Chem I hard? or am i just dumb?

[MedicineMike]

Chem I is my first class since I graduated college 2 years ago...On top of that, I am taking it in the summer. A LOOOOT of info thrown at you in a very short time. Anyone else have difficulty in this subject?

Better yet, does anyone have a secret to dominating chem? Extra books? etc?

My brain is used to doing nothing for the past 2 years so this is definitely a wake-up call! So much for easing back into it. haha

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[Krisss17]

Hi MedicineMike,

If anything will give your brain a good work out, it will be chemistry.

My biggest suggestion is to seek out your professor and ask for their input. Maybe they now of a previous student that can help tutor. Practicing problems and staying prepared is so very necessary. It isn't something you want to fall behind in.

It was very ambitious of you taking a chemistry class in the summer, especially with having not taken any classes for two years.

Best of luck

 

[MidnightSun32]

I tried to take Chem 1 in the summer and couldn't... I was out of school for a long time and have never taken chem previously (not even in high school). I also was overextending myself with research, volunteering, and a couple other classes. I decided to not risk the grade and dropped in order to retake in the fall. I have to say, wow it was a lot of info quickly so it's not just you!

Good luck, hope you do well!! 🙂 🙂

 

[MedicineMike]

I tried to take Chem 1 in the summer and couldn't... I was out of school for a long time and have never taken chem previously (not even in high school). I also was overextending myself with research, volunteering, and a couple other classes. I decided to not risk the grade and dropped in order to retake in the fall. I have to say, wow it was a lot of info quickly so it's not just you!

Good luck, hope you do well!! 🙂 🙂

wow that makes me feel better! Ive never seen more information at one time than this! 6 hrs a day (class and lab), twice a week! We fly through chapters a day and can't keep up! I was trying to take bio I with this class as well but had to drop it. Too much work in such little time.

Are there any tricks to memorizing all these cations and anions etc?

Mike

 

[MidnightSun32]

I made flash cards from the table in the back of my book with the popular ones. It seemed to help. It didn't help that everyone in my class were all the students that failed the semester previously. He said since they all had been exposed to it before, that he would just go faster. I just thought.... greattttttt. It is really hard to do it in a short amount of time! The first day of class was like trying to learn a foreign language to me! Is your prof at least good at explaining?

 

[BacktoSchoolBob]

your bio courses would probably have been better for summer and chem and physics left for spring and fall

 

[sindadel]

I have not regretted at all taking organic in a normal semester sequence. A few weeks is just not enough time to absorb and synthesize information when it's not a retake.

 

[Excelsius]

Just keep in mind that Organic Chemistry is much more demanding and you have to take that too. The summer is short, but at the same time you are usually taking only one class at a time, so it somewhat balances out.

 

[Hinglish]

I'm glad to hear someone else is in the same boat as me! I just graduated with an English degree and chemistry is totally on the other end of the spectrum for me. I find this gen chem 1 summer course pretty difficult, but I just keep practicing problems and I have been able to grasp the tough concepts.

 

[MedicineMike]

Yah it definitely is a 180 from the business courses i am used to taking in college.

And no, my professor doesn't really explain anything. He through an equation on the board today and then did all this random stuff and said "that is because we have to balance it." Only problem with that is he just assumed we knew how to balance a molecule??? Of course I raised my hand and he finally explained it, but if I didn't do that, I don't think anyone in the class would have knew what the heck he was talking about.

aaaaaahhh system overload for a new postbacc!!

 

[Krisss17]

Just keep in mind that Organic Chemistry is much more demanding and you have to take that too. The summer is short, but at the same time you are usually taking only one class at a time, so it somewhat balances out.

Yeah, but if you've had no exposure or have been away from school for a while, taking a science course over the summer is tough.

 

[MedicineMike]

Yeah, but if you've had no exposure or have been away from school for a while, taking a science course over the summer is tough.

Agreed. I have a professor known around campus as "extremely hard" as some of the fresh/sophomores put it! I wish I would have known that before I started...oh well

Thank you Krisss! Science was much easier when I was in "school mode" in undergrad. My mind has been dormant for 2 years now even adderall can't awaken it.

 

[MidnightSun32]

Yah it definitely is a 180 from the business courses i am used to taking in college.

And no, my professor doesn't really explain anything. He through an equation on the board today and then did all this random stuff and said "that is because we have to balance it." Only problem with that is he just assumed we knew how to balance a molecule??? Of course I raised my hand and he finally explained it, but if I didn't do that, I don't think anyone in the class would have knew what the heck he was talking about.

aaaaaahhh system overload for a new postbacc!!

my professor did the same thing except everyone but me already knew this stuff! lol. well at least you'll be through it and can move on! good luck 🙂

 

[Excelsius]

Yeah, but if you've had no exposure or have been away from school for a while, taking a science course over the summer is tough.

If it is indeed hard, then you just have to ask yourself why you want to take the courses over the summer. Is it going to save you a year or more of your life in terms of when you apply to medschool? If so, I think it is worth the effort. What you could do is buy the text before the session starts and go over it weeks or months before you have to attend class. It will be much easier that way. OChem has complete solutions manual - so that's easy to check your answers. I assume that Inorganic Chemistry also has a manual.

