Hello, I am a rising senior and I’m very conflicted with decision to take ap chemistry or not. I want to go into biology major or premed and everyone is telling me that I must take ap chemistry. I’ll give a little background. I took earth science and biology in 8th grade, chemistry 9th, ap biology 10th, anatomy and physiology 11th. I’m planning to take ap calc ab and regular physics (Bc i cant fit ap physics into my schedule ) during my senior year. I can take ap chemistry instead of physics, but i want to hear some advice on if it is worth it or not. I’m a hardworking student with over a 3.9/4.1 gpa, so I don’t know if not taking ap chemistry will hurt my chances or make me fail chemistry in college. Thank u!
Is it typical for a student at your school to not take any physics? If that is not normal for your school, you should probably take physics.
I took AP Chemistry as a junior and loved the class. I have to credit my success to my passion for the subject and an amazing teacher.
I would reccomend it as you can get AP credit for the class, and it may be weighted more on an application since it’s an AP course.
I don’t think it’d hurt your chances too much if you don’t take it, but I do think it’d provide a good foundationif you decide to take the class again in university. However, consider taking the class that you can get the highest grade/have the most passion for. Good luck!
It also depends upon the colleges you are targeting. Many top colleges want to see a year of physics.
Take physics. AP chem isnt necessary. You want to get all 3 sciences. Also, if I were you I wouldnt have taken A/P because it’s kinda a weak class(obviously it’s pretty difficult, especially in college, but in high school I think it would have been better to take AP chem or physics). We have it at my school and this was the last year to count it as a science credit. I think also it depends on how many APs you have taken and how many your school offers. But i would really suggest taking physics because colleges will see that you know about all the sciences, and it will better prep you for physics in college to have some background knowledge. If you could take both, it would be better, but also consider how hard AP chem is at your school. If you can only take one, take physics. I’m taking physics senior yr, but I really wish I would have taken it junior year. I took Bio 9th, Chem and AP bio 10th, none 11th, and now physics 12th.
Also, if your AP chem class is not very good and you pass the test and skip gen chem, then you might not know the subject as well as you should and o chem will be harder for you. Chemistry is important and you want to make sure you understand it well.
General Chemistry has very little impact on Organic Chemistry. Two very different animals. Take physics. You’ll need physics as a premed major.
As it happens, my kiddo is a premed major (microbiology). Her school (University of Michigan) gives a Chemistry placement test. Kids with both an AP Chem background and a regular highschool Chem background were able to test out of General Chemistry and go straight to Organic Chem One. Chemistry placement will vary from school to school, how it’s done, the particulars, etc.
I always tell highschool kids to get as many AP of the lab sciences as possible…but to make sure you get each lab science. Bio, Chem and Physics. Strong English, Calculus, Statistics, Psych, Sociology, as much of one foreign language as possible…are also a really good idea.
Thank u so much for all the great responses and advice! My high school is a very prestigious public school so everyone takes an average of 8-9 aps during hs, so im just worried about if i should take it or not.
@Kout737 and @CGrammar, i actually had ap chem requested for this year but i dropped it because our rly good original ap chem teacher couldnt teach it anymore, so a new first year ap chem teacher had to teach it and i didnt feel confident to succeed in her class.
I think i am leaning more towards physics now because i want to show that ive learned all 3 sciences in hs.
@MaryGJ i actually did take psych and planning to take sociology next year. I also actually take 2 foreign languages and have won competitions in those languages as well, so i hope that not taking chem wont be so detrimental. Thank u for ur advice!
@marygj you need to know some chemistry to succeed in organic chemistry
@jisookwak I wouldn’t take it if it’s a new AP teacher because they won’t have refined methods of teaching and will just be trying to figure out the best way to teach the class. All my AP teachers suck at our school but we only have 5 classes and they don’t care lol