How can I review general chem for Organic?

[afk1994]

I took AP chem back in 11th grade and got a 5 on the exam, which let me skip general chem in college. I'm going to be a sophomore this year and I'm going to take organic chemistry. I honestly cannot remember a single thing! Not a darn thing! What can I do this summer to review? I don't have the textbook anymore and probably won't be able to afford the organic textbook until later in the summer. I work during the summer to pay for books. Any suggestions?

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[Nissan GTR]

I took AP chem back in 11th grade and got a 5 on the exam, which let me skip general chem in college. I'm going to be a sophomore this year and I'm going to take organic chemistry. I honestly cannot remember a single thing! Not a darn thing! What can I do this summer to review? I don't have the textbook anymore and probably won't be able to afford the organic textbook until later in the summer. I work during the summer to pay for books. Any suggestions?

Nothing.
You'll probably need to retake gen chem anyway if you are premed.

 

[medoc4]

nothing.
You'll probably need to retake gen chem anyway if you are premed.

+1

 

[GatorsKW14]

There is very little overlap between orgo and gen chem and your professor will go over these topics as they relate to organic chemistry without going into much detail. You don't need to review anything. But as mentioned above, you will likely need to retake gen chem anyway.

 

[kickster]

I took AP chem back in 11th grade and got a 5 on the exam, which let me skip general chem in college. I'm going to be a sophomore this year and I'm going to take organic chemistry. I honestly cannot remember a single thing! Not a darn thing! What can I do this summer to review? I don't have the textbook anymore and probably won't be able to afford the organic textbook until later in the summer. I work during the summer to pay for books. Any suggestions?

Enjoy your summer.

 

[afk1994]

Nothing.
You'll probably need to retake gen chem anyway if you are premed.

I literally just said I have the credits for gen chem.

 

[Nissan GTR]

I literally just said I have the credits for gen chem.

Many med schools do not accept AP credit so you may need to retake it for a letter grade.

 

[AdrianVeidt]

carbon likes 4 bonds

srsly only thing you need to know

 

[iforget2]

Many med schools do not accept AP credit so you may need to retake it for a letter grade.

+1

And those that do accept credit highly prefer you to not claim AP credit for pre-med courses.

 

[wiloghby]

I mostly agree with what's been said here but just want to add:

First, general chemistry is almost totally irrelevant to organic chem and being great at general chem will not put you at any sort of advantage, as long as you know the terms atom, polar covalent bond, and electronegativity, you have mastered all the gen chem needed for organic chem. It should take about 5 minutes to get to that point.

Second, if you really want to get prepared for organic chemistry, you should purchase Organic Chemistry as a Second Language by David Klein and work through the first few chapters and problems before your class starts. That's what I did, and I felt having that familiarity with resonance and line-angle structures beforehand made it easier to follow along in class.

 

[487806]

Nothing.
You'll probably need to retake gen chem anyway if you are premed.

Or better yet, take an upper-level chem course (like physical chem, inorganic chem etc.)

+1

And those that do accept credit highly prefer you to not claim AP credit for pre-med courses.

Not true. Schools are OK with AP credit as long as you take upper-level courses to complement with the AP credit.

@OP, I'll slightly deviate from the norm in this topic. While gen chem and ochem have obvious differences, they are related by hybridization, acid-base theories (especially Lewis acids and bases) equilibria, and rate kinetics. Obviously, you need to know your material well to see the similarities in the two subjects.

 

[RaspberrySlushy]

The only things from gen chem that come into organic are periodic trends, hybridization stuff (mostly just of carbon), resonance, electronegativity, and the basic meanings or reduction and oxidation. It prob wouldn't take long at all to review these topics, the only one that could take a bit of practice is resonance.

O Chem as a Second Language is great and you'd be fine w/just first volume if looking to save $. You can also refresh on topics via online videos, Khan Academy, etc. But don't go overboard; as others have said, your organic prof will review it all anyway and most of organic is like a whole separate subject from gen chem.

And yes, you'll prob have to retake gen chem even if your college counts your AP credit, b/c most med schools won't and will want you to take it in college.

 

[mehc012]

The only things from gen chem that come into organic are periodic trends, hybridization stuff (mostly just of carbon), resonance, electronegativity, and the basic meanings or reduction and oxidation. It prob wouldn't take long at all to review these topics, the only one that could take a bit of practice is resonance.

O Chem as a Second Language is great and you'd be fine w/just first volume if looking to save $. You can also refresh on topics via online videos, Khan Academy, etc. But don't go overboard; as others have said, your organic prof will review it all anyway and most of organic is like a whole separate subject from gen chem.

