Okay, so I’m currently a junior in high school, and I decided to take AP Chem. I really like science and math, and I’m an all A’s student. However, my AP Chem teacher this year is really difficult to work with. She is a very nice lady, but her teacher skills are questionable. Basically, she doesn’t exactly teach us much. Usually in her class, she randomly picks problems from our textbook and works through it with us without really every explaining anything, and then she assigns a bunch of problems for homework that nobody can ever get done because we have no idea how to work them. I’ve looked up a bunch of stuff on google and youtube whenever I get confused, but it’s kind of hard to understand if I’m doing it right. Whenever I try to ask my teacher for help, she tries her best to answer it, but it usually doesn’t make any sense. I did really well on all her tests during the 1st semester, but for our midterm exam she gave us a past, released AP Chemistry exam and it’s no surprise that we all did poorly. I didn’t exactly fail, but a 74 is disappointing. Frankly, I’m okay with that score but I would really like to get a 4 or 5 on the actual exam in May, and I don’t see that happening with the way things are going right now. I would really appreciate any advice on how to handle the class/teacher as well as any tips from past AP Chem students on how to get a 4 or 5 on the exam and useful resources that would benefit me.
Many students self teach many of the AP’s-this one included… Get a book and get started.
Welcome to AP classes where self teaching is a HUGE part of it. Pick up a review book and start cracking. If you’re worried about your GPA, just stop worrying about it since its one of the more rigorous course. Getting a 4 or a 5 is great, but your end goal should be for the class to help you prepare for college chem.
My AP Bio Teacher is kind of like that as well. She pretty much uses past AP questions on all our tests and is extremely unhelpful when it comes to learning new concepts. I suggest, as above, to get a review book and go through it and take many practice tests to know where you are struggling. I would also suggest you try coming in for office hours, if you aren’t already, and explain your concerns in a nice way. Good luck!
Can you afford a tutor? Even if it has a bad stigma and you probably think you don’t need one (my kid hated the idea), having a good tutor doing one-on-one work helps with reinforcement and confidence. I hired one for my kid for AP Chem (mainly because he had a bad AP Chem teacher) for about 3 months ($35/hour) in the middle of the school year, 2 hours a week and it worked out fine. He got a 5.
HAve you asked other Chem teachers in your school for extra help? You don’t have to be currently teaching a course to be proficient in it. I would absolutely seek help from other members of the Chem department. Sometimes someone else’s explanation can make things clear.
Also talk to the Guidance Counselor, head of science dept .
Say that you do well on her tests, but when it comes to real AP tests you did not do well
Ask for how they suggest you handle the situation where she doesn’t lecture, but just goes through problems and you don’t feel you have enough foundation when attacking problems on your own. Do they have another book to suggest or tutors? Say that you have gone to her for help but the help isn’t helping.
It might be you, it might be the material is just tough, or it might be she isn’t effective. By discussing as above, you are showing you are taking responsiblity for learning but also pointing out how she teaches which they may not be aware of.
Is she a new teacher? How have students done on the AP tests?
@bopper She’s not a new teacher at all. In fact, I believe she’s been teaching for 20-25 years. I recently talked to students who had her last year and the majority of the 18 student class got a 1 or 2 on the exam. There were only 3 people who got a passing grade on the exam, and all of them said it was no thanks to the teacher.
Sounds like you need to start going up the chain through Dept head, Principal and School Board. Start with Dept head.
As others said, get an AP Chem prep book, and use it well. If you need a tutor to help you with it, contact a local college and see if you can hire one of their chem major students to tutor you.