Hi, I’m currently a high school sophomore taking Chemistry Honors and have gotten an A nearly every quarter.
As the class picking season approaches I keep considering whether or not I should go the extra mile and take AP Chemistry next year. I’ve taken 3 APs already so I’m familiar with how APs work and all that, however I’m not sure if I’m prepared. Any advice or assistance would be greatly appreciated.
It depends on the teacher. I’m taking AP chem right now with a horrifying teacher and I regret it very much, but if the teacher at your school is nice and flexible, go for it. Also, expect long nights and be prepared to make sacrifices if you want to academically succeed Junior year - this year has certainly been definitive for me and my friends! I’d say go for it - you only go to high school once and you have one chance to show colleges what you’re made of. Best of luck to you!
… but AP chem has A LOT of material. It goes beyond regular chemistry, and the people I know that didn’t get high A’s every semester in other chem classes really struggle in AP chem; also, if you’re not that good at memorizing a ton of information or working with complex equations, maybe take another AP class. Or even wait for senior year. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
@fairagoura ??? AP Chem has very little memorization; the things you need to memorize will become ingrained naturally as you take the course. If you are memorizing a bunch of stuff, then you are learning chemistry wrong!
Chemistry requires significantly more conceptual understanding than does any other course in high school. It is for this reason that many people struggle with the subject. Even if you are a strong conceptual thinker, there are several topics in chemistry that will take quite a while to truly “get.” The key is to not get discouraged – Keep working at it and doing practice problems, but focus not on the math itself but on the reasoning and logic behind the math.
It is also entirely possible that AP Chem will just not be for you. You will know in the first few weeks whether you should drop it.
I took AP Chem last year and self-studied my way to Honors on the Chemistry Olympiad, so please PM me if you have further questions.