Chemistry Resources review

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Solid 9/10. Love the author, love the questions, love the style of learning.
- To be honest, the chapters are kinda mediocre. They're good to briefly read as revision, and they're definitely better than Pearson, but other than that, they aren't too great.
- Their sets are long. But the extended questions are where its at, and their answers are top-tier. Would definitely recommend tackling Lucarelli first when learning a new topic, just as consolidation and getting used to the style of questions for said topic.
- Overall, Lucarelli (Essential Chemistry is its official name, btw) is a great buy.

8/10. The best way in getting better in chemistry (well I think so anyways, its not working out too well for me... :( ) is doing practice papers. Just remember to be harsh on yourself if you don't have a marking key, and in general don't be generous to yourself.

7/10. It fulfils its purpose as a revision guide, but that's all.
- Its short summary pages suck. The diagrams and stuff are decent, but the rest is either common knowledge or things you probably should know already ~~unless you haven't been studying~~.
- Review questions are mediocre. Good for some quick revision though. But don't rely on the answers. Let them guide you to the correct solution, but use your common sense on how much marks the question is/how long the answer should be. This depends on the topic.
- Trial tests are awesome. They somewhat correlate to the difficulty of actual tests, and always come with an answer key.
- Overall, I recommend buying the book, only because its trial tests are great.

Man, I hate this book.
5/10. Don't bother reading through the experiments, the sets are where its at.
- STAWA sets are repetitive, boring, and lengthy. Good for some topics, not good for others.
- DO NOT READ THE ANSWERS FOR STAWA SETS. THEY ARE ALMOST ALWAYS WRONG.
- Try and find 'worked solutions for STAWA' online or from your friends.
- Overall, I would recommend trying to find an online copy of STAWA, but buying it is a last resort. For some reason, my hard copy's binder just disintegrated within mere weeks of buying it. That probably explains my negative attitude towards the book...

I have nightmares thinking about Pearson chapters...
3/10. I absolutely hate this book. It has no merits, yet for some reason all schools recommend buying it.
- Questions suck. That's all. Questions like "3. Why does Australia store more water per person than any other country?" (pg 344, Chapter 15.1 Review) fill me with dread. Their answers aren't better either.
- Reading through some of these chapters are what I recall as some of the worst hours of my life. Having learned about 'flocculation' and fluoridation, and how Sodium Hexafluoride is added to drinking water to supposedly "harden tooth enamel", I think its safe to say this book is horrible.
- Overall, you may end up buying it because it's required by your school. But please, try avoiding buying it at all costs. Do not give the people who wrote it any more money.