Any advice will help!

[Student247]

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I need some advice from anyone who has had serious trouble General Chemistry. I'm tranfering this fall to UCR and still have very few Prereq out of the way. To make things worse Im doing terrible in Gen Chem. I got a "c" last semester in basic chem and feel like Im on the road to another "c" this semsester. I know I can't keep up these "c" for very long if I plan to go the med school. I study my ass off in chem and I still can't get it, it absolutely foreign to me. Can anyone give some advice on how to survive chem with a B or better?

Thanks!

 

[FLY]

here is a simple one.. Do all the problems in the back of each chapter rather than doing just the assigned ones...and do it before when they are supposed to be done...

It has benefited me greatly and I could see a significant difference b/w how I used to do in G.Chem and how I do in O.Chem..

And to be successful in any Chem, think GET-A-HEAD, spent a lot of time reading ahead before the lecture... Then all the molality and morality and molarity and all those things makes much more sense...

 

[tBw]

hey student247 ( god, saying your name makes me feel so 'big brother'esque, so thx-1138...) FLY has given the best advice possible - do many, many problems. If you read the textbook read it ahead of class (it'll take you no more time to read it once before than once after) as you'll then be better able to ask questions about things you don't understand. But most importantly - do practice problems from the end of the chapter. I guarantee everyone in the class is only able to solve the chemistry problems they get correct because they have seen one just like it before....

 

[CoffeeCat]

You want to do well? Make sure that you go to every class, every review, get your hands on any past material that you can, practice and most importantly, get a tutor! My school had free classes to supplement the regular class and also a tutor service (which of course cost more). Also, one thing I've learned is a lot of premeds compare hours - "I spent 12 hours yesterday" etc. - don't fool yourself into thinking that two hours (or whatever number of hours) is enough...make sure that you LEARNED the material, if you haven't, the amount of time you put in is irrelevant. Good luck and you'll be fine with a little determination. 🙂

 

[rajneel1]

get a tutor.

 

[otter]

Hi Student247 - All of the above suggestions are good. To add mine, I'll say that the MCAT preparation materials present general chemistry in an excellent, easy-to-understand manner. If you're going to have to retake general chemistry, I suggest picking up a Kaplan or Princeton Review MCAT science review book (really thick book) and then going over the general chemistry section. That will give you a solid foundation before you start your term. I don't think I fully understood general chemistry until I studied for the MCAT. When I took it in college, I was just sort of going through the motions, learning one fact after another, one reaction after another. That was because general chemistry textbooks are pretty boring, they give you more details than you need, and the problems aren't always very good and relevant.

Like rajneel1 said, tutoring always helps, too!

 

[mizp78]

i agree with otter about the princeton review g-chem books. heck, if i had that that big fat pr book for g-chem, orgo, physics....i think i would've done a lot better in college b/c it was so easy to understand. you should check it out. i don't know if your university has teaching assistants, but i found some to be very helpful. they're free to go to and a great resource if you need help. they usually held great reviews for the exams and you can schedule one on one time also. good luck!

 

[mizp78]

i agree with otter about the princeton review g-chem books. heck, if i had that that big fat pr book for g-chem, orgo, physics....i think i would've done a lot better in college b/c it was so easy to understand. you should check it out. i don't know if your university has teaching assistants, but i found some to be very helpful. they're free to go to and a great resource if you need help. they usually held great reviews for the exams and you can schedule one on one time also. good luck!

 

[Tobtolip]

If you have the cash I recommend this text book:

Chemistry: The Central Science Eighth Edition

by Brown Lemay Bursten

Its a really great textbook, I know one problem is that sometimes chem textbooks are just plain horrible in explaining concepts and solutions to problems. I transferred to this school my sophomore year, and after trying their textbook by Hill Petr, General Chemistry an Integrated Approach, I would normally just end up more confused and have more questions. The textbook by Brown LeMay Bursten really does a great job explaining concepts and gives step by step instructtions and reasons to the solutions on their example problems. I loved this book so much that I stopped using the Hill Petr (the assigned textbook from my school) and just solely relied on the Brown LeMay version, lets just say I pulled out with an "A" in both General Chemistry courses.

Tob