Last year as a freshman I took chemistry honors online and basically bs’ed the whole course - yep, all two semesters - and still ended with A’s in both semesters. To be honest, I didn’t learn a single thing from the course. I took AP Biology (ended with a B first semester) because I was scared of AP Chem, but next year I’m planning to take it . . . Any tips? Is the course hard? Is it better if I bail?
(I’m also taking four other APs and one honors next year, although my weak point is science so I’m not really worried about the others)
P.S.: I can get professional tutoring for the class, but as an introvert I really hate the idea . . .
Wait to see how you do in AP Biology at the end of the year.
Professional tutoring should have nothing to do with being an introvert but being mature and doing what you need to do. Just write down questions as you go through the homework or lectures and bring them to tutoring along with quizzes, wrong exercise questions/labs, and tests. In college, you’ll need to be proactive and attend office hours, on your own, face to face with your professor - but if you don’t, no one will remind you to do it, and if you show up after midterms only (or, worse, not at all) you’ll find that you did yourself a disservice. So, you can see that as practice for college, too.
My suggestion would be for you to take Regular Physics if you’re truly weak at science, or if you mean struggle to get a B+ then take AP Physics 1. Selective colleges expect a year each of Bio, Chem, Physics, + 1; Depending on what you choose to do in college, you’ll pick that last class among AP Chem and APES.
Limit yourself to 4 Ap’s ajunior year. Even elite colleges don’t expect more than 6-8 total and pay more attention to which you choose than to the number (as long as it’s over 6 total).
If you can’t get an A/A- in Bio, Chem will be a whole lot worse. And if you didn’t learn a single thing, you will be extra screwed. What other APs are you taking? If you are taking difficult APs, do not take chem for the sake of your GPA
In addition to AP Chem, I’m taking APUSH, AP Lang, AP Calc B/C, and AP Comp. Sci. The thing I’m worried about is that if I don’t take AP Chemistry, then colleges will think I didn’t push myself as hard as I should.
I should probably also add that this year I took AP Euro, AP Calc B/C, APES, and AP Bio. I do fairly well in all of them (except AP Bio).
@bananahs Your schedule looks very rigorous and looks more than enough even without AP Chem. I think that unless you want to major in Chemistry or something that needs Chemistry intensively, it’s in your best interest to take something else as your lab science, especially if you want to major in the humanities.
Best of luck and have a good day!
You are taking Calc B/C 2 years in a row?
Ah sorry I meant AP Calculus AB