<p>So I might take AP Chem next year, but how hard is it? Is there a lot of math involved? Is it hard to get an A?</p>
<p>It’s hard, but definitely not because of the math.
Whether or not it’s hard to get an A depends on how much grade inflation your school has.</p>
<p>As halcyonheather said, the math is not the difficult part and the difficulty of getting an A depends on your school. </p>
<p>The math is very basic, it is the concepts that make it difficult. At my school, the class is not too bad. As long as you keep with the homework/reading and pay attention in class you can probably get an A. The content for the course is pretty challenging, but I think at most schools the pacing of the class makes it manageable. The AP is difficult since you have to recall material from the entire year which is difficult since many students remember content for a test/quiz, but then forget it afterwards. If you start reviewing for the AP early on in the year, you will probably feel prepared for the AP.</p>
<p>The difficult also obviously depends on how strong you are in math and science. Have you taken a regular or honors chemistry class before? This definitely helps.</p>
<p>Is AP Chem just like General Chem in college?</p>
<p>AP chem is supposed to be a chemistry class in college yes. I did not find the actual class hard but the AP exam was something else. Depends on who teaching you.</p>
<p>It was the hardest class I had ever taken(bear in mind that I did not take regular chem before). I was the type of person who never studied, but for Chem, studied hours a day, literally ate my soul. XD By doing lots and lots of practice problems and attending two extra sessions a week, I got an A last semester and looking at an A this semester too. :D</p>
<p>You should have very solid math skills :).</p>
<p>AP chem was definitely by far the hardest ap I have taken. I had the same teacher for honors chem that I had for ap chem and I thought I would be well prepared for the ap test but was far wrong</p>
<p>I think AP chemistry is a good class in that it’s very challenging and it should be since it’s a college level course. </p>
<p>There are three main reasons chemistry is difficult for many students.
- You must have strong understanding of the concepts AND the mathematical concepts.
- Many ideas are hard to visualize which can be difficult for some types of students</p>
<p>To answer the OP’s original questions: Yes there is alot of math, but mainly equations that you need to know the different parts of. During the AP tests you will receive a table with all the equations you’ll need. </p>
<p>To get an A it’s only as difficult as you make it. Keep up with the homework and read ahead and you’ll be good to go. Most of the people saying it’s challenging are those who breeze by the entire year doing minimal work (no offense to them) and when the final test comes along they have no clue what to do. Not trying to say my classmates were inferior to me, but out of the 60 kids at my school who took the AP Chem test less than 5 actually spent reasonable time studying for the test. </p>
<p>Trust me, if you put in the time and effort you can achieve outstanding marks in AP chem (and any class) despite a weak background in mathematics.</p>
<p>If possible you would really have to ask kids from your school who have taken AP Chem on how hard it is to get an A. At my school it was pretty hard to get an A. In my class of 25 about 4 got A’s.</p>
<p>The math is a big oart of it obviously brcause theres a lot if estimation on the multiole choice, which youre not given a calculator, but the class itself is very interesting and you should take it!</p>
<p>It seen silly to not allow calculator. Some people use them in a flash and get answers faster and preform more. I don’t get why we have to resort to more… Primitive way.</p>
<p>Some people use them in a flash and get answers faster and preform more. I don’t get why we have to resort to more… Primitive way.</p>
<p>Because on a graphing calculator you can store information which can be used to cheat.
I don’t know why they don’t just allow us calculators on the multiple choice that you can’t store info on - but I guess they decided it would be easier to not have calculator on the multiple choice than to make us bring two calculators.</p>
<p>Hella fun and hella crazy.</p>
<p>Lab were banging. Tests were poppin’. Cool kids. Cool vibes.</p>
<p>I never thought AP Chem was as hard as a lot of people make it out to be. I am also not one of those people who math and science come easy to. I did have to put a considerable amount of time into it and work hard, but ended up with an A in the class without having to work harder than I was expecting to. My teacher was also very well qualified and did a good job of preparing us for the exam, so its not like she made the class easy. If you always read your textbook, do practice problems everyday, study for the test well in advance, and if you are overall a motivated student, it is very possible to do well in that class. I say you should go for it. Don’t let others scare you into not taking it, which is what almost happened to me.</p>
<p>Well done Taz2013! That’s the point I was trying to get across too. Stay ontop of your work and study hard and getting an A is a achievable goal :)</p>
<p>I guess intimidation only makes it even better when you do get an A!</p>
<p>Some people use them in a flash and get answers faster and preform more. I don’t get why we have to resort to more… Primitive way.
But that’s also absurd. people can still “store information” for the frq. And some of us are not good at mental math. I felt bad for some of my fellow test takers because they could never estimate on top of remember which formula. If only we spent more times. Unless college board want to test our mental capabilities …</p>
<p>My teacher didn’t explain concepts well so I had to self-study most of the course. There are plenty of helpful resources online (e.g. Khan academy). I think I did a decent job on the AP test – hopefully enough for a 4 or 5.</p>
<p>Oh, ouch I have to warn you. My honors chemistry teacher really pushed me to take AP Chemistry this year. I wasn’t planning on it at all but he was pretty insistent so I took it. I did really well in honors, high A all year, but this year in AP it was completely different. First of all, the AP teacher at my school is HORRIBLE. Her idea of teaching was to give us a stack of practice problems and tell us to figure them out in lieu of her actually…you know…teaching. She’d spend three classes on three chapters and then we’d take a test because according to her we should have learned everything we needed to know about chemistry in honors. I am a straight A student, very strong in science, but I struggled this year in that class. It took enormous effort for me to pull off an A- the first three quarters. Right now I have a B for fourth quarter because our only quarter grade is a quest we took before the AP exam. Speaking of which, I did not feel prepared for that exam at all. :(</p>
<p>My experience with the class has been disappointing to say the least. It ruined my chances at the 4.0 unweighted GPA I was perfectly capable of. I know that shouldn’t be such a big deal, but it would have been a nice thing to say I achieved…especially after all the effort (and sweat. and sleeplessness.) I put into my junior year and that I’ve always put into school. :(</p>
<p>My advice to you is to only take AP Chem if you are truly interested in chemistry. Don’t take it because your parents/teachers/guidance counselor told you to. The material itself is manageable as long as you like chemistry and have a decent teacher, which I did not. Study every night, take notes, read the textbook, make use of available internet sources. And good luck.</p>
<p>As for me, I wish I had taken AP Biology this year like I had been planning to.</p>