AP Chemistry

AP Chemistry Open House

🧪 AP Chem 1-hour Cram Makeup Finale

🧪 AP Chem 5-hour Cram Finale

AP Chemistry Finale Review Trivia

Game of 5s: AP Chem Mega Trivia Review

Hey 👋 So, you're wondering if you should take AP Chemistry 🧪 Let's talk about it! 

AP Chemistry gives you a taste of scientific concepts that you may learn in college, especially if you become a STEM major. The two prerequisites are Algebra II and a regular Chemistry course to give you good background knowledge for this course. The second school starts, you get into AP Chem content.

If you haven't taken these courses though, don't worry, we got your back 😉 All units build upon each other, so studying throughout the year is really important for AP Chem. It'll only help in the long run and lower your stress when you get closer to the exam date ✏️.

Each section of the exam counts as 50% of your total score. In the first section, you are given 1.5 hours to answer 60 multiple-choice questions without a calculator. In the second section, you are given an hour and 45 minutes to answer 3 long free-response questions (FRQs) and 4 short FRQs. A calculator 📈 is allowed on the FRQ section.

The following question is an example of one of the long FRQs. It went up to part (h)! Usually, one long FRQ covers several units in the course. For example, this question has unit 2, unit 7, and unit 9. 

The next question is an example of a short FRQ, and it usually covers content from one AP Chemistry unit. These tend to be a little less challenging as well.

Don't stress 😰 Once you nail the concepts and units, all that is left to do is practice. The more you expose yourself to questions, the lower the chance you see an unexpected question type on the exam (no surprises are always the best 🤫). 

55.6% passed the exam and got a 3+ in 2019  🎉

There is no way to really judge how hard the course is, but many deem it to be harder than AP Biology. It all truly depends on the teacher you have, your workload, and how much time you want to commit to this course alone.

It all depends on you! Know yourself and your study habits before signing yourself up for a challenging course. Here are some factors to consider:

Quotes from Students that have taken AP Chemistry

"AP Chemistry provided me with skills and modes of thinking that require critical thinking and analysis. It was so interesting to learn about the chemical world around us, whether it be learning about the smallest building blocks that form matter, the ideas behind thermodynamics and kinetics, or discovering the distinctive properties of various elements." —Meghna P.

"The beautiful thing about chemistry is that the more you understand it, the more interesting and mind-blowing it becomes!" —Mishika G

"Sometimes, it's harder for you to understand something than it is for someone else. Everyone is different. Pick yourself back up, ask for help, and just do your best!"—Giuliana P.

Best Resources for AP Chemistry [coming soon]

How to Get a 5 in AP Chemistry [coming soon]

This year, Fiveable is going to cover the AP Chemistry curriculum with students, making it possible to take the AP class online 🥳

If you're in doubt, come join us, and we'll support you through AP Chem! If you're stressed, join a bunch of other students that may be self-studying the course.

There are two different semesters: Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. Each 15 week semester covers the whole curriculum, even though most schools teach AP Chem in a full year. Join at any time for $55 and obtain access to:

Weekly 60 minute live lectures led by certified AP Psychology teachers 📽️

Projects and practice assignments to make sure you nail the content 📝

Feedback from exam readers that have had experience grading before 💯

Office hours led by students, like you, that have taken AP Psychology and obtained a high score 

An active community of support, helping you every step of the way🤗

Even if you don't end up taking the AP Chemistry exam, you could join us and learn the curriculum for yourself! Learn with your peers and thrive together ☺️.

Sign up to take the AP Chemistry Fiveable Course in the Fall 🍁

Sign up to take the AP Chemistry Fiveable Course in the Spring 🌻

You can choose either Fall 2020 or Spring 2021! They are exactly the same. If you take the Fall 2020 course, you will still have access to all resources in the Spring 🌺  The live interaction component of the course will no longer be available in the Spring.

I personally loved AP Chemistry and would recommend it to anyone. It provides the rigor that many students look for and is truly interesting 🧠 Plus, you can acquire many mathematical and conceptual skills from AP Chemistry. No matter what you choose, good luck!

Is AP Chemistry Hard? Is AP Chemistry Worth Taking? 

Thinking about self-studying for AP Chem? You're in the right place 😉.

AP Chem is one of the more challenging courses to take, especially for self-study. However, with hard work, the right resources, and dedication, you could do it if you really wanted to.

The Course and Exam Description (CED) 🔖

For every AP Exam, College Board created a CED to go along with it. The CED includes an outline of the course and an extensive guide to each part of the exam. Here is the 

Just about any question about the course can be answered by looking at the CED. The CED is separated into 6 sections: Course Framework, Laboratory Investigations, Instructional Approaches, Exam Information, Scoring Guidelines, and Appendixes.

The most that you could get out of the CED would be in the Course Framework section, which is split up by each unit. This section also includes the skills ⚙️ required for success in AP Chem.

