<p>My teacher assigns an unreasonable amount of homework every single night so that I can't stop and thoroughly understand each concept. I'll know enough about it for a test but after that I forget a lot of the material (to make room for the onslaught of concepts she expects her class to know in a week, which soon fall out of my head to make room for other concepts, and so on and so forth-it's an endless cycle). Additionally, she doesn't know how to teach, so I feel like I've basically been doing a self-study. I'd like to get a 4 on the exam, if possible, if for no other reason than to never have to take a chem class ever again. Does anyone have advice for me on how to do this? For those that have taken AP Chem or are currently taking it and doing well, what are your study methods?</p>
<p>I never did the homework my teacher assigned (neither did anyone else, which was why he eventually stopped assigning homework, lol).</p>
<p>My teacher gave out study guides before big exams, and I studied off that, along with previous AP exam FRQ's, and the textbook. Right when the exam came, I started getting everything.</p>
<p>Then, come April, I studied for the Mock AP exam that was given. The concepts came naturally, for after going through all the material, everything started connecting and clicking (this process also applied for my other AP exams last year). Again, I went over previous AP exam FRQ's.</p>
<p>Ended up getting a 5. I think the biggest thing for me was studying the concepts and why I would do what I do for the problem solving stuff. Like not just doing the homework and getting the answers, but looking at the problems and deciphering what concepts the problem was testing me on.</p>
<p>I wish I could skip doing the homework, but unfortunately it comprises a large part of my grade.</p>
<p>Does your teacher check it for completeness or correctness?</p>
<p>My AP Physics teacher has never recommended us to get the complete answer; she always recommends just setting up the problem, getting the concept, and then moving on to the next problem.</p>
<p>Sometimes she checks for completion, other times she checks for correctness. It's a sucky situation.</p>
<p>hmmm you should just stick it out for now and maybe take some time during the Christmas break to understand the concepts... I'd recommend the AP Barrons, personally.</p>
<p>Sounds a lot like my AP Chemistry class. My teacher is horrible, I don't understand any of the concepts. Her tests are so hard, harder than the AP test I've heard and most of the class continuously gets F's on her tests. I feel like I'm not learning anything and it's a waste of two hours every day.</p>
<p>psuedovirus & angelsushi, my AP class is the exact same way</p>
<p>here's a piece of advice, if you're rly into the concept, stay up an hour or two later and revise them. over in my school, it's not at all rare of students to have four hour sleep cycles (personally i sleep 4 hours a day on school nights). but that has paid off: </p>
<p>ap calculus- 90+% fives.
ap chemistry- 95+% fives.
ap physics - 100% fives.</p>
<p>and in each of these AP classes the class size is about 80. go figure.</p>