During students’ junior year at BSM, they are required to take a chemistry class. They have a choice to take general, regular, honors, or AP. No matter what they chose, all levels of the class are typically labeled as a challenging course. This year some students have struggled more than previous ones.

Junior Ellie Hilbrands decided to take regular chemistry and is overwhelmed with the class because the teaching style is different than what she is used to. “We basically get these packets and then are just sent out on our own. So it’s kind of hard [to learn] new stuff, but I’m hoping that it will get better,” Hilbrands said

Because the assigned packets are harder than expected, students often resort to the easy way out. “I’m just trying to learn on my own because it is hard to not be tempted to look at the answer keys online since the packets are all from other curriculums,” Hilbrands said.

Knowing that chemistry is recognized to be challenging, Hilbrands knew all levels would be hard. However, she expected regular chemistry to be more reasonable. “It’s like the same difficulty as I expected, but there are times where I am completely lost,” Hilbrands said.

Unlike Hilbrands, junior Elisabeth Malrait chose to take honors chemistry. “I think [the class is] really educational and I’m learning a lot in a little amount of time. If I ever have troubles, I ask the teacher and we work through it and it makes sense again,” Malrait said.

Going into the class, Malrait was told that it was very challenging and was very nervous. “I think it’s easier than I expected. Going into it I was told it was really hard, but I actually understand it so I’m not struggling too much,” Malrait said.

Although the class was easier than Malrait expected, there are still challenging parts to the course. “I have struggled with mixing up some concepts, because some things in chemistry are so similar to each other,” Malrait said.