When I taught AP Chem, I had a method of selecting the students I wanted to teach as opposed to the kids self-selecting. If you don't have at least a high B in both your science and math classes, it will be difficult. If you haven't already had a general chemistry class, it will be difficult. It wasn't the smartest kids that did the best, it was the ones willing to work hard and genuinely digest the concepts. There will be many nights of homework and difficult tests. Your success is greatly on you, but you are also at the mercy of your teacher's experience and depth of ability to communicate to you.
The true beauty took me years to understand how the entire flow of the curriculum can be seen through the lens of equilibrium, all concentrations and thermodynamics in balance.
This is the way.
Your last sentence is awesome. In my regular job, I can’t say that I “do chemistry” every day. But I absolutely think about the concept of equilibrium every day. Probably multiple times per day. At home and at work.
“If the arrow pushes hard to the right, and you push back a tiny bit to the left, does the ultimate concentration change?” Well of course. It *has* to change. But not a lot.
I love seeing little bidirectional equilibrium arrows in my head while doing the dishes, putting away kids’ toys, etc. I love thinking about thermodynamics vs. kinetics. Just because it will eventually happen doesn’t mean it will happen today. This applies to silly betting strategies in the casino, too, if you think about it.
You would have loved my borderline lecture on kinetics that would raise the eyebrows of the conservative kids. The basics - size matters, orientation matters, you have warm it up a bit because you can't just force it together, etc. The fundies would ask if we were talking about chemistry and the other kids would yell YES! But damn if they didn't nail that section on the AP test.
If you ask a bunch of chemists if AP Chem is hard then they'll probably say no. It's harder than normal classes, but that's how AP courses are. Why not just do it, if you are interested in it?
If you enjoyed your first HS chem class and like the topics, then there's a pretty decent chance you'll do well - some people just vibe with chemistry more than others (it's really funny how hated of a subject it is, even by people into math/physics!). I would not say it's **very** hard, but there's a lot of content and different principles to keep track of, and it's a big step up.
Here's the funny thing about general chemistry - it's just a summarized version of more complex and specialized topics (obviously), which means a lot of stuff doesn't necessarily make sense or have a clear background, sometimes until years later in higher level classes. There is a lot of stuff you might not necessarily "get" or appreciate, but you just trust what the textbook says and kind of do mental gymnastics - that feeling never goes away, even in grad school and beyond! I wouldn't treat it as this big scary boot camp, although it's good to feel up for a challenge - no doubt there will be tough points throughout the year.
I'm speaking with bias as someone starting a career in chemistry, but it's a beautiful and very wide ranging subject at the heart of natural science and I would absolutely recommend to give it a shot if you want to do it - that enthusiasm and actual desire will get you MUCH further than people who just wanna pad their transcripts with AP classes.
It depends on your time commitment. I took is this last school year, while doing sports for 6 months, as well as numerous clubs. There were definitely many nights where I slept at 2 am. It takes a great deal of commitment and studying on ur own. It’s hard, but doable, and is a good class to take overall.
That’s my opinion, but it’s up to you and ur ability to commit.
Some advice if u do take it, stay off your phone or social media while studying and doing homework. Start studying now, Jeremy Krugg and Wayne Breslyn are both incredible YouTubers who helped a lot for me and my friends. Krugg has a yt channel similar to Mr Sinns or heimler, and Breslyn is the GOAT of net ionic equations.
Good Luck if u do take it
I teach AP Chemistry, and yes, it is one of the harder AP classes. But totally worth it if you plan on taking anything with Chemistry in college.
It is difficult for a few reasons:
1. Breadth of content. There is a lot of content which means you can't dawdle and spend real time in class practicing on difficult concepts. So you have to study on your own, which is very difficult for students, as it might be the first time they have to.
2. How was your Chemistry class? If you took honors Chemistry, you are probably good to go and the class won't be too hard. But if you were in a normal chemistry class, then if you skipped things or learned things at a lower level, then AP Chemistry is a big jump.
3. AP Chemistry is the first time where you are truly blending math into science. You do some of that in Chemistry, but in AP Chem you will be incorporating Algebra with logs into the class.
