I’ve written about sequence and timing here in the past, but here’s a little extension that might be useful to AP Chemistry teachers.

On the page referenced above, you’ll see a general disclaimer that it’s just about impossible to give meaningful advice on sequence and timing, since we all find ourselves in unique sitautions. Those situations are colored and driven by so many factors; school type, student ability, scheduling restrictions etc., that it’s hard to generalize in any manner. However, one parameter that could potentially be useful to all AP chemistry teachers is to allote a percentage of time to each UNIT. This won’t tell you the specific number of minutes that you should spend on any one topic in your own, unique situation, but it will give you an idea of the distribution of time across the course as a whole.

Here’s a Google Sheet outlining my suggestions on %’s, and my sequence. There are some interesting things to be found there, with my most important takeaways being that I devote almost 20% of the whole year to review, and that (unsurpringly) UNIT 8 is the one that I spend most class time on. The breakpoints in that sequence are where I pause to assess, so there are 12 major assessments, plus several others during review.

Want to learn more? Consider joining us for the AP Chemistry Summer Workshop for teachers.