I am a huge believer in Jason's DVD sets. I stumbled across them a few years ago when looking for math supplements because I was returning to school after 12 years to get an engineering degree. With the aid of his DVDs, I have made it through all levels of calculus and a semester and a half of physics with a 4.0 GPA. I will be taking general chemistry next year and have started using this to get a jump on the concepts.
While the production style of Jason's DVDs has increased greatly (the first couple he put out was just his hand in front of a whiteboard), and now he has an entire studio he films in) his teaching style has remained the same. He assumes you know little to nothing about the actual subject. He just assumes that you have enough math knowledge to be taking the class, and works through the concepts breaking things down step by step.
What I love about his style is that he gives a bare-bones lecture and explains what you really know from the theory. He explains the subject without a lot of proofs or deriving of the formulas. He will occasionally derive formulas, but only when he thinks it is very helpful. Then he goes through several example problems and goes through them step by step so that you can follow the thought process. Which, as anyone who has taken a math or science class can tell you, knowing what to use and the process of how to use it are the most important things. He does a lot more spoon-feeding than your professor is likely to, and far more than the book ever will.
Some things to keep in mind. This is a supplement to, not a replacement for, going to class and doing homework. Even if you get all 4 volumes of his chemistry set, it is not likely going to cover all of what you are going to be exposed to in class. Given that chemistry books can be the size of a small phone book it is impossible to cram everything into one set. That is why he has been putting out multiple volumes since he started making DVDs full-time, but he still has to leave some out. The material in this volume will cover much of what you will get in regular high school chemistry (about 5 or 6 chapters) or the very basic chemistry class in college (the one that essentially crams a year of high school chemistry into one semester). If you are taking the class that is usually called General Chemistry in college (AP Chemistry in High school) however, this material will be covered early on in the class and in almost a review-like fashion in the first couple chapters of the book.
Jason picks the concepts that he feels are the most important ones to cover. I have noticed that many times the problems he works on are similar to what is asked on quizzes or tests, but not the only things that get asked say on a homework assignment. Similarly, he tends to show a range of problems from very easy, to moderately difficult. He usually does not show the hardest kinds of problems. So be aware that you may get homework problems, and sometimes even test problems more complex than what he shows here. But if you follow the strategies he gives for solving the problems you can usually figure out what to do one the harder ones.
The other thing I really like about these DVDs is that Jason follows the progression of the course. Yes, you can find lots of examples all over the internet of people doing problems, and I even look for those kinds of things when I am stuck on a problem if it is a type that Jason does not cover. But what Jason gives you here is like the pared-down lecture you would get in class in the order you will see the material presented. You can think of it as almost like a review day kind of lecture that you can watch over and over again. You do not have to go hunting for the material to learn it initially. It is easy to hunt for sample problems when you know what you are looking for, but another thing to find good explanations of the concepts which I think is important to have before you do problems.
Ultimately whether you are going to find these useful will depend on your learning style. No, you cannot interact and ask questions as you can in class or with a tutor, but you can watch the material as many times as you want until you get it. If you can learn from a video lecture, and use it wisely, it will absolutely help you understand the material and get better grades.
While the production style of Jason's DVDs has increased greatly (the first couple he put out was just his hand in front of a whiteboard), and now he has an entire studio he films in) his teaching style has remained the same. He assumes you know little to nothing about the actual subject. He just assumes that you have enough math knowledge to be taking the class, and works through the concepts breaking things down step by step.
What I love about his style is that he gives a bare-bones lecture and explains what you really know from the theory. He explains the subject without a lot of proofs or deriving of the formulas. He will occasionally derive formulas, but only when he thinks it is very helpful. Then he goes through several example problems and goes through them step by step so that you can follow the thought process. Which, as anyone who has taken a math or science class can tell you, knowing what to use and the process of how to use it are the most important things. He does a lot more spoon-feeding than your professor is likely to, and far more than the book ever will.
Some things to keep in mind. This is a supplement to, not a replacement for, going to class and doing homework. Even if you get all 4 volumes of his chemistry set, it is not likely going to cover all of what you are going to be exposed to in class. Given that chemistry books can be the size of a small phone book it is impossible to cram everything into one set. That is why he has been putting out multiple volumes since he started making DVDs full-time, but he still has to leave some out. The material in this volume will cover much of what you will get in regular high school chemistry (about 5 or 6 chapters) or the very basic chemistry class in college (the one that essentially crams a year of high school chemistry into one semester). If you are taking the class that is usually called General Chemistry in college (AP Chemistry in High school) however, this material will be covered early on in the class and in almost a review-like fashion in the first couple chapters of the book.
Jason picks the concepts that he feels are the most important ones to cover. I have noticed that many times the problems he works on are similar to what is asked on quizzes or tests, but not the only things that get asked say on a homework assignment. Similarly, he tends to show a range of problems from very easy, to moderately difficult. He usually does not show the hardest kinds of problems. So be aware that you may get homework problems, and sometimes even test problems more complex than what he shows here. But if you follow the strategies he gives for solving the problems you can usually figure out what to do one the harder ones.
The other thing I really like about these DVDs is that Jason follows the progression of the course. Yes, you can find lots of examples all over the internet of people doing problems, and I even look for those kinds of things when I am stuck on a problem if it is a type that Jason does not cover. But what Jason gives you here is like the pared-down lecture you would get in class in the order you will see the material presented. You can think of it as almost like a review day kind of lecture that you can watch over and over again. You do not have to go hunting for the material to learn it initially. It is easy to hunt for sample problems when you know what you are looking for, but another thing to find good explanations of the concepts which I think is important to have before you do problems.
Ultimately whether you are going to find these useful will depend on your learning style. No, you cannot interact and ask questions as you can in class or with a tutor, but you can watch the material as many times as you want until you get it. If you can learn from a video lecture, and use it wisely, it will absolutely help you understand the material and get better grades.
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