I love this teacher a lot, but he sucks at teaching… and he teaches one of the most important AP classes: AP Chem. I REALLY want a 4 or 5… but realistically I’m probably going to get a 3 (ex: guy who goes to Brown took this teacher’s AP Chem class and got a 3 on the actual test).
So self studying tips?
What books should I get?
HOW TO GET A 4 O̶R̶ ̶A̶ ̶5̶?̶
And we’ve only done three labs since the beginning of the school year
That’s life. Luckily you can still choose a different section for a given course at a university, but try to get used to him. To give you some general studying tips (this works for me, so everyone is different):
- Read ahead of time. That's important because that way you can ask questions about concepts/theories you're not comfortable with.
- Purchase a review book for Chemistry. Any publisher/company works fine. I personally like the Barron's books, but you can go to a local Barnes & Nobles and check out a few more to see if you find the format/layout appealing to you.
- Read daily. The more you expose yourself to the concepts/theories, the better you'll remember them and know how to work them out, thus increasing your chances of getting a better score on your exam.
The problem with the labs… my only comment is that when you’re in college, you’re paying for your courses, so you’ll be doing the labs and (in my case), participation and some reports are worth a huge chunk of your grade.
Bozeman Science on YouTube has a lot of helpful videos for AP Chem. That’s what I had to do when I was in AP Chem last year because it was my teacher’s first year and she didn’t really know what she was doing.
And I agree with econcalc, a review book is almost necessary for that class. Barron’s was okay; the practice tests in it were great. I also like Princeton Review. I found that annotating the review chapters as I read and then trying the practice quizzes was what worked for me when I was studying.
As for the labs, I would try to see what you can find online, and there are probably some in review books or in your textbook that you could look at and try to understand.
AP Chem was really difficult for me, but I think you will be fine. Good luck! 
I’m in a similar situation in my APUSH class. We never write essays and we rarely have lectures. I’m doing a lot of learning on my own, because my school only has AP classes, so all the kids are in the same class, whether or not they should be in an AP class. Only good thing is that my teacher curves all of our tests, so it’s easy to get an A. What’s the best review book? I already have 5 Steps to a 5 and I’m hoping for a 4 on the ap exam
@suprstar16 For APUSH, definitely look into the AMSCO review book. I was in the same position as you for the class, but that book saved my life and exam score. It’s very easy to comprehend and learn on your own! They just made a new edition for the new (2015) AP exam.
@ashleybear97 @suprstar16 yeah my APUSH and AP lang teachers are also terrible (lol basically all the teachers at my school aren’t the best)
I have AMSCO (given through school) but it’s an older version… I heard that a lot of people just read the book and got 4s and 5s? Did you read it AND do the multiple choice and short answers or did you just read it? Also, if you did the multiple choice and short answers where do you find the answers?
I was definitely in the same position a couple of years ago. My teacher was really nice, and everyone loved him, but he was TERRIBLE at his job. (Think Ferris Bueller’s Day Off…) Try coming in early or staying late to get some one-on-one time with the teacher - sometimes they are better at teaching a single student than they are at teaching the class.
@BrownHopeful27 yeah my teacher is better one on one but even one on one he gets distracted by a lot of things… Lol but I’m definitely gonna start doing that!