How hard was gen chem?

Started by Doctorman45342
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Doctorman45342

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How hard was Gen Chem for you compared to the rest of your bio related classes? I haven't taken any bio classes yet and I am trying to get a feel for what it is going to be like. I am currently in gen chem and it is fairly easy for me so I am just trying to make a comparison.
 
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If you haven't taken any science classes, it will be a big change learning to study for gen chem compared to, say, a business or history class. Personally, I found gen chem pretty easy, but I know plenty of people who struggled in it. If you enjoy the subject, it will be even easier.

Did you take any bio/chem/physics classes in high school? It will be somewhat similar (though obviously it will be university level so more in depth and fast paced), but if you did well in those I wouldn't worry at all.
 
fayevalentine said:
If you haven't taken any science classes, it will be a big change learning to study for gen chem compared to, say, a business or history class. Personally, I found gen chem pretty easy, but I know plenty of people who struggled in it. If you enjoy the subject, it will be even easier.

Did you take any bio/chem/physics classes in high school? It will be somewhat similar (though obviously it will be university level so more in depth and fast paced), but if you did well in those I wouldn't worry at all.
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I think you misunderstood my post. I am currently in gen chem, I have yet to take any bio and I'm trying to make some comparisons so I know what to expect from bio type classes. I did not take any chem in highschool but I usually get one of the highest grades on exams in my lecture 🙂.
 
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Doctorman45342 said:
I think you misunderstood my post. I am currently in gen chem, I have yet to take any bio and I'm trying to make some comparisons so I know what to expect from bio type classes. I did not take any chem in highschool but I usually get one of the highest grades on exams in my lecture 🙂.
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very subjective question
 
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Oops! Yes I did misunderstand. Well, as it has already been stated, it's a subjective question. However, in my opinion gen chem was a bit of memorization mixed with a lot of understanding/applications, while basic bio classes were more brute memorization.
 
I thought bio was easy but its mostly because I found it interesting. I also found organic chemistry easy but there were plenty of people I know who thought it was really difficult. It is hard to say if bio will be easier or harder for you because there are a lot of variables (school, teacher, grading scale, how many other classes you will be taking with bio, level of interest). If you are asking in general if entry level bio is easy, then yes it is fairly easy, it just requires memorization/time/effort.

If you are looking to get a feel for bio classes you can always go online and check out what a bio class is like on youtube. UC Berkeley posts their lectures on youtube for their students.
 
You can't really compare gen chem and bio, but generally if you're good at science then you tend to do well in both.
 
Glimmer1991 said:
This COMPLETELY depends on the school that you go to.
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And the professor at the school. The material in introductory courses most likely isn't going to be of the weeder magnitude, but you can have a disinterested professor who is only there to do research, or one who you can't understand half the time, or a nut ball. If the professor stinks, you just have to teach yourself, or find a good TA.

That said, bio usually requires a little more memorization than chemistry, and chemistry has a good bit more math.

My school actually split gen chem up into qualitative, and quantitative classes. In the first class they dumped a truckload of concepts on you, and in the second class they made you do the math for it. I never actually took gen chem 1, but that's what the professor told us, and it was pretty apparent later.
 
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I would say this, for me gen chem is easy in the sense that it's all really just equations and math, something I am good at and comes naturally to me, though I do feel like the material in a qualitative sense is more abstract and complex then biology related subjects. So if your gen chem is just math, it should be a relatively easy class if your good at math. But when it comes to bio, the material is easy, it's just that it's so much memorizing. Literally just memorizing your notes. So it might require more time and effort than gen chem, it isn't really that hard if you study.
 
As others have said, really depends on the school, professor, and your strengths. Personally, I'm a bio girl myself and can't stand anything math related, so I prefer bio. People tend to lean more toward one or the other. Do you like math or concepts?
 
My gen chem teacher is a straight up idiot, it makes me pretty ashamed to be part of the University if they hire teachers like him. What websites are good to learn Gen Chem 1 material? I went through the syllabus and looked at the chapters and tried to go off of that, I knew about KhanAcademy and FreeLanceTeacher, would they be enough to teach myself gen chem 1?
 
Doctorman45342 said:
I think you misunderstood my post. I am currently in gen chem, I have yet to take any bio and I'm trying to make some comparisons so I know what to expect from bio type classes. I did not take any chem in highschool but I usually get one of the highest grades on exams in my lecture 🙂.
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There is a lots and lots and lots of big annoying names. I've only taken Bio 2 which is mostly evolution. Bio 2 is easy to me and to the majority of my class, but I heard a lot of bad things about bio 1.
 
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grivacobae said:
My gen chem teacher is a straight up idiot, it makes me pretty ashamed to be part of the University if they hire teachers like him. What websites are good to learn Gen Chem 1 material? I went through the syllabus and looked at the chapters and tried to go off of that, I knew about KhanAcademy and FreeLanceTeacher, would they be enough to teach myself gen chem 1?
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what is your textbook? our book is Chemistry:molecular approach and it has it's own website. It's pretty helpful in solving problems. As for understanding materials, use Youtube. There is no specific channel, just search whatever material you are trying to understand and you'll find awesome people. Khan academy is great, but sometimes he only talk about the fundamental concepts instead of solving problems. There is a lot of great videos from small channels that gives you the idea straightforward.
 
Bottle said:
what is your textbook?
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Mine is Chemistry by Zumdahl. I just want to make sure to go over everything that would be tested on the final since it's like a common final for all colleges, I think. Also to prepare for the DAT of course, but I will use Chads Videos for that.
 
grivacobae said:
Mine is Chemistry by Zumdahl. I just want to make sure to go over everything that would be tested on the final since it's like a common final for all colleges, I think. Also to prepare for the DAT of course, but I will use Chads Videos for that.
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Of course you should go over everything. You kinda remind me of myself last semester when I was taking gen chem I. I used to go over the whole chapter and memorize tons of info that did not appear on exam or was discussed in lecture. My suggestion is that you understand everything your professor go through in lecture, and fill in the gaps with the necessary info only. If you really want to prepare for DAT, just constantly highlight the main things on your book that you think will be helpful in DAT. When the time comes and you have to take the DAT, you got your highlighted text book and only need to review. Honestly, I wouldn't waste time trying to master gen chem chapters for DAT because most likely you'll end up having to review stuff during your dat studies. For now, focus on passing your exams with A's.
 
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