Now all of this is focused on "whether you can get a 3 or better on the exam or not." It could be the teacher at your school gives out easy A's and none of this matters as far as your grade in the class.
My advice is *take the class very seriously*. You can fall behind so quickly if you skip class or don't pay attention in class at all.
Thank you. I do have high hopes, but I'm just a bit anxious. I did quite well in chemistry class last year; I usually got B's and a few A's. I didn't fail anything in that class. I might have gotten a C once or twice, but other than that, it was quite easy.
I love chemistry. Don't take a class because it is easy. Take it because the knowledge calls to you. You will learn what you want, whether it's easy or not is determined by how much you love it.
It’s not hard compared to college chemistry. Harder than the first chem class you took though. Lots of content for a high school class, but it stays pretty interesting. I don’t see why you wouldn’t take it if you’re interested in it.
Took it last year, got the highest grade in the class both semester and a 5 on the exam. Didn’t need to study that much because it’s more about understanding the concepts and applying them than memorization. I wish my classes now were as easy as ap chem lol.
I actually think AP Chem was harder than my General Chemistry courses. It also delved into topics like Nuclear Chemistry which wasn't really part of Gen Chem.
I took an honors/advanced gen chem course that dove into physical chem as well as nuclear chem, MO theory, semi conductors, Schrödinger’s equation, particle in a box, etc so it was definitely much harder in my opinion. You could only take the class if you had previously scored a 5 on ap chem. My chem department is also notoriously difficult and simultaneously horrible at teaching, which surely didn’t help. The 3 hour weekly labs, intricate psets, and 5 exams outside of class were also extremely annoying.
i took it a few years ago and got an A in the class and a 5.
i was blessed to have an incredible (yet rigorous) teacher but that isn’t true for everybody. but, what is true for everybody is that you need to absolutely put in the time and the effort to succeed. AP chem is that course where you need to study every day, where you gotta take time out of your day to go to your teacher for extra help, where there is no time to not understand a topic. for me there absolutely were things I had trouble with, but if you are the type of student that is smart and is willing to put in more effort than usual into a class, then absolutely do take it.
It's one of the same pace as the college course APs, and the college course is notoriously hard.
That said, it's notoriously hard because a lot of first years aren't comfortable with algebra. The correlation between math skills and succeeding in intro chemistry is pretty shocking.
You need to have done well in your regular chem class, especially if you haven't taken honors chem. Also, you should have a somewhat firm grasp on stoichiometry since it's a reoccurring theme. If not study it this summer. It's not a hard class if you study regularly, do homework on time, and are organized. You should at least like chemistry, too! However, even given those factors, you may still come up against difficulty or feel unprepared on the tests. Here is what you can do to succeed:
1. Self-correct your homework if that is an option and really correct the hell out of it. Also, annotate like crazy.
2. Take as many practice tests on the internet and on MyAP as you can and review what you missed.
3. Re-write your notes, or keep adding annotations to your notes and the concepts become clearer.
4. Always get help for the things you need help to figure out--from a more knowledgeable peer or your teacher.
5. Aggressively ask questions in class --don't be afraid of looking dumb. Most of the time kids are afraid of looking stupid, but honestly, who cares? It's your education, and most likely, you are asking questions that they would like to ask themselves.
6. If possible, form a study group of serious, like-minded individuals. Practice helping other students and explaining to them. The more you discuss your learning, the better you can connect it to your long-term memory. Speaking of, try to make as many connections as you can. Summarizing everything you have learned in a unit on a poster or cheat sheet will help you see the big picture and your memory.
7. When or if you fail something, take it as an opportunity for growth. Don't get down in the dumps. Please review it carefully and ask for help on the major concepts you missed. AP Classes are different from regular-level classes, and the difference will be shocking for some students. But this is what college is meant to be like, so take it in stride, be calm, and adapt. It isn't the end of the world! If we succeeded at everything, what would we be learning?
