Should I take AP chemistry?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

<p>Hi,
I am currently a sophomore in high school. The whole school picked their classes for next year about 2 months ago, but we are still aloud to change them before summer. I'm interested in either going into engineering or medicine in college, but I'm not sure yet.
Here are my classes I'm registered for next year:</p>

<p>Honors Analysis (pre-calculus)
Honors Biology
Honors English
Honors Spanish
AP US History
AP Stats (probably will switch to AP Chemistry)
Religion
Engineering Course. </p>

<p>I was originally registered for AP Stats instead of AP chemistry, but I kind of want to switch to the chemistry class. Chemistry will definitely prepare me more for college chemistry (even if I don't pass the AP exam), but I've heard it's one of the hardest classes in the school. Apparently only 10-15 students in the whole school (only juniors and seniors can take it) take the class each year because of the rigor. </p>

<p>Can you tell me if I should take AP chemistry? This year, I'm in Honors Chemistry and am doing pretty well. First semester I had a 92%, and now for second semester I have a 95%. Honestly, I don't really put much effort in the class because I feel science is my strong suit. Most people in the class are struggling to maintain a B and are complaining because of the rigor of the class. I usually don't even do the homework or study until the night before a test and spend an hour and a half and end up getting an A on it. If I did AP chemistry next year, I would spend at least an hour a night on homework and studying for it. I'm just not sure I'll be able to handle it because of all my other honors/AP courses.
I've heard H. Biology is pretty easy along with H spanish. I've also heard AP US history is easy but takes a lot of time. I've heard H. Analysis is okay and H. English is just a lot of papers.</p>

<p>Also, the AP chemistry teacher told me I can borrow the honors chemistry textbook and the AP textbook for the summer, so I'll be reviewing almost everyday in the summer so I can get off to a good start if I end up taking the class. </p>

<p>I'm also only doing Track next year for sports so I get home at 2:45 everyday from school in winter and fall (besides monday, wednesday, and thursday because I'll be lifting so 3:30 on those days).</p>

<p>To be honest, the only reason I don't want to take the class is because of sleep. I know this may sound weird, but I don't want the class to cause me to lose sleep. It's not because I'm lazy, but it's because of my height. I just turned 16 last month and am only 5 ft 4 in (I'm a guy). If I lose like 2 hours a night of sleep because of the class, will it affect my growth a lot? I'm really hoping to grow a lot this summer (hoping to get to 5 ft 7 in by adulthood.)</p>

<p>Anyway, do you think I'll be able to handle it and get a decent amount of sleep? Do you think it will help a lot if I want to go into medicine or engineering? If it helps, I have a 4.1 GPA as of now.</p>

<p>Thanks for advance</p>

2

<p>Yes, you will be able to handle it. I took 6 AP’s this year, and it didn’t cut into my sleep; I just had a lot of work. Also, AP chemistry is the most interesting class I’ve ever taken. Chemistry has been my favorite class ever since I took Honors last year, and it will probably be my major (either Chemistry or Chemical Engineering). Chemistry is hard for so many people because it is not a dichotomous subject. By this I mean that the concepts of chemistry can’t always be classified as this or that. It’s more about thinking on an abstract level that most people aren’t used to. AP Chemistry is very heady, and you can’t get through it by just studying definitions and formulas. It requires you to think in a uniquely counter-intuitive way. I’m trying my best to explain why it is so interesting, but it can’t really be put into words. You just have to take the class and see for yourself. Ultimately, I definitely recommend taking the class to anybody interest in science. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I hope you end of taking it! Good luck</p>

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<p>dOtexe,
Thanks for the response! Because there is summer work I have to make a decision by next week. I most likely will end up taking it. How much time a night did you typically spend a night on AP chemistry work? Also, do you have any advice to offer to succeed in the class (such as study tips)?</p>

4

<p>AP Stats is easier than AP Chem so I’d say just pick if you want to put yourself at ease now or later. If you’ve taken chem already and did good in it, then do AP chem. Since you’re saying you’ll most likely take AP Chem, all I’m going to recommend is that you think about all the topics conceptually and be prepared for stuff you wouldn’t expect on your test. Like for example, all my worksheets in class for stochiometry gave you the equation already and all you had to do was find how many grams of an element there were. On the test, he didn’t prepare us for this, but we had to write the equations ourselves, balance them, then figure out what to solve for by reading the problem. This is just one minor example. So there’s always going to be random curveballs and things that you wouldn’t expect to be tested on, so always make sure you know past material and possibly even future material that you didn’t go super in depth in but is still in the chapter. Always do the practice problems in the textbook. I struggled in chem but if I could re-do it, I’d get an A. Good luck! </p>