<p>hi, i'm a junior, and I'm going towards the science/tech route, so i'm taking ap chemistry this year. I'm really interested in chemistry, but the teacher has TERRIBLE teaching skills and give hard tests, so almost everyone taking his class has a low B or lower (except for two to three extremely smart people). Science has always been my forte, but i feel so confused in this class even though we're just doing a review of honors chemistry plus a little more info since he complicates EVERYTHING I've learned and I'm afraid that I'll get a C in the class (which would be my first C on my transcript). </p>
<p>I'm thinking of switching out of this class for another class because I feel that this class isn't preparing me for the AP exam and i want to improve my gpa this year (3.85) so i can't afford a C or lower in the class. I want to take an AP science class to show colleges i'm serious about science, but none of the other ap sciences are letting people into their classes since there's "too much work to catch up." Should i drop the class and take a non-science class so i can preserve my GPA, or stay in the class and study my butt off with very little chance of getting an A? OR should I beg the counselor againto get me into another AP science class and work super hard for a few weeks to try to catch up on everything?</p>
<p>This class does not sound like a good use of your time. You are not learning, you are miserable, and there are plenty of other great classes to take.
I would be reluctant to switch into another AP science class, though. Depending on when your school started, you are talking about making up 3-5 weeks of work.
Head to your counselor ASAP to figure out your options.</p>
<p>Talk to your GC and your parents, but I would say, get outta Dodge. It is probably better to have a solid GPA with a different class than a C in AP Chem, not to mention, you aren’t actually learning AP chem. If you think you could learn the material in the class and do well if you had a tutor, and if a tutor is affordable for you, you might consider this as an alternative. But the combination of having a terrible teacher who isn’t preparing you for the AP exam and facing a C in your junior year no matter how hard you work would suggest that you might be better served by a different alternative.</p>
<p>The bad GPA will hurt your admissions more than one less AP class will. Drop the class if you are pretty sure you will get a C. Can you try out a Chem class at your local CC next summer? If you feel you will do well, it will accomplish the same goal as taking AP Chem and if you get in and cannot hack it, you can drop it before the deadline and it will not show up as a negative on your transcript. Schools that accept AP credits usually give the same weighted GPA points for college classes taken in high school.</p>
<p>well, we just got back our last test, and the highest score in our class was a 75/86 (~87%). everybody else pretty much got C’s and lower (I got an E >.<). i guess that’s a pretty good indicator that this isn’t a good class, especially adding the fact that most of the kids in my class are science/tech magnet kids chosen from all over the county. </p>
<p>i think i might be able to self-study for the AP chem exam, but i heard that the exam was really hard. i think i might drop AP chem, take AP pscyh, and have one period to self-study (ap chem is double period)? is this a good idea? if my honors chem teacher was available during that period, she could help me learn the material (she’s a better teacher than the ap teacher).</p>
<p>i feel really reluctant to drop this class, 'cause i want to get into a good science school. but if get a good score on the ap exam without taking the class, it won’t hurt me, right?</p>
<p>The thing is, clearly the best situation would be if you were in an excellent AP chem class and doing well. Unfortunately, that’s not one of your alternatives. You’re in an awful class where the highest test grade is 75 despite the fact that the class is full of motivated science kids. Even though you are bright, motivated, did well in honors chem, and are studying hard, you just got an “E.” </p>
<p>So IMHO, the question isn’t whether dropping out of a decent AP chem class in favor of AP Psych will hurt you. The question is whether taking and (presumably) doing well in AP Psych – which you might really enjoy, by the way, if it’s well done – would hurt you less than staying in a truly terrible AP chem class in which no one is mastering the material and you’re barely passing. And I think that the answer to that one is a resounding yes. </p>
<p>If you have time to self-study AP chem and take the exam, while still allowing time to do well in your other classes and have a life – great! If you go with Bessie’s good idea of taking college level chemistry at a local cc or 4 year college over the summer, also great. But your current situation seems untenable unless the teacher magically improves.</p>
<p>If you have a good relationship with your GC, talk with her. I might be missing something here, but it is hard to imagine a college admissions committe sitting over your transcript and being really upset because you took honors chem and AP Psych as opposed to having taken honors Chem and AP Chem.</p>
<p>Are the problems over topics that you haven’t covered, or are they simply more difficult variations of the problems that you have?</p>
<p>In other words, have you used an AP review book to supplement your studying?</p>
<p>If you have tried that, and you still aren’t doing well, then your considering transferring/dropping would be more reasonable. I would try to approach the material/class from a different perspective first, though.</p>
<p>no, i haven’t really used an AP review book. though i have read through the chapters numerous times, though u can’t really learn ap chemistry through only a book. he ‘covers’ all the materials for the test, but doesn’t explain very well.</p>
<p>i think he expects too much from the class and goes really fast. he wants to get through all the material before the ap exam. when we were going over the test and he was doing a limiting reactant problem, he said, “Ok, this will be the last stoichiometry problem i will do for the whole year. I expect you guys to know all this by now. If you have any questions, come during lunch or afterschool.” </p>
<p>what makes me really angry right now is that when i asked him to drop the class, he said no. apparently, he’s refusing to let anyone drop his class because it’s “a commitment that we made.” i think a lot of other ppl are trying to drop his class as well. i need him to sign off a paper to let me drop the class, and tomorrow’s the last day to switch classes. if my parents write a note to the counselor and to my teacher to drop the class, do u think i can finally drop the class? i’ll be taking ap psych and principles of engineering.</p>
