I was slightly discouraged; UVA - what has surprised, unsettled, or challenged you

PROMPT: What work of art, music, science, mathematics, or literature has surprised, unsettled, or challenged you, and in what way?
"There are three things you need to remember this year: You have seventy-two seconds per question, you will not master every topic, and you will most likely fail this course." These were the words of a former AP Chemistry student given as advice to rising seniors. It would be a severe understatement to say that upon hearing this I was slightly discouraged. I spent time over the summer reviewing chemistry information that I had learned two years ago, but it did not prepare me for what was to come. My AP teacher hit the class hard with truck loads of new topics and assignments. I did everything possible to learn the material at a quick pace, including spending countless hours in study sessions and even longer hours online learning thermodynamics and electrochemistry from youtube videos. In addition to my other six classes plus a Saturday class at ECPI College, I was beyond overwhelmed. After taking my first test in the class, I knew that the rest of the year would be a tremendous challenge. However, when my counselor encouraged me to drop the class, I flatly refused. AP Chemistry may be a killer course with a low exam passing rate, but that didn't mean it was impossible. I decided to start from scratch and build on from topics that I already mastered. After a few weeks of seriously hard core studying, the class no longer seemed so difficult. Between the first and second nine week periods, I managed to bring my grade up from a D+ to a B+! AP Chemistry will continue to be a challenge for me up until the national exam, but I know it is nothing I can't handle.

I decided to start from scratch and build on from topics that I already mastered.

Shows great dedication and initiative, but I'm just worried that there are too many people writing this one on AP classes. Try to make yours stand out from the rest. Very well-written, just doesn't have the "wow" factor. Shouldn't be too hard for a good writer like you.

youtube should be YouTube.
Hardcore is one word.

Everything is pretty much perfect. I couldn't find any grammatical errors. Your sentence structures and variety are pristine. You have a great command of the English language.

Good luck :)

Would AP Chemistry be considered a work of science? or does the prompt mean science in general?

I like you writing style and I think that you describe the challenge well and convey persistance and determination!
Food for thought: Was it just the quick pace and material overload that you found hard or was there a particular topic that was difficult to understand? Maybe relate your answer more to the science rather than the overwhelming course load

Hope this helps!

I can completely relate with you on AP Chemistry, that class was hell. But I don't think you really understood the prompt. If youre set on science, I think it wants you to find a "work of science" that has surprised you, etc. Like maybe you were impressed/surprised by Watson & Crick's race to learn the structure of DNA, or maybe you are shocked by that one doctor's tendency to kill terminally ill patients to put them out of their misery. That's what I think it means, sorry if that throws your essay out the window :/

hi, this is a really good essay. i like the fact that you started with a quotation from the former student saying that chem was so hard and how much more work it was however, i think you spent alot of time talking about how hard chemistry was, but not so much on how you mastered it. why did you decide to keep at it? what about chemistry was so interesting that you didnt drop it like your counselor suggested?

wishing you best of luck! hope this helps! :)

i just posted an essay and i would appreciate any feedback you can give me as well!

thanks

it's a good piece but I think you approached the topic the wrong way.