Sophomore or Junior year is hard enough, you don’t need to struggle with chemistry too! Taking AP Chem Senior year can be even worse! No need to drive for hours or hire Princeton professors, you can find great one-on-one chemistry tutoring in Redondo Beach with experienced tutors. Here are some tips from one of our tutors to get you started:

1. Get started now

Chemistry is one of those subjects that builds on itself, so don’t fall behind. If you don’t understand something at the beginning of the semester, chances are it will come back to bite you later. For example, significant figures. Learn your sig fig rules now and practice, because you’ll be using them all year. Don’t lose points on questions you answer correctly but forget to put in sig figs!

2. Get a calculator and use it

You won’t be allowed a graphing calculator, so buy a scientific calculator at the beginning of the semester and get comfortable with it. Read the manual if you need to, or Google how to type in certain numbers (ex: try typing in the number of molecules in 1 mole of a substance). So many students can follow a formula and write out the math properly, but make mistakes typing it into a calculator. Don’t borrow your friend’s calculator just to take your test – chances are you won’t know how to use it, or you’ll waste time figuring out where the 10^x button is. That being said…

3. Always, always, always check your work

Maybe you wrote down the right number to begin with, but you didn’t copy it properly. Maybe you thought “megagrams” meant “0.01 g” (hint: it doesn’t). Maybe you left off a zero when you punched the numbers into your calculator. Always look at your answer and look back at the question. Does the size of the number make sense? Are there 100 centimeters in a millimeter, or is it 100 millimeters in one centimeter (learn your Greek prefixes)? Don’t worry, fix your answer. I won’t tell.

Need more help? Go to Palos Verdes High School or Palos Verdes Peninsula High School? Have a test tomorrow? Luckily, you can find good, local chemistry tutoring in Redondo Beach to get you through the year (and maybe even start having fun). Each tutor has taken chemistry from different teachers and has a different set of tips and tricks; let Study Hut help you find the right fit for you. Give us an hour, and we’ll help you see where you’re going wrong, show you study hacks, and check your homework step by step. Chemistry is what makes our world work the way it does, the least you can do is try to understand it!