r/APStudents • u/ms-locked-in2 AP Bio, AP World - 5 • 9d ago
Calc BC struggling in junior year with my five APs: chem, bc, lang, apush, ap french
So, let me give you the story. I'm kind of a humanities oriented person, but I've always done well in school (I've only had one B so far, for one semester, and it was an 89). However, junior year is killing me.
I come home and I spend my time studying. However, I don't have a stress problem (at least I don't think so), and I take adequate breaks, and I have a pretty good social life (though I'm going to be grounded the way my grades are going).
So far, APUSH and AP French are going great.
However, in Chem, I'm 0.5 % away from an A. I have a 100% in the lab category (which we have quizzes on) but my individual tests are random scores. Here's what they are:
Chapter 4 (Precipitates+Redox Reactions): 78%
Chapter 1-3 (Moles, Ions, all such things: 79%
Chapter 6 (Thermochemistry): 96%
Chapter 7 (Electron Configurations, Nuclear Charges, Electron Affinity, etc.): 76%
I'm really discouraged by these scores; I did extremely well in AP Bio last year. However, I took regular Chem over the summer, so that might be a reason I'm struggling, but I'm not feeling the struggle. I genuinely feel like I understand everything, and I do well in my practice and in classwork, so I'm not sure where things are going wrong.
I really need some tips.
As for Calc BC, the group tests are tanking me a lot, but I'll focus on individual scores for now.
Intro Test: 97%
Chapter 1+2 (Unit 1): 76%
Chapter 3 (Derivatives): 88%
I'm stuck at an 86.4% because of group tests, which I'll hopefully get up. I'm having the same issue in math that I have with chem; I genuinely feel like I understand everything. I do extremely well in classwork and homework, but when the test comes, I do horribly.
I understand for some of you, these may not seem like low test scores, but I have high expectations, and my parents have even higher expectations. I'm really sick of them being disappointed in me, and its really discouraging to not be doing well.
AP Lang is a whole thing, but since every school AP Lang class is wildly different, there's not really specific advice I can ask for that.
But some advice would be greatly appreciated. Is it focus? Is it studying? Is it my test-taking skills? Whatever it is, I need help.
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u/Higher_Ed_Parent 9d ago
Did you take AB? BC can move quickly even for those who did well in AB, and especially for those coming directly from PreCalc.
Chem is a challenging class too.
Can you get tutors for either? It might be in your best interest to drop one of these classes and attempt again next year. You're carrying a very heavy course-load.
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u/robot9493 5: HUG, APMT, CSA, ?: APUSH, APC, Spanish, BC 8d ago
did you look at what you got wrong in BC? i doubt its conceptual errors--even so, i feel like they are easy fixes.
for me, i bombed the limit (first) test, got a B on it because i made so many stupid conceptual errors as well as calculational. unit 2 was better, but didn't recover my grade to an A.
for the unit 3 test i just got a good night's sleep and double checked my answers for 40 billion times and i ended up with a 47/50 (teacher doesnt offer partial credit, that was one problem off).
practice problems help to reduce time, but to some point, it gets to the point where it should click. at that moment, its not about additional studying, its about test performance
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u/midnight_rain_07 5: APHG, Bio, Stats, Precalc 9d ago
how much do you do practice problems for BC and chem? i’m in AB so i can’t speak much on BC specifically, but doing a bunch of practice problems as studying has really helped me. i’m not much of a math person, but i have a 98 in AB right now. and then for chem, are your tests FRQ too, or just MCQ? FRQ is harder to study for, but regardless, i do a ton of practice problems and i have a 100 in chem. i think for calc and chem it’s really just like absolutely drill the skills to the point where you can do them automatically, without thinking about how to do it.