AP Chemistry
Advanced Placement (AP) Chemistry is
Introductory College Chemistry (ICC)
• AP Chemistry is intended to allow students with advanced
aptitude as well as academic / emotional maturity an
opportunity to complete Introductory College Chemistry
(ICC).
• Rancho Bernardo’s AP Chemistry course is modeled upon
the ICC curriculum at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology (MIT) and UC Berkley.
• AP Chemistry is not a high school or college preparatory
course. It is ICC and the course content covers the entire
ICC curriculum at the same accelerated pace one would
endure at any of the nations top ranked universities.
1
Who should consider AP Chemistry?
• Students that intend to pursue a college curriculum that
requires ICC should consider enrolling in AP Chemistry.
• Depending upon the College or University one attends, the
post-secondary curriculum majors and minors that
typically require ICC are:
• All branches of Chemistry and Biology;
• Pre-Medical & Pre-Veterinarian Majors;
• Various Engineering degree programs.
• Students that intend to apply to medical schools upon
completion of their Baccalaureate studies are strongly
encouraged to complete AP Chemistry prior to
undergraduate matriculation.
2
Why should you consider AP Chemistry?
• ICC is generally used as the initial “gatekeeper” course at most
major universities in this country for careers in Science,
Engineering, and Medicine.
• Just passing ICC is not sufficient to qualify for admission in
many of the most competitive post-baccalaureate programs.
Applicants to these programs are generally expected to have
maintained a level of achievement in the top quartile of their
preparatory courses.
• The objective of RB’s AP Chemistry course is to ensure that a
student ranks in the upper percentile of the ICC course at the
post-secondary institutions that they ultimately attend,
including the most competitive in this country.
3
AP Chemistry Course Logistics:
• The RB AP Chemistry course fulfills the expectations of the
major universities in this country insofar as the breadth and
depth of the core ICC content.
• The course includes weighted components that enable a
student an opportunity to determine their emotional and
academic aptitude for ICC while maintaining a respectable
GPA.
• The class time is designed predominately around collaborative
problem solving strategies. A minimal amount of time is spent
in lectures due to the time limitations as well as the depth and
breadth of the material that must be covered
• To that end, the lecture notes and worked example problems
for each unit are posted online (.pdf) for downloading prior to
beginning each chapter throughout the course.
4
Schedule for Success
• ICC is a very labor intensive course. The expectation is that
students will spend a minimum of four to five hours weekly
outside of class in course work. This estimate must
necessarily be adjusted based upon each individual’s aptitude
and background. What is critical is to plan one’s schedule to
accommodate the work load.
• The most common reasons for failure in an ICC curriculum,
both here and at any post-secondary institution, are a student’s
inability to adjust to the time demands of the curriculum, and
/or inexperience with the level of course rigor.
• The first issue, ‘time constraints’, is easily overcome by
realistic scheduling. Unfortunately, the standard primary and
secondary school curriculum do not provide a realistic
appreciation of a student’s post-secondary aptitude and are
thus poor indicators of AP Chemistry / ICC success. With this
in mind, schedule conservatively.
5
• The second pitfall, ‘academic / emotional aptitude’, is more
difficult to overcome but not impossible.
• There are a number of strategies that can be adapted to fit most
individual circumstances. It is thus imperative that a struggling
student be pro-active in seeking help and guidance from the
course instructor.
• In addition, the course instructor is available to counsel the
parents of a student in strategies that are successful at
developing their student’s aptitude, regardless of the parent’s
specific academic background.
• Of critical importance is the realization that if a student has
any desire to succeed in a rigorous post-secondary curriculum
at a competitive college or university, then this opportunity to
overcome their shortcomings may be the deciding factor in
their future achievement.
6
A typical week (1 chapter unit) is as follows:
Prior to the beginning of each unit throughout the course
students are expected to access the course Learning Point site
and download and review the lecture notes and worked
examples for the upcoming chapter.
The Monday prior to the start of a new text chapter each student
is expected to submit a chapter outline. In addition, an outline
(flowchart) and completed pre-lab for any scheduled laboratory
exercises for the upcoming week are due on the Monday prior to
the lab.
The first two standard class periods each week (usually
Monday and Tuesday) are devoted to collaborative problem
solving. It is not possible to solve too many problems.
7
One extended period each week is devoted to a laboratory
exercise. The labs scheduled in this course are those required by
the College Board and generally accepted by most major
universities in the U.S. as fulfilling the ICC laboratory
requirement.
Students will keep a formal laboratory binder. Each lab is
assessed individually and completed experimental reports will be
kept in the binder. The binder ultimately should be submitted by
each student to their chosen university to be evaluate for college
laboratory credit.
Friday of each week is devoted to one of several types of
assessment.
8
Grading and Policies
The grade will be based on a weighted point system. There are
four categories within this system. Below is the list of categories
and their weightings. Most assignments within a category are
worth 100 points each.
Class Work & Homework
Lab reports
Assessments
Semester Final Exam
Total
15%
15%
40%
30%
100%
9
Class Work and Homework:
Weekly problem sets will be assigned. These assignments will be
principally derived from questions at the end of each textbook
chapter, and previous AP exam questions. The majority of the
scheduled class time each week is devoted to collaborative
problem solving. Completed assignments must be turned in each
week for credit. Incomplete assignments will receive no credit,
there is no partial credit.
Late Assignments will be downgraded according to the
following rubric:
1 day late:
-30% of possible pts
> 6 week deadline: No Credit for Assignment
10
Laboratory:
Students will keep a formal laboratory binder. Each lab is
assessed individually and completed experimental reports will be
kept in the binder. No credit will be given for labs that are not
binder-quality complete. For the purpose of this course, all
laboratory reports will be submitted in typewritten (word
processed) form with the hand written, raw data and calculations
(i.e. benchwork) appended. As stated previously, the binder
ultimately should be submitted by each student to their chosen
university to be evaluated for college laboratory credit.
11
Assessments:
Quizzes will be scheduled after every two weeks of instruction
(approximately). Quizzes include multiple choice and free
response (show all work) questions. All students are encouraged
to complete quiz corrections during the tutorial period of the
week following the quiz. Students with quiz grades of less than
80% can, by means of quiz corrections, improve their quiz score
by as much as one letter grade.
Final Exam:
A comprehensive final exam is given at the completion of the
course work for each semester.
12
Instructor: V. Bob Walker, Ph.D.
Baccalaureate in Science (BS) Major - Chemistry , Minor - Biology
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI
Doctorate (Ph.D.) in Chemistry: Wayne State University (WSU)
Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Detroit, MI
WSU School of Medicine & Children’s Hospital of Michigan
Pediatrics Endocrinology Research Lab Supervisor
1987 - 1997
NIH Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship; Department of Immunology,
The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA
1997-2000
High School Science Teacher
2000 - present
13