Gen Chem II has broken my confidence :(

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SusGob711

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I've been pulling some darn good grades throughout my entire college career and I've never had a class like gen chem II. I ended up with an A- in gen I and I worked hard for it but I was comfortable with the outcome. I'm not sure why this class is giving me such a hard time but I'm not sure what to do. The more problems I try to work out, the more I feel like I don't know anything--not to mention the TA we have for lab is grading rather harshly so I'm not seeing an awesome grade there either. Has anyone else had a class like this and what did you end up doing? I really don't want this class screwing over my GPA :(

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My G chem experience was really similar. I worked really hard in first semester GChem and got an A-, first one of my life. Worked really hard second semester and got another A- lol, second one of my life.

Really, it's not a big deal. Do your very best and then move on. When I think about studying GChem, I realize how much smarter I am now, four years later. You'll probably think the same thing.

I ended up getting a pretty killer GPA overall, so don't worry about it too much. Just keep working hard.
 
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Thanks for the advice. Note that I'm not really a freshman. I have 100+ credit hours with a 3.8+ GPA. It's not like I don't know how to study. Idk, it's just a different kind of hard. I'm planning on spending all of this Saturday solely on chem so hopefully I can reach some kind of revelation, haha. Thanks for letting me whine and complain :p
 
some people find gen chem harder than orgo. do you find physics in difficult, too? if so, you're not a physical sciences person. it's ok. make up for it with hard work, dont let it faze you, and dont let your overall GPA suffer to get an A in that one class because you want to "prove something to yourself."
 
Thanks for the advice. Note that I'm not really a freshman. I have 100+ credit hours with a 3.8+ GPA. It's not like I don't know how to study. Idk, it's just a different kind of hard. I'm planning on spending all of this Saturday solely on chem so hopefully I can reach some kind of revelation, haha. Thanks for letting me whine and complain :p

Out of curiosity - what topics are you currently covering?
 
I'm sure you've taken harder classes than g-chem II. What are you guys covering? solubility?

You're a smart bunny, you'll figure it out.
 
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wait till you get to synthesis problems in ochem!
 
wait till you get to synthesis problems in ochem!

Nah. Completely different skills required. There are almost no numbers involved in ochem, just logical processes and problem solving. I rocked that class, but had to adjust a bit to regular chem.
 
Nah. Completely different skills required. There are almost no numbers involved in ochem, just logical processes and problem solving. I rocked that class, but had to adjust a bit to regular chem.

ditto. OP, best of luck with Gen Chem 2. It seems that most people who have difficulty with Gen Chem generally do well in Organic.
 
I know I stink at physical sciences, lol. Chem has been the hardest by far--every other class is regurgitation-rinse and repeat, lol. We are covering intermolecular forces, chemical kinetics, and physical properties of solutions. I don't have a problem memorizing the definitions but applying the equations to a word problem gets me nowhere fast. Solubility was covered in Gen Chem I for maybe 5 minutes during a single class period--it ain't all molecule models and molarity kids. I'm hoping to get some serious time in this weekend so we'll see if I can push through it. Thanks for the supportive comments :)
 
ditto. OP, best of luck with Gen Chem 2. It seems that most people who have difficulty with Gen Chem generally do well in Organic.

Too True... However, be sure you're studying to learn, not just to do well on the tests. If you're like me and put all the gen chem stuff on the backburner for a few years, it will haunt you when it come MCAT time...
 
I've been pulling some darn good grades throughout my entire college career and I've never had a class like gen chem II. I ended up with an A- in gen I and I worked hard for it but I was comfortable with the outcome. I'm not sure why this class is giving me such a hard time but I'm not sure what to do. The more problems I try to work out, the more I feel like I don't know anything--not to mention the TA we have for lab is grading rather harshly so I'm not seeing an awesome grade there either. Has anyone else had a class like this and what did you end up doing? I really don't want this class screwing over my GPA :(

Try doing more practice and reading different textbooks. You can also find ALL of the genchem topics online (youtube, google). Whenever I had a difficulty in a class, I just watched a video on it and it made perfect sense. So if you are a visual learner, watching videos would help the best.
 
The only thing I hated was the Acid-Bases chapter(s?). The class average for the quiz and exams covering that was the lowest of all the quizes and exams we sat for. Which chapters are you on?

I liked the electro/nuclear sections at the end. :D
 
surprisingly (I was a TA once) I found that the concepts killed people more than the equation based problems.

I really enjoyed both aspects... for some reason it came naturally. Then came Pchem. Lol :p
 
try not to stress, just make sure you do "good enough" (don't make a C) and then everything will be fine seeing as you have so many credits of A's.

Also to echo what people have been saying on here, I didn't make amazing grades in gen-chem, but I easily made straight As in organic and organic lab. I've never understood why organic has the reputations it does to be honest.
 
Hang in there buddy. I took Gen Chem II also and I somehow managed to do decent. You can too. I'm not that smart.
 
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