Doing poorly in general chemistry

[2failornot2fail]

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My school only offers General Chemistry and P Chem, not gen chem 1 and 2. I took gen chem (without the lab) last semester and got a B. This semester I'm taking the lab and currently have a B+ after failing the midterm for the absolute stupidest mistakes.

I'm really scared gen chem will be the reason I won't get into medical school. Do you have any tips? Did anyone else do poorly in gen chem and get admitted?

 

[cactusman]

A LOT of people have gotten into med school with Bs in chem.

What do you do to study?

 

[2failornot2fail]

For gen chem (as a first semester freshman), I mostly did practice problems until I thought I had it down. Then exam 1 happened, so I learned that I needed to focus on understanding a lot more than just memorizing. Great! Now I was sure I could pass exam two! Nope, shoulda studied those exceptions more. Ok, ok, exam three should be in the bag! I understand the concepts, know the exceptions, and I know the steps! Eh, got a B. Biggest problem was that exams were 30 question multiple choice. So I got some questions wrong here and there and did poorly.

For chem lab, I tried to take the exam three approach: understanding, memorizing, and knowing exceptions. I realized I did not pay attention to detail at all. Very little information was outright given; most of it was implied or hinted at. Not blaming the class btw, I realize I was ill-prepared and I used poor study skills overall. I shouldn't have expected to be given all necessary info.

Anyway, I'm doing a lot better in biology (A's, A- in the lab because the grade was two exams, two reports, and two presentations, and I got a B on the first presentation basically for the same reason I did poorly on my first chem midterm).

I'm mostly scared for p chem now and orgo, but I know orgo is very different from gn chem.