Chemistry textbooks

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>>9122706
http://4chan-science.wikia.com/wiki/Chemistry_Textbook_Recommendations

>>9122706
Don't bother.

I have just finished my MChem at Leeds and about to start my PhD - what you will learn at uni is nothing you could prep for because:

a) if it's a specific branch of chemistry you are interested in, for example organic synthesis, this is only one third of the course because there are organic/inorganic/physical courses that you need to learn and you will NOT enjoy or want to prep for all of them for fun.

b) this is probably the most important point, whatever you learn will probably not be on the curriculum. The professors all write their own exams depending on what they specialize on so there is no 'one introduction' that you could learn now that is good because the likelihood is it won't be on the course at all.

c) if you try to learn chemistry now, you just won't remember it. 2 weeks after every exam, I forget all of the content I've learnt, and so does everyone else. You learn the content for the exam and you apply it, then you forget it - learning content now won't put you at an advantage because:
i) you'll simply forget it
ii) you'll go over it in significantly more detail in the uni introductory lectures anyway

I understand you wanna be productive, but just relax while you can cos the content will hit you hard and fast when you actually start. It's pointless starting now, trust me from experience.

P.S. I also did a gap year before my chemistry course.

>>9122706
Go to your uni website, they have first year textbooks. First year is piss easy just a recap of a levels.

>>9122706
Atkins I believe is the standard book in the UK. It's fine, a bit wordy. Good for reference.

What are you gonna do in your gap year?

>>9123579
>if you try to learn chemistry now, you just won't remember it. 2 weeks after every exam
This dude is a major league brainlet, ignore him and if i were you flick through some Clayden organic chemistry if you can

I took a gap year too (which ended up lasting almost 16 months for personal reasons) and I'm doing pure Biology in Bongland.

Didn't really struggle when I came back so you shouldn't worry too much about it anon.

>>9124384
>Didn't really struggle when I came back
that's because you're doing biology, a non-science

>>9124228
>flick through some Clayden organic chemistry
You're the fucking brainlet, you're saying it like it's light reading. How can someone remember specific mechanisms (through "flicking through") and then remember them a year later? Chances are those mechanisms wouldn't even be on his curriculum anyway, as I was saying.

Just the advice of a chem graduate OP, I got a first class as well so take it or leave it I just thought it'd be helpful for you not to waste your time.

>>9123579
>I forget all of the content I've learnt
That's because you're worthless and didn't actually learn it.
>and so does everyone else
No they don't.

>>9122706
Any highschool textbook that's current (after 2014), at least or close to 1500 pages long, that covers general chem, quantum mechanics and general organic chem is what you're going to get out of your first semester of majoring in Chemistry.

Until you get to the point of branching in chem like org or phys or analy, there really isn't one "true" source of information, because half of what you learn will be from lecture notes, websites, software, videos, definitions and other texts anyway.

The same textbooks that are prescribed to high school students are the same for first semester uni students - and that's the whole point - because if you can't sit down and read 1500 pages on general chem and do all the practice questions, you'll never make it to the point of specialization; and most people don't, because the uni drop out rate for chem electives is close to twice the rate of chrm grads.