Failed OCHM

[DrRaqueezy]

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Hi. I just need to vent.

I just finished all my finals for this semester. Little bit of background: I took Evolution, Developmental Bio, Physiology Psychology, OCHM + lab, and an online class.

I passed all my classes with good grades except for OCHM. I used ratemyprofessor to see what people thought of the professor I had and so many people boasted and hyped my teacher up, and he turned out to be complete crap. Now, I am not one to blame professors at all, I'm actually against that, as I feel a student must work to get the grade they want and not blame the professor for their mistakes. But damn, my professor just sucked. His notes were crap and vague, his exams were brutally hard, and although he provided exams from previous semesters to study off of, they were nothing like the exam. More than half the class failed his course.

I did not try to withdraw from the class bc I wanted to try to atleast pass the class with a C. I did pass the lab atleast with a B+. But the lecture portion itself was just too difficult, especially with all the other tough classes I was taking. I'm feeling down because I really did not wanna F up my GPA in my first semester of junior year. I am registered to retake it in the Spring semester next year with a professor that many of my friends have recommended. I read on here that a lot of people who went to med school failed OCHM the first time they took it, so that made me feel a little better. But it still sucks.

-DR

 

[Isc1998]

Haha i feel that. I am unfortunately in a similar boat where the teacher completely restructured the course to make it harder and now im **** out of luck and probably gonna end o chem with a c even though i studied harder than other kids getting an a in other sections


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[Robin-jay]

I still will never understand why students do better with physics than O-chem.

The amount of students having trouble with O-chem almost exclusively is crazy to me.

But ya, just retake the class and earn an "A", and go from there.

 

[de Ribas]

But ya, just retake the class and earn an "A", and go from there.

only if that would be that easy...

 

[Robin-jay]

only if that would be that easy...

When I was in Organic chemistry, my exams were generally around 97%.

So what I did, was E-mail a few of the top students in my own O-chem class and asked them if they wanted to study with me.

I had 2 students who were probably in the mid A range or so (most likely the top two students behind me). They would ask questions to me and I would help them by teaching them.

What I saw bring the most success to myself for this class was:

Teaching it to my classmates.

However, one of those students would literally shut herself in a library room with ZERO distractions and just study orgo 6-8 hours at a time in complete tranquility.

My advice to the OP is:

1.) watch Khan academy videos for organic chemistry before retake.
2.) Get a professor you feel comfortable with.
3.) Ask fellow students to study with you or create your own study habits.
4.) Go to the professor for:
a.) getting help
b.) get a feel for what the professor is going to put on exams.
c.) show the professor you're putting in effort.

 

[deleted804295]

To OP:

You can bring yourself up from failed grades. Generally they require straight As afterwards. Think of it this way: you have to prove to Medical schools that you can handle their rigor but also that you're more qualified to do that than your peers who are applying in your pool. Unless you're pulling straight As from here onwards your chances get slimmer forcing you into a postbacc or SMP.

Future advice for any pre-meds:

Calculate the grade you have to get on the final in order to get a C in the class, if it requires something miraculous, withdraw from the class before the W deadline.

Unfortunately OP, based off of what this grade did to your GPA you can't afford any grade below an A- from here on out.

Sidenote:
@Robin-jay are you in med school?

 

[bellak]

in a similar boat my friend! Don't worry we will make it through!

 

[Lannister]

If half the class really did fail, that's unacceptable and the university would probably agree. Contact the department head. It might not end up changing your grade, but that professor probably needs to be put on probation if he's really doing such a terrible job.

 

[Robin-jay]

To OP:

You can bring yourself up from failed grades. Generally they require straight As afterwards. Think of it this way: you have to prove to Medical schools that you can handle their rigor but also that you're more qualified to do that than your peers who are applying in your pool. Unless you're pulling straight As from here onwards your chances get slimmer forcing you into a postbacc or SMP.

Future advice for any pre-meds:

Calculate the grade you have to get on the final in order to get a C in the class, if it requires something miraculous, withdraw from the class before the W deadline.

Unfortunately OP, based off of what this grade did to your GPA you can't afford any grade below an A- from here on out.

Sidenote:
@Robin-jay are you in med school?

Just finished the grad. school era. Hopefully very soon though.

 

[dr_kateb]

Rate My Professor is not reliable at all. Most of the time it’s if the student likes the professor as a person and not his ability to teach. It’s also skewed because of voluntary response bias.

 

[reaction mechanisms]

Welcome to the suck that is OChem. But in all honesty, it’s not that bad. I managed to pull A’s in both OChem I and II. What helped me the most is working practice problems! I would scour the internet for practice exams. I cannot recommend it enough. Good luck.


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[857770]

You could take a lower level organic chemistry course first. Many schools have a couple of ochem courses that are of the lower level. After doing that, take the required ochem courses.

While you are taking the required ochem series, use the book Organic chemistry as a Second Language. There is also Khan Academy videos that you could go through.

 

[DrRaqueezy]

Thank you everyone for the advice. I really appreciate it. I have a goal of earning straight A's next semester to revive my GPA.