Best way to prepare for a exam/final in Gen Chem?

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Arc

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Right now, my gen chem grade is in the toilet, and I really want an A for both the upcoming test and final. Whats the best way to prepare for both the test and final, becuase I'm kinda scared that the prof. will throw a few curve balls on the two exams.

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Right now, my gen chem grade is in the toilet, and I really want an A for both the upcoming test and final. Whats the best way to prepare for both the test and final, becuase I'm kinda scared that the prof. will throw a few curve balls on the two exams.

Practice the problems over and over and over and over...until you can do them cold....make sure to UNDERSTAND how to do the problem...any WHY it is done that way...but PRACTICE and PRACTICE working them to get mastery...I recommend working problems on a white board with a friend in the class who knows it well...but PRACTICE makes perfect....reading and re-reading will NOT help...best of luck
 
get off SDN and study......I should take my own advice.

But really, review notes, do practice problems as suggested, go to instructor and try and pry to see what s/he thinks is most important, worst they can say is, "everything I've discussed in class".
 
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Notecards are my best friend. I probably go through a thousand or so a semester. And keep them up until the finals.
 
I focused a lot on old exams given by the same professor, because I could pick out what kind of stuff he liked to put on tests. Also, I would study the notes pretty intensely, just because a lot of my professors liked to give problems similar to things that they did in class. And for the grand finale, I studied my ass off. Somebody said that you should get off SDN (probably facebook too if you use it), and that's good advice. I was lucky because i didn't know about SDN when I was taking gen chem. Good luck :thumbup:
 
Just run through those practice problems over and over again. You should be fine, so most importantly relax!
 
I agree about the notecards, they work wonders. Make them for all of your equations and then just do as many practice problems as you can. I really recomend getting the exam krackers book. 1001 problems in gen chem. It definitely helps.
 
First thing to do is go through and anticipate the concepts which will be hit heaviest. It is usually pretty easy. You kind of need to rank the stuff in your head. Out of that stuff practice over and over again what you know the least.....or just hate. Once you feel you are on level ground with all concepts you start from the newest material first and finish with the oldest. However you choose to write it down is good. Notecards are good because they kind of force you to go one at a time. Whiteboards are good because you can take a step back, you can have others sitting around and talkin to you, and it just is harder to think about chemistry when you are standing there. The ultimate step is being able to explain/teach it to someone else. If you can teach it without error, you will not have any problems.
 
For my gen chem course it is problems, problems and more problems. At this point late in the semester, I would suggest just holing yourself up somewhere and redoing all of the old exams (if you have them). After that, you should see where you had conceptual issues. I would then go back and do as many practice problems in your problem areas with whatever assigned textbook problems that you might have. There is nothing wrong with redoing old problems, especially the ones that you can't do in your sleep. The easiest way to get a significant jump in your grade is to shore up the areas where you have the most trouble, focusing on topics that you already have a pretty good grasp on will not pay out as well for you. If you have anytime left, you can do some problems in the areas you are a bit more comfortable in.

Good luck on the exams!
 
For my final im going over all the tests and quzzies. My grade is in the toilet too I really hate chem.
 
is this gen chem 1 or 2? if it is gen chem 1, just remeber all the formulas and understand how they work and what they are made up of... (like PV=nRt) that is the easiest method, and how the config of electrons work. do alot of problems, there is a yellow problems book that i got that is nothing but problems with the answers in the back, i highly recommend it.

http://www.amazon.com/Solve-Word-Pr...ef=sr_1_7/105-6010735-7192436?ie=UTF8&s=books

for 2 the same type of rules apply, just do problems as everyone else has said.
 
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I agree about the notecards, they work wonders. Make them for all of your equations and then just do as many practice problems as you can. I really recomend getting the exam krackers book. 1001 problems in gen chem. It definitely helps.

EK 1001 is a waste of time when going into the final. The problems you'll be doing there will be very low yield on any one class's final exam. For one thing, this is either Gen Chem I or II. Some of the EK book will beyond his/her grasp if he/she is in Chem I and if he/she is in Chem II, then some of the EK problems will be from Chem I and totally useless. For finals, go over old tests and quizzes and practice ALL the problems given in class. If you're still rusty on a concept, do the problems in the back of the chapter. you should know how to solve any problem based on the concepts and equations.
 
1. Do the practice problems at the end of the chapter.
2. Make sure you know the concepts.
3. Talk to the professor if you do not understand it and only leave the office until you fully understand it:)
4. Have a good night sleep before the final and eat well too.
5. And start studying today!

agreed. You can know how to do all the practice problems in the world; but if you don't understand the concepts, any curveball thrown your way will knock you off course.
 
Posting back. Studying is going pretty swimmingly, but I feel that I'm burning too much time on one concept.
 
is this gen chem 1 or 2? if it is gen chem 1, just remeber all the formulas and understand how they work and what they are made up of... (like PV=nRt) that is the easiest method, and how the config of electrons work. do alot of problems, there is a yellow problems book that i got that is nothing but problems with the answers in the back, i highly recommend it.

http://www.amazon.com/Solve-Word-Pr...ef=sr_1_7/105-6010735-7192436?ie=UTF8&s=books

for 2 the same type of rules apply, just do problems as everyone else has said.
Its Chem 1. And we are doing organic nomenclature as the last topic. Its strange as hell that we are doing it now, but it is one of the few concepts that I got nearly instantly.
 
hahhahaha wow i am so lazy, ive probably studied a total of half an hour for my final and dont plan to study more then a few additional hours. i just dont really care. my grade is an A- and it would take a miracle 98% to boost my grade up to a A while as long as i dont bomb the final (anything under 80%) i should keep my A- so i am pretty set. Same thing with my Calc class. I keep my B as long as i get a 71% or above on the final and it is mathematically impossible to go to a higher grade. And people were saying college is hard, hahahaa. Well my GPA is only a mediocre 3.62 but ill boost it up next semester.

The real fun starts junior and senior year when i get down to the true bioengineering classes, then ill prepare myself with some lube for the major rapage ill recieve. But till then, i can relax. :laugh:
 
^^^Between when I first posted this, and now I probably invested a good 8hrs of my life on Chem.
Hey at least next semester is going to be a sweeping compared to this one.
Gen Chem II
Zoology
Calculus 2
 
I remember for my g-chem I and II, my profs did intro to organic chem right before the final. It was stressful and I studied really hard for that section. my profs didnt have 1 question on that subject for the final. I thought it was a waste of time, but when I took o-chem I, I didnt have to study for the first exam and since I had already knew the material so well I set the curve for the class. :D

- Except for maybe functional groups (C=O and C-OH), I think you need to sweat more on thermodynamics, election crap, and formulas (PV=nRT, M1V1=M2V2, etc.) Good luck.

*Oh ya, just do problems until your mind goes numb and you start drooling on your book. Only remedy to get an A in chem.
 
you should probablly email the teacher and ask if o-chem problems will be fair game problems.
 
my strategy has always been to look over old exam/lecture notes, until you know why they did what they did, don't bother reading the book unless you want clearification on why.
 
you should probably email the teacher and ask if o-chem problems will be fair game problems.
Looking on the prof's past finals, they are not in there, but I'm well versed in the stuff, enough to know what to do when I see one. I found it rather easy to study compared to other topics...
 
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