<p>Im a freshman in high school and Im taking the fast paced chemistry at Johns Hopkins CTY this summer. I talked to my AP chem teacher asking her if I could go straight to AP and showed her the syllabus, she just said there is no way I could get the equivalent of a year's worth of work in three weeks, and it was a "no" because some other kid took a summer course and dropped her class on the second day. I'm wondering if CTY is really enough and if AP chem is as hard as she says, although I would rather challenge myself than screw around in honors for a year (Im taking CTY chem regardless). How should I bring this too guidance or the principal and see what can be done or do I just take her at her word for it. Also for some extra information I got a 23 composite on the ACT in the beginning of seventh grade, and a 180 on the psat and I am in all honors with A's this year.</p>
<p>I think you should be fine. 3 weeks is very little time, depending on your work ethic and comprehension it should be manageable. Be prepared to dedicate around 5 hours a day towards the course. I will be taking AP Chemistry online through Thinkwell or John Hopkins since my school does not offer the course. </p>
<p>If I was you I would go to the Principal. I have even had to go to the Superintendent to get the courses I wanted (AP Biology at school and AP Physics B online)</p>
<p>My son took AP Chem as a sophomore with no previous Chemistry whatsoever, so it can be done. There were 15-20 other soph’s who also did this. They did spend a few weeks in the summer doing some prep sessions with the AP teacher - basically covering the most important parts of regular chem. </p>
<p>That said, it was a lot of work, definitely the hardest class he had that year. If you’re willing to make the commitment, you should do fine.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t recommend doing that. AP Chem is a hard enough class (even varying from school to school, Chem is always one of the harder classes). Taking it without an intro chem class (or with only a 3 week period to cover all the information) would be insane, as AP Chem goes more in depth with more information and with more units than in a year long chem class.
I’d strongly recommend not taking the class, but if you’re interested in spending 4 hours a day just to scrape by in the class then go ahead.</p>
<p>Is the course hard because the concepts are hard to grasp or the curriculum moves fast, and @ Dag the three week class is 110 hours of class time total, which is about the same amount of time I would spend taking it at school, but not spread out throughout the whole year.</p>
<p>AP Chem as a soph sounds risky. Is the rest of your schedule loaded? Do you have demanding extracurriculars? Do you want to maintain the highest GPA possible?</p>
<p>The rest of my classes shouldn’t be very hard. Im taking AP world ,H pre-calc, H english,
H chem or AP chem, H zoology, health, latin, software application ( 90 minute class for homework basically), marine technology (make a boat), and media production 2 (more movie making). I also do cross country so thats about two hours after school for the first quarterish and I’m in environment club and go hunting alot during the winter, but besides that its not too harsh.</p>
<p>It really depends on you, your school’s ap chem class, and the CTY teacher. After my freshman year I took CTY’s summer chemistry and physics but my school actually ended up placing me in ap bio instead of ap chem due to a schedule conflict. With a lot of self motivation and assuming you grasp all chemistry concepts I’m sure you’ll do fine in ap chem. Worst case if you don’t get into ap chem you can just continue self-studying without the class.</p>
<p>It helps if you can study some more after CTY. CTY labs are awesome - that’s what I’ve heard. The calculation, theory part, you can study by yourself. I think you can do AP chem after CTY. But don’t think for sure 3 weeks will do as much as a year of honors Chem’s work. Be prepared to work hard. If you’re a CTYer, you can do it.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t do it. You should really take Chemistry I. AP Chemistry hits all the topics in Chem I but in greater detail with other new material. The material in Chemistry isn’t hard, unless you study. AP Chemistry takes at least 2 hour study time outside of school, in your case maybe even more. Your AP Chemistry teacher is right, take her advice. Chemistry material takes time and effort to understand and grasp. It isn’t a walk in the park. The math isn’t to stress over, it’s really the concepts behind the math that frustrates students. Well, good luck with your decision and make sure you have PLENTY of time to think this over.</p>
<p>You should do it. I took it as as a sophomore as well. The normal chem classes dont prep you for AP in any way.</p>
<p>@nukemyschool Really? My Chemistry teacher works one on one bases with the AP Chemistry teacher and she says that the things in Honors Chemistry preps you heavily for AP Chemistry.</p>
<p>@FantasyVesperia Generally, you don’t really need that much background knowledge for AP Chem because you can easily learn it throughout the year since the concepts they teach isn’t that complex. The topics you learn in regents or honors chem is almost the same thing, so it really isn’t worth wasting a year to take it. If you have a decent teacher, it won’t be too bad as long as you pay attention.</p>
<p>Totally depends on the teacher. My D took it as a sophomore and pretty much gave up part way through the year because the teacher was AWFUL. Only two people got a 3 on the exam. It was my D’s first B ever. She has gotten 4s and 5s one every other AP exam. Just know what you are getting into.</p>