Having extreme difficulties with Chemistry. What should I do

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I am having extreme difficulties with chemistry and am wondering what I should do about it. I find doing the math formulas quite difficlut and recently I scored a 29 out of 71 on a unit test. I find that the teacher is not always best at explaining the material. I am interested in chemistry, I just wish I could do better. What should I do? How do I improve myself in this subject so I can succeed.

I've got exactly the same problem with my chem teacher. My solution is to just ignore him and learn the material from the textbook. This may or may not work for you, as many chem textbooks aren't all that great, but our teacher at least provides us with several different books we can borrow. Good luck.

I assume you always (or should ) use the factor label method for
calculating things?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Units_conversion_by_factor-label

You always write the units to and cancel them out. If all else fail convert to moles.

What specifically are you having difficulty with?

Look in the first few pages of your text to see if there are supporting materials available. What you are looking for is if there is a student solutions manual available. If there is, go to the publishers website and purchase it; otherwise, look for a similar chem. book from various publishers that does have the student solutions manual and purchase that set. This should help you immensely as long as you actually work the problems.

Is tutoring available?

Talk to your teacher and tell him/her what you are fidning hard and ask if there is any tutoring available through the school you attend.
If all that fails then you could always get private tutoring. Meaning through an outside sourse. I know that there are tutors who will tutor you outside of school hours in your own home in NZ. But don't know where you live so not sure if they will have any around you.

Chemistry is easy. Are you sure you're AS?

There are plenty of people with AS who have problems with chemistry, math, physics, computer science, etc.

There are also AS people who do well at psychology, history, social work, law, etc.

Seems absurd to me. I thought chemistry would fit the AS symptoms perfectly. It's nice and coherent; all facts, no opinions etc.

But many teachers manage to make it completely incoherent. So do many textbooks. Chemistry is a pretty rough subject for a lot of people, and most people approach it entirely the wrong way. Just because someone has a hard time in Chemistry doesn't mean they are a "fake Aspie." Just as neurotypicals, we have a wide variety of different interests and talents, and we can't always be stereotyped as a bunch of math geniuses or computer geeks.

Hey dude.....what kind of chemistry are you taking? Is it general chemistry?? If your stuck in chemistry, try to find tutoring around your school if available.

As a college student, I'm taking organic chemistry and it's gettin harder than general chemistry. Tutoring should really help.

I sucked at Chem so I stopped taking it many years ago. Stick to what you are good at.

These suggestions have already been given, but I want to affirm them in one reply.

1) ALWAYS talk to the teacher if you are having problems. I know it sounds awful. It took me a long time to warm to the idea. Teachers generally prefer to see a student seek help rather than watch a student fail. Asking for help almost always secures better grades at the end of a term regardless of your previous performance. They need to know that you are struggling rather than just ignoring them. You don't even need to mention AS. All kinds of people have problems with chemistry. Don't think you're the first or the last to have this issue.

2) ALWAYS read your textbook when you get home, or as soon as possible after the day's lecture ends. It's much easier to digest the material. Seriously, truly, it is. Even if the problems in the book aren't assigned as homework, do them! They will clear up some of the confusion left by the teacher and they will add more information than your teacher had time to discuss.

Eventually you will start to feel like you have a grasp on the subject.

You'll do fine!!