As a budding sophomore emerging from the murkiness of an online freshman year mostly over Zoom, I was utterly unprepared for the academic rigor that awaited me–my first exposure to AP Classes and in turn, curriculum that actually challenged me. Specifically, AP Chemistry (which I took in 10th grade) remains the hardest class I’ve taken thus far, even as a 12th grader today. I received my first ever below-C (on the first unit exam), numerous 0/10 scores on our free response questions (FRQs), and often walked out of class not understanding any of the instruction.
For the entirety of the first semester, the study tactics I used were very obviously not getting me very far. In retrospect, I realize my methods consisted of a passive style: re-reading the textbook the day before a test, looking over my notes before class started, and only relying on lectures to refresh my memory. When it came time for quizzes, exams, and FRQs, I had no idea how to approach the algebraic-non-conceptual problems that constituted a large majority of the questions. Numerous concepts floated around my brain in an unorganized nebula–I knew what the problems referred to, but had no clue how to methodically weave the concepts together and solve them. I wasted so much time grasping at glimpses of examples mentioned in my textbooks and class notes, never truly developing and cultivating the process on my own. As one can assume, my scores never made drastic improvements from my first unit exam. I continued to generate mediocre marks, engraving my transcript with my second ever B that semester.
The next calendar year and semester presented itself to me as a new opportunity: a fresh start for not only my grade, but also my study strategies. I made it a new priority to enhance my critical thinking skills to solve those dreaded algebraic problems on my own. To promote this critical problem-solving, I needed a lot of practice to learn from experience. I kept track of all my incorrect answers from my classwork, in-class warm ups, and homework for the given unit, and re-did them before the exam to mend all the flaws in my thinking. I also absorbed and mimicked the processes of numerous trusted sources, especially The Organic Chemistry Tutor on YouTube, and aligned myself with their thought-processes to prepare myself whenever I was faced with similar questions to the ones they solved on their instructional videos. Consequently, long before the exam happened, I was well-primed with a strong problem-solving foundation for that unit–composed of the observations I drew from others’ instruction and a revamped understanding of the unit after countless hours of practice and relearning. This firm footing manifested itself in my scores for that semester; I never received an exam score below 88, and consistently used the correct methods in our FRQs. I proudly secured an A for that semester, but most importantly, gained the stable problem-solving groundwork necessary for proficiency and understanding.
Furthermore, I practiced active recall that second semester, drawing from the Ebbinghaus Curve of Forgetting. Every weekend, I made it my mission to review the concepts that I’d already learned, no matter if there was a specific unit test coming up or if I was swamped with other coursework. Accordingly, I felt well prepared when it came time for the course Final and AP test. I scored a 90% on the class final, and a 4 on the AP test, all thanks to my newfound study tactics that have and will continue to provide me with academic support for years to come.