<p>I have a huge problem right now in one of my classes. I have always been a really good science student, and I have scored a 5 on the AP Bio sophomore year and a 35 on the Science portion of the ACT. I got a very high "A" in chem 1. Because I love science more than anything, I decided to take AP Chemistry this year. Everyone said the teacher was hard, but I figured I could handle it. The class has turned out to be impossible for me. I have never gotten above a C on a test, and I usually hover around a D-. The teacher is almost never available for questions, and he makes comments that imply if you can't handle his class, you'll never make it in college. I have never done so poorly in any class before. I study for this class more than any other, and I do all of my homework as well as additional problems. I have talked to the teacher on numerous occasions, as well as the guidance counselor. They reassure me that everything is fine, but every test I do worse than the one before it. I cannot work any harder. I cannot remember the last time I went to bed before midnight. In almost every other class, I have 100% or close to it. Even in calculus I should end up with an A. I don't know if his teaching style just doesn't match my learning style or if all of my previous success in science was a fluke. This is upsetting me so much, and I am starting to doubt whether I have the aptitude to handle college-level work. Does anyone have any advice?</p>
<p>While AP Chem IS a hard class, it sounds like you have a poor teacher who is also a very tough grader. How can your counselor say "everything is fine" when an A student is getting Ds on tests? Don't be discouraged about your ability to handle college work, but another talk with your counselor is in order. How are other kids doing in the class?</p>
<p>Those weren't her exact words, but she encouraged me that it was a hard class and she thought things would improve. (this was last fall) Several kids that I beat in other classes get high A's on the tests. However, there are other fantastic students getting C's and D's. Everyone either loves his class and worships him or hates it.</p>
<p>Too bad you didn't drop the class right away. The same thing happened to my son sophmore year. He had gotton the A in Chem 1 - freshman year and the class was so easy for him - he was tutoring seniors in Chem 1 but Soph year he could barely pass Chem AP. Got a 1 on the AP test. Looking back, I would have advised him to drop it the first semester, but you are in the same situation so much time has passed. This class brought down his whole GPA - maybe some really bright kids like you and my son just don't do well with AP Chem.</p>
<p>emswim: I don't know how well you all get along (the students), but if there are some students who are making A's, and others also getting C's and D's, is it possible that you all could organize study groups with the A people? Or maybe if those A students aren't doing so well in those classes where you are doing better than they, you could work out some sort of arrangement where you help them with another class, and they can help you in the chemistry class? Since the teacher isn't willing to help, I would really try to organize a study group, or at least find yourself a student tutor if that doesn't work.</p>
<p>emswim, my D is having a similar problem with an organic chem class. Part of the issue is that the professor has a very thick accent - upon return from spring break, having had a week off, she told me that it took her yet another week to "re-acclimate" to his accent. His class is so difficult that - to give an example - the last test, the average score was a 27 (out of 100 possible points). Several six-year med students are in this class, and after the last test, when everyone left the room, one of these students literally sat down outside and started to cry. Another was so angry and upset that he threw his book across the lawn. But also the professor is not available, doesn't really seem to respond to email, etc.</p>
<p>I think that some of this might be emotional maturity on the part of the student, at least in general terms. Here is a spin on what I more or less told my D - maybe some of it will help you:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Ignore comments from the teacher that don't get you to your goal - such as "if you can't do well you cannot do college level work". A 35 ACT score certainly says otherwise. But my point is - don't get stuck on these types of comments; don't get emotionally engaged - blow right past them, don't waste precious energy thinking about them, and focus the discussion instead on getting the information you need from this teacher that will help you improve your grade. </p></li>
<li><p>Find out which students might be doing well in this class - if there is such a person, what are they doing that is different from what you might be doing in terms of study strategy? In addition, might they be available as a study partner, or even as a tutor?</p></li>
<li><p>Would getting a tutor - internal or external - help? If so, can the teacher help you find one? </p></li>
<li><p>This calls for strategy, not drama. It doesn't appear that "talking" is going to serve your interests well - what you really need is help with the concepts, and/or other ways to work on the material. How can you get this? Working longer hours even if you can find the time isn't going to help - you need to find out what you're doing strategically incorrectly that you can improve, and the only way I can see that you can do that is by sitting down with the teacher, or a tutor, or a student who is doing well in the class, and going through the actually work. </p></li>