<p>If your school has a policy that allows students to drop classes, I’m not sure if it’s OK for a teacher to have a uniform policy that no one may drop. I think that tomorrow morning your parents might need to talk to your GC and to your principal. This is a situation in which the teacher will not look good if all of the students who want to drop and switch out of his class do so; his refusal to allow you to drop might have more to do with his best interests than with yours. You might want to also email your GC tonight to let her know that you have attempted to get your teacher to sign off on your drop form, but that he is refusing to allow anyone to drop. Perhaps your parents could email as well. A parental note would be good, but might not be enough if the teacher is stonewalling. Good luck!</p>
<p>Our AP Chem class is one of the hardest in our HS. Up there with Calc BC. My DD is taking AP Chem and at back to school night, some parents questioned the teacher on his expectations (because some kids are really struggling). Having two older kids I’m well aware of how difficult these classes are. He told the parents that he expects 10 hrs/wk of homework, additional hours to study. He admitted that “some” kids would have to put in significantly more hours. He strongly encouraged joining study groups to review problems and topics you don’t understand. That’s common in college. </p>
<p>AP level is going to move much faster and cover more info than your honors class. It’s understandable that top honors kids may have trouble at the next level because it is that much more challenging. Our kids had tons of summer homework as well. What kids here have trouble with are the quizes and tests based on actual AP exam questions. At this point, they are not really prepared for them and don’t do as well as they will later on when they get used to the time constraints and test format. The same is true in my DD’s other AP classes. For instance, she got the highest score on a DBQ in APUSHist last week. It was a 7/9. She was the only student with that score. Most scores were 5/9. The teacher doesn’t seem to understand the kids are panicking with these grades. Same in her Stats AP class. Highest grade is a low 90 so far, with the majority in the low 80s. Our HS uses numeric grades so these grades seem lower than an A or B would look.</p>
<p>Don’t switch in to another sci AP. My son took all 3 science APs and all were fast paced and difficult. AP Psych may be difficult to join at this point. Our kids had to read and do 25 case studies before school began. There could be alot of work to make up. </p>
<p>Good luck if you want to drop. Have your parents call Guidance and even possibly the principal. Some teachers are reluctant to let kids drop and have their class lists get too small for fear that their jobs may be at stake next year. One teacher told us she used to teach numerous AP Comp Sci classes and now the HS only offers one class because only 12 kids signed up for it. Luckily she has other lower level compsci classes to teach. If you really want to drop, take it to the top. Have your parents call the guidance counselor and maybe the principal. They may not give you any other class choices though, saying it’s too late and you could get stuck with study halls. At our HS, I think kids had to drop by the end of Sept or their grade (and a drop notice) would show on their transcript and be included in their GPA.</p>
A lousy teacher makes for a tough year. But there’s another way of looking at things. First off, many HS kids expect the teacher to do most of the lifting, which is what I think I’m hearing you say in the quote above. Going to class plus an hour on homework a few times a week is the typical standard for “working hard in the class”. However this is supposed to be a college chem class. A college class would meet for an hour 3x a week, and a good rule of thumb for harder classes like math or science in college is that you’ll spend 3 hours outside of class studying and doing homework for every hour in class. So for this HS AP class it is reasonable that you spend 9 hours each week studying and doing the homework. Do you think you and your classmates have been doing that?</p>
<p>The next point to consider is that material like Chem is pretty standardized. Unlike something like history where the teacher can choose what to emphasize and come up with his own interpretations of causes & meanings, in chem the reactions are the same no matter who teaches them. So you can learn a lot on your own and be comfortable what you’re learning will match 100% with what the HS class covers. You have a textbook and know what he’ll be covering; if you don’t know the schedule for the next few weeks then ask him and get it. There is no law or school rule limiting you to using the book from class. Many college students find books like the Chemistry Problem Solver invaluable. You read thru the section in your book to get an introduction to the material, but the real learning comes when you are solving stoichiometry problems or whatever on your own. Open the problem-solver book to the chapter on those, cover up the answer, and start working. Every question has a fully worked answer, so its almost like studying with a tutor. </p>
<p>In the quote above you say you aren’t using a review book; do a search to see what college profs say about learning chemistry and you’ll find things like this
</a></p>
<p>Furthermore there is an incredible amount of material on the web these days. You can find complete tutorials on chemistry, and some schools like MIT and Berkeley have even videotaped their classes and made the lectures available for free! See [Free</a> Online MIT Course Materials | Chemistry](<a href=“http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Chemistry/index.htm]Free”>http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/Chemistry/index.htm) or take a look at all the intro chem classes from Cal at [Berkeley</a> Chemistry Courses](<a href=“Viral news today”>Viral news today)</p>
<p>My point is that you can [ul] [<em>] watch the same lectures used to teach actual college students the material your class is covering [</em>]find tutorials and additional material on the web [*]get problem solving books that have hundreds of worked examples of the exact material your class covers [/ul]The only ingredient left to apply is your own effort, around 10 hours each week (plus the time to catch up with the time debt up to this point)</p>
<p>thank you for all your help! i agree with jerzgrlmom and mikemac that AP chemistry is suppose to be hard and that there are a lot of resources out there to help me. However, i have a big workload plus i live far away from my high school, so going to and from school is usually 1.5 hours. i finally got my teacher to let me drop his class after my mom emailed him. even though i’m still not sure whether it’s the best thing to drop this class after hearing a lot of opinions, i just know that this class is not cut out for me. </p>