After a successful year in 300 chemistry sophomore year, I decided to make the jump and enroll in AP chemistry as my junior year science. The entire first semester of AP chemistry was an uphill battle and was riddled with failures. Any preconceived notions I had about my ability to succeed were seemingly shot down within the first 3 weeks of the class. There were concepts I had never learned and problems I wouldn't have dared touch in my sophomore chemistry class. After a long quarter of struggling, I knew that I needed to make a change. I decided to look at what I was doing wrong in AP chemistry, and what I was doing right in my other classes.

As AP chem was the only AP I took junior year, the lens that I looked at it through was much different. I never had expected a class to require so much time after school. I had never experienced poor grades on tests I had studied hours for. Strategies that had worked in the past with other courses were ineffective for this one. Besides the grades, the ideas and thinking strategies I learned after that first quarter resonated throughout my life. Outside of school, I thought more critically about problems to solve, simple and complicated, in everyday life. I found that there are many more ways than one to get from point A to point B. …show more content…
I worked to solve the problems parents had within programs, and helped kids realize that there is more to school than just one test. My experience in AP chemistry helped me transfer what I had learned into my work and onto the kids I tutored. My failure, and eventual success, helped me grow and mature into a better student and