Hi, I am currently a freshman in high school and I am in the underclassman pre-requisite thing for IB. Over the summer I took H Biology to get either ahead in science, or take an extra elective. I chose to take the PLTW IED course (fun, I enjoy the class and it feels more immediately applicable compared to my other classes) My sister at the same high school I am attending skipped precalc and went straight to AP BC calculus through self studying over the summer and taking a placement test so I know that self studying is a thing. I heard that AP chem is one of the harder AP courses but I also heard that Honors chem is ridiculously easy at my school. I have the bare basics of chemistry learned from my 8th grade teacher last year (nomenclature, periodic table identification, the types of chemical reactions and how to solve chemical equations). If my school were to allow me to self study chemistry H then test out of it, would it be worth it? Normally I would be able to take summer school to take the class, however since a member in our family is severely ill my parents would rather have us go on vacation and be together before she has to be permanently in the hospital. I am currently in an AP class right now (APWH) and next year i need to take AP lit and comp and APUSH. I know the difficulty is supposed to be way harder but since I am easily handling my current courseload (all honors except 1 AP and 1 semester of CP GYM) I think I would be able to handle it. Is there any glaring holes that I haven’t thought through?
I suggest you actually get a chem background because Ap Chem requires a solid foundation and is hard to self study unless you have lots of time.
I don’t see a good reason to self-study, since you’ll be able to take AP Chem at some point no matter what. You’re not “getting ahead” by self-studying unless it will allow you to take an advanced class you wouldn’t have been able to take otherwise.
If you want to take AP Chem and you can’t find room in your schedule for both AP Chem and Honors then I say you should go for it.
However, it might be difficult for you to balance AP Chem along with 2 rather difficult APs as a sophomore. Why are you planning on taking AP Lit as a sophomore? Is that normal at your school?
Why, exactly, are you interested in doing this? If you get ahead in science this year, will it allow you to take (typically core) courses you wouldn’t otherwise get to take? If not, and there’s not much point to doing this.
I did, actually, do Honors Chem two summers ago and have been succeeding in AP Chem this year. First quarter was a bit rough, but once I had caught up, I was fine. I chose to take this path so that I could take AP Calculus and AP Physics C concurrently though, and so that I could take AP Bio senior year without doubling science so that I could double math. This course worked for me because I had strong reasons to choose to do so.
This is when you have to remember that time is precious. If you don’t have reasons other than “I’d like to take another science elective, maybe, or get ahead,” it would probably be more beneficial for you to start some interesting project for yourself with the time you would have spent cramming chemistry.
Yeah a prerequisite for the IB program is AP lit. I have no choices in my schedule next year other than if I want to take Honors or AP chem. My schedule would be AP lit, APUSH Chem (AP/H) Precalc GYM/Drivers ed French 3 and Band
I believe that other than maybe one or two classes I have no options for other classes so its either H or AP because my science class is IB physics as a Junior
nnononononononononononono nono no. This is a baaad idea. You need a strong background in Chemistry for AP Chem, or the concepts will fly right over your head.
AP Chem is hard. Very hard. I wouldn’t try doing that. You need to learn basics before you take a class like AP chem. Even if your school has a easy honors class, I still wouldn’t do it (so you can spend the year learning chemistry through a textbook like Zumdahl or Peck).