<p>I'm planning on majoring in engineering or science related fields and my top choices are UC Berkeley and Stanford. I don't know whether I should take the only chemistry offered at our school, Honors Chemistry. The only thing is that there is only one teacher who teaches it and he is horrible. He doesn't teach at all in class but gives very hard tests and quizzes intermittently, therefore making many people fail; few people acheive A's (which is what I'm aiming for if I decide to take it) I'm going to be a junior next year and I'll have the SAT I's to worry about too. Not to metion my other 4 AP classes I'll be taking, AP exams, some science fair research and extracurriculars. Many of my smartest friends get B's in that class and they are taking it this year (sophomore), probably giving them a chance to focus in more and study more since they don't have any AP's or SAT I's in that matter. </p>
<p>I know colleges like to see you taking risks. Does this situation fit into what I should attempt to overcome. Should I take this class which I'm fairly interested in despite the teacher? Let's say I got a C in the class, will I be able to inform colleges about the rigorous status of the class and tell them how the teacher doesn't teach? I really want to take advantage of my resources (AP's and Honors classes) but I don't really know if Chemistry would be one of them since you basically have to self-study the whole year. </p>
<p>How hard is it to self-study Honors Chemistry? Are the concepts easy to understand? I have taken AP Physics B already and have gone through Thermodynamics, Kinetic theory, and understand some of the graphs and equations associate with those topics. That should work to my benefit next year right? What do you think I should do in order to get a sense of the class. Should I approach the teacher and ask him to give me samples of his tests, homework, and quizzes? Please help me out here as I wouldn't want an even more stressful upcoming junior year. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>if honor chem is only chem your school offer...you gotta live with it...but if you are really into stanford caliber,you also think taking chem class at community college...</p>
<p>In my own opinion, I think Chemistry can be self-taught . Many of my friends have had horrible chemistry teachers and have to self prepare themselves for the AP test and manage to make 4/5's. If you're good in math and open to some extra work, chemistry is definitely an option for you.</p>
<p>honors chemistry is honestly the equivalent of like basic HS chemistry</p>
<p>colleges won't see it as a risk but more of something opposite of a risk (whatever you want to call it) because you're not taking AP chem (and still that wouldn't be much of a risk)</p>
<p>taking a chem class at a CC is your best bet</p>
<p>If I take it at a CC, won't colleges wonder why didn't I take it at my HS when it was offered?? People have been telling me to only take classes that aren't offered at CCs but as for chemistry, it's another story.. Plus, I don't think the CC chemistry course is weighted so there's another benefit of taking it at my school. I really don't know... Please keep the opinions/advice coming! I really appreciate your guys' help! =]</p>
<p>If your school offers Honors Chem, it will look bad if you do not take it when you plan to major in eng/sci. Schools you apply to will not know or care that one particular teacher was bad, they will just see you as unprepared and making strange decisions.</p>
<p>If you are of the caliber to go to UCB/Stanford, it is possible to self-study for an Honors Chem course.</p>
<p>If you take it at a cc, schools will not necessarily assume you were avoiding something. They might think this, but you could have had a scheduling conflict, or have some other course it was more interesting for you to take at school, or wanted to take Chem AP. Regardless, it would be better to take the cc course than not even take the honors course in your school. It matters not that the cc does not weight, it matter that somewhere you have the chem course on your transcript. You should check with your school how/whether cc credits carry over.</p>
<p>If I was you, I would take chem at cc, and take Chem AP. That would be the situation where you would gain most because you still get the chem course, and you get AP Chem which I am assuming your school does not offer, so the decision would look less like you are avoiding something. Second choice would be to take hons chem at your school. The worst decision is to take regular chem at your school.</p>
<p>Is there a significant amount of difference between taking Honors Chem Senior year as opposed to taking it in my junior year? I know that most colleges only focus in on the sophomore and junior years but what about senior year? I know that they are still concered about the rigor of the senior year courseload but would taking it junior year (SAT I/II, AP year) be better than taking it senior year (Application/mabye SAT I/II)??</p>
<p>Is the junior year generally the most stressful year of high school? Courses taken in your senior year would still be taken into the same consideration as those taken in your junior year right? So taking Chem senior year would have no negative effect than if I took it junior year?</p>
<p>Most schools are not only concerned with sophomore and junior years. </p>
<p>If you don't take hons chem junior year, does it limit what you can take senior year? What is the progress from hons chem in junior year? In my school, you could not do physics until you had done chem, for example. Do you plan to do SAT II in chem? If none of these things are important, take the course whenever you want, but don't think that you can take it senior year and a bad grade wont matter, schools expect you to maintain your grades.</p>
<p>Junior year is stressful if you make it stressful. If you have coasted to this point and plan to use junior year to make everything right, it will be stressful. If you create an unrealistic timetable for yourself, it will be stressful. If you have good habits and make a timetable for yourself that contains things you enjoy as well as things that you need, in my opinion, it is not more stressful than any other year.</p>
<p>First, what other classes are you planning to take? (Four APs can be a lot.) </p>
<p>Yes, Chem is important to acceptant to Eng school. Many high schools have poor science (and math) teachers -- our chem teacher is abysmal as well. Unfortunately, future engineers to take chem and usually earn an A. So, a C will significantly hurt your Eng chances at Cal and Stanford, particularly if in-state.</p>
<p>Can you take it senior year? Sure, but what science would you take instead? (Applying to an Eng with only two years of lab science just won't look good. Eng schools want to see the big two first -- physics and chem, and bio third.)</p>
<p>Can Chem be self-studied? Absolutely. Will it be extremely hard to earn an A? No one on this board knows your teacher, so we can't answer that Q. But, can you lighten the load in a non-math science class?</p>
<p>why dont' you just take satII chem.
