Gen chem= joke compared to uppers

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Are the upper chemistry courses that much harder than the year of general chemistry? I'm thinking I might switch form biochem. Not because I'm intimidated now, but I dont want to end up in a situation where maintaining a 3.8 is too impossible. There are a couple students who keep saying "general chem is by far the easiest chemistry class you will ever take and they are a joke compared to the others". People usually laugh when they say this, and then they're like no, I'm serious.

So are they that terrible? I'm the kind of student that jus deals with math, I dont' love it. How hard is it to ace every math heavy chem class? How many people have done this? On a scale form 1 to 10 how are your math skills? Thanks

Stick with Biochem. It's A) easier than chemistry and B) more relevant to medical school.

If you wanna switch to something easy, sack up and switch into Comm or something.

Originally Posted by 1AO KTG

Are the upper chemistry courses that much harder than the year of general chemistry? I'm thinking I might switch form biochem. Not because I'm intimidated now, but I dont want to end up in a situation where maintaining a 3.8 is too impossible. There are a couple students who keep saying "general chem is by far the easiest chemistry class you will ever take and they are a joke compared to the others". People usually laugh when they say this, and then they're like no, I'm serious.

So are they that terrible? I'm the kind of student that jus deals with math, I dont' love it. How hard is it to ace every math heavy chem class? How many people have done this? On a scale form 1 to 10 how are your math skills? Thanks

If you're major is bio-chem then I'm guessing conceptually gen chem would be the easiest. You need to also remember that gen-chem is taken by every pre-med and so the curve can be tough. I've found that in many of my higher level courses, the pressure is reduced, there is no curve and the professors want to see everyone get As. You may find that to your advantage.

If you really like bio-chem then you should stick with it. Conceptually the material may be harder but you may end up doing better because of the lower pressure

People are good at different things. Some people are bad at everything, some people good at everything, but most have a mix. I found gen chem harder than orgo and supposedly difficult upper level bio courses to be easier than intro bio classes. Maybe i just worked harder in orgo and the upper level bios, i dunno. The point is you should be careful when people make general statements like "class A is super easy you're going to die in Classb lolz"

Originally Posted by 1AO KTG

Are the upper chemistry courses that much harder than the year of general chemistry? I'm thinking I might switch form biochem. Not because I'm intimidated now, but I dont want to end up in a situation where maintaining a 3.8 is too impossible. There are a couple students who keep saying "general chem is by far the easiest chemistry class you will ever take and they are a joke compared to the others". People usually laugh when they say this, and then they're like no, I'm serious.

So are they that terrible? I'm the kind of student that jus deals with math, I dont' love it. How hard is it to ace every math heavy chem class? How many people have done this? On a scale form 1 to 10 how are your math skills? Thanks

Depends on what courses we're talking about. If sticking with biochem lets you avoid Physical Chemistry, Thermodynamics, etc. then definitely stay if you're not confident about your math skills.

I generally think biochem is actually an easier major, especially if you're the classic math-averse premed. In fact that might be why biochem exists.

Are you asking about a major or classes?

When you take P-Chem, you'll know what they mean.

In all seriousness, though, I personally didn't find most of the other upper-level Chem classes that difficult. Orgo is a lot to memorize (but you have to take that no matter what), but I didn't find inorgo to be bad. I also took advanced (grad-level) orgo and inorgo and they were not bad at all. Of course, your experience may vary based on your program.

But dear god, P-Chem.

Originally Posted by Tatiana3325

Are you asking about a major or classes?

I guess I'm not up to date on all the major requirements. I thought most of the math heavy courses were pretty much the same for both majors. My thought was going into general Bio instead. However Biology seems to be a horrible degree nowadays. So now I'm kind of depressed.

Some of the upper chemistry courses I took seemed easier than gen chem. Some were more difficult. Biochemistry 1 was the easiest chemistry course I've ever taken.

.

Originally Posted by 1AO KTG

I guess I'm not up to date on all the major requirements. I thought most of the math heavy courses were pretty much the same for both majors. My thought was going into general Bio instead. However Biology seems to be a horrible degree nowadays. So now I'm kind of depressed.

Upper level chem courses are tougher than gen chem for sure. They aren't terribly difficult if you really know the principles of gen chem well, but definitely a step up.

Originally Posted by Slack3r

Stick with Biochem. It's A) easier than chemistry and B) more relevant to medical school.

If you wanna switch to something easy, sack up and switch into Comm or something.

Here is the answer you are looking for.

Making a thread title which asserts something you're asking about...ugh.

And how are we even supposed to answer this question? Are more advanced chemistry courses more difficult than general courses? Well yeah, probably, but it depends on the person taking them.

As many have stated, it varies heavily depending on your school and even semester, because different professors may teach during each one. At my school, biochemistry second semester is notorious for having averages in the 40s because of a detailed-oriented professor, while the first semester class test averages are B/B+.

At my top-50 undergrad, gen chem was 2x as hard as most upper level science classes for me. It seemed this was very much a "weeder" course, and a lot of people dropped out.

Gen chem was a lot harder than orgo because by the time your in orgo most of the idiots are weeded out. The curve was better in orgo too, i remember getting a 75% and getting an A- or better most of the time. I got B's in the first two chemistry courses but got A's in organic, so i don't know its different with everyone. I enjoyed orgo and hated inorganic but i have friends who got C's in organic and got A's in inorganic.

Originally Posted by Slack3r

Stick with Biochem. It's A) easier than chemistry and B) more relevant to medical school.

If you wanna switch to something easy, sack up and switch into Comm or something.

It really depends what he's talking about.

OP, are you talking about Biochem major or class?

If it's the class, slack3r is correct.

If it's the major you're talking about, you will be taking PChem, which is one hell of a course.

Gen Chem 2 was kind of hard, but very manageable. It really depends on the person, there's not much advice anyone here can give you.

Aren't you the kid who's pissed his friend is doing better than he is without cracking a book?

At my undergrad, biochem majors differed from chem majors in that we had to take 2 extra 400 (senior) level biochem courses and one less 400 level analytical chemistry course.

We still had 2 semesters of pchem (thermo and quantum) and then the upper level biochem classes were a HUGE pain in the ass. Thermodynamics is incredibly calculation and derivation heavy. If you are not good at applying your calculus, you are going to struggle. I was pretty good at calculus and I did well in thermo, but it was a torturous experience of long exams (those types where you have 4 problems and 8 pages of derivations and calculations). And if you do not know your differential equations well for quantum, you will pretty much not know what you are doing.

And yes, these courses are way harder than general chem. General chem is at times tedious, but not at all difficult conceptually.

I just finished both semesters of p-chem with an A/A-. They sucked for sure, but I definitely think that the thinking required of the courses helped me develop academically in a way I don't think would have happened in the absence of those classes. I'm biased towards chemistry majors. I figure that if you're going to med school, you'll be getting enough biology. Major in something that you like, not something that you think will get you into med school easier.

upper level chem classes are not fun or easy.

Pchem!!!!!!

OP, yes, the upper level classes are harder unless it's a "weeder" course at your school. No shocker there. Why are you surprised that people are saying the intro classes are easier?

Don't be afraid to take a "hard" class. If you take easy classes for good grades, my bet is that interviewers will notice that.

Originally Posted by mrmatt

OP, yes, the upper level classes are harder unless it's a "weeder" course at your school. No shocker there. Why are you surprised that people are saying the intro classes are easier?

Don't be afraid to take a "hard" class. If you take easy classes for good grades, my bet is that interviewers will notice that.

You'll be rejected by a computer program (sort by: GPA) before an interviewer notices this.