<p>I'm taking AP Chem this year and Im scared to death!
All my friends have been telling me that this is the hardest class ever (and we have only one teacher that teaches it and he's pretty strict!) and I took Chem prep course for a short time over the summer and I already feel like I suck at it (maybe it's because that teacher told me I wasnt good at chem so it put me down lol).
My question is, what basics or concepts do I need to understand and focus on for AP Chem thats going to come up throughout the book, and to (hopefully) get a 5 on the AP exam? Im using the Brown book, the one with a triangle on the white cover and I've done up to Ch 7.</p>
<p>I took AP Chem in senior year, two years after I took the Regents version as a sophomore, so I can't say I remembered a lot of the material. If you've already been exposed to chemistry, then AP is nothing more than building upon the foundation. You will learn more, the problems will be harder, and you will have to think. The basic topics in no order are: atomic and molecular structure, kinetics, equilibrium, nuclear chemistry, organic chemistry (very basic), states of matter, thermokinetics, and electrochemistry/redox. Of course, contained within these broad topics are more specific things such as acids/bases, lewis diagrams, bonding,... and most topics cover multiple areas. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>just read that book thoroughly before you start the class...you'll do really well.</p>
<p>i did that before taking ap chem in sophomore year and got a 98 in the class 800 on the SAT II and a 5 on the AP test.</p>
<p>seriously...it makes it much easier if you've been introduced to all of the concepts before taking the class.</p>
<p>It sounds like you're really well prepared, having already learned the basic concepts and everything. Good luck!!!</p>
<p>I technically haven't been exposed to any kind of chemistry except this summer, when I did up to Ch.7... pretty much, my summer teacher said that I've got the basics down pretty well.
Most of the sophomores in my school are taking AP Chem along with me, so hopefully it won't be too hard.
Thanks so much for the advice! :)</p>
<p>Personally, i found AP chem and chemistry to be very very very easy.</p>
<p>99.5 average in 10th grade regular Chemistry
98 average in AP 11th grade Chemistry</p>
<p>AP chem just builds upon the foundations you learn in regular chem: Gases, Thermodynamics, kinetics, organic, equilibrium (VERY IMPORTANT)</p>
<p>Since the chem has concepts that build upon each other, be sure to know the rudiments very well and have a solid understanding of a concept before moving on to something more complex</p>
<p>^ i agree. at my school u HAVE to take regular chem b4 AP Chem. But, I managed to find my way around that. LOL Anywayz, there's not much time left but try if u can to get the textbook from ur school that they use for regular chem and go over it on your own. It helps a LOT. B/c it would definitely be important to know your concepts b4 going into this class. And if ur school is like evil, get a SAT II review book or something or just use the free online review in sparknotes. ANY reading material that will go over essential concepts basically. good luck! ;)</p>
<p>hey dont worry...i was super worried last year too especially since i have not taken regular or honor chem before...if you study some you will get 4 or5
i got 3 but i have not even studied at all..</p>
<p>Thanks so much for all the tips. Im pretty much really good @ nomenclature, empirical & molecular formulas, balancing chemical equations & that basic stuff... ive done a bit on thermochem, aqeous reactions and im on electron configurations & the periodic table...
is there any specific stuff i should commit to memory that will help a lot during my ap chem year?</p>
<p>polyatomic ions, some basic formulas...know stoichiometry really well. I agree with Jets91...just read the entire book before the class starts and you'll do well.</p>
<p>some stuff you should definitley know by memory:
polyatomic ions and their charges
the periodic table (not specifics of each elements, but whyit is categorized by the way it is - that way youll know valence electrons, charges...etc)
le chatelier's principle - esp. endothermic/exothermic concepts
organic chemistry - properties of alkanes, alkenes, alkynes, amines, akaloids...etc
basic AP chem formulas: Faraday, Nernst, theoretical yield, changing from moles to volume to molecules...etc, Combined Gas Law, how to do redox equations, a few more, Clausius Clapeyron equation, Raoult's Law, other essential ones that i temporarily am forgetting.</p>
<p>people may not say its neccessary to know all these, but from personal experience, it makes AP chem and even basic college chem (that self-studying as a senior) MUCH much easier
thats all i can think of off the top of my mind</p>
<p>^ i agree. oh and know the basic room temperature, boiling point, and freezing point. You would be surprised on how many people don't know that!</p>
<p>ahhh so much memorizing.
school starts this wed for me so id better get started.
but thanks to my procrastination, i havent even done all my summer hw yet lol. hopefully im not the only one like this.</p>
<p>also, this has been nagging me for a while but for people who have done really well in chem, HOW did you study it? Like is chemistry a memorizing thing. Somebody told me AP Bio was also allll memorization stuff. </p>
<p>and some people here mentioned that I need to "understand" the concepts but there doesnt seem to be a lot of stuff to "understand" so far. like i MEMORIZED the nomenclature, solubility rules, dimensional analysis stuff to find # of moles (stoichiometry), etc. but what exactly is there to understand?
i keep reading the chapters but i dont know HOW i should go about studying it so that I dont get all behind in the future with more advanced stoichiometry, etc.</p>
<p>Well, unlike AP bio, where you have to memorize EVERYTHING, for chem, you only really need to memorize the formulas and know basic concepts.</p>
<p>memorizing a few formulas and concepts willl get u through units and units of material. For me, chem was liemath - you just have to keep solving problems until you get the hang of it and know what to do</p>
<p>^ yup, i agree</p>
<p>Ohh so its pretty much MEMORIZING certain things and using them over and over again like a pattern?
It sounds like geometry, where I memorized the concepts for proofs and such. It made it really easy, and i ended up loving the class.</p>
<p>I obviously haven't read the whole chem book, but is it like that throughout the book-- memorizing the concepts and using them for different "types" of problems?
And how is equilibrium related to the memorizing thing, cuz people keep telling me how important that is...
I thought it was like Physics, involving conceptual thinking-- which i suck at--but its not like that at all, right?</p>
<p>Equilibrium is VERY important (I'll admit that I never quite mastered it). Your situation sounds much like mine was last year- dry, strict, tough teacher, the Brown book, etc... except that I took it as a junior and without any previous studying. As for memorizing, on the AP exam it is only necessary to memorize the most BASIC of the basic formulae for the multiple choice section. After that, you get the equation packet that gives pretty much any equation you'll ever need. Make sure you are able to do all of the sample problems within the text, and do a few of the problems at the end of each chapter if you need extra practice. However, I found chem (5/800) much, much easier than AP Bio (5/740). Best of luck!</p>
<p>thanks.
and yep, the whole " dry, strict, tough teacher, the Brown book, etc." is exactly my situation lol.
for people that did really well in chem, did you read ahead before your class covered the chapters or did you just follow along with the class pace?
How long/many hrs outside of school did it take to "master" Chem?
i don't think ill have time to read the whole book before school starts becuz it starts in like two days and i still hav summer hw :/</p>
<p>I suggest you use a good chem textbook (borrow one)</p>
<p>our school gave us a Chemistry Textbook by the author ZUMDAHL (its purplish-blue i think?) - check it out. its a REALLY good textbook</p>
<p>and equilibrium is pretty conceptual. thats really the only topic where you need to memorize nearly every aspect of it. its a HUUUGE unit and we spent 2-3 months on it. the first problem in the long answers will almost always be an equilibrium problem. so, learn it well.</p>