ds is doing chemistry higher this year and pupils are doing hands on experiments in class, but not doing an experiment/assessment this year........ maybe it is just higher.
ds loved Nat5 chemistry, it was his favourite subject, he got a letter home from school saying he was really talented in it/in top 3 of year for it. He was considering doing AH chemistry then a chemistry based uni degree, but as you say a lot was down to the N5 teacher he had who was really engaging and passionate about the subject and his class, explained well, had some fun with them, challenged them, and he really liked last year.
He is doing Higher this year, and was looking forward to it. He has been given two chemistry teachers, they have split the course into two and are teaching different units in parallel. Both teachers have vocalised that they aren't happy with the arrangement, making the pupils feel the teachers just can't wait for this class/year to be done with. It doesn't help he doesn't like one of them which he had in S2 and he says most of the class struggle with, they don't explain things well and go off on meaningless tangents, back track, explain something then realise they got it wrong so go over again and just confuse everyone. Pupils are also finding it harder having two units in parallel.
He now believes he hates chemistry, chemistry is boring and is rethinking his future options which is a shame as I know it is solely down to not being able to connect with the teachers this year and the poor set up. He is still aiming for a good mark for his Higher so resorts to youtube lessons/clips and revision guides at home to actually understand what is going on. It is not a problem with the step up to higher as he does get it when he does it at home and is doing well in class assessments.
Sorry, don't know the answer! ds had a N5 subject he didn't enjoy so just accepted he wouldn't like them all and concentrated on getting the grade he wanted, knowing it wouldn't be for long and he could drop it for higher.