Wendy Pitt reviews this student book

AS chemistry for AQA student book
Nigel Saunders and Angela Saunders with Sandra Clinton, Max Parsonage and Emma Poole
Oxford: OUP 2008 | Pp272 | £20.00 | ISBN 978 0 19 915273 5
Reviewed by Wendy Pitt

AS chemistry for AQA student book cover

This student book for the new AQA AS specification in chemistry starting in September 2008 is 'student-friendly', setting out the chapters in an order that mimics the specification and presenting the information in double-page spreads. 

The book is attractively illustrated with clear diagrams and colour photographs. A circular icon identifies the 'How science works' sections that are integrated throughout the book (as the specification intends this new component to be). For each double-page spread, what should already be known by the student is briefly described prior to the objectives for that particular spread. 

Throughout the text there are questions encouraging the reader to 'Check your understanding' with numerical answers to problems given at the back of the book, along with a helpful glossary. For answers to the tasks that require descriptions and explanations the student will need to refer to the accompanying CD-ROM eBook - a digital version of the student book. On accessing the disc the instructions on how to use it are given on page three, though it would have been more helpful to have had these on the first screen viewed. The disc is for use by the student and it is not possible to copy, network or print any of its content. In addition to supplying answers, the eBook will be of value to the student 'travelling light' who wants to access the textbook's content. Further, the eBook could be used by the teacher to project images onto a screen for class discussions.

Overall, this book does what it sets out to do, presenting all that the student needs to know for this specification in an attractive manner. Although part of a suite of resources for the AS course, I do not think the teacher or school/college chemistry department need to buy the planning and resource pack (priced £350 + VAT) for the book to be useful to the learner.