Each unit splits up into key topics. Each key topic has a page with a list of concepts or ideas that you should 100% know for the AP Exam.

These key topic pages don't go in-depth! They just list a few main ideas and vocab terms/concepts that are in that key topic.

Here is an example of Unit 1, Key Topic 7 (or topic 1.7):

 - The CED also includes topics that are usually taught in an AP Chemistry course but are not on the exam. Here, you can see an example of where knowing an exception to a principle will not be tested.

The CED can be very helpful for a self-studier! We highly recommended looking at it if you want to know what's on the exam.

 points listed to memorize in each key topic. These are usually asked on almost every exam.

If you were to self-study AP Chem 🧪, you would also have to review the lab practicals and understand them without actually doing them 😢

The CED lists a few experiments that are recommended to review and how to set them up.

There is a ton of exam information, and even practice questions, in the Exam Information section. You might want to look at this at least twice throughout the year and complete the questions closer to the exam date.

Looking at the exam breakdown, you can identify which units you should prioritize over the others. Since about 18-22% of the exam will be about Intermolecular Forces and Properties 🌀 and 11-15% will be about Acids and Bases 🍊, you should focus on these two units more than the others.

There are two appendixes, and they both include 

 documents. These include the periodic table of elements 💧 and a list of equations and constants.

 of the equations, constants, and pieces of the periodic table. With that said, there are some things that you will have to memorize 😰

Pacing and staying on track is important when preparing for the exam. It may seem stressful, but setting weekly goals for yourself will really help relieve this stress 😌

It is best to study the units in order ➡️ Some units require the knowledge of previous units, so learning them in order is the perfect way to digest the material.

Fiveable has created the perfect pacing guide to help you self-study throughout the year! It includes 3 resources per key topic to ensure you have a deep understanding of everything covered on the AP Exam 🤗.

There are tons of different ways to learn AP Chem, and every single one of these ways are effective!

👉Best Textbooks and Prep Books for AP Chemistry

Don't be afraid to try out all of these and use a mixture of these resources. Find the way that works for you. You got this!

You can choose either Fall 2020 or Spring 2021! They are exactly the same. If you take the Fall 2020 course, you will still have access to all resources in the Spring 🌺 . The live interaction component of the course will no longer be available in the Spring.

After knowing the content, practice, practice, practice! It's essential 😉

You could honestly find practice questions anywhere, but official AP questions are more difficult to find. Unfortunately, the College Board only releases previous exams' 

. Multiple-choice questions are only accessible by teachers 👩‍🏫 👨‍🏫, so you may want to ask them if you could have a few for practice. However, you must destroy the MCQ packets after you complete it for confidentiality.

Otherwise, textbooks, prep books, and online resources have a lot of AP style multiple-choice questions and free-response questions. Make sure to take advantage of these! You not only want to know the content, but you also want to know how to apply it to ace this exam 💯

When you are taking a practice exam, set a timer, and create the conditions of the real AP exam. Try to make yourself comfortable and do it without your notes beside you ❌. Creating the atmosphere of the AP exam multiple times will relieve your stress and make you feel more confident 😅. That is what we want!

Hm... once I take the practice exam, what do I do?

First off, while you take the practice exam, circle questions you struggled with 🥴 and star questions you completely guessed on. This gives you an idea of your areas of weakness and will allow you to improve 😊

Once you grade yourself and check the answer key, make a spreadsheet and note every question you got wrong ❌, the unit the question belongs to, why you got it wrong, and why the right answer is correct. Identifying your weaknesses helps you in the long run.

If you have another method that works for you, go ahead and do it. As long as you keep track of your progress, the practice tests will remain effective.

First things first, does your school offer the AP course?

Talk to your counselor or an AP Coordinator about signing you up to take AP Psych. They will most likely direct you to an AP Classroom link and sign you up for the exam there.



Check out a few websites of the schools near you and if they have AP Chem. Email or call that school and ask them if you could take the AP Exam there!

Trying to keep yourself on track may seem difficult, but once you get into it, it'll be part of your everyday schedule 🗓️

Set a weekly or daily goal for yourself and treat yourself for completing it. Have fun with the class!

If you ever feel overwhelmed or stressed, take a mental health day. You got this, we believe in you. Good luck 🍀 😊

AP Chemistry Self-Study and Homeschool

👀 Develop Your Understanding of this unit

According to the College Board, "In Unit 2, students apply their knowledge of atomic structure at the particulate level and connect it to the macroscopic properties of a substance. Both the chemical and physical properties of materials can be explained by the structure and arrangement of atoms, ions, or molecules and the forces between them. These forces, called chemical bonds, are distinct from typical intermolecular interactions⚗️.