And yes, you'll prob have to retake gen chem even if your college counts your AP credit, b/c most med schools won't and will want you to take it in college.

So wait...if I took AP chem I should take a Gen Chem course now? I'm a post-bacc student who graduated with a chemistry major, but I pretty much only took organic chem courses after testing past the intros, so I only have 1 "combined Gen Chem 1&2" class (5.25 credits) and an upper level pChem that I bombed (another 5.25 credits). And yes, my school did credits strangely .

Does it look worse to retake Gen Chem as a part of my postbacc when I was a chem major, or to be lacking/low grade in what little college Gen Chem I had? Would it discredit my postbacc GPA to include a retake? I really need my postbacc GPA to shine, so I'm hesitant to risk making it look like I took easy As instead of loading it with upper levels.

 

[LiamNeesons]

Anything you need to know in order to learn organic will be covered in the first chapter of your organic book.

 

[Hiangle]

I took AP chem back in 11th grade and got a 5 on the exam, which let me skip general chem in college. I'm going to be a sophomore this year and I'm going to take organic chemistry. I honestly cannot remember a single thing! Not a darn thing! What can I do this summer to review? I don't have the textbook anymore and probably won't be able to afford the organic textbook until later in the summer. I work during the summer to pay for books. Any suggestions?

Retake gen chem over the summer. Skipping college gen chem isn't a very good idea.

 

[487806]

Retake gen chem over the summer. Skipping college gen chem isn't a very good idea.

Upper-level chem is still useful...

 

[JohnFe]

Upper-level chem is still useful...

And much harder and may hurt your GPA. Take the easy route and re-take General Chemistry.

 

[orgohacks]

I wrote a book to answer this question, called "From Gen Chem to Org Chem". The posts are all here:
http://www.masterorganicchemistry.com/2010/09/15/from-gen-chem-to-organic-chem-part-14-wrapup/

If you want the e-book, email me at james at masterorganicchemistry.com and I'll email it to you.

 

[chillaxbro]

Things I would consider looking over...

pKa / pH
Acid Base
Quantum chemistry stuff (hybridization, orbitals and what not)
Naming organic compounds (easy peasy)
Spectroscopy

Not an exhaustive list but these are the things that I can remember overlapping between g and Ochem. Either way, they'll go over it again in Ochem anyway

 

[amad01]

Don't retake gen chem. Major in chemistry and take two upper level chem's for your "pre-req's" killing two birds with one stone. 😎

 

[TexasSurgeon]

I mostly agree with what's been said here but just want to add:

First, general chemistry is almost totally irrelevant to organic chem and being great at general chem will not put you at any sort of advantage, as long as you know the terms atom, polar covalent bond, and electronegativity, you have mastered all the gen chem needed for organic chem. It should take about 5 minutes to get to that point.

Second, if you really want to get prepared for organic chemistry, you should purchase Organic Chemistry as a Second Language by David Klein and work through the first few chapters and problems before your class starts. That's what I did, and I felt having that familiarity with resonance and line-angle structures beforehand made it easier to follow along in class.

This is somewhat untrue. While you won't really need gen chem, you need to keep in mind of the reaction rates of SN1 and SN2 reactions and stuff.

 

[yoyoyoyoyo]

Things I would consider looking over...

pKa / pH
Acid Base
Quantum chemistry stuff (hybridization, orbitals and what not)
Naming organic compounds (easy peasy)
Spectroscopy

Not an exhaustive list but these are the things that I can remember overlapping between g and Ochem. Either way, they'll go over it again in Ochem anyway

Ignore everything but this ^^^ post.

Don't take Gen Chem before checking with med school policies. The people providing blanket generalizations regarding AP classes are ill-informed.

Two points from personal experience: I went 10 years between undergrad Gen Chem and post-bac Ochem and ended up getting As. Second, I had several AP credits, several interviews and several acceptances. Everyone accepted the AP credits.

 

[yoyoyoyoyo]

Better than trusting any of us on retaking, start here: http://students.rice.edu/images/stu... allopathic medicine- updated summer 2010.pdf

 

[ashylarry23]

OP please take the general chem classes. i had the option of skipping general chemistry (5 on Ap, internal placement) but would have to take upper level chem courses for the med school requirement. I instead retook gen chem and did well this cycle. But I am taking physical chem right now (senior year) (what i would have been my med school prerequisite) and am being destroyed by the class. Please just take general chem. make it easy on yourself