THE BLOG
Here’s the chronological listing (newest first) of all the posts since THE BLOG’S inception in 2006 to the present
A Brief Commentary on the 2024-25 AP Chemistry CED updates
You'd be forgiven for missing the recent updates to the AP Chemistry Course and Exam Description (CED). As usual, the College Board's communication is left wanting, but a couple of months ago that's...
Updated CED for the 2024-25 academic year
UPDATE: AS OF 06/21/24 ESSENTIALLY THE WORK IS COMPLETE WITH ONLY AP QUIZ ANSWERS SHOWING OLD TITLES. THEY WON'T BE CHANGED UNTIL THEY ARE CONVERTED TO DIGITAL (not handwritten) DOCUMENTS. You will...
Time for a shower – Trevor Packer’s spin
Insidious. Disingenuous. Creepy. Propaganda. Makes me feel like I want to shower. You choose your own adjective or phrase to describe Trevor Packer's most recent tweet regarding the AP Chemistry...
2024 AP Chemistry
Released FRQ Reflections and Answers
EDIT: Final Answers are published here The 2024 AP Chemistry FRQs were released on the CB web site as usual i.e., 48 hours after the exam that took place on Monday of this past week. I used to be in...
OVERuse and UNDERuse of Formal Charge
(when the textbook fails)
And no, I'm not talking about errors, I'm talking about something way more subtle. I recently came across a post in the AP Facebook group that illustrates one of my favorite mantras quite nicely, so...
Errors in the 2021 and 2022 AP Chemistry Chief Examiner’s Reports
While I was recently updating the Mapped AP FRQ Worksheets to add the 2021, 2022 and 2023 FRQs, I came across multiple errors in the Chief Examiner's reports for 2021 and 2022. Here's a summary of...
van Arkel–Ketelaar allows for a more “definitive” classification of bonding type
One way or another I've spent the best part of four decades immersed in the world of secondary chemistry education. My experience is more diverse than most, and covers a lot of ground, but a large...
Observations about TOPIC and LO oddities in the CED
The CED (Course and Exam Description) for AP chemistry is chock-full of edubabble BS and always has been. So in and of itself, coming across weird stuff that makes no sense is nothing new, but...
The literal application of a pnictogen
EDIT 01/26/24: Yesterday, the state of Alabama completed the execution of Kenneth Smith via nitrogen hypoxia. What do China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the USA and Iraq have in common? They all...
No Special K – treating the six Ks as one
The annual student struggle with acid-base chemistry usually revolves around questions that deal with weak acids and bases. If you pause to think about that for a moment, the difficulties are...
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