“In class yesterday, I showed my friends these notes from last week’s tutoring;
they were really jealous and asked where I got them.”
~ Gus, physics student
Tired of guessing which Google search result you should click to finally find a complete, straightforward answer to your question? Good news!
Get access to the meticulous notes that I provide to my students
so they know exactly what to know for this week’s quiz.
Complete with definitions, charts, outlines, and concise explanations targeted to the test questions teachers love to ask. These notes have everything you need and nothing you don’t, all in a handy format.
Achieve the deep understanding that makes memorization nearly effortless. |
These notes build on the notes that I personally created years ago as a straight-A IB/AP student to help me breeze through every test. Loaded with mnemonics and tips. Thorough but still easy to follow. Essential for a solid foundation. |
Speed up your learning and build long-term understanding by grabbing my study guides below. Risk-free: if you’re not delighted by how useful the study guide is, I’ll refund you 100%, no questions asked.
Chemistry study guides
Suitable for intro high school chemistry, AP Chemistry, IB Chemistry, college general chemistry, pre-med, and MCAT
Ultimate Guide to Memorizing Polyatomic Ions: The only study guide for the polyatomic ions’ names and formulas you’ll ever need.
+ Includes 40+ polyatomic ions like carbonate, nitrate, phosphate, and ammonium. (Full list here.)
+ Grouped logically so you can easily cross out any ions your teacher isn’t asking you to memorize.
+ Packed with valuable memorization tips built into the compound names and chemical formulas.
✓ Formatted beautifully with color-coding for quick, easy reference throughout the year.
✓ Excellent for last-minute cramming (not that I condone that but hey, I’m glad you’re trying).
★ Most of my students have their list down pat in under 30 minutes!
If you’re overwhelmed by how to memorize the polyatomic ions list that your teacher dumped on you, you don’t need to just find a Quizlet and hope for the best. Skilled learners notice groupings and patterns that make memorization easy, and with this simple polyatomic ions chart, you can too! (If you already spotted a pattern or two, I bet you’ll still find a few lifesavers in this study guide.)
Ultimate Guide to Naming Ionic and Molecular Compounds (including acids!): The only study guide you’ll ever need for the rules for naming chemical compounds. (Until you get to organic chemistry, anyway.)
+ Includes how to tell if a compound is ionic or molecular.
+ Notes which transition metals need Roman numerals in their ion’s name.
+ Lists the numerical prefixes for molecular compounds (1 through 10).
✓ Formatted beautifully for quick, easy reference throughout the year.
✓ Excellent for last-minute cramming (not that I condone that but hey, I’m glad you’re trying).
If the instructions you were given are any more complicated than this, I promise you they boil down to this set of easy guidelines. No more guessing; just follow the flowchart! You can confidently know the formula for calcium oxide, iron (III) chloride, dinitrogen pentoxide, and any other compound that could show up on a test, with this study guide.
Ultimate Guide to the Solubility Rules: The only study guide you’ll ever need for the solubility rules for ionic compounds.
+ Includes how to tell if a compound is soluble or insoluble.
+ Notes exceptions to the solubility rules.
✓ Formatted beautifully for quick, easy reference throughout the year.
✓ Excellent for last-minute cramming (not that I condone that but hey, I’m glad you’re trying).
If you keep stumbling on how to use the solubility rules, I got you. This study guide organizes the solubility rules into a clear chart and indicates in what order to apply them. No more losing points for not knowing the precipitate in a net ionic equation! You can confidently determine the solubility of any compound that could show up on a test, with this study guide.
Ultimate Guide to VSEPR Theory (Molecular Geometry): The only reference sheet for the VSEPR molecular geometries you will ever need.
+ Includes how to know a central atom’s hybridization (sp, sp2, sp3, sp3d, sp3d2) and bond angles.
+ Packed with valuable memorization tips and visualization help for the molecule shapes.
+ Explains AXE notation.
✓ Formatted beautifully for quick, easy reference throughout the year.
✓ Excellent for last-minute cramming (not that I condone that but hey, I’m glad you’re trying).
If your teacher gave you a VSEPR geometry chart that is impossible to make heads or tails of, you need this guide. This study guide organizes the electron geometries into clear groups and indicates in what order you should think through them. No more mixing up trigonal pyramidal and trigonal planar! Once you’ve drawn a compound’s Lewis dot structure, you can instantly work out its molecular geometry, with this study guide.
Guide to the History of Atomic Theory (Dalton, Thomson, Millikan, Rutherford, Bohr): A refreshingly simple cheat sheet for keeping straight the experiments, discoveries, and theories about the structure of the atom.
+ Describes Thomson’s plum-pudding model and the Bohr model.
+ Outlines the discoveries of Thomson’s cathode-ray experiment, Millikan’s oil-drop experiment, and Rutherford’s gold-foil experiment.
+ Lists Dalton’s postulates (BONUS: and what fact disproves each one!).
✓ Formatted beautifully for quick, easy reference throughout the year.
✓ Excellent for last-minute cramming (not that I condone that but hey, I’m glad you’re trying).
If you keep mixing up who did what experiment and who discovered what about the atom, this little cheat sheet will set you straight. It omits the mechanics of each experiment, because your teacher is unlikely to test you on that, and focuses on the essentials: the name of each scientist, the name of their experiment, and the discoveries and atomic theories associated with each one. You’ll clinch any atomic history quiz question because you can rattle off each experiment’s scientist and discoveries, using this study guide.
Biology study guides
Suitable for intro high school biology, AP Biology, IB Biology, intro college biology, pre-med, and MCAT
Ultimate Guide to Memorizing the Amino Acids (coming soon!)
Ultimate Guide to the “DNA Is Genetic Material” Experiments (Griffith, Avery-MacLeod-McCarty, and Hershey-Chase): The only study guide you’ll ever need for the experiments that proved that DNA is the molecule of heredity.
+ Outlines the steps of each experiment and their significance.
+ Explains why Hershey and Chase used a blender and radioactive labels in their experiment.
+ Defines the difference between bacteria and viruses.
✓ Formatted beautifully for quick, easy reference throughout the year.
✓ Excellent for last-minute cramming (not that I condone that but hey, I’m glad you’re trying).
If you keep mixing up who did what experiment to discover that DNA is the molecular basis of inheritance, these notes will set you straight. This step-by-step summary makes clear how each experiment arrived at its conclusions to contribute to the understanding that DNA is the carrier of genetic information. You’ll nail any question on the discovery of DNA as genetic material, using this study guide.
Other math and science study guides
Ultimate Guide to Memorizing the Geologic Time Scale (coming soon!)
Ultimate Guide to First-Order Logic Formulas (coming soon!)
Tutoring with Stephanie 