<p>Many high schools offer peer tutoring, either one-on-one or in drop-in centers, at no cost to the students. You'd be helped by another student at your school who is either in your classes or has taken them before. Another option is paying an independent tutor or going through a professional tutoring service. My preference tends to be with the former of those two options. My #1 recommendation would be to to talk to your AP Calc and Chem teachers, let them know that you're struggling, and ask if they can recommend tutors (or if they know anyone who might be interested in tutoring). They'll likely be able to set you up with someone reliable. One benefit to this is that you're more likely to get someone familiar with your teachers and with their methods/preferences/etc. If there's a college in your area, you could also get in touch with the Dean of Students or the Math/Chem department heads (names and contact info should all be available online) and let them know that you're a local high school student looking for a tutor. They'll be able to recommend students or advertise within the appropriate departments.</p>
<p>A tutor will usually do a combination of whatever you ask for + whatever (s)he deems necessary. The goal is to clarify concepts learned in class. A tutor might do this by asking you where your confusion lies, going over problems from class, going over tests and quizzes, going over homework, working through sample problems, or some combination of the above. For example, if you had a problem with one particular concept, the tutor might talk you through it (asking you questions, explaining the concept in new words, figuring out what you do understand and where you're going off-track, etc.), work through a few mistakes that you've made (on homework or a test, for example), and then let you try again on a sample problem. Just one possible, but fairly general/common scenario. And yes, a tutor should help you work through pitfalls (and be grateful that your teachers provide this type of challenge...too few AP classes are taught at such a level, and their students pay for it, either on the test or once they get to college).</p>
<p>One important note: a good tutor will help you arrive at the answers, or guide you toward them. (S)he will not give them to you. Tutoring might involve occasional demonstrations or examples, but if you wind up with someone who's just taking problems that trouble you and showing you how to do them correctly (by doing them him or herself), then you should probably look for someone else. Good tutoring is very interactive.</p>
<p>Once you start to get caught up with these classes, new concepts will have a stronger base to build upon and should start coming a bit more easily. If, after awhile, you still feel like you need a tutor after every new class/concept, then you'll really just need to talk to your teachers. The thing about both Calc and Chem is that they build upon relatively small bases of concepts. If you don't have a strong base, then you'll only continue to have trouble (but once you do have a few basic 'tools,' your progress should quicken).</p>
<p>I think that one of the biggest mistakes good students make is having too much pride to accept help--thinking that they're 'above' tutoring (and I don't mean that critically). I never went to the Writing or Math tutoring centers at my college until I started working at both of them, at which point I realized what amazing resources I was missing out on (and started to go for help regularly)! The sooner you act on your concerns, the better. There's nothing to worry about.</p>
<p>Ideally, having a tutor will help your grades out, but there's no guarantee. Remember that the goal is really to increase your understanding of the material (which, in turn, hopefully raises your grades), not just your class rank.</p>
<p>Final notes:</p>
<p>(1) It's very important that you feel comfortable with your tutor. You need to be able to ask questions without feeling stupid for doing so, you should be shown respect, and you should feel confident in his/her advice. If you don't 'click' with someone within a few sessions, find someone else.</p>
<p>(2) When you do have a tutor, remember that (s)he's there only for you! So don't just smile and say "uh-huh" because you think you should understand something. It's the tutor's job to explain or illustrate a concept in fifteen different ways if that's what it takes for it to make sense to you. Take advantage of such a personalized environment.</p>
<p>Good luck with your classes!</p>