but yea, i think you should just take honors chem im sure the teacher isn;t going to give out Cs to everyone and even if hes a horrible teacher you can self study which is what you would have to do anyways to take chem ap.</p>
<p>Yes, I will have the option of taking Chem H (our highest Chem course) in my senior year also. Is senior year less stressful? Should I take Chem H in my junior or senior year?? </p>
<p>I have signed up for the following classes next year (junior year):</p>
<p>AP Calc AB
AP Bio
APUSH
APES
Honors English 11
Honors Chemistry
Spanish 2</p>
<p>I heard that Calc, English, Spanish, and especially Chemistry (that's why I posted this thread) are very hard to get good grades in because of all of the work that you need to do. The only thing is that the Chemistry teacher doesn't teach at all and gives unpredictable tests and quizes often..</p>
<p>I know I'm going to take Chemistry Honors at my school but I just don't know when I should take it. I have two options that I could choose, I could take Chem H either junior year or senior year. Which do you think would be the best choice and why? Again, I have some knowledge of Thermodynamics and other stuff learned from AP Physics B. Thanks so much guys!</p>
<p>I'm wanting to go to Stanford or UC Berkeley. Do these top schools in California (and other good engineering/science schools) want you to take Chemistry before your junior year? Will they bump you down a bit if you take it senior year instead? Also, I'm planning on taking AP Comp Sci which is taught by the same teacher. I've heard the class is a little easier than chem but again, he doesn't teach. If I don't take chem Honors next year I will have to take both AP comp sci and Chemistry honors senior year. I don't know if that is a good idea lol..</p>
<p>How much time do you think one needs to self study for chemistry honors per day/ every other day/ per week in order to recieve an A? Here's the situation from what my friends have told me: He gives you around 5 problems every class for hw. You have quizzes and labs often. The labs take a lot of extra time and the quizzes are pop quizzes which are fairly hard. The tests are killer and unpredictable and around 5+ hours is needed before. None of the tests/quizzes are curved. He doesn't teach at all in class. </p>
<p>How long do you think I would need to study to get an A? If the teacher is bad or doesn't want to answer your questions, where would you get extra help? Can you learn everything from your book? Is the curriculum easy to understand? What should I do to get more sense of how hard the course is like? Should I take a look at the tests (if he lets me that is) or what? Thanks again.</p>
<p>Top tier colleges like UC Berekeley and Stanford would rather see me take Chemistry Honors in my junior year as opposed to my senior year right? Would they rather see me take Chemistry Honors at my school or Organic chemistry at a community colleges? It is really hard for me to not think about what colleges are going to think about the courses that I send to colleges when I apply. Thanks for your help guys!</p>
<p>That, my friend, is killer schedule. Engineering schools do not want not to see Enviro since it's a so-called AP Lite -- drop it. Span 2 is not really that bad. It's typically Lang 3 that starts to be more work. AP Bio is a lot of memorization.</p>
<p>Well, I really like the teacher that teaches APES he is very funny and nice. Other than that I don't know if it is easy but I only have these choices left: APES, AP Stats, AP Comp Sci AB, and AP Music Theory. I'm interested in Comp Sci and APES. The Stats teacher is said be very good but I don't think I'll enjoy it. I've looked over a review book and it is mostly all graphs and formulas which is pretty boring to me.. I don't know about AP Music Theory, I'm a pianist but I don't have much knowledge about theory.</p>
<p>Since I'm taking AP Bio, wouldn't APES have some information that I could use interchangeably between the two? And if I add in chemistry wouldn't it be a three way combo? lol. Not to metion you get the extra GPA boost which I need. I only have a 3.86 GPA. Will colleges just take the weight off APES automatically? Again, I think that APES will be more reading and writing involved (I would like to improve my esssay writing too) Personally, I think that I have a decent amount of interest in it. I've talked to the teacher and he seem to be really funny, amiable, and helpful. So..</p>
<p>Eh, don't worry about it. I'm taking Honors Chemistry this year, and because I'm surrounded by friends in that class, I don't listen during class, I just read the chapter whenever I need to. My teacher's fairly tough too. It won't be a problem if you're dedicated.</p>
<p>"Would they rather see me take Chemistry Honors at my school or Organic chemistry at a community colleges?"</p>
<p>At least for me, honors chem was cake, but organic chemistry is quite hard (from the bit that we're learning in AP chem now) and typically a sophomore year class in college, while honors chem is a HS sophomore year class, so organic chemistry really isn't a good idea.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if I will have to send any of my community college grades to either my high school or college that I want to attend? If you don't send them the grades, they won't know what you got right?</p>