<p>I'm currently a freshman right now. I'm taking IB Prep Biology right now, but next year I'm taking regular chemistry. Do you think it's possible to self-study for AP Chem while taking the general course?</p>
<p>I personally dont think so, unless you have a natural inclination towards maths/chemistry. AP Chem is the hardest AP test in my opinion (and I’ve taken 12). Regular chem will give you only about half of the background information you need–the other half of AP chem is all new information such as thermodynamics, equilibrium, etc. </p>
<p>Personally, I would tackle AP Bio. It’s a lot easier to understand. Good luck.</p>
<p>It’s feasible and I managed it with pre-ap chemistry. AP Chemistry mainly involves learning a lot of techniques in the sense while some parts are mostly content (like intermolecular forces) often Chemistry will involve quite a few formulas that being able to understand the concept behind them and when to use what is pretty key. If your math skills are good then the math in the chemistry should be easy it’s mainly knowing when to use what and being able to qualitatively explain parts.</p>
<p>As for my method I used a prep book (and got lucky having a nice chem teacher that administered two practice exams to me plus a bit of ap chem lecture). A textbook will go slower and will give you quite a bit you don’t need to know. I used Barron’s and it worked well for me. If you plan to go into a field where chemistry is important then while a good textbook has more then what you need I’d recommend using one anyway as well.</p>
<p>Sorry for the late reply guys!</p>
<p>@Yeah, I was already planning on AP Biology since it really isn’t so hard.
@What level of math do you think I would have to be at, because next year I’ll be taking Pre-Calculus?</p>
<p>It is definitely doable, AP Chemistry just goes into some more detail than the normal honors chemistry course. Elementary Algebra II is all that’s necessary; the math you have to know for Chemistry consists of basic algebra, the quadratic formula, and logarithms. </p>
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<p>What?? What AP tests did you take? Why is AP Chemistry any harder than, say, the old form of Biology?</p>
<p>kpopislyfe is right. AP Chem is well-known as being the most difficult AP exam. The old AP Bio exam was not hard; it was basic fact recall, so if you memorized everything, you could easily make a 5. You can’t do that with chemistry; you actually have to understand the concepts. I had the misfortune of having a not-so-great teacher (his first year teaching AP Chem) and I wasn’t well-prepared for the test. I’ll be lucky if I make a 4. I’ve taken 10 AP tests and so far, Chem has been the hardest.</p>
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<p>That’s why it’s one of the easiest AP exams.</p>
<p>But what if I was really motivated(not really lol) to self-study it, should I start studying as early as possible, like this summer since the test would be in about a year?</p>
<p>I just took the chemistry test this year,and it was according to other teachers, it was really hard. My teacher is one of the best of the best, and she prepared us really well. However, even if you are really smart, it is not wise to self study chemistry just for the ap test. Believe me, those tests are barely worth anything. The knowledge you gain from these subjects are much more valuable. Chemistry is one of the most beautiful subjects one can learn, and you would be throwing that away. Please stop self studying because of your resume and commit to learning, rather than throwing everything away after the test.</p>
<p>^ So you’re saying that it wouldn’t be worth it to do it along with a regular Chemistry course?</p>
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<p>No, he/she doesn’t mean that. By preparing solely for an exam, you’re not exposing yourself to the actual subject. In particular, the lack of laboratory work is crippling to your understanding of chemistry.</p>
<p>Personally, what I ended up doing is studing Chemistry on my own for the most part (although I picked up useful information from my teacher almost every time), going beyond what my teachers taught in class in every lesson (I took honors/Pre-AP Chemistry then AP Chemistry the year after), and I didn’t start preparing for the AP exam itself until like a couple of weeks before. By prepare, I mean understanding the format and style of the exam, being able to predict what is on the exam, and so on, not studing purely for the exam. I was able to snag a five (very confidently), and even now I still remember plenty of the course. It is possible to do well on the exam though even if you took regular Chemistry, it will take some work. </p>
<p>What I would recommend to prepare for the exam is somewhere along those lines:
- First, learn the material. Absorb as much as you can in your first year taking Chemisry, whether it be honors/Pre-AP or regular/“academic”, although I recommend the former as it covers more topics than the latter). For example, hydrogen bonds occur between water molecules.
- Then, understand the material. Make sure you learn why the material makes sense. For example, continuing with the above, hydrogen bonds occurs between water molcules because the polar covalent bonds between the hydrogen and oxygen atoms in a water molcules are extremely polar to the point where oxygen (due to oxygen having much higher electronegativity compared to water) is basically “hogging” all of the electrons in the bond, causing the oxygen atom to have a partial negative charge and the hydrogen atoms to have partial positive charges. The partial charges are significant enough where the opposite charges attract each other, thus causing a “bond” eccentially, although the bond in question is merely a strong attraction (electric force) between two molecules. If you have trouble understanding material, ASK someone. There is bound to be someone (typically your instructor) who can help you. I often notice that students tend to understand better from another student’s point of view, or from multiple people saying the same thing, but that is up to you.
