<p>I'm taking AP Chem this year without the pre-req of a prior chem class. Don't ask how I managed that. :D I need advice on how I should prep for the class. What should I know prior to the class starting? Help!</p>
<p>You should know the common ions, the solubility rules, and basic stoichiometry. Also, it’d be useful to know the trends in the periodic table. Good luck with AP chem.</p>
<p>You should get yourself a review book that goes over basic chemistry information. The Barron’s review book was required by my teacher but I felt as though its questions weren’t really modeled after the AP exam’s questions. I think that the Princeton guide worked a lot better, but I’m sure that different people have different preferences. Check out whatever review books you can find in the library and use all of them to study for tests. Like the user above said, definitely know your solubility rules, your polyatomic ions, and learn as many of the symbols for as many of the elements as you can (especially for the most common ones). </p>
<p>Something that I think is very helpful is looking through a periodic table and understanding what OXIDATION states are and what the oxidation states of certain elements are because you don’t have access to that information on the standard AP Chemistry reference tables. </p>
<p>You should also look up what valence electrons are. There’s a lot of things that valence electrons are related to, so you should at least have basic knowledge on what they are and their importance in the world of chemistry in general. </p>
<p>There’s TONS of random facts/pieces of knowledge that’s helpful to know in case it appears on the AP exam. I don’t know how your teacher does AP Chemistry, but our first unit was Dimensional Analysis so try to practice difficult dimensional analysis questions that include metric units. Next, we did Atomic Structure. Learn what protons, neutrons and electrons are, their charges, and anything and EVERYTHING about them. Know what the atomic number is as opposed to the atomic mass and everything else in between. Try to read up on the Plum-Pudding Model, J.J. Thompson, etc. because there’s a lot of history to the development of the modern-day model of an atom. </p>
<p>One of our following units was Chem Math–this is definitely one of the more difficult units if you’re not into math. There’s A LOT in the unit and I learned most of it in general Chemistry so you may need to take the extra weeks before school starts to learn it so that it’s just a review when you go over it in class. Stoichiometry was a difficult concept for me to understand–pay attention when your teacher goes over it in class because it’s actually simple but you need to get it the first time, or it’ll be difficult to catch up. Plus, you’re going to need it the whole year round, so you may as well grasp it the first time. </p>
<p>There’s A LOT to know and it’s important that if you don’t get something the first time, ask your teacher to explain it again immediately. If you still don’t get it, ask again and again (before class or after class) until you understand. You may want to ask a fellow peer or go online and check up on similar questions. It’s the most difficult AP course I’ve taken yet, but I’ve heard that the benefits will definitely be reaped. DO NOT PROCRASTINATE! Study for tests at least 2-3 days in advance and ask your teacher questions when you don’t understand things as soon as you can. There’s a lot of great questions in your review book and textbook, so always do those for practice. It’s also great to do questions from past AP exams because my teacher used a lot of them on her tests. </p>
<p>If you have any other questions, feel free to message me. </p>
<p>Good luck!!!</p>
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<p>Took AP Chem in junior year, 5 on AP Exam</p>