<li><p>Come to terms with the fact that you are at minimum 50% responsible for your relationship with this teacher; it is your responsibility to extract from this teacher the information and skills you need to do well in this class, and, clearly, your current methods aren't working. Therefore, you need to try a different approach. I'm not sure what that might be, but certainly you cannot continue to do the exact same thing over and over, and somehow expect different results. So - what can you do differently? Can you ask for a specific appointment with the teacher, offer a formal agenda and ask for specific, task oriented help? Perhaps that's not the solution, but, if you're getting high grades in everything else, and have a 35 on the sci portion of the ACT, you certainly have the aptitude.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I hope some small part of this post helps - whatever you do, don't give up.</p>
<p>Emswim:</p>
<p>There are only a couple more weeks before the AP test, right? So you need a strategy. Do you feel that the teacher is grading too hard, i.e., you are doing fine but your real performance is not reflected in the grade? Or do you feel that you are doing poorly in this class because the teacher is not teaching well or not getting to you?</p>
<p>If you are doing fine, all that is needed is dedicated reviewing of the materials so that you will do well on the AP exam. A good score on the exam will do much to trump the grade (though it may not raise your GPA). If you are not doing fine, I suggest getting a tutor right away to go over the materials you have not been getting. Often, students who have had physics before find learning chemistry easier. Try to identify the areas that you are weak in and review. </p>
<p>Don't worry about handling college-level work. I'm sure things will turn out okay.</p>
<p>I hired a tutor earlier in the year but it was no help. Also, the teacher did not approve and said he did not believe in getting tutors. He has given us advice for how to study for the tests (ex. timing yourself working problems, paying extra attention to charts and graphs, making a concept map of the chaper) I've tried all this, and my grades don't reflect it! I'm not trying to whine, I just really need advice for how to get out of this cycle.</p>
<p>See if you can see any patterns. My D (in middle school) had a teacher that would give some kids A's even though there were errors on the test. They would say, gee that was wrong, but wouldn't get points off. While others (not teachers faves by the way) were marked off for the littlest things. We also had a teacher that taught stuff in class, made errors, said, oh this is such and such, which did not match the book, but the tests were all from the book. My D learned to study mostly from the book. Another teacher made up her tests, so you know what she said in class was important.</p>
<p>I am not saying the teacher is doing this, but it has been known to happen. One teacher stopped letting the kids take the tests home afterward to look at because kids discovered that she had made mistakes on questions, for instance taking points off for one kid but not another for the same mistake.</p>
<p>Each teacher has a style and you need to learn it. </p>
<p>All the suggestions above are really good. Mine is just some insight into some bad teachers practices that may or may not pertain in your situation. I am not blaming the teacher, they are human, but you need to discover how they teach and grade.</p>
<p>There are many teachers that feel that if you are in AP, then you don't need any help. My DD just whizzed through AP calculus first semester, and now this semester is struggling. That is, even though she gets A's, they are not as high, and she doesn't feel as though she is grasping the concepts like she did last semester. Physics was the same way for her. I got her a tutor who told her there were tricks to it, and she just whizzed through the year! Her AP Govt. teahcer this year was absent so much that he skipped a lot of the material. Since it was only a 1 semester class, she had to turn in her book, and I again hired a tutor for her to bring her up to snuff fro the AP test - this the child that won the State Citizen Bee last year, and just took 1st in Region in UIL Soc Studies competition. She came back from each session saying that the tutor must think she was really stupid - that she learned something that she had never heard of before. Look around and find a tutor who is knowledgeable enough in the field to teach you the tricks of the subject. It seems to me that is what you are missing. What you had always done worked last year, but this year, there is something that just hasn't clicked. As a teacher, I can tell you that the trick to getting A's on a test is: know your test maker. I remember a prof I had in college who always tested over the most inconsequential bit of info. We complained in each post mortem. If we had spent that much energy tearing apart the nit-picky stuff, we would have all aced the tests! What does this teacher do on the tests? Is there a track record? Figure it out and focus on that.</p>
<p>Don't worry about what the teacher will say at this point and don't tell him. You need another person, anyway, to assess how you are doing. So run, don't walk to a tutor. By the way, have you had some practice AP exams? how did you do on those? Did you know that you don't have to answer everything correctly to get a 5? I hope this makes you feel less anxious.</p>
<p>It sounds like your teacher is a bad teacher. </p>
<p>What did you get as a semester/trimester grade(s) before? </p>
<p>If I was you, I would drop the class, even if it means getting a "withdrawn" on your transcript.</p>
<p>Study hard, get a 5 on the AP test. </p>
<p>In your personal statement explain how the class was unfair or any unusual circumstances, colleges generally buy it. Plus, with a 5 on the AP test, you can easily substantiate your claim that the class was BS</p>
<p>I got a "B" last semester thanks to a research paper. I am going to work really hard and hopefully get a 4 or 5 on the exam. I think the part of the problem is that I find the teacher really intimidating, and it is hard to concentrate in class or on the tests because the class makes me feel so nervous and terrible.</p>
<p>Oh I know what you mean. Don't worry about it. I'm sure you'll do well on the AP test</p>
<p>Eeeek. They're so soon...</p>