I’m wanting to take chemistry II but...

[GS2011]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I’m wanting to take chemistry II during the summer but... it’s been like 2 years since I took chemistry I. Is there a review course that I should or could take on my own? What parts chemistry I translate to chemistry II? Also, how much general chemistry is on MCAT? Would it be worth the time and money retaking chemistry I? I want to be strategic in this decision, especially provided that I am a non-traditional student. I’m currently a full time ICU Nurse. I plan to drop to part time or per diem after this fall, I need to pay off my vehicle and a credit card.

 

[xDNA]

Essentially everything in Chem II is built off of the information taught in Chem I. From my experience, once you're in Chem II they don't reteach things from Chem I, its expected that you've learned the material necessary for the class. This also is true for when you transition into Organic chemistry, it is assumed that you have an understanding of the material from Chem I & II

Whether or not you should retake the class is honestly up to you. You could retake the class if you feel that would benefit you, or alternatively you can just audit a Chem I course and take notes, or follow along with ideally the notes you had from when you took Chem I.

A significant portion of the MCAT is Chemistry.

I do not know your situation financially or your family dynamic, but I do not believe it's necessary to drop down to part-time or prn as a RN to complete prerequisites for Medical School. I'm currently a RN in the NICU and I've been doing well balancing working FT and knocking out prerequisites and ECs. It wont be easy, but its definitely doable if you're serious. Feel free to PM me.

 

[GS2011]

Essentially everything in Chem II is built off of the information taught in Chem I. From my experience, once you're in Chem II they don't reteach things from Chem I, its expected that you've learned the material necessary for the class. This also is true for when you transition into Organic chemistry, it is assumed that you have an understanding of the material from Chem I & II

Whether or not you should retake the class is honestly up to you. You could retake the class if you feel that would benefit you, or alternatively you can just audit a Chem I course and take notes, or follow along with ideally the notes you had from when you took Chem I.

A significant portion of the MCAT is Chemistry.

I do not know your situation financially or your family dynamic, but I do not believe it's necessary to drop down to part-time or prn as a RN to complete prerequisites for Medical School. I'm currently a RN in the NICU and I've been doing well balancing working FT and knocking out prerequisites and ECs. It wont be easy, but its definitely doable if you're serious. Feel free to PM me.

Thank you for your response. I’ve been thinking that perhaps switching to clinic or outpatient work with a set schedule would be best. Unfortunately my unit is self schedule and that means extreme variability with scheduling. I also hate to say this but my current nurse manager is not very supportive of his staff with ensuring days are kept clear for school etc. I work nights and theoretically I could schedule all my classes between the window I’m off and the time I’m suppose to be back on duty and I would essentially guarantee that I’m always able to attend class. The only problem is that prerequisites for med school are so important and I feel like it would be best to work days/fixed schedule, something more reliable and also something where my sleep isn’t completely wrecked.

I have a boyfriend that’s willing to support me 100% but I do need to pay off my car first. I just need this expense eliminated and I also would like to hold on to my health insurance for as long as possible. I know once I start med school I’ll have to stop working, lose my health insurance, and then take out insurance and tag it on to the loans.

 

[xDNA]

My pro-tip to you is to switch your schedule to only work weekend nights (Fri/Sat/Sun). I know you said your manager isn't very supportive but typically weekend nights are the hardest shifts to fill and they often times are more than willing to switch your schedule to weekend nights only. I'm not sure about your institution but generally weekend nights come with better overnight differential pay as well which means more money, and would allow you to be able to schedule your prerequisite classes Mon-Thurs much easier. This is what I've been doing going on two years now, and I will not lie to you, it sucks. But this journey is difficult and you have to do whats necessary in order to set yourself up for success.

 

[IsleyOfTheNorth]

I wouldn't bother taking Chem 1 again. Find out which book is required for Chem 2 - odds are that it has all the Chem 1 stuff in it. Just look through it a few weeks ahead of time to prep. If you struggled with Chem 1 at all, I wouldn't recommend taking Chem 2 during the summer, however.

 

[jamaica jan sun princess]

While some knowledge of chemistry I is obviously required, I found chemistry II to cover different topics than its prerequisite. You can easily pick up what you need to know from Khan Academy while taking chemistry II.

 

[IsleyOfTheNorth]

While some knowledge of chemistry I is obviously required, I found chemistry II to cover different topics than its prerequisite. You can easily pick up what you need to know from Khan Academy while taking chemistry II.

OP probably won't have time to do that if they're taking Chem 2 during the summer.

