Retaking Chemistry before biochem and organic chem?

[yesnomaybe]

I took two semesters of advanced chemistry my freshman year of college. I got an A first semester and a C second semester.

Now I'm ready to sign up for biochemistry and organic chemistry. The problem is... I took that chemistry class 9 whole years ago.

I was thinking of retaking the second semester at a community college as a refresher. Is this necessary? Should I retake the full year instead? Or would I be fine reading a fresher book and moving right on?

P.S. I apologize if this exact question has been asked. I searched and found similar, but nothing that really fit me...you know...being a 9 year procrastinator.

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[futurevet3000]

Initially I was ready to tell you to just go ahead and take them! Most times they'll do a refresher the first day. But in 9 years, I am not sure how much chemistry has changed... although now that I think about it, I would say the core stuff you would be learning has not changed too much in terms of theory and what not. I personally took Organic Chem at my university with no chemistry before it (unless you count high school chem) and I survived! Orgo is a whole different beast... and Biochem is very similar to orgo... so I say if you are confident enough in your work ethic and you really dive right in and try and relearn things you do not know... go straight to orgo and let biochem follow! Of course I am taking biochem this fall so I can't vouch too much for it. But the order of my course work was Orgo (4 years ago) and then Gen Chem (just finished this summer) and then biochem in fall... talk about unconventional.
Good luck!

 

[yesnomaybe]

Initially I was ready to tell you to just go ahead and take them! Most times they'll do a refresher the first day. But in 9 years, I am not sure how much chemistry has changed... although now that I think about it, I would say the core stuff you would be learning has not changed too much in terms of theory and what not. I personally took Organic Chem at my university with no chemistry before it (unless you count high school chem) and I survived! Orgo is a whole different beast... and Biochem is very similar to orgo... so I say if you are confident enough in your work ethic and you really dive right in and try and relearn things you do not know... go straight to orgo and let biochem follow! Of course I am taking biochem this fall so I can't vouch too much for it. But the order of my course work was Orgo (4 years ago) and then Gen Chem (just finished this summer) and then biochem in fall... talk about unconventional.
Good luck!

Thank you! If you took organic chemistry before general chemistry then I'm not quite as scared! I just know I won't remember all that I'd remember if I had taken it sooner, but I do know I'll have the work ethic this time around.

 

[gilch]

What's your state? Some schools require pre reqs to be taken in a certain period of time. If that's not a problem, then I'd say forge ahead. I'd review pKa and pH, but otherwise, they are not terrifically similar.

 

[Maschka1]

Hopefully this helps, I got a D in Chem 1 and then an F In chem 2 (A C the second try). I just took Ochem and Biochem after a 9 year break and got an A in both. in fact in my Biochem class, only 4 of the 50 people in the class got an A. I did have to study a lot harder and refered back to my gen chem books. But I am glad I didnt waste time and money on Gen Chem again. the classes are related, but not that related.

 

[quantized]

I took orgo II and chem II 11 years after I had taken the first part of each class. I did fine, although I probably had to work a bit harder than I would have if I had taken it in back in the 90s like I should have. Orgo really has nothing to do with inorganic chem - it's tons of memorization and no math. It might be worth retaking that Chem II though to raise that C up and show that you're taking it seriously now.

 

[parietal]

I took two semesters of advanced chemistry my freshman year of college. I got an A first semester and a C second semester.

Now I'm ready to sign up for biochemistry and organic chemistry. The problem is... I took that chemistry class 9 whole years ago.

I was thinking of retaking the second semester at a community college as a refresher. Is this necessary? Should I retake the full year instead? Or would I be fine reading a fresher book and moving right on?

P.S. I apologize if this exact question has been asked. I searched and found similar, but nothing that really fit me...you know...being a 9 year procrastinator.

I had the same dilemma, but for me it was almost 12 years.

Unlike the others who have responded, I did retake both semesters of general chemistry over one summer and was EXTREMELY happy that I did so. Stretching it over a full year would probably have been too much, but as it was it was an excellent refresher and confidence boost. (I got an A in both parts, compared to a B+ and a C the first time around.)

I felt confident going into O-Chem instead of nervous, and for me that made a world of difference. Although I hated chemistry the first time around, I loved it the second and did extremely well. If I had tried to jump straight into O-Chem, I don't know if I would have made it. I certainly wouldn't have done as well.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[Packen]

My only advice is just to reiterate what someone said earlier. If you know what schools you are considering, look to see if they have a maximum time limit on science classes. Most of my sciences were from undergrad which I took almost 10 years ago, and there were quite a few schools I had to cross off b/c they want sciences within the last 6 yrs or so.

 

[VeganSoprano]

Academically, gen chem and ochem are only marginally related. You may actually find ochem significantly easier than gen chem. Given that you clearly struggled with gen chem II, I don't think you should repeat it unless you absolutely have to. It's not really going to help you with ochem and it's definitely not going to do anything for your academic self-confidence. Hopefully you'll be one of those people who hated gen chem but does great in ochem.

 

[that redhead]

At my university, we take a semester of gen. chem, then both semesters of orgo, then the second semester of gen. chem then biochemistry. I think it's fair to assume that the classes will do a bit of a refresher the first week or so, but if it was nine years ago, it might be in your best interest to re-take. Not to mention that the science courses usually "expire" in regards to vet school before nine years (in those that I can think of).

