AP Chemistry - Two Semester Course

The College Board has revised the AP Chemistry standards to focus on a model of instruction which promotes
enduring, conceptual understandings and the content that supports them. This approach enables student to
spend less time on factual recall and more time on inquiry-based learning of essential concepts, and helps them
develop the reasoning skills necessary to engage in the science practices used throughout their study of AP
Chemistry. The standards are centered around six “big ideas."

1: The chemical elements are fundamental building materials of matter, and all matter can be
understood in terms of arrangements of atoms. These atoms retain their identity in chemical
reactions.

2: Chemical and physical properties of materials can be explained by the structure and the
arrangement of atoms, ions, or molecules and the forces between them.

3: Changes in matter involve the rearrangement and/or reorganization of atoms and/or the
transfer of electrons.

4: Rates of chemical reactions are determined by details of the molecular collisions.

5: The laws of thermodynamics describe the Essential role of energy and explain and predict the
direction of changes in matter.

6: Any bond or intermolecular attraction that can be formed can be broken. These two processes
are in a dynamic competition, sensitive to initial conditions and external perturbations.

Required Textbook: Flowers, P., Theopold, K., Langley, R., Robinson, W. R., Blaser, M., Bott, S., … Soult, A.,
OpenStax, Chemistry . OpenStax. 11 March 2016. <http://cnx.org/content/col11760/latest/ >.

This course requires 25% instructional time in a lab environment.

Download Course Syllabus here