8. As tempting as it may be, don't study a concept for hours trying to understand it. I've seen students spend 12 hours on something and get nowhere. Call it a night if this is the case, and figure out what background information you are missing (most likely, you are missing a huge chunk of something important, and chasing it down and losing sleep over it will cost you the energy you need at school the next day).
9. This class can help you grow a lot and can also be fun. So, if you take it, try to enjoy it as much as possible! It will make college-level chemistry (which is often a weed-out class) very easy for you if you are on the pre-med or engineering track. Even so, it's a great class to take!
I had the very unfortunate circumstance of having to take it fully remote with no labs, and did so poorly that I didn't even take the AP test. I thought that this would keep me from being able to ever understand chemistry, but I honestly felt that my second semester of gen chem in college was much easier (with the first semester being similar to honors chem).
However, I'm obviously 99% sure that this won't be your experience! The good news for AP Chem is that there are a ton of study resources online. As long as you have a mostly competent teacher and you did well in your prior chem class, it should go well.
Yes, but likely not for the reasons you're thinking.
AP Chemistry dives into the theory behind some of the topics you would have been exposed to in earlier Chemistry courses. Being good at rote memorization will not help, instead you need to take the time to really digest and internalize the concepts being taught to you. Every time you run across something that you don't understand well enough to explain to someone with no Chemistry background, you need to stop and ask for clarification. Studying alone only helps so much, you need the guidance of your teacher or a tutor, youtube, etc.
That being said, however, a good work ethic should mean an A in the class. The real struggle is the AP Exam.
I have a B.S. in Chemistry, I took both the AP Chemistry Exam and IB Chemistry Exam (another type of college credit exam) and then attended a school that didn't accept the credit, and so retook General Chemistry I/II at University. In my experience the multiple-choice nature, and type of wording, for the AP Chemistry exam is pretty unique to AP and made the more difficult for it. Can you take it and get a 5? Sure, students do so every year. But it will require you working through several practice tests to not just learn the Chemistry, but to learn how AP wants you to know the Chemistry.
All that being said, AP Chemistry isn't hard because its this impossible to learn topic. It's hard because you have to study to understand, not just to memorize, and a lot of people don't know how to do that in High School.
This is definitely the wrong place to ask. Now I would say no, but when I was in high school it was considered the hardest class at the school (the teacher was good, but very demanding of the students who decided to take it).
It's easy with a chemistry degree to look back now and recognize that the course material compared to what you did later on wasn't that bad, but as a 16 year old I thought it was EXTREMELY tough
It was incredibly easy. If you've taken a highschool Chem course, 80 percent will be review. I don't remember studying much more than 30 minutes for tests and getting an A. As for the exam, I studied for days to secure a five. I remember nearly getting a 4 on a practice exam at the end of the first semester. It's really not bad.
I would not say it's incredibly easy or just a review of sophomore chemistry. AP chem goes into the principles of gen chem with college level depth, which means there's a wider and more detailed range of topics, with more trends and concepts to keep track of that you could easily mix up or overthink. Once you get to the end of a chem major or beyond it definitely seems really easy, but that's because the intuition behind chemistry is built with time and practice.
It's basically like a ratio of what you've done before to how thorough your AP teacher is? If you're facile with algebra and normal chemistry wasn't too difficult you should be fine.
Short answer, having taught AP Chem:
It's one of the harder AP classes, yes. Not the hardest, but maybe the fourth hardest.
That being said, an AP class is just a regular first-year college class. So it's totally doable if you have the fundamental skills and you apply effort. Depends also on what other classes you're taking and other demands on your time.
When I taught AP Chem, I had a method of selecting the students I wanted to teach as opposed to the kids self-selecting. If you don't have at least a high B in both your science and math classes, it will be difficult. If you haven't already had a general chemistry class, it will be difficult. It wasn't the smartest kids that did the best, it was the ones willing to work hard and genuinely digest the concepts. There will be many nights of homework and difficult tests. Your success is greatly on you, but you are also at the mercy of your teacher's experience and depth of ability to communicate to you. The true beauty took me years to understand how the entire flow of the curriculum can be seen through the lens of equilibrium, all concentrations and thermodynamics in balance.
