Bonding with the Reference Tables: A Clear & Simple Chemistry Regents Guide

We’ve all watched students flip through the reference tables, desperate to find something, anything that will help them.

While half the kids in your class handle the tables well, the other half:

• Don’t get that it’s a reference tables question because the questions don't spell it out anymore
• Realize it’s a reference tables question but don’t know which table to use
• Don’t know how to pull data from multiple tables for one question
• Make all kinds of careless mistakes
• Can’t read the tables at all

Up to 60% of the chemistry regents is made up of reference tables questions. That means that even if your student forgets most of the information they memorized, he/she can achieve a score of 80% instead of 45% just by being a reference tables pro.

You need them to be pros.

Bonding with the Reference Tables makes them into just that, with:

• Step‐by‐step instructions in clear, teen-friendly terms how to read each one of the 21 charts on the Chemistry Reference Tables.
• Important instructions on how to answer the regents questions (like although Table G works with 100g of water, the regents might ask about 50g or 200g and how students should handle that.)
• Notes on keyword recognition - so students know when to use a reference table even if it’s not explicitly mentioned in the exam.
• Sample regents questions on each of the tables at the end of each section, along with answers and brief explanations.
• A table listing hundreds of further practice questions by date of appearance and reference table used.

Here’s what Ms. Petra Frantova, AP of Harry S. Truman High School of the Bronx said about the Clear & Simple Reference Tables Guides (this resource Bonding with Reference Tables on Chemistry and its corresponding guide Unearthing the Reference Tables on Earth Science):

“Ms. Finkel’s resources are great. Not only are the tables clearly and precisely explained, but there are plenty of practice questions on each table for students to attempt.

“I order new class sets of both books [from ShopDOE] at the start of every school year. We allow the students to keep their own copies and write all over them. The feedback from the teachers has always been extremely positive; they find the books very useful.”

Have a classroom full of high-achievers?

Even teachers with students who are high achievers report that the Clear & Simple Reference Tables Guides significantly improve their classes by shifting the focus from teacher-centric to student-centric learning:

"Although I've taught for many years, can teach use of the reference tables successfully, and my students are high-performers, I have still found Ms. Finkel's books extremely valuable.

"Before we used them, my teaching of the reference tables would be very teacher-centric. I'd model the questions and explain how to dissect them. But now, my students are far more independent. They learn to navigate and explain the tables with far less spoon-feeding from me.

"The Clear & Simple Reference Tables Guides are student-friendly resources that help to build skill and capacity to answer the reference tables questions."

- Mr. Lourdiny Exume, Robert H. Goddard High School of Communications Arts and Technology; Queens, NY