As for professors, you can use professor rating sites to see which professor is good. I don't mean here "easy" because you need to be prepared for the MCAT. A hard professor is a good one if he teaches well. A professor that doesn't teach well is not "hard," but is "deficient."

 

[BNZN32]

Yes it's difficult. As far as studying G-Chem, there's not that much to study like in Biology or Ochem. It's more just knowing how to do calculations like physics. Of course you have to understand trends w/in the periodic table and understand a little bit about theory, but my advise is to eschew reading all the text and instead work through the practice problems, referring to the text and examples in the book when you run into trouble. If you cannot figure out a certain problem, go to office hours.

 

[Hinglish]

I'm actually freaking out a little bit. I feel like "oh if I'm having trouble with this, how the f*** am I going to do in organic and how the f*** am I going to get a decent score on the MCAT"

 

[remededefortune]

I did same thing: summer intensive gen chem. First week or so kicked my ass, but it got easier. Never easy (it was still a much bigger time commitment than i anticipated) but doable. Stick with it.

 

[sumstorm]

As a non trad that had to take biochem and genetics after 7 years out of school, I have found that study guide type books really can help a lot. I would take some time at the very beginning of the semester, hit a big book store up, grab out everthing they had on the subject (check the areas on reference, study guides, science, and school) sit at a table with a cup of coffee and my syllabus, and skim through them to see if any really struck me as being concise and clear and matched the material in the syllabus.

I was pretty foolish and took a summer biochem class that was 'shortened' which I didn't find out until the syllabus came out. Instead of being 6 or 8 weeks, it was 4 (including the final) with double lectures 5 days a week. It was also the first class I took coming back in, and it did remind me of bashing my head against a wall. Also, all the other students were either repeats from the academic year or had recently taken bio and chem. I took chem over a decade ago!

 

[gbu730]

being a chem major who survived 3 yrs of intense chem classes, i'd say practice practice practice.....theres reli no secret to chem, and gen chem is so fundamental to everything....if u hv a good understanding in gen chem, it helps u so much in bio, organic, and all other advance level science classes!

 

[Hinglish]

oh man this stuff keeps getting harder and harder, I am completely lost!

 

[flip26]

I took both Chems, and labs, during the summer 2 years ago. A total of 10 semester credit hours.

The Chem lecture was 2.5 hours per day, everyday, followed by the 3 hour lab, everyday, Mon to Fri. So I was in class or lab from 8 am to 1:30 pm everyday for 2 months.

I would go the house afterward, take a short break, and start studying around 4 pm. Then I would head back to campus where the prof held a study/review session every night, starting at 6 pm, and stayed as long as students wanted. Some nights we were there until midnight, but the average time was probably 3 hours. These sessions were Sun to Thurs night.

I suggest that if you aren't putting in this kind of time, you will not do well in summer science classes. Outside of lecture and lab, I was studying an additional 8 to 10 hours per day, 7 days a week, including the study/review sessions. There were nights I dragged home after midnight, and I stayed up a few more hours studying.

And we turned in homework everyday, and had quizzes every day, plus exams once per week. Get behind, and you were dead.

Intense, but worth it, and the only way I was able to complete a post bacc in 13 months (summer/fall/spring/summer).

 

[echidna]

I'm actually freaking out a little bit. I feel like "oh if I'm having trouble with this, how the f*** am I going to do in organic and how the f*** am I going to get a decent score on the MCAT"

FWIW I thought gen chem was the hardest of all the pre-reqs, including o-chem (which isn't as scary as it sounds, really. I kind of enjoyed it.). Taking it during the summer only compounds that difficulty. If you can make through this summer class, I think you should be ok for everything else. Gen Chem 2 is hard too, but if you're like me it's all downhill from there.

You can do it!

 

[MedicToMD]

oh man this stuff keeps getting harder and harder, I am completely lost!

I'm in Gen Chem I this summer semester and am a bit overwhelmed myself, although I am making good grades and feel like I have a basic grasp on things. I will echo others in saying that I have found it most beneficial to practice as many problems and get an understanding of formulas as possible. Typically, I'll read the chapter once, go over lecture notes 2-3 times, and spend the majority of my time on practice problems/practice quizzes/any other type of practice that I can come up with. If I get stuck, I'll reference my notes or text and get right back to practicing. It seems like most everything else that will be done will built on this foundation--which makes it an important foundation to grasp. The fact that it is being taken in the summer makes it even more of a challenge, but I personally am pushing myself and I feel like it's getting better (at least I'm telling myself that!).

Good luck.

 

[pdeco1]

I am taking CHM 2045 and BSC 2010 with both labs this summer. It is intense, and a lot of work but as someone smarter than me once said. "If Its a dream its worth sacrificing for."

I am going to sign up for CHM2046 + lab for summer B.

I am carrying A's in all 4 classes heading into finals for CHM 2045. This is how I prepare and it may help you.
-Browse chapter, define key terms, note key formulas before lecture.
-Review pp presentation before class and after class. Noting what I dont grasp completely to review further.
-Complete lab report immediately following lab.
-Complete any study guide or h.w. as the lecture covers the related topics.

You definitely cannot get behind over the summer. You have no time to catch up. Learning the material the first time during your pre exam cramming is making it much harder on yourseslf.

Good luck!