and free response questions for you to practice and test your understanding. In addition, the book includes two full-length practice tests with questions that are similar to what you’ll see on exam day. Among the two editions (regular and premium), we recommend going directly for the premium one, since it has a lot of extra practice activities. See each review below for more information.
Summary Table
In the following table, you can see a general overview and do a quick comparison between the different review books available.
You have not decided yet? Keep reading!
Top 10 AP Chem Books to Consider
You have plenty of options to help you study for your AP chemistry final. Here, we have a top 10 list of the best AP chemistry textbooks, review books and related resources.
Cracking the AP Chemistry Exam 2020 Edition: Practice Tests & Proven Techniques to Help You Score a 5
For years, this study guide from The Princeton Review has stood out because of its balance between comprehensive information and efficient studying, and it’s our top pick for many reasons. Explanations in the content review and practice test solutions are concise without bogging you down in unnecessary details. With end-of-chapter questions and two full-length practice exams, you’ll have a good idea of what to expect on test day.
Strengths of this book are:
- Good advice on study strategies
- Targeted test taking skills for the different types of questions
- Full “main concept” review based on the latest AP chem curriculum
- Online tools including updates to planned changes for the 2020 course and exam
- Numerous and varied practice questions with complete explanations
- No outdated content that no longer appears on the exam
With these strengths in mind, the conciseness that some students see as an advantage in this book might be a drawback for others. If you require more in-depth explanations of the material or more detailed solutions to calculation-heavy practice problems, a different book might be better for you.
Even if you choose another book as your primary resource, we would strongly recommend Cracking the AP Chemistry Exam 2020 as a supplement based on the quality of the practice exams alone.
Barron’s AP Chemistry with Online Tests
This book is another longtime favorite among students thanks to a generous amount of practice questions, online content, and very detailed concept explanations.
Advantages of Barron’s review book:
- Lot of practice questions, 3 practice tests and 3 online tests
- 3 diagnostic tests to identify weak areas
- Detailed review and explanations
- Tips on answering free response questions
However, people who have used this ninth edition (as well as previous ones) complain that there are errors in the study guide, practice problems and answer keys. Although there are many practice tests, the questions can feel repetitive, focusing too heavily on certain concepts at the expense of others. Finally, this publisher only releases new editions every two years, so it is likely not as up to date as Princeton Review; depending on how you look at it, this book either overprepares you for the exam or wastes your time with material that you will not actually need.
If you choose to use Barron’s AP Chemistry, make sure you study the content review in addition to doing the practice tests to fill in any gaps. We would also suggest getting the companion flashcards.
Barron’s AP Chemistry Flash Cards Third Edition
These are intended as a complement to Barron’s AP Chemistry textbook. Among the various flashcard options available for this course, these are some of the best rated, and students have found them quite helpful. If you like reviewing with flashcards, this could be a useful study tool for you, but it isn’t a replacement for the full-length practice exams you find in the book.
It is a very good idea to use these cards to supplement what is covered in the Barron’s textbook. Some students complain of gaps in the concepts covered in Barron’s practice tests and review material, and this is one way to try to fill in those gaps.
AP Chemistry Crash Course Second Edition Book + Online
This book is exactly what it says it is: a crash course. It’s great for a quick review with material that has a very narrow focus on what actually appears on the final exam, as well as helpful strategies for answering the different types of questions.
Because of its laser focus on the exam, if you want a study guide that can also help you throughout the school year with assignments and your teacher’s tests, you will probably need another book instead of or in addition to this one. The explanations are complete but also concise, and they might skip over things your teacher covers in class because they aren’t important on the AP chem final.
On the downside, the latest edition released for this book was in 2014, and the official curriculum and test content has changed since then. It is also lacking in practice questions, which are very important to feel prepared on the day of the exam. But for a cheap price, it wouldn’t hurt to use AP Chemistry Crash Course as a supplement.
Cracking the AP Chemistry Exam 2020 Premium Edition: 5 Practice Tests + Complete Content Review
You may recognize the title from #1 on this list. This is, in fact, the premium edition of the same book. What does that mean? It has all the pros and cons described in that first review: comprehensive content review of all the topics that are tested under the current curriculum, test taking tips, study strategies, updates on course changes for the 2020 school year, practice questions of various types at the end of each chapter, etc.
What makes this edition “premium” is that is has extra practice tests. Whereas the standard edition comes with two full-length practice exams, this premium edition comes with four tests in the book itself and a fifth one available online. Just like in the standard edition, all the premium edition practice tests come with detailed answer explanations.
Two tests may very well be enough for some students, but this is an excellent alternative if you are someone who doesn’t believe there’s such a thing as being overprepared.