 

[sumstorm]

I took biochem (A) in 2009. I took gen chem (B, C+) in the 97-98 school year, and organic (B+, C) in 98-99 school year. I do not consider myself good at chemistry. I did have to relearn some things, but I found it easier now to figure those things out (with internet, study guides from companies like Kaplan, etc.) than I did back in school.

Some schools do expire your old grades (and how old depends) while others do not. That may affect your decisions. I only applied to schools that didn't expire grades.

 

[yesnomaybe]

Well, I just had my final exam today. I had had three tests: A-, A-, B+. The final was a doozy, so I think it will average me to a B+ overall. Though I really wanted to do well enough to get an A

Thanks for the advice everyone! I pushed through and made it. Now maybe someone will see this and do the same instead of dropping out and retaking chemistry I and II like I was THIS close to doing!

 

[Bisbee]

Congratulations on your great success! With grades like that you will do well in the application process for vet school. Best of luck and have a great summer knowing you did what you set out to do, and did it well!

 

[bee83]

This has all already been said, but I think retaking Gen Chem 2 after such a time away will be harder then just diving into Orgo, since it is significantly different (I haven't taken orgo yet, but I've heard these things anyway). I took biochem last semester and it didn't seem to me like there was really that much chemistry in it. It was just plain hard, lol.

 

[LetItSnow]

This has all already been said, but I think retaking Gen Chem 2 after such a time away will be harder then just diving into Orgo, since it is significantly different (I haven't taken orgo yet, but I've heard these things anyway). I took biochem last semester and it didn't seem to me like there was really that much chemistry in it. It was just plain hard, lol.

Gen Chem 2 is way more necessary for biochem, I thought? Wasn't Gen chem 2 all about kinetics, equilibrium, rates, pH/acids/bases/buffers/Henderson-Hasselbach/Ox-redox/etc? All totally biochem material.

Or maybe I'm confusing gen chem classes? By the time I get around to actually starting vet school this fall I'm going to be lucky if I can remember which of the acids are strong acids.... ;p

 

[NDkay]

Well, I just had my final exam today. I had had three tests: A-, A-, B+. The final was a doozy, so I think it will average me to a B+ overall. Though I really wanted to do well enough to get an A

Thanks for the advice everyone! I pushed through and made it. Now maybe someone will see this and do the same instead of dropping out and retaking chemistry I and II like I was THIS close to doing!

Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much for this post and update!!! I'm 10yrs out from Chem but need to take both Ochem and Biochem.

 

[Posey]

Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOO much for this post and update!!! I'm 10yrs out from Chem but need to take both Ochem and Biochem.

To give you a different perspective, I have a chemistry degree, but I had to redo pre-reqs because everything expired. That meant retaking gen chem 1&2 as refreshers. It was a good way to ease back into the material and get back into being a student.
I recommend doing the same unless you have been working in a field that uses chemistry. Worst case scenario, you get an "easy" A and are a bit bored.


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[LetItSnow]

Gen Chem 2 is way more necessary for biochem, I thought? Wasn't Gen chem 2 all about kinetics, equilibrium, rates, pH/acids/bases/buffers/Henderson-Hasselbach/Ox-redox/etc? All totally biochem material.

Or maybe I'm confusing gen chem classes? By the time I get around to actually starting vet school this fall I'm going to be lucky if I can remember which of the acids are strong acids.... ;p

Woah. I actually knew that stuff at some point?


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[wildlifer]

I am currently in Biochemistry now (finishing next week) and my last chemistry class prior to this one was back in 2007. I'm currently maintaining a B/B+ range, could be bumped to an A-, depending on the final and all. I, personally wouldn't bother with a refresher course when you have already taken chemistry. Why fix something that isn't broken .

 

[rockatiel]

Woah. I actually knew that stuff at some point?


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I just took my biochem final and I'm saying the same thing.

 

[Posey]

For those of you whose chem credits are more than seven years old, how are you fulfilling the inorganic chem requirements for your target schools? None of my schools would accept anything that old; so, even if I had not taken gen chem, I would have needed something else to fit the requirements.


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[wildlifer]

For those of you whose chem credits are more than seven years old, how are you fulfilling the inorganic chem requirements for your target schools? None of my schools would accept anything that old; so, even if I had not taken gen chem, I would have needed something else to fit the requirements.


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Easy, target schools that don't consider classes "expired".

 

[Posey]

Easy, target schools that don't consider classes "expired".

Fair enough.


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[doe_eyes]

I personally don't think I had to recall specifics of general chemistry when I took organic chemistry. I think mostly, you would have to just know what electrons are and chemical element symbols, and even those, you can easily look up if you forget. I feel that you would have to have general knowledge of biology in order to understand biochemistry, since it describes biological pathways in the body (i.e. You should know names of organs, and some cellular structures). There are some gen chem stuff like acid/base, but I just relearned the material I needed to understand the material, and I personally think acid/base is a relatively easy concept to grasp (just my opinion). I honestly thought organic chemistry helped me more for biochem than general chemistry because I remember having to draw structures of compounds. Basically, I don't think it's necessary to retake general chemistry unless you need to to satisfy school requirements.