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🧪AP Chemistry Review

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AP Chemistry Exam Guide

🧪AP Chemistry
Review

AP Chemistry Exam Guide

Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 exam•Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
🧪AP Chemistry
Unit & Topic Study Guides
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Your Guide to the 2025 AP Chemistry Exam

We know that studying for your AP exams can be stressful, but Fiveable has your back! We created a study plan to help you crush your AP Chemistry exam. This guide will continue to update with information about the 2025 exams, as well as helpful resources to help you do your best on test day. Unlock Cram Mode for access to our cram events—students who have successfully passed their AP exams will answer your questions and guide your last-minute studying LIVE! And don't miss out on unlimited access to our database of thousands of practice questions.

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Format of the 2025 AP Chemistry Exam

Going into test day, this is the exam format to expect:

  • 60 multiple-choice questions with 1 hour and 30 minutes to complete them.
    • A scientific or graphing calculator is allowed and encouraged.
  • 7 free-response questions with 1 hour and 45 minutes to complete them.
    • A scientific or graphing calculator is allowed and encouraged.
  • 3 long free-response questions that are each worth 10 points.
    • 4 short free-response questions that are each worth 4 points.
    • These 7 questions are going to assess all AP Chemistry course skills outlined by the College Board.
Course SkillDescription
Models and RepresentationsDescribe models and representations, including across scales.
Question and MethodDetermine scientific questions and methods.
Representing Data and PhenomenaCreate representations or models of chemical phenomena.
Model AnalysisAnalyze and interpret models and representations on a single scale or across multiple scales.
Mathematical RoutinesSolve problems using mathematical relationships.
ArgumentationDevelop an explanation or scientific argument
All information is provided by College Board in AP Chemistry Course Exam and Description. All credit to College Board.

👉 Check out the 2023 AP Chemistry Free-Response Section posted on the College Board site. 

Scoring Guidelines for the AP Chemistry Exam

View an example pair of questions and the corresponding scoring guidelines (page 234) from the College Board to get an idea of what they look for in your responses! The first provided question is a short-answer response, and the second question is a long-answer response.

Check out our study plan below to find resources and tools to prepare for your AP Chemistry exam.

When is the 2025 AP Chemistry Exam and How do I Take it?

Tests will be taken in person at your school. Here is what we know from College Board so far: 

    • The exam will be in-person and on paper at your school on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, at 8 AM your local time.

You have 3 hours and 15 minutes to take the exam. We will have more updates from College Board soon, but as of now, this is what we know! 

How should I prepare for the exam?

  • First, download the AP Chemistry Cheatsheet PDF - a single sheet that covers everything you need to know at a high level. Take note of your strengths and weaknesses!
  • We've put together the study plan found below to help you study between now and May. This will cover all of the units and essay types to prepare you for your exam. Pay special attention to the units that you need the most improvement in.
  • Study, practice, and review for test day with other students during our live cram sessions via Cram Mode. Cram live streams will teach, review, and practice important topics from AP courses, college admission tests, and college admission topics. These streams are hosted by experienced students who know what you need to succeed.

Pre-Work: Set Up Your Study Environment

Before you begin studying, take some time to get organized. 

🖥 Create a study space.

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. 

📚 Organize your study materials.

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 yourself set up!

📅 Plan designated times for studying.

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.

🏆 Decide on an accountability plan.

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!

AP Chemistry 2024 Study Plan

⚛️ Unit 1: Atomic Structure and Properties

Big Takeaways:

Atomic Structure and Properties dive into the makeup 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. 

Definitely do this:

🎥 Watch these videos:

📚Read these Fiveable study guides:

If you have more time or want to dig deeper:

🤓 Unit 2: Molecular and Ionic Compound Structure and Properties

Big Takeaways:

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 affect the characteristics of the compound.

Definitely do this:

🎥 Watch these videos:

📚Read these Fiveable study guides:

🌀 Unit 3: Intermolecular Forces and Properties

Big Takeaways:

Prior to this year's changes, this was the biggest unit that AP Chemistry tested. In this unit, we'll look at intermolecular forces, the attractive forces between particles, and use this knowledge to make assumptions and predications of the bulk scale properties of the substances. In this section, we will study the properties of solids, liquids, gases, and solutions.

Definitely do this:

🎥 Watch these videos:

📚Read these Fiveable study guides:

🧪 Unit 4: Chemical Reactions

Big Takeaways:

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 these methods include balancing reactions, limiting and excess reactants, and titrations. 

Definitely do this:

🎥 Watch these videos:

📚Read these Fiveable study guides:

🏃🏻‍♂️ Unit 5: Kinetics

Big Takeaways:

This specific section describes the rates of chemical reactions and how we can use these concepts to determine the mechanisms of the process. We will specifically look at the differentiated and integrated rate laws to quantitatively describe the kinetics of reactions. We will dive into the collision theory to describe the reaction speed quantitatively.

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🔥 Unit 6: Thermodynamics

Big Takeaways:

In Thermodynamics, we are mostly looking at Enthalpy (H). Every reaction or process in the world releases or absorbs energy, and the enthalpy value for reactions is how we study them. We will also spend time looking at calorimetry, the method for determining the enthalpy value of a reaction.

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⚖️ Unit 7: Equilibrium

Big Takeaways:

Most chemical reactions exist in a state of dynamic equilibrium. In other words, the reactants react to make the products at the same rate that the products remake the reactants. This important unit has many implications and connections to the real world. We will quantitatively look at this unit by using the equilibrium expression. We will qualitatively look at this unit using Le Chatelier's Principle.

Definitely do this:

🎥 Watch these videos:

  • Equilibrium: This video reviews equilibrium and discusses the equilibrium constant.

📚Read these Fiveable study guides:

🍊 Unit 8: Acids and Bases

Big Takeaways:

In acid-base chemistry, we'll analyze the pathways of free protons, H+ ions, whenever a chemical is dissolved in a solution. In this unit, we'll learn how to measure concentrations of free protons to find the pH and pOH of acids and bases. Afterwards, we move into more complicated chemistry concerning buffers and titrations and how to make calculations based on provided data.

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🧯 Unit 9: Application of Thermodynamics

Big Takeaways:

We'll learn about thermodynamic favorability for reactions, or how likely they are to occur given energy changes and environmental factors. First, we'll receive an introduction to entropy and learn about what absolute entropy and entropy change.

Definitely do this:

📚Read these Fiveable study guides: