I'm thinking of studying of the summer for some of my subjects next year so I'll have time to do other stuff (read: starcraft).

So, does anyone have any textbook recommendations for AP chem and AP Gov? I feed I need to prepare for chem more though.

Also, someone already recommended Giancoli for entry level physics, but if anyone has any more to say (or have used Giancoli's), it'll be appreciated.

And someone said OPAC (not sure what the abbr. stood for) was good for introductory philosophy. Any thoughts?

Is AP stats hard? I'm pretty confident in math but my friends say it's more like an English course (??).

clazziquai

6685 Posts

June 30 2009 08:05 GMT

If you're going to prepare for the AP tests, wouldn't the AP prep books usually be your best bet? Like Princeton Review, Cliff, SparkNotes, etc.

Wala.Revolution

7584 Posts

June 30 2009 08:14 GMT

On June 30 2009 17:05 clazziquai wrote:
If you're going to prepare for the AP tests, wouldn't the AP prep books usually be your best bet? Like Princeton Review, Cliff, SparkNotes, etc.

Nah, they're aren't through and isn't really useful for learning the material for the first time.

Plus, I want pretty pictures =D

Dead9

United States4725 Posts

June 30 2009 08:31 GMT

AP Chem is a pain :[
Our school used the Ebbing-Gammon book for Chem, and it was fairly good
A lot of it was memorizing crap (the periodic table, formulas, solubility rules, compound names <- seriously, these are such a pain)
I still remember that one of the more important tables was on page 66 (compound names, we used them for the whole year)

We got the Giancoli book for physics, but I've literally never opened it; our teacher provided us with notes
If you're confident in your algebra, Physics should be a breeze, since most of it is fairly intuitive until you get to the second half of your year (light makes no sense =\)

I've heard that AP Stats is fairly easy (as in most of it is understanding the questions -> simple algebra, which may be why your friend says it's more like an english course), but I've never taken it myself
My friend said he probably spent more time memorizing terms than actually doing math =\

caldo149

United States469 Posts

June 30 2009 10:01 GMT

I don't know much about the textbooks, but I do know about AP Stats since I took it already.
From my experience, some people think it's hard and some don't. It's all a matter of perspective. I didn't think it was.
It basically entailed a lot of terminology several formulas. A lot of the time you'll find yourself doing some simple math and then writing a whole paragraph explaining what it means in terms of the given situation. Your interpretation is very important, and even one word can make it have a completely different meaning so you'll really have to understand what you're doing.

Kentor

United States5784 Posts

June 30 2009 10:59 GMT

AP Chem ownedddddddd.

My school used the textbook by Zumdahl, he's pretty easy to understand.

Judicator

United States7270 Posts

June 30 2009 13:08 GMT

On June 30 2009 19:59 Kentor wrote:
AP Chem ownedddddddd.

My school used the textbook by Zumdahl, he's pretty easy to understand.

Zumdahl for AP Chem, that one is pretty legit.

Giancoli is alright for Physics, I personally didn't like the book since I felt he overcomplicated some concepts needlessly, but most of my friends disagree with me.

Carnivorous Sheep

Baa?21244 Posts

June 30 2009 15:15 GMT

Zumdahl AP Chem is the way to go.

DO NOT USE GIANCOLI. Fuck that book sucked.

I also highly recommend Campbell for biology.

doghunter

United States23 Posts

June 30 2009 15:15 GMT

Don't bother with IUPAC, at least until you've gone through a couple introductory texts...

Chem - Zumdahl
Physics - Halliday
Bio - Campbell

Judicator

United States7270 Posts

June 30 2009 15:32 GMT

#10

On July 01 2009 00:15 doghunter wrote:
Don't bother with IUPAC, at least until you've gone through a couple introductory texts...

Chem - Zumdahl
Physics - Halliday
Bio - Campbell

Halliday is no. The book is so cursory and inadequate that it's not even funny.

Wala.Revolution

7584 Posts

June 30 2009 21:51 GMT

#11

On July 01 2009 00:15 Carnivorous Sheep wrote:
Zumdahl AP Chem is the way to go.

DO NOT USE GIANCOLI. Fuck that book sucked.

I also highly recommend Campbell for biology.

Could you elaborate why Giancoli sucked? I had some reservasation because it was too flamboyant(?) but it didn't seem bad.

Seems like many people recommend Zumdahl for AP chem so I'll go with that.

I already took AP Bio and didn't use Campbell but it was okay.

Thanks people.

Kentor

United States5784 Posts

July 01 2009 01:04 GMT

#12

I had Giancoli for Physics in Freshman year. But I hated Physics in general so my opinion about the book would be biased.

I do feel like a lot of physics books that I've used do not have enough examples, and the questions they ask in the back expect you to have a "leap" of understanding more shit than they explain.

God I hated that... I couldn't do a lot of the medium to hard problems problem unless I looked at the solution manual. Then I'm like what the fuck when did they show this or how am I supposed to know this?

R3condite

Korea (South)1541 Posts

July 01 2009 04:27 GMT

#13

On June 30 2009 17:14 Wala.Revolution wrote:

Show nested quote +

Nah, they're aren't through and isn't really useful for learning the material for the first time.

Plus, I want pretty pictures =D

iono how you've been studying for you AP's but take this advice from a seasoned AP test taker, read PR initially to break you into the subject and then usually Barrons wraps everything up nicely

this will of course in now way replace ur actually class of course... but will help you out tremendously