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LONGMAN WRITE-ON NOTES, CHEMISTRY 7,
2ND EDITION, by Anne Wignall and Terry Wales; Longman, 1998; 128 pp; $12.95

Reviewed by Alex Houliston

The new version of this useful aid to the Year 13 Bursary chemistry student has incorporated some welcome improvements. It retains the previous attributes of reducing note-taking and provides facility for revision and the addition of complementary notes from classroom activities. The punched A4 pages can be removed and incorporated with other material in a ring binder. This edition has made this easier to do by shortening the chapters and by starting new ones on separate pages.

There is an increase to 19 chapters which follow the Bursary prescription document. Beginning with radioactivity, other chapters include molecules, inorganic chemistry, phase changes, aqueous solutions, oxidation-reduction and organic chemistry. Separate chapters are devoted to volumetric analysis and electrochemistry. In addition there is a page on the names and symbols of ions which the average student would be expected to know, together with the naming of organic compounds. More information about the rules of naming would have been even better here.

A new feature which is also in the Year 12 equivalent is the "test yourself" exercises within each chapter. As a check on comprehension of the preceding material they are both useful and pertinent. The answers to these are now provided at the back of the booklet rather than in the teachers' guide as they were in early editions. A periodic table as approved by IUPAC in August 1997 is supplied at the back.

There are sample worked problems, recommended Bursary question references and additional questions (also with answers supplied). An additional peripheral benefit is that by purchasing this booklet a 15% discount is offered for another study and tutoring aid called StudyBuddy on CD-ROM. It is now available incorporating Electronic Longman Write-on Notes. This may be previewed at the Web site http://www.stemax.co.nz.

As in previous versions, the Write-on Notes relieve the student and teacher of tedious note-taking. This provides the opportunity for more time to be spent on practical laboratory work and the development of the links between theoretical concepts and problem-solving.

The active use of these notes is a necessity to obtain full value from them. The authors have intended them to be customised by the student by highlighting, inserting their working of solutions to problems and by writing extra notes in the lined margins provided on most pages. The answers given at the back of the booklet encourage the student to take more responsibility for developing their own problem-solving skills as well as assisting the teacher to save some time. The approach of this type of learning aid is to be recommended.

Alex Houliston teaches chemistry at Christchurch Girls' High School