Updated for Summer 2025

Hello new AP Chem students! Welcome to the class, I am happy you chose to take the course! It is a challenging class, but very interesting and an excellent college prep course. I think you learn a lot about yourself as a student by taking APC! 

I generally get a lot of questions about if there is a summer assignment and I usually email all students on the roster at least once before or in the summer. I know there are various philosophies around the school and many classes have summer assignments. I personally prefer not to assign anything due on Day 1 and in general to assign only what is most necessary and helpful. I feel I work you hard enough during the regular school year - I want you to enjoy your summer as much as possible and gear up for Fall. We hit the ground running on the first day of school (we cover all of Chp. 1 Notes the first two days then we spend a few days on basic skills before moving on to Chp. 2) so be ready to go! 

Unfortunately the issue I am now running into is that with regular chemistry having switched to a one semester course we cover less content to prepare for APC. Without as much foundation laid in regular chemistry it's making the beginning of the year in APC more difficult for students (which we don't want!). Because of that I do have a few things I do need you to focus on preparing for before the first week of school. Then there are also further suggestions for other things to do if you want to get even more prepared, but I limited it to just a few main things for everyone to do. On the first day of class I handout what I call the "Big Packet of Useful Stuff" - it's a multi-page document that has references sheets and notes and information to get us started and to use throughout the year. That document is linked at the TOP of this page, so click there to access the PDF. I also often offer for you to pick up a hard copy on near the end of the school year. I am going to refer to a few pages of that packet below, especially for the biggest things I really want you to focus on most (mostly Elements and IONS!) before school starts, so keep referring back to that document as needed.

TO DO BEFORE THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL:

1. Review/Memorize Elements - 

   • • You will need to know the elements on THIS ELEMENTS TO KNOW LIST for the course for the year. You will have experience with some of them from other science courses (oxygen, carbon, etc) and you will see many of them in the ions I will talk about in section 2 below this.

       • Here are some resources to help you with the elements: 

         • Element Quizlet Cards -has all the elements on the list if quizlets help you study

         • I also made two Google Form Quizzes that cover all 39 of the elements on the list (questions alternate between giving the name and wanting the symbol or giving the symbol and wanting the name). Complete these after you think you have all the elements memorized. Questions scramble each time so you can do them more than once if that helps you practice as well. 

           • 1. • Element Summer Practice #1

                • Element Summer Practice #2

2. Work on memorizing your IONS- This would be the TOP priority for you after learning your elements and symbols. You should be familiar with at least some of these ions from using them to write formulas and balance equations in regular chemistry. The College Board Exam does not give ANY ions to you, they are expected to be memorized. So that is how we treat them for this course as well. We will be using them nearly every day starting the first week of school and through the end of the year, so they are essential. ANY start at memorizing these will be a huge help for you as school starts up since that is a busy (and sometimes overwhelming) time of year and knowing them before school even starts will take a lot of pressure off you for the first few weeks of school in APC. All students will need to know their IONS by the 2nd week of school. I highly recommend flash cards (paper or digital through quizlet or any other site or app you prefer) since they are a tried and true method for a reason - they work for nearly everyone. 

   • • Here are some tips and resources to help you with IONS: 

       • • There is a copy of the ION SHEET itself on page 3 of the Big Packet of Useful Stuff, the ions you need to memorize are in the TOP table of that page. The bottom table is reference ions we use occasionally but you won't see on the AP Chem Exam so we just look them up when we need them rather than memorizing more than we have to. You will be given a hard copy of the ion sheet and the ion notes sheet (which is also in the Big Packet) on the first day of class when I hand out the Big Packet, so don't worry if you don't have the ability to print it over the summer.

           • 1. • Suggestion: I would recommend studying for around 10 minutes a day (pretty quick and easy to do with flashcards - set a timer and go!).  I would start with 10 or so ions or start with a box of ions that all have the same charge (1+, 2-, etc) and then add more ions/boxes on every time you feel solid on the ones you have been working on. If you are going to use the tips/tricks to not memorize those where you can use the periodic table then you should study your ions with a periodic table handy (paper or digital) or study just those ions separately when you have a periodic table available.  

     • Most of the rules and tips/tricks for understanding ions and their prefixes/suffixes are on the ION NOTES SHEET page 5-6 of the Big Packet. Read that over and it will be a big help! (there is a Vodcast of this information below as well if you prefer to watch and listen rather than read it) 

       • • • IONS Quizlet - this is a quizlet of the 66 ions that you can use to practice and work on memorizing them, that way you know they are all correct and without typos rather than creating your own. 

