Prepped & Polished SAT Instructor Anooj shows you how to ace your SAT Subject Test in Chemistry. Anooj scored an 800 on the SAT Chemistry Subject test, so pay close attention to his tips! In this video you will learn the following:
- How to study, take practice tests, and use flashcards
- Memorize key chemistry formulas
- Memorize important chemistry facts
This is Anooj from Prepped and Polished. I’m gonna give you three tips on how I got an 800 on the SAT II Chemistry exam.
Tip number one, studying, taking practice tests, and writing flashcards.
The first thing I would do is get your hands on a Barron’s or Princeton Review test prep book. Start going through the book, and focus on those content areas that are giving you the most trouble. Then, start immediately doing practice problems. As you get practice problems wrong, start to think about why you’re getting it wrong. Is it a key equation, a fact, or a concept that you’re just not getting? Write it down on your flashcard.
Next, practice tests. You wanna start taking practice tests at least three weeks before the day of your exam. Start with the Princeton Review or Barron’s test prep practice tests, and then, about a week or two weeks before, start using the College Board exams. Now, when you’re taking these practice tests, make sure you mark all those questions that you’re getting wrong, and build flashcards. With these flashcards, you wanna review them at least once a day, every day, leading up to the day of your exam.
Tip number two, formulas
For this tip, you wanna get a sheet of paper and write down every formula or equation tested on the SAT II Chemistry exam. For example, here I have the Henderson-Hasselbalch equation, pH equals pKa plus log, base over acid. Now, what I wanna do is think about how I need to manipulate this equation to solve for something I don’t know. If the question gives me pH and pKa, I wanna figure out how I can solve for the ratio of the concentration of base to acid. If it gave me pKa and the ratio of the concentration of base to acid, I need to be able to solve for pH. Go through all these different equations, and think about how I can solve for what I don’t know. Become very familiar manipulating these equations in all the aspects of them.
Tip three, memorize facts
The SAT II Chemistry exam tests facts all the time. Some of these include, “What color does barium glow when it’s burned over our various flame test colors?” Solubility rules, or intermolecular forces. You just wanna memorize them in order to figure out what’s soluble and what’s not. There’s no way around it besides just memorizing them. So make sure you go through every single element and figure out how it dissolves, whether it dissolves in certain solutions or not, and figure out what colors are attributed to what elements when they’re gone through the flame test or even solubility. Make sure you know all the intermolecular forces and even other facts that are not listed here. Write them down on your flashcards, and review them every single day leading up to the day of your exam.
And there you guys have it. The three tips on how to get an 800 on the SAT II Chemistry exam. Study, take practice tests, and write flashcards. Memorize all the formulas. Be comfortable manipulating them. Memorize all the key facts, flame test colors, solubility rules and intermolecular forces. For more information, check out preppedandpolished.com.
For more information, visit: Prepped and Polished.com.
What was your biggest takeaway from these tips? Do you have any questions for Anooj and Alexis Avila?
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