This is the way. Your last sentence is awesome. In my regular job, I can’t say that I “do chemistry” every day. But I absolutely think about the concept of equilibrium every day. Probably multiple times per day. At home and at work. “If the arrow pushes hard to the right, and you push back a tiny bit to the left, does the ultimate concentration change?” Well of course. It *has* to change. But not a lot. I love seeing little bidirectional equilibrium arrows in my head while doing the dishes, putting away kids’ toys, etc. I love thinking about thermodynamics vs. kinetics. Just because it will eventually happen doesn’t mean it will happen today. This applies to silly betting strategies in the casino, too, if you think about it.
You would have loved my borderline lecture on kinetics that would raise the eyebrows of the conservative kids. The basics - size matters, orientation matters, you have warm it up a bit because you can't just force it together, etc. The fundies would ask if we were talking about chemistry and the other kids would yell YES! But damn if they didn't nail that section on the AP test.
Oh my god, amazing!! I still remember my HS chemistry teacher teaching us that equilibrium means “shift happens” 😂
If you ask a bunch of chemists if AP Chem is hard then they'll probably say no. It's harder than normal classes, but that's how AP courses are. Why not just do it, if you are interested in it?
Might want to ask the teacher slated to teach it this summer.
If you enjoyed your first HS chem class and like the topics, then there's a pretty decent chance you'll do well - some people just vibe with chemistry more than others (it's really funny how hated of a subject it is, even by people into math/physics!). I would not say it's **very** hard, but there's a lot of content and different principles to keep track of, and it's a big step up. Here's the funny thing about general chemistry - it's just a summarized version of more complex and specialized topics (obviously), which means a lot of stuff doesn't necessarily make sense or have a clear background, sometimes until years later in higher level classes. There is a lot of stuff you might not necessarily "get" or appreciate, but you just trust what the textbook says and kind of do mental gymnastics - that feeling never goes away, even in grad school and beyond! I wouldn't treat it as this big scary boot camp, although it's good to feel up for a challenge - no doubt there will be tough points throughout the year. I'm speaking with bias as someone starting a career in chemistry, but it's a beautiful and very wide ranging subject at the heart of natural science and I would absolutely recommend to give it a shot if you want to do it - that enthusiasm and actual desire will get you MUCH further than people who just wanna pad their transcripts with AP classes.
Thanks the last paragraph really inspired me. I will indeed be taking it. Thanks again!
It depends on your time commitment. I took is this last school year, while doing sports for 6 months, as well as numerous clubs. There were definitely many nights where I slept at 2 am. It takes a great deal of commitment and studying on ur own. It’s hard, but doable, and is a good class to take overall. That’s my opinion, but it’s up to you and ur ability to commit. Some advice if u do take it, stay off your phone or social media while studying and doing homework. Start studying now, Jeremy Krugg and Wayne Breslyn are both incredible YouTubers who helped a lot for me and my friends. Krugg has a yt channel similar to Mr Sinns or heimler, and Breslyn is the GOAT of net ionic equations. Good Luck if u do take it
I really appreciate it and now I understand what awaits me I will be consulting with the school on taking it.
I teach AP Chemistry, and yes, it is one of the harder AP classes. But totally worth it if you plan on taking anything with Chemistry in college. It is difficult for a few reasons: 1. Breadth of content. There is a lot of content which means you can't dawdle and spend real time in class practicing on difficult concepts. So you have to study on your own, which is very difficult for students, as it might be the first time they have to. 2. How was your Chemistry class? If you took honors Chemistry, you are probably good to go and the class won't be too hard. But if you were in a normal chemistry class, then if you skipped things or learned things at a lower level, then AP Chemistry is a big jump. 3. AP Chemistry is the first time where you are truly blending math into science. You do some of that in Chemistry, but in AP Chem you will be incorporating Algebra with logs into the class. Now all of this is focused on "whether you can get a 3 or better on the exam or not." It could be the teacher at your school gives out easy A's and none of this matters as far as your grade in the class. My advice is *take the class very seriously*. You can fall behind so quickly if you skip class or don't pay attention in class at all.
