Hello I am a senior in high school, and I am taking ap chem. I absolutely hate it. I hate the teacher, I hate the class, and I stress so much in that class that I cry almost every day because of that class. My counselor told me that if I drop out of that class the first nine weeks of school (its our 4th week), then it would not show on my transcript. However, the actual problem is that I am not sure what I want to major in and be when I grow up. My parents want me to become a doctor and chemistry is VERY IMPORTANT, but I dont know what I want to do. I actually would like to pursue in orchestral music, but I am still not sure. My parents are constantly telling me not to drop that class. If I MAYBE want to become a doctor (maybe neurosurgeon or anesthesiologist) is it VERY IMPORTANT to take that class?
What chapter did you start off with? I would recommend Khan Academy to get a bit ahead of the class constantly so you are pre-prepared for the next lesson or maybe even quiz. I am going through AP Chemistry and I am glad that I didn’t drop out because I thought it was going to be hard throughout (and it is) but from what I heard from AP Chemistry veterans, we started with one of the hardest chapters in the class. Now I’m getting better at it 
(Still up to you though)
AP Chem seems hard at first, but it gets much better. You’ll soon learn how to manage; things can take a while to “click”. I think you should wait at least a few more weeks to see if you can understand it, or at least be interested by it.
Have you taken Bio, Chem and Physics at some point in your HS career?
If you want to be pre-med consider that you have to take a lot of chemistry in college for it.
You may not get a great professor.
You will want to be prepared for college. But you don’t have to take AP Chem for it…although it would prepare you more.
If you were to be pre-med, what would you major in? It can be anything you want but doing orchestral music and pre-med requirements would be very very difficult.
I have taken AP Bio and Ap Physics 1 (both of which I did fairly good on)
Fairly?
Did you take regular chem?
I got all A’s for AP Bio and Physics. I also took regular chem and got an A-
If you want premed, stick it out.
No. To become MD you’ll need a college degree plus 4 years med school. Then add 4 more years after med school to become anesthesiologist, or add 7 more years after med school to become neurosurgeon. Med schools wont care whether you take hs AP chem or not, and anything you’ll learn in AP chem will be long forgotten by time med school starts, or in the years after med school. But it will be VERY IMPORTANT that you do well in the 2 years of college chem that med schools req. So if anything it may help provide you a head start with your first year of general chem.
It looks like your options are either stay with the class, maybe get something out it, including learning to deal with very difficult people (eg profs, MDs, etc); or face the nagging and disappointed looks of your parents. I also guess if you fail AP Chem it may impact where you go to college. Good luck.
What’s your current grade in AP Chem?
Note that premed is a very difficult path. It’s very hard even for motivated students. Your parents’ motivation won’t suffice. In short, it sounds like being premed is a dream of your parents, not yours, and odds are extremely low you’ll actually make it (because MOST freshmen who start out as premeds don’t make it… so imagine if you’re trying to do what your parents told you to… basically you’d ruin your GPA for naught.)
The premed pre-reqs require 4 semesters of chemistry plus one of biochemistry (compare that to two semesters of biology or one semester of biostatistics). A VERY strong foundation in chemistry is necessary. Even students who easily did well in AP Chem struggle in Organic Chemistry, for instance (it’s a weed out course, so that in any given class students are “weeded out”).
How would you feel about law school? You could be a musician (high level musicians do well in law school and med school admissions) as long as you do a BA not a BM and include lots of reading/writing classes, perhaps as a minor.
Maybe its the teacher? If you took regular chem and got an A-, and tend to do well in science…
Why not think about how you can take Chem next semester at the local CC? Check out “rate my teacher” first. I mean if you are crying each night, couldn’t hurt to explore other options.
I’m on the fence. For UG admission, bio, chem, physics, then AP bio and AP physics could do it. After all, many kids can’t fit it all in their schedules.
But MYOS is making the important point that a strong foundation for the college courses, a “running start,” can be vital. If premed is possible, you have to consider that many colleges will weed premeds via tough intro chem, bio, and math classes. Sticking through AP chem, mastering it, can help.
It sounds like you don’t want to pursue medicine, your parents do. The premed route is already difficult enough for students who want to pursue it, let alone someone who was pushed into it. Take some time to think about what you want to do, if dropping UP Chem feels right, then do it and take a different (rigorous) class that you’ll enjoy.