Is it possible to study AP Chemistry on your own?

<p>My schedule is full with AP classes so I'm not taking AP Chemistry next year, but is it possible to learn the material through a textbook over the summer and use review books over the year to get a 5? I really want to get the AP credit so I can get out of Modern Chemistry classes freshmen year. If someone knows any online classes or lecture videos that are really helpful that would be swell. Thanks.</p>

<p>Over the summer? Not very likely. Using a textbook throughout the year? Doable. I self studied the last five or so chapters for the exam and did fine. The only issue is labs, but most people don’t get to all of them in class anyway.
I’d say you could get about half to three-quarters done over the summer depending on how much you do. I recommend The Central Science for a good AP Chemistry text.</p>

<p>I will also be self-studying Chemistry next year. I can help you if you would like, since I already have a pretty strong base (no pun intended) in chemistry. I could have taken the AP Chem exam this year, but I would have had to learn a few other chapters that I just didn’t have time to cover. Good luck!</p>

<p>I self-studied this year starting only a month before; clearly, I was rushed and didn’t really grasp the later concepts like electrochemistry and titration/buffer stuff that well. Nevertheless, on the AP Exam I think I did well enough for a 5, and most definitely a 4 at least. The one laboratory question on the test I was able to solve, even though I never did it in practice. So self-studying AP Chemistry is doable, especially if you have the entire year to prepare.</p>

<p>of course it’s possible. if you took a first year of chemistry, you already know a lot. here’s what i would do - use your time in the summer to review and strengthen the topics you already know. when it comes to actually beginning new material, i would highly recommend doing the DIFFICULT topics first and working your way toward the easier ones. that’s the unorthodox way my AP chem teacher ran the class this year and it was really effective. it was nice only having to worry about simple things when we were getting closer to the AP test. we got all the more difficult things out of the way in the beginning of the year (mainly equilibrium).
with so many resources like prep books and ap central (which, by the way, is INVALUABLE, especially if you’re self-studying), there’s no reason you can’t do this. the only thing you’ll be missing is labs - and there were a bunch of lab ?s on the AP test this year (e.g. copper ammonia complex is dark blue, colorimetry, precautions, color changes in the reaction set, and a full FRQ on lab procedure). it would behoove you to find a list of recommended labs that students regularly do in AP chem and then youtube them so you can see what’s going on. especially titrations. obviously you can memorize how to do problems but it’s that much easier when you mentally know what’s happening.</p>

<p>sorry for the novel and good luck!</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.kentchemistry.com/moviesfiles/chemguy/Chemguy.htm[/url]”>http://www.kentchemistry.com/moviesfiles/chemguy/Chemguy.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>ah I wasn’t expecting much of a reply, thanks for you comments! they were really helpful. which prep books would you recommend though? PR, 5steps, barron’s, etc.</p>

<p>also what are lab books…
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ap-tests-preparation/856401-ap-chemistry-lab-book.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/ap-tests-preparation/856401-ap-chemistry-lab-book.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>bumping this…</p>

<p>bumping this again…</p>

<p>I know someone who did it and got a 5.</p>

<p>O man, I would hate to do that. I absolutely hate chemistry. However, if you’re interested, then it can easily be done.</p>

<p>One of the AP Chem teachers at one of my schools isn’t the best, and the course description even says that students need to have a free block for more teaching time AND to do work on their own. The point: the students essentially self-study AP Chem. I know several (motivated) students that have easily gotten 5s on the exam. (I openly admit I’ve not taken the class, just have friends that did). Taking into consideration that you’re considering doing work for it over the summer, I’d say you can do it.</p>

<p>If you’re intelligent and disciplined, I don’t see why you couldn’t. But that disciplined part is a big if… It’s very hard to be motivated enough to self-study a whole curriculum, and AP Chem is one of the harder APs to self-study. </p>

<p>If you plan to go ahead, I would advise really trying for a conceptual understanding of chemistry, beyond “plugging and chugging” through problems. Chang is pretty good for this, in my opinion. If you conceptually understand all the chemistry by the end of the summer, it should take only a little work with the prep books come May.</p>

<p>Also, try to form a relationship with your school’s chemistry teacher, or a really good chemistry student. Sometimes, you’re going to need more than the textbook to explain something. And, as I said above, it’s crucial to understand the chemistry. </p>

<p>Lastly, OCW (by MIT) and Khan Academy probably both have free Chemistry lectures online for you to check out.</p>

<p>It is definitely possible to self-study for AP Chemistry. I did it this year, and I am expecting a 4 or 5 on the AP exam. Just refer to these video lectures and notes, which are really useful:</p>

<p><a href=“http://apchemistrynmsi.wikispaces.com/[/url]”>http://apchemistrynmsi.wikispaces.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I studied these one/two weeks before the exam and feel like I did really well on the exam.</p>

<p>BTW, I self-studied concurrently taking honors chemistry, so the only major self-studying I did before the exam was kinetics, equilibrium (incl. acid/base) and electrochemistry.</p>

<p>I’m planning to self-study it too, but I’m not sure if I could be motivated enough to study it when I have other things to do</p>

<p>wait if your in gr9 and u want to get into AP, all u need is to get a teacher recomendation after she see’s your gr9 marks and to take the AP test, right???</p>

<p>Rofl that’s what I’m doing, you should be my study buddy. :P</p>

<p>Well I got a prep book from Barron’s and after reading reviews like “My teacher sucked in AP Chemistry, I didn’t learn a thing, Iused this book and got a 5” from multiple reviews, I got the book thinking it was gonna be a breeze. I bought it and saw the book, it just looks like a textbook instead of a prep book. There are around 16 chapters, and I am gonna start in July and slowly digest 1-2 chapters a month till May.</p>