<p>Okay, so lately I've found myself in this predicament. So during my junior year of high school I opted to take psych AP instead of chem H, and before I realized my mistake, it was too late to switch out. So basically, I'm enrolled in chem H next year, but I have the urge to self-study for the chem AP exam because of the credits. I consider chemistry to be a viable major choice, though I'd find myself behind the other students, so in order to catch up i'd have to go through this. I have access to the Zumdahl Zumdahl books and Barron's chem AP review, and I've begun to learn the first couple chapters so far. </p>
<p>Does anyone have any sites (besides KhanAcademy, their chem videos are quite basic) to supplement my learning?</p>
<p>AP Chemistry is notorious for being a difficult test to self study for because of the math and lab work. I don’t think self studying for the test is a bad idea (you don’t have much to lose), but you may want to put the subject on low priority. After all, your junior year is extremely difficult. If you read the Zumdahl book (excluding organic and the other stuff at the end), BUY THE SOLUTIONS GUIDE! I cannot stress this enough, the guide helped me tremendously. Read the chapter, and also look at these notes for the Zumdahl book ([AP</a> Chem Notes](<a href=“http://www.kentchemistry.com/aplinks/APChemNotes.htm]AP”>AP Chem Notes)). My friend told me that the Barron’s book has a bunch of junk and information you don’t know. Your best bet for the exam is to thoroughly go through the Zumdahl and I also suggest Princeton Review too. If you’re like me, you will develop a love for chemistry. If you don’t like chemistry, then you might want to stop and just move on because AP Chemistry is not easy. Good luck!</p>
<p>College Board offers previous AP tests for like the past 20 years to practice with. I’d recommend taking those yourself, but by sections, the sections you’ve learn and are learning. That’s what my teacher did with my class for AP Chem. Our tests were past AP tests haha Other then that I’d search high and low over the Internet for help when you don’t understand something. You can always find some good explanations on YouTube or places like that. Good luck with everything- Alex (5 on AP Chem).</p>
<p>I successfully studied for AP Chem (got a 5 on the exam) using Chemistry: The Central Science by Theodore Brown. I highly recommend it and you can get it from amazon.com used for pretty cheap. Though I didn’t make it through all of it, it was clear and concise. </p>
<p>As for prep books, I found Barron’s MC to be more difficult than the test but it definitely prepared me for it. The problems in Barron’s were more difficult to solve without a calculator, but those on the actual exam were much simpler. The free response questions were at the same difficulty though. Generally speaking, Princeton Review under prepares you for the exam while Barron’s over prepares you. After the test, everybody was talking about how hard the MC questions were and I thought they were really simple because of Barron’s. From my personal experience, I liked Barron’s format better and felt it really boosted my MC score - I did horrible on the free response so I know it was the MC that boosted me up to a 5.</p>
<p>@ ptoniger16
how many hours do you estimate you put in overall? what month did you start and how many hours did you average a week from then?</p>
<p>I started going through the Chem textbook in spring of junior year. Then I worked in a cancer research for the summer so I didn’t have time to do any more then. I prepped from the start of the school year from that same textbook through November, averaging maybe a chapter a week, doing most of the exercises. I got through everything until the kinetic molecular theory until I figured that I would never finish at that pace. So I bought Barron’s AP Chem book and did that whenever I had time. That went until March. By then, I was taking a full 7 classes at school and two more community college classes so I was pretty busy. Didn’t do anything more until the actual AP Chem exam. Oh, a week prior to that I tried a few exams out of the Barron’s book.</p>