AP Chemistry Course Information

About the Course

AP Chemistry is a challenging and rewarding course which offers many advantages. First, you will receive the most rigorous education in chemistry offered at the high school level. It will prepare you to succeed in college-level courses of science and mathematics. Second, you will learn significant skills and knowledge in a central scientific field. Finally, by taking and passing the AP Chemistry exam you have an opportunity to show colleges your dedication to academics and to show a high level of achievement. In addition, depending on the college where you enroll, you may earn credits or have an opportunity to immediately enter higher-level courses as a result of passing the AP Chemistry exam. The exam costs about $90 but, if your college awards credits for your work, you may save several hundreds of dollars.


How to Succeed

In this course I will rely heavily on you to be active listeners and participants in lectures. I expect students to read the text and come to class prepared to ask questions as I present the material. I will ask questions and invite your participation to keep things interesting. A large fraction of class time will also be dedicated to working in the lab. Most of the learning you will do, however, will rely on the work you do outside of class. Be prepared to spend several hours studying for every hour of lecture. You should outline the chapter as you read it, work the examples in the text, do the assigned problem sets, and focus on the designated memory work. In addition to your preparation for quizzes and tests you must remember that lab reports can take several hours to write. For more information about the work you will do in this course please read the syllabus carefully. Read the document I prepared about How to Study Chemistry. Finally, read the explanation I have written about the FIO class motto.

I encourage you to form study groups over the summer to complete your work. It often helps you to understand things better if you have to try to explain it to a peer. I will leave the organization of study groups up to you but I will be glad to help you get organized if you ask.




Summer Work

In order that you will be fully prepared for your work this fall please complete the list of summer work you will find on the web at http://kaffee.50webs.com/Science/APChem-Summer.Work.2015.htm or use this shortcut: http://goo.gl/rexuk3. The homepage for my courses can be found at http://kaffee.50webs.com/Science/. Read the course description documents and familiarize yourself with the way the course will be run. It will be fast-paced and challenging and you will need to be able to start the year strongly. Students are responsible for completing the summer work before the start of school in the Fall and must expect to be tested on this material during the first week of classes.

Important: Do not wait until the end of August to begin your
summer work! In order to learn the material well you need to spend some
time with it: it can't be done well if it's done at the last minute.

Important Course Documents
AP Chemistry Syllabus (this includes the course calendar)
Lab Report Writing Information
Lab Notebook Information
How to Study for AP Chemistry
AP Chemistry Calendar
Three-ring Binder Information
Lab Report Writing Information (html)
Lab Grading Outline (html) How labs are graded
Lab Safety Rules
Lab Notebook Information

AP Chemistry at the College Board Web Site

Read the Course Overview and Course Description


Summer Work Assignments

Do as many practice exercises in each activity as you need in order to improve your understanding of the material. You do not need to print everything out and fill it out completely. I will not be checking your work directly. Instead I will give you a quiz covering these topics when you first come to class in the fall. You will not be able to do all of this work in one week!

Group Activity: Scientific Notation (html)
Additional Examples for Scientific Notation (html)
Homework: Scientific Notation
Group Activity: Dimensional Analysis (html)
Homework 1: Dimensional Analysis
Homework 2: Dimensional Analysis
Homework: Metrics
Homework: Square and Cubic Units
Group Activity: Density (html)

Atomic Structure and the Periodic Table
Lost your periodic table? Get one from: http://www.webelements.com/
Periodic Table colored by groups (color your
periodic table to match)
Atomic Structure Homework

Group Activity: Average Atomic Mass

Activity: Electron Configuration
Homework: Electron Configuration
Homework: Waves vs. Particles

Activity: Chemical Nomenclature
Sugar and Salt Solutions with PhET Simulator
(Sugar and Salt Simulator)
homework #1
homework #2
Flowchart for Naming Inorganic Binary Compounds

The Mole
Homework Assignment: The Mole and Molar Mass

Balancing Chemical Equations
Homework for Balancing Chemical Equations

Activity: Stoichiometry
Homework: Stoichiometry
Activity: Stoichiometry with Limiting Reagent and Percent Yield
Homework: Stoichiometry with Limiting Reagent and Percent Yield

Last updated: May 13, 2013        Home