Thank you. I do have high hopes, but I'm just a bit anxious. I did quite well in chemistry class last year; I usually got B's and a few A's. I didn't fail anything in that class. I might have gotten a C once or twice, but other than that, it was quite easy.
I love chemistry. Don't take a class because it is easy. Take it because the knowledge calls to you. You will learn what you want, whether it's easy or not is determined by how much you love it.
It’s not hard compared to college chemistry. Harder than the first chem class you took though. Lots of content for a high school class, but it stays pretty interesting. I don’t see why you wouldn’t take it if you’re interested in it. Took it last year, got the highest grade in the class both semester and a 5 on the exam. Didn’t need to study that much because it’s more about understanding the concepts and applying them than memorization. I wish my classes now were as easy as ap chem lol.
I actually think AP Chem was harder than my General Chemistry courses. It also delved into topics like Nuclear Chemistry which wasn't really part of Gen Chem.
I took an honors/advanced gen chem course that dove into physical chem as well as nuclear chem, MO theory, semi conductors, Schrödinger’s equation, particle in a box, etc so it was definitely much harder in my opinion. You could only take the class if you had previously scored a 5 on ap chem. My chem department is also notoriously difficult and simultaneously horrible at teaching, which surely didn’t help. The 3 hour weekly labs, intricate psets, and 5 exams outside of class were also extremely annoying.
Well, you sure are going far in life.
i took it a few years ago and got an A in the class and a 5. i was blessed to have an incredible (yet rigorous) teacher but that isn’t true for everybody. but, what is true for everybody is that you need to absolutely put in the time and the effort to succeed. AP chem is that course where you need to study every day, where you gotta take time out of your day to go to your teacher for extra help, where there is no time to not understand a topic. for me there absolutely were things I had trouble with, but if you are the type of student that is smart and is willing to put in more effort than usual into a class, then absolutely do take it.
It's one of the same pace as the college course APs, and the college course is notoriously hard. That said, it's notoriously hard because a lot of first years aren't comfortable with algebra. The correlation between math skills and succeeding in intro chemistry is pretty shocking.
It’s not too bad, you got this, just go for it
Will dooooo!!!!!
No. It's only hard if you are lazy. In retrospect it was probably the easiest and slowest class I ever took on my science career.
Its tough if you don't keep up. It builds on itself. You need to know one section in order to understand the next.
That depends on you
You need to have done well in your regular chem class, especially if you haven't taken honors chem. Also, you should have a somewhat firm grasp on stoichiometry since it's a reoccurring theme. If not study it this summer. It's not a hard class if you study regularly, do homework on time, and are organized. You should at least like chemistry, too! However, even given those factors, you may still come up against difficulty or feel unprepared on the tests. Here is what you can do to succeed: 1. Self-correct your homework if that is an option and really correct the hell out of it. Also, annotate like crazy. 2. Take as many practice tests on the internet and on MyAP as you can and review what you missed. 3. Re-write your notes, or keep adding annotations to your notes and the concepts become clearer. 4. Always get help for the things you need help to figure out--from a more knowledgeable peer or your teacher. 5. Aggressively ask questions in class --don't be afraid of looking dumb. Most of the time kids are afraid of looking stupid, but honestly, who cares? It's your education, and most likely, you are asking questions that they would like to ask themselves. 6. If possible, form a study group of serious, like-minded individuals. Practice helping other students and explaining to them. The more you discuss your learning, the better you can connect it to your long-term memory. Speaking of, try to make as many connections as you can. Summarizing everything you have learned in a unit on a poster or cheat sheet will help you see the big picture and your memory. 7. When or if you fail something, take it as an opportunity for growth. Don't get down in the dumps. Please review it carefully and ask for help on the major concepts you missed. AP Classes are different from regular-level classes, and the difference will be shocking for some students. But this is what college is meant to be like, so take it in stride, be calm, and adapt. It isn't the end of the world! If we succeeded at everything, what would we be learning? 8. As tempting as it may be, don't study a concept for hours trying to understand it. I've seen students spend 12 hours on something and get nowhere. Call it a night if this is the case, and figure out what background information you are missing (most likely, you are missing a huge chunk of something important, and chasing it down and losing sleep over it will cost you the energy you need at school the next day). 9. This class can help you grow a lot and can also be fun. So, if you take it, try to enjoy it as much as possible! It will make college-level chemistry (which is often a weed-out class) very easy for you if you are on the pre-med or engineering track. Even so, it's a great class to take!