- Then, connect the concept to other concepts to understand how they all tie together. For example, the reason why non-polar molecules cannot dissolve in water is because they do not have a charge large enough to be significantly attracted by water molecules to be separated from other solute molecules. You would then elaborate and connect on concepts even further to grasp a much better understanding.
- There is math involved with Chemistry. So, with every unit, practice some basic math problems, then move on to more difficult problems as well as some integrated problems. There are excellent textbooks out there with great math problems and solution books for those textbooks with great, detailed solutions. Also work out conceptual problems as well, to test how well you understand (note I didn’t say “know”) the material.
- Do not think about the exam until a month or so prior the exam, and even then you merely are just reviewing material and understanding the structure of the exam (time-constraints, types of problems, and so on). By not worrying about the exam for a while will help you focus more on learning and understanding the material. The more you know, the more flexible you will be on the exam (especially on any open-ended responses involving conceptual thinking).
- As for labs, you just need to be exposed to as many as you can. The only labs I did was in AP Chemistry (maybe like 2 or 3 small labs in my Pre-AP Chemistry class), and I only did about 8 or so labs. As a start, if say your regular Chemistry class doesn’t conduct any labs, I would recommend watching some videos of some lectures. Maybe you can ask your instructor to do some live labs as well. Make sure you predict the results of the lab before watching/doing them and understand why the lab results came out to be afterward.- Try hard not to go to far ahead in Chemistry (as in go outside the realm of AP Chemistry) unless you cannot help it. I tried hard not to as well and was somewhat successful. AP Chemistry itself is extensive and covers a lot of material (as typical AP science classes usually have to do), so not going to far outside of it would help.
- Understand how formulas work, and try to see how some of them were derived. That way, you can understand the concept behind the formulas a bit better.</p>
<p>You have two years (basically) to study for the AP exam. I think this advice would help you in the long run, but it is up to you whether or not you take it (although, if my example makes sense to you, then I would go with it, haha). This might help you for the redesigned AP Chemistry exam next year (which I hear is mostly concepts, like AP Biology was supposed to be). I loved everything about AP Chemistry (including my fellow classmates and my instructor) and hopefully you will too! Anyway, sorry for the long explaination/advice, but good luck to whatever you decide.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. I’m kind of thinking about maybe taking the AP exam Junior year if I decide to do IB Chemistry over IB Biology.</p>
<p>Dude you can definately self study AP chem now. THEY CHANGED the AP chem curriculum fall 2013. It covers roughly 60% of the old curriculum, and they focus more on scientific practice what ever. It might be possible now.</p>
<p>I hope it’s easier now, because I think I am going to try self-studying it.</p>
<p>I think this would be a very bad idea. Just because the curriculum is changing, doesn’t mean it’ll be any easier. AP Chemistry isn’t easy, get real, that AP test is brutal. I don’t know if rushing is the new trend now, but just take your time. Just take the general chemistry course and go on from there. Don’t forget the labs in AP chemistry, they’re equally important as the lectures. I just finished AP chemistry and trust me, I don’t think I could’ve done it by myself. AP chemistry requires heavy problem solving skills the problems aren’t just recall and answer, sometimes you have to tie more than 2 chapters worth of material to answer one question.</p>
<p>To sum this up, don’t waste your time. It’s good that you’re interested but it’s better to have a solid foundation of chemistry before you even think about AP chemistry.</p>
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<p>Get off your horse. This is a highly subjective statement, and is by no means universally true. I self-studied AP Chemistry and found the AP exam laughably easy.</p>
<p>Also, this year’s free response questions were even easier.</p>
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<p>Heavy problem solving skills? Like what? Chemistry problems are not “difficult,” at least not in the manner physics problems can be; they require you to understand and apply a concept. There’s very little creative thinking or ingenuity required. </p>
<p>And tying up 2 chapter’s worth of material into a question doesn’t mean that said question is difficult. </p>
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<p>You talk like it wasn’t possible before. . . </p>
<p>Overall, I would say that it’s a very sad thing that they’re butchering the curriculum, as was done with AP Biology. Any explanations why?</p>
<p>I’m so torn now. I’m now thinking of taking IB Physics instead when Junior year comes, but I want a shot at AP Chem before Junior year since I’m aiming for the IB Diploma…</p>
<p>@mapletree7</p>
<p>Oh, I’m sorry. You didn’t like my response? Did you just wasted your time to flaunt your intelligence? What’s funny is that you need to let go of that ego little one and realize what you’re doing. What I said was a reiteration of what my teacher said and what she wrote on the syllabus. What you said might have been your ego talking, it’s cool. I don’t really like people like you anyway, simple.</p>
<p>Yeah, everyone is different. People learn and master different things at different rates. Whether the exam is hard or not is all opinion, but you can make it relatively easier through learning. Also, there is no point attacking people because they “fall behind” or have a different perspective of something. Help them out or see things from their point of view, understand them, or just respect them.</p>
<p>Anyway, I’m not going to stop anyone whether they take the class or self-study for it, but unless you need it within the next year or need the credit in college, take your time. You have plenty of time.</p>