           • IONS Practice - this is a google form quiz of the ions to test yourself once you think you know them all. Please note this only has SOME of the ions, there are 15 practice questions over random ions. 

             1. • Really the best way to practice these ions is to make yourself a practice quiz - list the ion names in a random order and then see if you can write down the proper ion (with subscripts and charge) next to them then check your answers with the ion sheet. Or HERE is a practice quiz you can print off and HERE are the answers for it. 

• I made the ions vodcast (linked above this) to walk through the ion list and my tips and tricks for some of the ions (which covers most of the information from the notes sheet and maybe a few other things) to help make it so you have less to memorize and/or make the memorization is easier. Some of the ions can be looked up by their column on the periodic table or you can use their prefixes/suffixes/roots to help you determine the elements in them so that's what I go over. The ion sheet itself is categorized by these tips/tricks because that's the way my brain works so I explain the organization of the ion sheet as well in case that is helpful to you.

• Formula Writing Review (Ionic and Covalent) - This is a great way to practice ions and while it's not as big as the memorization section because we will review and practice in class - it is essential to the class overall so getting a jump on it and knowing if you have questions or need help on it would be smart. You should have covered how to write Ionic formulas (cross the charges or think of it mathematically to determine how many of each ion you need in order to have a net charge of zero for the compound) and Covalent formulas (use prefixes to get the subscripts) in regular chemistry. This is a base skill for APC and we will review and work on it within the first few days of school as we cover it in Chapter 2 and by Chapter 3 we are writing and balancing equations. 

  • • • Resources: 

        • • Formula Writing Reference Sheet

          • Practice Worksheet for Ionic Formulas and its Answer Key

          • Practice Worksheet for Covalent Formulas and its Answer Key

• APC Memory List - You will find this on the last two pages (page 11-12) of the Big Packet of Useful Stuff. You can start refreshing any information you may already remember from chemistry on this list and look ahead at APC requirements. If you choose to work on this or look it over focus on the first page of the memory list (page 11 of the Big Packet) as that is the information we use first - and don't worry, we will go over/review everything on this sheet as we need it. You do not have to memorize it all at once or before school starts. **Also note that College Board now GIVES the main metric prefixes on the reference sheet so you no longer have to memorize them. 

• Conversions/Factor-Label -  Unit Conversion/Dimensional Analysis/Factor-Label (it goes by so many names!) problem solving is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT in AP Chem, we use this skill consistently in problem solving and build on it throughout the year. We will be going over it within the first few days of school. The conversions on page 1 of the Big Packet will help you if you choose to review/start working on conversions. You do not need to memorize English conversions so you may use this to do any practice problems. Depending on the year you took chemistry you might use one or more of the resources below for review or to start learning this process. 

  • • This site would be helpful if you want to start learning or do some quick review on very basic metric prefixes 

• CONVERSION PRACTICE PROBLEMS: Some problems on conversions, multiple/cubed conversions, significant figures, and error might also be helpful to you. This document has some problems and the answers. Remember there is the conversion list on page 1 of the Big Packet that you will need for any English conversions or if you don't know your Metric Prefixes yet. You should be working toward doing metric prefixes without using the reference sheet as quickly as possible. If you don't know how to convert with metrics yet it's also okay - we will be going over all these skills in the first week of class. 

• • Review Quizzes - Topics 1 and 2 on this site (link) are good for refreshing yourself on basic chemistry knowledge if you want to test yourself a bit (Note: you will not have to convert with Fahrenheit for APC or the College Board Exam)

  • Letters from Former APC Students - Students from the 24-25 school year have written letters of advice to you as you embark on this course. Some have student names (with permission) on them and some are anonymous. Keep in mind everyone is different and learns their own way so some of the letters conflict with each other. But there's lots of excellent advice and ideas to try so you can find what works for you. Feel free to peruse these over the summer and throughout the year for helpful advice and tips! There are also older letters from previous years in a folder at the top of the link if you want even more advice to help. 

If you find anything else you think would be helpful for review for this year or future years please pass along the links to me! If you have any questions about anything feel free to email me (kduffey@fhps.net), I do not check my email too often during the summer but I will get back them as I can and at least by the week before school starts. 

I am happy to have you in APC this year and I will see you on the first day of school! 

Mrs. Duffey