<p>So I'm not really concerned with my grade in the class because I have an A, but I haven't learned anything. My teacher doesn't really teach the material well at all and her tests are easy because she basically tells you how to do all the problems when the problem is given. We were given an AP packet (released by the college board) and I don' t know how to do a Free Response question on there. I'm not even sure I want to take the AP Test at this point because I feel like my chances of passing it are next to none unless I can get better, so does anybody have any advice on how to study for this stuff because my teacher is just really incompetent at teaching the correct material.</p>
<p>Do you have a good textbook? My textbook has over 100 problems for each chapter. Odd #'s in the back. What unit are you currently on right now? I literally did all of the questions in the Bonding chapter. Now we’re doing electrochemistry. Just do problems, tons of resources on the web. chemwiki at ucdavis.edu is very heplfuk; chemguide.co.uk; norton.com</p>
<p>It’s something you’ll have to get used to because in college you may not always have a good professor!! Although I am lucky to have an excellent teacher.</p>
<p>No our textbook is extremely old from like the early 90’s and has ripped pages. We just finished Kinetics stuff and I have no idea what we are doing next. We did Gas Laws first and Thermo stuff 2nd and just finished Kinetics stuff. The Thermo stuff is the hardest IMO.</p>
<p>My teacher never uses the textbook anyhow. </p>
<p>Yeah the problem is I don’t even feel like she is teaching us the right stuff, like most of the stuff we are learning isn’t even in the AP material I feel.</p>
<p>If you have the interwebs you can use it to specifically search your subject. I find there is so much information out there just for the finding. Try it, you might be surprised. </p>
<ol>
<li>check out the AP chem thread in the AP sciences forum</li>
<li>You can get a good quality textbook for $20 on amazon</li>
<li>As far as the exam goes
<ul>
<li>Use bozeman youtube videos and crash course review book and you will decimate the multiple choice.</li>
<li>Practice the FRQs online and practice end of chapter problems in whatever textbook you get.</li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
<p>you have to learn something in order to get a good grade lol</p>
<p>@Decepters Not really. Tests and quizzes are open note and pretty much all I have to know how to do is use formulas and I’m set. Plus she gives you full credit on lab reports as long as you turn one in (regardless of how good it is) and they are worth a ton of your grade.</p>
<p>@RHSclassof16 You seriously have no idea how lucky you are. Take this from a guy who has a teacher who grades lab reports at an average of 70%, even though he says they’re above average if we were college students, and grades tests at an average of 50-60%. No open note, no familiarization of previous problems. If your class is really easy, that gives you less stress and more time to study on your own, and learn at your own pace. I would much rather have your class than mine.</p>
<p>Well I probably would too, I would still prefer to not score a 1 on the AP Test like I am likely on track to be scoring in any case. I’m not really sure what to study so for any future readers of this thread please tell me what study books, YT channels that you recommend please. I want to get at least a 3. I’ve also heard that the AP Chem test last year was hard to finish the whole thing, and she doesn’t even time tests and you can come back and finish it like at lunch so I have worries about actually finishing it as well.</p>
<p>@RHSclassof16 I personally use a Zumdahl textbook, 9th edition. Due to how new it is, it’s pricey. Try getting an older edition. What you can do is completely read it, do the problems, check your understanding, probably read more. Also, you should do AP chem prepare tests and also maybe look into MIT’s free courses, and learn from them too! Goodluck!</p>
<p>For youtube channels, any work.</p>
<p>you’re extremely lucky… its not hard to learn the material by yourself, but it is hard to raise your grade w/ a hard teacher…be thankful :)</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, you’re probably learning more than you think. I didn’t really know what I was doing for the AP Chemistry free-response questions, but I got a 4. </p>
<p>Maybe, but I don’t even know how to do most of the multiple choice either.</p>
<p>If it gives you any sort of piece of mind, I’d like to say that I was the exact same. I felt I wasn’t actually learning anything in my own AP Chem class. Early on last year, I took a private class outside school to help me with AP Chem; the teacher had a ton of questions from past AP tests dating back to the 1970’s, and the class of about 6 of us had no clue whatsoever how to do any of them, even after he went step-by-step through them twice right in front of our eyes.</p>
<p>Basically, what happened was that our foundation wasn’t good. Unfortunately, you may have to be the one to take the reigns and make sure you understand all the concepts yourself. Chem FRQ’s are inherently difficult, and that’s why you’re going to have to work hard and practice. I had no idea what I was doing and ended the first semester of my Chem class with a B+, because I truly didn’t understand the concepts being taught. The second semester, however, I was more proactive and took the initiative in studying up; eventually, with the outside class, we had gone ahead of the school curriculum and started learning about things two months ahead of our school’s AP class. I pretty much ended up ditching paying attention to school lectures (thus goofing off and relaxing because why not) and worked by myself and in the other class to do practice questions. I looked at a bunch of other resources, from other school’s packets to four different AP review books. This was especially frustrating since the test format and curriculum had all changed last year for the AP Chemistry test. However, I rallied up, became familiar with all the core concepts (which Crash Course, the AP review book, really helped with), watched Bozeman videos, familiarized myself with the AP Chem Course Outline (which had all the concepts tested), took a bunch of practice tests, new and old, and ended up with a 5 on the AP Exam, a 95% on the class final, and a high A in the class.</p>
<p>tl;dr</p>
<p>You may not feel like you’re learning now, but you definitely will. As the year progresses, the new information starts coming in and you’ll really see how much AP Chemistry is composed of. However, mastering AP Chem may take a lot of effort on your part. Use your time and energy to find good resources, from review books to notes to videos, that will help solidify your familiarity with core concepts. Once you master these, make sure you do a lot of practice to apply your knowledge. When you’re through with all of that, you’ll have no problem doing well on the AP test in May. Good luck!</p>
<p>My ap chem class uses the new orange zumdahl book as well, I personally thought thermochem was a little hard too, I’d rather them say, “thermal energy” rather than heat. My class average was 84, I got a 100 somehow, but my worst grade was a 88 on a small quiz. I love how A&P Chen is compared to 10th grade chemistry</p>
<p>I know how you feel. I had an A both semesters and completely BSed the AP exam. Lucky enough to get a 3. </p>
<p>Yea I’m in AP Chem too and I totally feel ya. Chemistry is just something that takes lots of time to wrap your head around (unless you’re some chem prodigy). I feel like having the right teacher is KEY to success in ap chem, and like you, I have a pretty crappy teacher. His notes are shallow/useless and he expects us to just KNOW how to solve problems.</p>
<p>But like I said before, with time, we will have a better understanding of the concepts and I think we just need to wait it out. Of course that doesn’t mean be lazy and stay confused lol just try to do what you can for now and eventually the pieces will fall into place. Most people struggle in AP Chem, so don’t feel bad about it. It’s called “AP” for a reason, right? Good luck :)</p>