Electronegativity can be used to make predictions about the type of bonding present between two atoms. In subsequent units, students will use the periodic table and the atomic properties to predict the type of bonding present between two atoms based on position."

Unit 2 is all about bonding and how to draw the bonds between atoms. About 7-9% of the exam is about this unit. About half of it is diagrams and drawings which become really fun😆 once you get used to them.

Once you practice this unit, you'll have it down in no time.

Unit 2 Overview: Molecular and Ionic Bonding

The periodic table of the elements can be your best friend in AP Chemistry if you understand its components. But if you need some help, sign up for Fiveable's new 

 where you will get additional livestreams, lectures and personalized feedback!


⭐️ Each square on the periodic table represents a different element.

The 2 here represents the atomic number of the element, He {Helium} is the element's symbol, and 4.003 is the atomic mass of the element.

= a whole number that represents the number of protons in the element's nucleus

 = a commonly used representation of the element

 = the element's mass (protons + neutrons), which is not a whole number because it is a weighted average of the masses of the naturally occurring isotopes of the element

 shown in blue, are usually solids and are good conductors of heat and electricity. Chemically speaking, metals tend to lose electrons in reactions.

 shown in green, have properties of metals AND nonmetals. They are useful in the computer industry.

 as shown in yellow, often have the opposite properties of metals. They are poor conductors of heat and electricity, and tend to gain electrons in chemical reactions.


⭐️ As you can see, there is a staircase of metalloids which divides the metals from the nonmetals (excluding Hydrogen). On the AP Chemistry exam, your periodic table will not be colored indicating what element is what, so it is important to be able to readily identify these properties.

 are the horizontal rows on the periodic table, and the elements in each period have consecutive atomic numbers. The periods are numbered from one to seven.

are the vertical rows on the periodic table. The elements in each group will have similar chemical properties due to their shared number of valence electrons (electrons in the outermost shell of the atom). On some periodic tables, there are roman numerals at the top of each group to indicate this number of valence electrons.


 Overview of AP Chem Unit 1: Atomic Structure and Properties

 and for more details about the Periodic Table, review the 🎥 

What do I need to know about the periodic table?


Within this set, there are three main types of forces:

 - basically electrons being in random places creates incredibly weak dipoles (This is why LDFs are so weak!)

 is absent from this list of IMFs. Technically speaking, ionic bonds are not intermolecular forces due to the lack of covalent bonds.


London dispersion forces, Dipole-dipole forces, Hydrogen bonding, Ion-dipole forces, Ionic bonding.



Intermolecular forces are important foundation of chemistry, and needed to have a solid understanding of all the complex topics within AP Chem. If you want more practice, check out all of Fiveable's resources including 

for more work. And make sure to sign up for Fiveable's own 

 to make sure you get that 5 you deserve!


AP Chemistry Exam Prep 2020-21

browse by unit

Free Reviews 2020

Free Response Questions

Unit 1 - Atomic Structure and Properties

Unit 2 - Molecular and Ionic Compound Structures and Properties

Unit 3 - Intermolecular Forces and Properties

Unit 4 - Chemical Reactions

Unit 5 - Kinetics

Unit 6 - Thermodynamics

Unit 7 - Equilibrium

Unit 8 - Acids and Bases

Unit 9 - Applications of Thermodynamics

Introduction

AP Chemistry Essentials

Multiple Choice Questions

Blogs

creators

Jenni MacLean

Wes Winter

Mónica Gracida

Thomas Dortch

Dylan Black

Jordyn Haynes

Peter Cao

Dalia Savy

Kanya Shah

Jacob Jeffries

Serene Feng

Anika P

Catherine Liu

Emily Guo

Jeremy Kiggundu

Hope Arnett

Student Student

AP Chemistry Exam Prep 2020-21

browse by unit

Free Reviews 2020﻿

Free Response Questions﻿

Unit 1 - Atomic Structure and Properties﻿

Unit 2 - Molecular and Ionic Compound Structures and Properties﻿

Unit 3 - Intermolecular Forces and Properties﻿

Unit 4 - Chemical Reactions﻿

Unit 5 - Kinetics﻿

Unit 6 - Thermodynamics﻿

Unit 7 - Equilibrium﻿

Unit 8 - Acids and Bases﻿

Unit 9 - Applications of Thermodynamics﻿

Introduction﻿

AP Chemistry Essentials﻿

Multiple Choice Questions﻿

Blogs﻿

creators

Jenni MacLean﻿

Wes Winter﻿

Mónica Gracida﻿

Thomas Dortch﻿

Dylan Black﻿

Jordyn Haynes ﻿

Peter Cao﻿

Dalia Savy﻿

Kanya Shah﻿

Jacob Jeffries﻿

Serene Feng﻿

Anika P﻿

Catherine Liu﻿

Emily Guo﻿

Jeremy Kiggundu﻿

Hope Arnett﻿

Student Student﻿