Hello
So my class has had quite the year in AP chem. Our teacher was diagnosed with breast cancer, so she was here for the first half of the year. We did all our labs for the first semester without understanding it since she will be gone. She was only supposed to be gone over winter break, but it’s May 2nd, and we haven’t had a teacher since, and it’s been tough. 5 out of 7 of us are taking the exam anyway because if we don’t, they’ll take away our AP designation from this class, and after all our hard work trying to survive the class I don’t want it taken off. But at the same time, what do I say when I apply? Im a junior. Most of us expect to get a 2 or 3, so what should I do? Will this affect my chances when I apply to higher standard schools, even with this situation?
Thanks
P.S. our school has contacted collegeboard to explain the situation, but they haven’t said anything, and I don’t think there has been situations like this before. Also our teacher is fine 
but most likely she won’t be coming back this year.
Chill. AP scores are not usually used for admission, only for course credit.
True, but if I were to for example apply to an ivy league school, wouldn’t that be a deal breaker?
Run to your bookstore NOW and get the latest Barron’s AP Chem book. Start going through it NOW, take the practice tests, read through the explanations, go through everything you can. It is excellent prep material.
As you know, the exam is Monday morning - if at all possible, cancel everything else you have got going on in your life right now and go get that book and eat, sleep, and breathe AP Chem from now until the test is over on Monday.
Good luck. My daughter takes the AP Chem exam on Monday too (though she is not in the same predicament you’re in with the teacher situation) and my stomach is in knots for her.
Your grade on your transcript is what matters. And don’t just look at one sports conference.
You get to decide if you report your AP score to a school, and you don’t have to. No big deal, really. Who will grade you for the class if the teacher has been out?
If need be you could ask your guidance counselor to explain the situation in his/her recommendation. But you probably don’t need to send the scores unless you want credit.
Nothing. If you don’t like the score, don’t list it on the applications. I agree with what everyone above said, but I am a bit curious about this:
What does the school think the College Board is going to do about it? While I am glad that things are working out health-wise for your teacher, a teacher going out on disability or maternity mid-year is not an uncommon occurrence. It’s the school’s responsibility to get a sub/appoint an interim replacement, not the College Board’s. The CB is certainly not going to take the situation into consideration while scoring the exam.
We don’t really have anyone to grade our work.
Again, that’s the school’s problem, not the College Board’s. But, I’m not understanding your qualifier of “really.” You either have someone grading your second semester’s work or you don’t. If you have a warm body occupying the teacher’s chair, then you have someone grading your work. His/her effectiveness would be a different issue. Regardless, there will be no adjustments made to your AP exam score based on your circumstances. All you can do is prepare the best you can, and if you are not happy with the score, don’t list it on your applications. Good luck.
Your situation really isn’t as unusual as you think. My daughter’s school brought in a new Chemistry teacher this year, to teach both General and AP Chemistry. Half a dozen sophomores ended up testing out of General Chemistry and into AP. Students from both classes didn’t care much for this teacher, and then she took a leave of absence in January (unexpected - at least you had warning). A professor from a local college was brought in to take over the AP class, and a long-term sub took the other classes. DD almost gave up on this class (thankfully marking period grades do not show on her transcript, on final grades), but in a practice test this week she and another sophomore had the highest scores, she earned an estimated score of a 4, and this was before completing 2 chapter in the Princeton review book. These 2 students had NO exposure to chemistry aside from basic middle school science classes (they took biology last year), while the Juniors had a full year of General Chemistry with the previous teacher - and one of his students had one of the 3 perfect scores last year.
The College Board isn’t going to do anything about this, it’s not their problem, nor is it a unique situation. Take the exam, review for it this weekend, you might find you know more than you realize. A “bad” score isn’t going to hurt you, a “good” score might help. Your school will figure out how to grade you. If necessary, they could give you a final grade based on the work during the first semester - the College Board doesn’t really care what is shown on your transcript; you won’t get college credit based on your course grade. When my oldest daughter took it, only 1 student out of 20 in her class got a 3 - the majority didn’t even get a 2, but most of them had an A or B in the course. If you end up with both a low grade and a low score, your GC can address that as part of your applications.
@skieurope sorry I was answering astute12 question, should have made that clear that’s my fault, but basically we have someone who supervises us, not from our school, like a temp job and doesn’t talk or anything, so yeah we don’t have anyone to grade our work. Are teacher kind of just has a schedule of what we were supposed to learn on schoology (if you’re familiar with the website). So for the pass 5 months we’ve just been attempting to teach ourselves.
“So for the pass 5 months we’ve just been attempting to teach ourselves.”
Taking on this responsibility, and what you have learned from it, almost certainly has given you a whole new skill set for examining a subject, organizing material, cooperative learning with classmates, and greater independence about your learning. Those skills will serve you well once you are in college and are expected to be much more independent as a student.
Review for the exam. Take the exam. Don’t worry about whether or not you did manage to cover the material completely. When you do get to college, if you need to take chemistry simply enroll in the first level class instead of skipping it which is what a good score on the exam might have permitted you to do. That way you can be certain you do develop the competencies you need.
My daughter basically had auto tutorial AP chem this year too. New teacher, doesn’t know or understand the material, can’t answer questions, kids are finding errors in her work daily, etc… We’ve said the same thing as @happymomof1 posted - super learning opportunity to find different resources, ask for outside help, etc… She’s been self studying for the AP test for the last few weeks. I don’t think she’ll get more than a 3 or 4 at the very best but the act of preparing and studying should help her next year when starts her first chemistry class in college. She will definitely not be skipping ahead even if she does better than expected on the AP.