OP, make sure you brush up sufficiently before the summer semester starts.

 

[la flame]

Essentially everything in Chem II is built off of the information taught in Chem I. From my experience, once you're in Chem II they don't reteach things from Chem I, its expected that you've learned the material necessary for the class. This also is true for when you transition into Organic chemistry, it is assumed that you have an understanding of the material from Chem I & II

Whether or not you should retake the class is honestly up to you. You could retake the class if you feel that would benefit you, or alternatively you can just audit a Chem I course and take notes, or follow along with ideally the notes you had from when you took Chem I.

A significant portion of the MCAT is Chemistry.

I do not know your situation financially or your family dynamic, but I do not believe it's necessary to drop down to part-time or prn as a RN to complete prerequisites for Medical School. I'm currently a RN in the NICU and I've been doing well balancing working FT and knocking out prerequisites and ECs. It wont be easy, but its definitely doable if you're serious. Feel free to PM me.

I disagree with Chem 2 being a continuation of Chem 1. Other than knowing how to read a periodic table, identify trends, and knowing how to get moles of a substance ( part of understanding how to read a periodic table), nothing from Chem 1 translates into chem 2. Chem 2 is reaction rates, kinetics, solution collagative properties, learning how to use the H-H equation for acids/bases and ice tables.......nothing from Chem 1. It should only take you a day or 2 to really know how to read a periodic table like learning how much protons are in an element or how to get a molar mass of a compound.

Essentially, Chem 2 is literally all about memorizing equations and plugging in numbers, about 80% algebra. When I finished my BSN, I immediately took Gen Chem 2 after 4 years of taking Gen CHem 1 and I did just fine. My biggest tip before taking Gen Chem 2? Know how to get moles if given grams of a substance........or know how to get grams of a substance given moles. That should get the ball rolling for your first exam.

 

[GreenDuck12]

I agree with the poster above that the second semester of general chemistry is pretty distinct from semester one. That being said I think there is a third option worth exploring which is to hire a private tutor to review some concepts from the first semester that you are feeling iffy about and to pre-teach some of the concepts you will encounter during the first few lessons of second semester. The biggest challenge with summer classes is the pace and if you fall behind it is extremely hard to catch up. Having a tutor to help ease the transition will likely be significantly less expensive than retaking the semester 1 or struggling in semester 2.

 

[jamaica jan sun princess]

OP probably won't have time to do that if they're taking Chem 2 during the summer.

OP, make sure you brush up sufficiently before the summer semester starts.

I took chemistry I and II in the same Summer(in 5 weeks each). If the OP is taking just chemistry II over the ~10 week full Summer semester, there's plenty of time to review chemistry I concepts.

 

[chemphysicsinstructor]

Thank you for your response. I’ve been thinking that perhaps switching to clinic or outpatient work with a set schedule would be best. Unfortunately my unit is self schedule and that means extreme variability with scheduling. I also hate to say this but my current nurse manager is not very supportive of his staff with ensuring days are kept clear for school etc. I work nights and theoretically I could schedule all my classes between the window I’m off and the time I’m suppose to be back on duty and I would essentially guarantee that I’m always able to attend class. The only problem is that prerequisites for med school are so important and I feel like it would be best to work days/fixed schedule, something more reliable and also something where my sleep isn’t completely wrecked.

I have a boyfriend that’s willing to support me 100% but I do need to pay off my car first. I just need this expense eliminated and I also would like to hold on to my health insurance for as long as possible. I know once I start med school I’ll have to stop working, lose my health insurance, and then take out insurance and tag it on to the loans.

I want you to be aware that aware that the topics covered in chem 1 and chem 2 vary from school to school. For example, one school covers acids and bases in chem 1 while I cover them in chem 2. Another example is colligative properties. I teach them in chem 2, but I can think of two schools that do NOT cover them at all.

 

[Wolvvs]

One other thing to consider is that organic chemistry builds off of concepts primarily from chem I, not II. It's such an important basic class for many concepts on the MCAT, if you're not completely comfortable with it, it might be worth retaking (or as one poster suggested doing a combined chem I and II over the summer).

Sent from my SM-G965U using SDN mobile

 

[chemphysicsinstructor]

One other thing to consider is that organic chemistry builds off of concepts primarily from chem I, not II. It's such an important basic class for many concepts on the MCAT, if you're not completely comfortable with it, it might be worth retaking (or as one poster suggested doing a combined chem I and II over the summer).

Sent from my SM-G965U using SDN mobile

That is why many organic textbooks spend the first couple chapters reviewing gen chem material.