Difficulty of General Chemistry

[jmotilal]

Hello all, was just wondering how difficult is General Chemistry Chem 1045 at the college level , I am a high school senior taking college classes at my local CC. I've taken Chemistry honors at the high school level this past year. Earned roughly a B average throughout the course. Just sort of nervous about what to expect when the semester starts in the Fall. Thanks!

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[Lucca]

Depends on so many things. As a premed, it'll be one of the easier things you will have to do, I thought GenChem was easy. I didn't take AP Chemistry in high school.


The important thing is to really learn how to learn in college. How to find the best way to study, memorize info, learn concepts etc.

Don't be worried about it until you get there

 

[moisne]

It's roughly like AP chemistry. A bit harder in terms of pacing and the professors usually (unless it's a small class - our school was 200 people or so in gen chem.) wouldn't "check for understanding". They lecture and expect you to make time and see them afterwards for office hours.

I didn't take gen chem. I took AP chem back in high school. I helped with lectures, office hours, and recitation sessions for gen chem while I did my masters.

 

[CyrilFiggis]

Depends on the university, both in terms of material covered and intensity. GenChem I was relatively painless, but GenChem II was a weeder course since it was the pre-req for a majority of the health science curriculum.

 

[studentdocftw]

Fairly straight forward. If you actually learn the concepts and understand the derivations of the equations, you will likely do well. If you try to memorize and plug and chug, an abstract question will get you here and there, but I would assume a B is likely a worst case scenario if you put a decent amount of work in.

 

[JustAPhD]

From what I've seen it's not the material that makes general chem tricky, it's the environment it's taken in. By that I mean two things: 1. it's taken mostly by college freshmen who may not have figured out how to best study for college classes and who may be still adjusting to the amount of freedom college offers, and/or 2. the university or college uses it as a preliminary weeder or filter class so there's pressure on the prof to turn up the difficulty of the tests.

 

[eteshoe]

Since I was more of a chemist back in high school, I found AP chem (aka gen chem) pretty easy for the most part.

Regardless of the pace at your particular school, the topics covered in gen chem tend to be pretty uniform across the board PLUS everything is on youtube at this point if you have any questions/concerns.

 

[jmotilal]

Sounds like it shouldn't be too challenging. Well I'll see for myself when the semester starts, only way to find out! Thanks for all the feedback guys!

 

[ImgoodatDOOM]

Got a B in chem in high school, got 98% in gen chem at college, it's all about how well you study and how much you care, it's not difficult material

 

[BeachBlondie]

If The Shocker is your avatar, then it will be difficult for you.

 

[freak7]

our school was 200 people or so in gen chem.

Color me jealous. Mine had >700 IIRC