So I just got my schedule this year and found out I wasn’t placed in honors chemistry. I was recommended for it, but because I’m in a fairly small STEM program (~75 kids) I don’t think they’re offering honors chemistry b/c there wasn’t enough demand for it. Usually, we have honors work on the side b/c the classes are so small that you can’t make a class ALL honors. However, honors should still be designated on my transcript.
I think the issue though is that the honors chemistry class last year was the only class where everyone was in honors, so I’m not sure they’ll be able to do the honors curriculum with the extra assignments like my previous honors classes.
Anyway, my schedule is weird b/c I go between two different places (stem program and then high school) so changing my schedule would be really hard. In the event that I would not be able to take honors chemistry at my high school, would regular chemistry be fine if I’m planning to take AP chemistry?
I was talking to one of my friends, and they said that AP chemistry always starts off the first couple weeks with a review of honors chemistry, so people who took regular chemistry struggle more just because they did not go as much in depth.
For reference on what I’m thinking of for senior year, this is what I’m planning:
AP chemistry
AP Physics C
AP Calc BC
Spanish 4
Psychology (fall) / English (spring) @ local CC online
Engineering Research
Obviously, I want to be as prepared as possible for my senior year courseload. Advice?
Also—I happen to really like the teacher who is teaching this chem class!! She’s absolutely amazing at teaching chemistry! I’m just worried we won’t cover stuff that will be important in AP chem.
Take Chem H so you can have time to write your college apps and also it’s better off since I’ve heard from many that AP Chem actually is a bit of a review from Chemn H
For my school the main difference between honors and regular chem was simply the pace of the class and the labs we did (honors was quicker and had more labs) I would recommend honors chem if your school offers it but if not regular chem should prepare you as well
@goodperson200@imaginexx@itsintheprocess I will talk to the chem teacher and hopefully there’s an honors coursework option. If not however, what I’m saying is that my schedule will be hard to change, so I might have to take regular chem. Ya’ll confirmed my suspicions about honors chem being the better option in prep for AP chem. I just don’t want to be at an huge disadvantage because it’s one of the hardest APs at my school besides Physics C.
If I’m going to be honest Honors Chem BARELY prepared me for AP Chem. I also took Honors Chem two years before AP Chem and had never had planned to take AP Chem but there was a schedule issue and I didn’t want to drop an AP for a regular class so I picked up Chem. As long as you study for AP Chem you’ll be find regardless of background. You basically do a review of Honors/Regular Chem anyway within the first Chapter of AP Chem so even if you feel behind you will be caught up to speed.
To be honest, I took it without honors or regular chem and went straight into AP Chem with a summer assignment covering stoichiometry, naming, and some things that weren’t so pertaining to AP Chem. I just simply heard from the juniors (I was a sophomore when I took this) that it was review. I still recommend Honors Chemistry over regular but regular will still be fine.
Don’t worry about changing your schedule. Just talk to the amazing teacher and ask if she can give you any pointers or extra work along the way that might help you be better prepared for AP Chem next year. If that doesn’t work, before the summer see if you can talk to the AP Chem teacher and ask if she/he has any suggestions for summer work you can do yourself to be more prepared.
Go for Honors Chem first. If you can’t, talk to your teacher like what @mom2twogirls said. Maybe she’ll help you out for AP Chem, like for me, my freshman bio teacher helped me a lot with getting through AP Bio since he taught it before. He was actually much more helpful than the AP Bio teacher. So with that, don’t be afraid to approach your teacher. It might help out in the end!
Update: I talked to her and she said she’s going to try and make extra honors work that would be taught through videos assigned outside of class. However, there’s only six of us interested. She’s still going to try to get it approved, through! Hopefully it works out, because I think it would be too late to try and switch out of the class now, we’re already going into our second week.
@snowfairy137 At my school, you are excepted to take a chemistry class before AP chemistry, especially honors. That’s why I am worried. Otherwise, you would have to teach stuff to yourself stuff over the summer, I don’t feel comfortable self teaching myself material.