- Which textbook should I choose?
It doesn't matter! Student success will not depend upon it. I don't use one, but I do offer references for one (Chang 8th Ed.) if the students feel they need one. The problem with all the texts that are usually suggested, is that they are college level textbooks with anywhere up to 80 or 90% of the pages being irrelevant to AP. The key to success is for individual teachers to produce their own, specifically tailored notes, similar to the ones I have developed for my AP Course. For those teachers that want a book, one motivating factor in choosing a text will be the availability and cost of the supplemental materials. Books that come with electronic test banks and other additional materials are certainly more attractive than those that don't.
- Which review book should I tell my students to buy?
It doesn't matter! Frankly many of them are almost identical to one another, and their contribution to student success is, generally, grossly exaggerated. It is difficult to "learn" much from these books, and by the time a student turns to them (invariably too late) much of the AP grade has already been earned.
- What is the exact format of the exam, when can the students use the periodic table & the data packet, can the students go back to previous sections etc?
For the answers to all these questions see the AP Logistics document.
- How important are labs to an AP course?
There are two answers to this question. Firstly the factual one. In terms of them helping kids prepare for the exam, labs are purely and simply unimportant. It is entirely possible to score a 5 on the exam without ever going near a chemistry laboratory. Secondly the philosophical one. Given that Chemistry is essentially an experiemental science, then it can be argued that it would be against the spirit of the course to omit labs, however, that is a philosophical question that you will have to answer to your own satisfaction. The upcoming AP audit here, here and here may change the answers to this question.
- What are the most popular topics examined on the AP exam?
Consult my AP Free Response summary document for an analysis of the free response questions from 1990 to the present.
- Where can I find old AP exam questions?
AP questions are the intellectual property of the College Board and can only be legally sold by them. A limited number of old exam papers can be downloaded from the AP Central portion of the College Board web site. Other materials can be purchased at the College Board On-line Store. However, despite presumably infringing copyright, there are some sites on the Internet that persist in publishing old exams. If you know how to intelligently use Google, then you should be able to find them.
- Where can I get worked answers to old AP exam questions?
Consult my any of these pages for my worked answers to AP questions. AP Worked Answers 2000-2006, AP Worked Answers 1990-1999, AP Worked Answers 1980-1989, AP Worked Answers 1970-1979 or AP Worked Answers 1960-1969.
- How should I structure my class tests?
In my opinion it is vital to write and design tests to reflect the AP exam questions themselves, after all, it is the AP exam questions that will ultimately determine the students grade, not your own made up questions or textbook questions. On all my tests I have a multiple-choice section followed by a free-response section. Wherever possible I draw upon old AP exam questions as the source. I still write a lot of my own questions, but I am extremely careful to reflect the style, format and degree of difficulty that one might expect to find on the real AP exam. This is often NOT replicated very well, if at all, by textbook questions.
- I never seem to have enough time to finish the course, and I find myself teaching right up until the day before the exam. How much time should I devote to each topic, and how can I ensure that I finish the course with time for review?
Generally this takes a massive amount of planning and a complete bloody-mindedness. You MUST be realistic about the colossal amount of interruptions that take place during the year, and you MUST have an unswerving determination to stick to your schedule. I am absolutely steadfast in my march toward the AP exam. I cover the seventeen topics in my AP course according to this approximate timetable (plaese note the context, i.e. I teach AP Chemistry in one year, to Sophomores who are receiving their first and usually only high school chemistry course).
- Topic 1, I don't "teach". Students arrive on day one of the course, and I announce a test on it the next week, they study topic 1 themselves.
- Topics 2-8 an average of two weeks each.
- Topic 9, 13, 14, 15, 16 and average of two weeks each.
- Topic 17 one week.
- Topics 10, 11 & 12 are taught over a week , but equation writing is repeated throughout the second semester.
- Four solid weeks of review before the exam.
- How important are Transition Metals and Organic to an AP course?
Frankly, not very. They could be the subject of an odd multiple-choice question here and there, may be worth a few points in the free response (especially simple organic isomerism and nomenclature), and could slightly expand a students options in question #4 (equation writing), but they can be happily omitted from an AP course. I like to include them, and have comprehensive AP level notes on the two topics - Transition Metal Basics & Organic Basics.
- What about Significant Figures?
It has previously been the grading policy to deduct one point per question for the wrong number of significant figures. There are only two math based questions on the free-response and additionally, the leeway of +/- 1 sig fig has generally been granted (for example if the question demanding three sig figs and either two or four were written, it was ignored). My advice is to spend very little time on this (the exam is about chemistry not math) and when in doubt record your answer to three sig figs. This deals with most situations adequately.
- If a student makes a mathematical error in an early part of a question, will they be penalized for carrying that error forward in the remainder of the question?
Generally no. Consequential errors can usually be carried forward for full credit (having lost points where the original error took place) as long as they are carried forward consistently. There may be some questions where the scoring standards do not allow this, but in general, credit will be awarded. It is true to say that the grading system is set up to award students credit wherever possible.
- Do the published scoring standards (answers) show the only way to get full credit on a question?
No. The scoring standards show correct chemistry that will score full credit, but in many cases there are alternative answers that will score either partial or full credit. Relevant and correct chemistry will always score points. The published scoring standards cannot hope to reflect all possible permutations of "correct" answers.
- What are the grade boundaries for 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 scores?
This is a difficult question to answer with any certainty since, depending on the difficulty of the exam, the thresholds will slightly change from year to year. Recently an exam score in the region of 65% has been good enough to record a 5. As a rough rule of thumb, a 4 might require a score in the region of 55% and a 3, 45%, HOWEVER in 2005, 71% was required to score a 5 - a reflection on the relative ease of the exam.
- Is Molecular Orbital Theory examined?
No, not any more.
- Are Born-Haber cycles examined?
No, at least not to any extent and not recently, but I still like to teach them since they afford the opportunity to deliver a number of other related and significant concepts such as Hess' Law, charge density, lattice energy, ionization energy etc.
- Within each topic, where should the emphasis be placed?
See AP Teaching Points Page for some points of emphasis, direction and ideas.
- In question #4, Net Ionic Equation Writing, should partially (sparingly, slightly) soluble hydroxide products be written dissociated or associated?
Traditionally, since the solubility of these compounds depends on quantitative data that is not part of question #4, both versions have been acceptable in scoring both product points.
- I have heard that there are going to be some changes to the AP Chemistry exam in 2007 and beyond. What is actually happening?
In May 2007, there will be some relatively minor changes to the exam. Students will be required to answer six compulsory questions (i.e. choice is being removed) and the net ionic equation writing portion (traditionally question #4) of the test is undergoing some changes too. There is a new requirement to BALANCE equations in equation writing, and the ability to answer a follow-up question about each reaction. Students will need to answer three compulsory questions (i.e. no choice) and I expect it to be graded as follows; one point for "perfect" reactants, two points available for products (partial credit possible), one for balancing and one for the question associated with the reaction. N.B. those point assignments have not been officially confirmed to my knowledge.
A little more detail of the new equation writing format
Also expect the lab-based question (traditionally question #5) to have the option of being examined in a quantitative way (where a calculator is allowed) or in a qualitative way (as is the more traditional manner).
2006-07 ACORN book released 6/1/06
Beyond 2007 there are some more profound changes expected, but these are not supposed to be implemented until 2010.
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