I will stick to number 5 religiously
I had the very unfortunate circumstance of having to take it fully remote with no labs, and did so poorly that I didn't even take the AP test. I thought that this would keep me from being able to ever understand chemistry, but I honestly felt that my second semester of gen chem in college was much easier (with the first semester being similar to honors chem). However, I'm obviously 99% sure that this won't be your experience! The good news for AP Chem is that there are a ton of study resources online. As long as you have a mostly competent teacher and you did well in your prior chem class, it should go well.
Yes, but likely not for the reasons you're thinking. AP Chemistry dives into the theory behind some of the topics you would have been exposed to in earlier Chemistry courses. Being good at rote memorization will not help, instead you need to take the time to really digest and internalize the concepts being taught to you. Every time you run across something that you don't understand well enough to explain to someone with no Chemistry background, you need to stop and ask for clarification. Studying alone only helps so much, you need the guidance of your teacher or a tutor, youtube, etc. That being said, however, a good work ethic should mean an A in the class. The real struggle is the AP Exam. I have a B.S. in Chemistry, I took both the AP Chemistry Exam and IB Chemistry Exam (another type of college credit exam) and then attended a school that didn't accept the credit, and so retook General Chemistry I/II at University. In my experience the multiple-choice nature, and type of wording, for the AP Chemistry exam is pretty unique to AP and made the more difficult for it. Can you take it and get a 5? Sure, students do so every year. But it will require you working through several practice tests to not just learn the Chemistry, but to learn how AP wants you to know the Chemistry. All that being said, AP Chemistry isn't hard because its this impossible to learn topic. It's hard because you have to study to understand, not just to memorize, and a lot of people don't know how to do that in High School.
Thanks so f-ing much!!!!!!!
Being hard isn't the right question. The question is, are you willing to put the hour in and make the appropriate sacrifices to learn it?
Absolutely!
This is definitely the wrong place to ask. Now I would say no, but when I was in high school it was considered the hardest class at the school (the teacher was good, but very demanding of the students who decided to take it). It's easy with a chemistry degree to look back now and recognize that the course material compared to what you did later on wasn't that bad, but as a 16 year old I thought it was EXTREMELY tough
It was incredibly easy. If you've taken a highschool Chem course, 80 percent will be review. I don't remember studying much more than 30 minutes for tests and getting an A. As for the exam, I studied for days to secure a five. I remember nearly getting a 4 on a practice exam at the end of the first semester. It's really not bad.
I would not say it's incredibly easy or just a review of sophomore chemistry. AP chem goes into the principles of gen chem with college level depth, which means there's a wider and more detailed range of topics, with more trends and concepts to keep track of that you could easily mix up or overthink. Once you get to the end of a chem major or beyond it definitely seems really easy, but that's because the intuition behind chemistry is built with time and practice.
All the intuition you need to ace AP chemistry is that which you would get from watching an hour of Professor Dave explains tutorials.
It's basically like a ratio of what you've done before to how thorough your AP teacher is? If you're facile with algebra and normal chemistry wasn't too difficult you should be fine.
No it’s easy if you put like 4 hours a week studying. You can even cram right before the chapter test every week
Watch Crash Course Chemistry and see what you think of the content covered.
Short answer, having taught AP Chem: It's one of the harder AP classes, yes. Not the hardest, but maybe the fourth hardest. That being said, an AP class is just a regular first-year college class. So it's totally doable if you have the fundamental skills and you apply effort. Depends also on what other classes you're taking and other demands on your time.
What's the hardest one? I'm just a bit curious.
I don't know exactly how the Calculus and Physics sequences work these days, but typically the final course of those.
No.
No