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]

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!

AP Chemistry Exam

AP Chemistry Review 2020 | Examp Prep +  Free Practice | Fiveable

AP Chemistry

Free Reviews 2020

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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

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Live Cram Sessions 2020

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!

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 Chem. 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

 I'm an AP Chemistry teacher from Santa Cruz, CA and streamer at Fiveable. This year's exam is different than we expected, but I'm here to help. I've put together this study guide to help keep you on track while you are studying from home. You can 

follow this guide on your own with a free Fiveable account

! I'll also be joining a group of students live on Tuesdays @ 8pm ET during cram sessions. 

This year, the AP Chemistry will look different than you were expecting. As we’re all on quarantine 😷 due to COVID-19, the College Board has decided to update the format and content of the test to fit an online testing format.

You’ll have 45-minutes to take the exam online and it will only cover units 1-7. If you have already studied content from unit 8 or 9 don’t stress! It’s all worth knowing.

1 - ⚛️  Atomic Structure and Properties

2 - 🤓  Molecular and Ionic Structure and Properties

3 - 🌀  Intermolecular Forces and Properties

9 - 🧯  Applications of Thermodynamics

 Wherever you are in the world, this is the time you’ll take the test. Unless you have been approved for the make-up date in June, but only your school can request that. You’ll take the test online. There will be a practice simulation posted by College Board within the next few weeks.

With so many school closures and the stress of a global pandemic, this review season will be different than usual. If this is your first AP exam, welcome! Don’t worry, it’s not usually this chaotic. 

We’ve put together this plan for you to follow between now and May. This will cover all of the units and leave you time to practice questions before test day. Some classes may have done units out of chronological order throughout the year, which is ok. The units don’t have to be taught in order. If you are learning new material on your own and need some help, use the chat bubble on 

. We’ll answer any questions you may have. 

All of the required resources are free. You’ll need to 

 to jump in.  We’ve also linked a few other websites, articles, and YouTube videos that you can access for free. Some of the suggested resources include paid products. There are some documentaries that you can find on streaming sites with a paid membership and we’ll also list streams and practice questions that require a paid cram pass on Fiveable.

Before we begin, take some time to get organized. Remote learning can be great, but it also means you’ll need to hold yourself accountable more than usual. 


Make sure you have a designated place at home to study. Somewhere you can keep all of your materials, where you can focus on learning, and where you are comfortable. Spend some time prepping the space with everything you need and you can even let others in the family know that this is your study space. 


Get your notebook, textbook, prep books, or whatever other physical materials you have. Also create a space for you to keep track of review. Start a new section in your notebook to take notes or start a Google Doc to keep track of your notes. Get your self set up!


The hardest part about studying from home is sticking to a routine. Decide on one hour every day that you can dedicate to studying. This can be any time of the day, whatever works best for you. Set a timer on your phone for that time and really try to stick to it. The routine will help you stay on track.


How will you hold yourself accountable to this study plan? You may or may not have a teacher or rules set up to help you stay on track, so you need to set some for yourself. First set your goal. This could be studying for x number of hours or getting through a unit. Then, create a reward for yourself. If you reach your goal, then x. This will help stay focused!

⚛️ UNIT 1: Atomic Structure and Properties

Join the live cram stream: Unit 1 Review with Wes Winter. 

Atomic Structure and Properties dives into the make-up of the atom. This includes the subatomic particles, some (very) basic quantum mechanics, and the mole definition. We will look at important graphs, electron configurations, and describe some of the basic math necessary to describe atoms and their structure.

If you have more time or want to dig deeper:

🤓 UNIT 2: Molecular and Ionic Compound Structure and Properties

Join the live cram stream: Unit 2 Review with Wes Winter. 

Now that we have learned about the atomic structure, we can determine how atoms form chemical bonds. This section focuses mostly on molecular (covalent) and ionic compounds. For molecules, we will learn about Lewis structures, formal charge, and resonance. For ionic compounds we will see how the atomic properties affects the characteristics of the compound. 

🌀 UNIT 3: Intermolecular Forces and Properties

Join the live cram stream: Unit 3 Review with Wes Winter. Sign up here!

Prior to this year’s changes, this was the biggest unit that AP chemistry tested. Without acids and bases, the second largest section, Unit 3 could be an important section. Intermolecular forces look at the attractive forces between particles and use this knowledge to make assumptions and predictions of the bulk scale properties of the substances. In this section, we will study the properties of solids, liquids, gases, and solutions. 

🌶 Join the live cram stream: Unit 4 Review with Wes Winter. 

This unit introduces stoichiometry and the three types of chemical reactions that are studied in AP Chemistry; Acid-Base, Oxidation-Reduction, and Precipitation Reactions. We will look at different ways to qualitatively and quantitatively describe these reactions. Some of those methods include balancing reactions, limiting and excess reactants, and titrations. 

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AP Chemistry

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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

Introduction

AP Chemistry Essentials

Multiple Choice Questions

Blogs

Join Our Discord

Blogs

AP Chemistry

all

study guides

blogs

browse by units

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

Introduction﻿

AP Chemistry Essentials﻿

Multiple Choice Questions﻿

Blogs﻿

Join Our Discord

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

Introduction

AP Chemistry Essentials

Multiple Choice Questions

Blogs