Sterling Test Prep 2020 AP Chemistry Practice Questions: High Yield AP Chemistry Questions & Review
The highlight of Sterling Test Prep 2020 AP Chemistry is right on the front cover: “Higher score guaranteed!” They claim to offer a money back guarantee, but there is little further explanation except that they value customer feedback and answer all emails. More promising is the fact that they offer a small reward to anyone who reports a mistake, typo or grammatical error, so the quality of the material is very high.
But it’s very important to realize that this book is not a content review book. It contains diagnostic tests and 900 practice questions will full explanations, but that’s all. If you want material to read through before taking a practice exam, you will need to supplement. You could use another book from this list, or you could use Sterling Test Prep’s companion book, AP Chemistry Complete Content Review.
If your opinion on practice questions is “the more, the better”, this book might be right up your alley. And if you want even more questions, you can purchase access to Sterling’s online test platform, at a discounted price if you have purchased the book. But be prepared to buy additional materials if you want to study the content before practicing.
One last caveat to this review book: the practice questions are all multiple choice. A significant portion of the AP chemistry exam will be written response, so if that is a concern for you, this might not be your ideal study resource.
5 Steps to a 5: AP Chemistry 2020
This is another highly rated review book for AP chemistry that offers a good balance of conceptual information, study strategies, and practice opportunities. If you have ruled out our #1 choice for whatever reason, this would probably be our second pick.
5 Steps to a 5 is well organized and aligns with the 2020 AP curriculum, focusing on material that you will need to know for the final exam. Its content review is complete and easy to understand, and each chapter includes important equations, a glossary, and practice questions.
Probably the most impressive thing about this option is its “cross-platform prep course”. It caters to digital natives by offering two practice exams in the book, two more online, and a mobile app that students can use to create a study plan (although the study planner app can be a bit glitchy). Plus, the platform provides you with “powerful analytics you can use to assess your test readiness”, as well as flashcards and games.
5 Steps to a 5: AP Chemistry 2020 Elite Student Edition
Same as the previous book, but with a fun extra feature to help reinforce material every day during the school year. In addition to the book/online/study planner app (what the publisher calls their “cross-platform prep course”), you also get access to the “5 Minutes to a 5” tool.
This premium feature gives you 180 bitesize reinforcement activities (one for each day of school) to help you study a little bit every day. Obviously, this is a better way to prepare for the exam than cramming at the last minute, but it is most useful if you buy it early in the school year. If finals are right around the corner and you’re just starting to look for an AP chemistry review book, you might be better off with the regular edition of 5 Steps to a 5.
Zumdahl, Zumdahl & DeCoste’s Chemistry Tenth Edition
This is more of an AP chemistry textbook than a review book. Strictly speaking, it’s a college chemistry textbook, which explains the price. We have also previously disclosed some exhaustive reviews of the best organic chemistry textbooks. College textbooks are infamous for their exorbitant costs. However, if you want to be able to explore chemistry in depth and the textbook your teacher is using doesn’t meet your expectations, Zumdahl’s Chemistry is an option to consider.
Furthermore, science books like these usually don’t change much from one edition to the next, so if you can find an older edition at a lower price, there’s probably no harm in choosing it over the latest version.
You might also want to go all-in and go for one of the best general chemistry textbooks that we reviewed. This option will be great if you plan in taking chemistry courses in college!
Study Guide for Zumdahl, Zumdahl & DeCoste’s Chemistry Tenth Edition
If you decide to spring for Zumdahl’s Chemistry textbook, you might also like to take a look at its companion study guide. It’s not very useful on its own, but combined with the main book it will help you stay engaged and give you some guidance in what would otherwise be a very independent learning process.
Final Thoughts on Choosing the Best AP Chemistry Review Book
You’ve got many and varied options to study for your AP chem final with this top 10 list of review books. Everyone’s needs are different, but we can recommend The Princeton Review’s Cracking the AP Chemistry Exam 2020 as a great resource that will be helpful and accessible for most students, or the premium edition for even more practice exams.
Along with the premium editions of 5 Steps to a 5 and Cracking the AP Chemistry Exam 2020, we add as our top complementary recommendation Zumdhal’s Chemistry textbook, filling up the top 3 choices. Keep in mind that, even if you buy Zumdhal’s Chemistry, you will still need one of the two first ones to prepare for the actual exam.
With these picks, you’ll get more bang for your buck compared to Barron’s or Sterling, which work best when supplemented with additional study tools.
Whatever you choose to help you prepare, order your study materials now (or preorder the 2020 edition if applicable) and use them as a guide throughout the school year. Best of luck!
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