The class is just CONSTANT work—and it’s work of all kinds. You have to be familiar with some of the important Chemists though history, you have to memorize parts of the periodic table, you have to do some pretty intensive math, you do lab work, listen to lectures and take notes, you have to read chapters in the book… just a LOT of work!

Don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed it—but I did more work for that class than for any other class I took in high school.

If you’re looking to start studying a bit, go ahead and get an AP review book. You can use that to get ahead, or just use it as you go to cement ideas in your head and to get extra practice.

Some of the material: memorizing basic polyatomic ions; determining the relative amounts of elements in a compound by the percentages of mass and so on (it’s been a while, I don’t remember exactly—some of the more complicated Stoicheometry). Titrations and titrations and titrations—especially acid-base titrations. Net ionic equations are important for the exam.

That’s all I can recall—you can go to College Board’s website to read up about the test and get a look at what all is on it: http://www.collegeboard.com/student/testing/ap/sub_chem.html?chem .

Advice: don’t be afraid to ask for help– some of it really is hard, and it’s better to ask than to get behind. Form a study group of some kind– it doesn’t have to be anything formal, just get together with a friend in the class occasionally to work through some of the labwork and harder titration problems.

Of course, your class will depend on your teacher; but this was my experience of it.

Good luck!