Is honors chemistry hard? (solved)

if you ask if honors chemistry is hard this post is for you. So keep reading to have the full guidance and tips to follow in this case.

Is honors chemistry hard?

Honors chemistry is one of the hardest and most complex chemistry subjects that many students struggle with. Especially the ones who don’t have solid foundations in math like algebra 2 and geometry.

The other challenges that students have in honors chemistry, is to working with 3D shapes and being able to memorize faster and at the same time recite the information.

But finally, the good indicator to judge if honors are hard for you or not is going to be your previous grades in math and lab science.

 That being said, you need to have great biology, math,s and chemistry subjects. that is to say, if you get an As in maths, biology, and chemistry. Therefore there is no problem to take honors chemistry, meaning honors chemistry will not be hard for you in this case.

A lot of Chemistry honors students say that Memorizing Concepts and formulas and applying them in a correct way is key to succeeding in honors chemistry.

Honors chemistry requires you to memorize a lot of Concepts and equations  for instance:

  •  Calculations
  • periodic table
  • atomic model

Principal keys to succeeding in honors exams

In addition, creating a lot of connections with teachers is the second key that you have to understand. That’s being said building good relationships with teachers to support you in the times you need some little bumps to curve your grades.

This rule doesn’t happen with any teacher but sometimes if a teacher sees your diligence and then he could help you if you missed up in some exams.

Honestly, you are required to get As in honors chemistry student to get good grades in this program. That is to say, at least getting an A-.  So you have to ask yourself if you are a kind of this is a student or not you love competing against others.

 in addition, you have to absorb a lot of content or context in a short time,  this thing will be depending on your abilities and you’re level of chemistry basics. 

The last key to give you if you want to become an honors chemistry student is to quietly listen to teach two letters, take good notes and always be sure of this thing which is understanding the lecture in the class and not letting it until you get to home. If you did not understand it you have immediately ask a  teacher before I go into the next step.

Because normally you wouldn’t have time to do that just because the program is so condensed. 

What do students study in honors chemistry?

we’re going to list a full program of what you will expect to study as an honors chemistry student.

Subject 1: Classification of Matter

in subject 1 honors chemistry you will be focusing on 4 principal themes.


• you will learn what is a matter
• Students can compare and contrast mixtures versus compounds
• distinguish between physical and chemical changes
• explain the classification of elements as metals, nonmetals, or metalloids.


Subject 2: Scientific Measurements and Calculations

in the subject 2 honors chemistry you will be focusing on 5 principal themes:


• you will understand the scientific method
• Completing mathematical operations using scientific notation
• you will need to learn how to convert measurements using SI units of measure
• describe and contrast accuracy and precision
• maintain the correct level of precision using significant figures


Subject 3: History of the atomic model

in History of the atomic model you will be focusing on 2 principal sub-themes:


• understanding the development of atomic theory from the era of Democritus to Dalton to the modern theory
• determine the number of subatomic particles inside an atom Also explain
how this information is expressed and measured.


Subject 4: Atomic Structure

In atomic structure you will be focusing on 3 principal themes:


• Students can identify the subatomic particles
• Students understand and can explain the Bohr model of the atom
• Students understand electron configurations and can express the elemental atoms in terms of electron-configuration notation


Essential Learning 5: Periodic Table

This subject requires a lot of memorization you will need to memorize this whole table for A to Z as you see in the image below:

In addition, you will need to complete these themes or subjects:


• describe the history and development of the periodic law.
• learn how to recognize and explain periodic trends.
• understanding the efficiency of a chemical reaction and can determine efficiency
based on percentage yield.


Subject 6: Chemical Bonding

In this subject, you learn the different types of chemical bonding like covalent, prevalent, and ionic. To have more explanation you could watch this video below:


• you will learn to use electronegativities to explain why atoms bond in polar-covalent, nonpolar-covalent, and ionic bonds
• you will describe the characteristics of ionic and covalent molecules
• understanding the characteristics and properties of metallic bonding.


Subject 7: Chemical formulas and compounds


• know the general rules used in naming binary ionic and molecular compounds
• describe how oxidation numbers are assigned
• calculate formula masses, molar masses, and percentage of composition
• understand the concept of empirical chemical formulas and be able to determine the molecular formula from an empirical formula and molar mass.


Subject Learning 8: Understand how chemical reactions can be represented by chemical equations


• understand the five basic types of reactions and, given a chemical equation, be able to distinguish the type.
• write and balance a chemical equation


Last subject: Stoichiometry

in stoichiometry you will be learning the following subjects:


• determining the composition of the products and balancing the equation.
•determining the mole ratios and understanding the relationships between reactants and products
• demonstrating and learning how to perform conversions from moles of a known reactant or product to moles of an unknown reactant or product.
• know and explain the relationship between moles and mass and can complete stoichiometric conversions between moles and mass.
• explain the concept of limiting reactants and identify each in a given chemical equation.

Daily Class Materials Needed

as an honors chemistry student you will need to bring theses list of following tools to a school:

  1. IPad to design and follow lectures video with a teacher
  2. Scientific Calculator, to make a lot of calculations
  3. Ring Binder to gather your leaf paper lessons
  4. Notebook
  5. Pen/Pencil

Conclusion

In general, if you are good at math, especially algebra 2, and chemistry basics. You will like to succeed in this program. But for some students who have taken algebra 2 honors classes, have a full guarantee to succeed in this course because they already have the experience.

So why not take honors algebra 2 before, it will be good to test your capabilities.

you could read this article: is honors algebra 2 hard? (solved)

this is a free course you could flow to prepare for honors chemistry courses.

yassin.ajanif

Yassin ajanif is a physics graduate and electromechanical engineer width more than 5 years in the field. My goal and my team are to share our experience to help you succeed in your career as a stem major. we talk about all tips, problems, and struggle STEM students face in their career and how to overcome them.