Lost, Need Some Advice

[Cincy2112]

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Hello everyone,

I have gotten myself into a very unfavorable situation this year with my pre-health/dent track. I already started doing pre-dental a year late (I'm a second semester sophomore), and I'm afraid I will have to delay things even further now. I'm actually really embarrassed and ashamed to talk to my advisor about this, so I'm coming here first.

First of all, I got a D in Gen Chem 1 last semester, and this made me realize that I was just unprepared for the subject matter and the study requirement. Some of you may scoff at this, but I honestly have never had a class where the professor completely expected me to teach myself all of the material from the book; this is very different from how my biology classes have been taught. Anyway, I immediately began retaking the class this semester. I took the first exam last week and still didn't do very well. I feel like I have completely lost my confidence and now I'm just psyching myself out, not to mention I'm no more prepared for this now than I was last semester. I'm sick with stress and pretty sure I could screw up again and permanently destroy my transcript (even more than it already is). I'm considering withdrawing from the course, taking an intro chem class this summer, and starting over again fresh next year with the gen chem track. My math skills are pretty weak, so maybe I should take a college algebra class this summer also.

If you were in this situation, what would you do? For what it's worth, I have great grades right now in my other bio-major classes. I just need to get past this mental block, and I don't want one course to hold me back from achieving my career aspirations. I know admissions will already be an uphill battle. I suppose at this point I'm so far behind that maybe I should just consider if it's even worth continuing. I'm open to taking a gap year if I need to, or maybe even doing a grad program if that might put me in a better position and give me extra time to study for DAT and get in some more EC's. I just need some advice.

Thanks

 

[Illfavor]

I would probably dedicate every moment of my spare time to passing this class.

And FWIW, you're framing this in the worst way possible. Yes, you need to pass this class, but if you say everything is riding on it you're doomed from the start. One because that isn't really true and two because you still have a ton of pre-reqs left to prove your mettle. If you really feel you can't beat this class, then maybe a drop/W is in order, but you have to beat it eventually.

Also, get a tutor. You don't really have to teach yourself anything these days. The internet is full of goodies.

 

[ILLchief]

adjusting to college level courses can be somewhat difficult to do... you really just need to study your butt off for this gen chem class. its an essential course especially if youre thinking about taking the DAT. get a tutor, it will do wonders if you're actually forced to do more problems outside of class the correct way instead of sitting there clueless. read the textbook, even as boring as it may be, it will help you tremendously. also, google is your best friend. use the internet wisely to find similar problems or even the exact problem. attend office hours, ask the professor what the heck is going on. meet up with friends/study groups... i mean there is so much you can do to help yourself. you seem like you have a good head on your shoulders since you are asking for advice and actually care about the class... but youre not doing yourself any favors by coming to SDN to dwell on your situation.

 

[FeralisExtremum]

How are you preparing for the course? You mention that you do well in your bio courses but you have difficulty in chemistry. I used to run into similar trouble during undergrad and it was because I always studied the night before my exams. Bio courses lend themselves to memorization and cramming, but chemistry definitely requires more regular practice. Are you putting in work every day?

 

[str8ner]

Do you have friends in the class that are doing well? I aced basic and organic chemistry until I got to Biochem. I made a C on my first test and was left wondering what happened. I hadn't really talked to the others in the class. Once I talked to them it seemed they were well aware from talking to friends of theirs that you needed to memorize the amino acids and different cycles. The instructor had never mentioned it just blew through the material as if it wasn't that important. Once I knew Biochem was just about memorizing a few cycles and the amino acids, I was golden.

 

[Jungerr]

How to study for:

Biology - memorize
Gen Chem - do practice problems
Org Chem - do both

 

[bambam92]

watch freelance teachers videos for gen chem. He is great

 

[techyguy]

You should be able to calculate what you need on the rest of your tests to make a good grade. If the likelihood of making those grades seems low, then you may consider dropping the class. Most schools will at least look at GPA trends, so you may need to impress them there. If you figure out how to learn this stuff, you can take an even harder chemistry down the road and make an A or a B, and do well on the Gen. Chem section of the DAT, then, suddenly, who cares about Gen Chem 1?

Study groups were always my favorite thing. You may need to spend the majority of your time awake battling through the issues, bugging the professor, scouring the assigned reading first and then the internet, and practicing problems, though.

 

[gentlerwave]

Maybe watching khanacademy or Chad's videos might help? If your lecture and textbook don't help, then you must try to find other resources. For gen chem 1, there are tons of stuff on the internet and in your school library that can help you. You should try seeing tutor/TA as well since they're paid to help you.

You cannot approach a chemistry class like it's a biology class. For bio, you can memorize a concept, but for chem you have to know your stuff (most of the time). Just keep at working past your mental block and I think you'll be fine. I had the same issue with physics back in high school. I couldn't understand the simplest problems, but I kept trying and trying. Boom after several Cs and 2 months later everything made sense... 🙂

Also, I don't think it's necessary that you take a class in algebra to do the math. Usually the math falls into very specific categories (logarithms, exponentials, etc.), so you can just refer back to your algebra book from high school on those topics when you encounter them.

 

[wb1]

Hello everyone,

I have gotten myself into a very unfavorable situation this year with my pre-health/dent track. I already started doing pre-dental a year late (I'm a second semester sophomore), and I'm afraid I will have to delay things even further now. I'm actually really embarrassed and ashamed to talk to my advisor about this, so I'm coming here first.

First of all, I got a D in Gen Chem 1 last semester, and this made me realize that I was just unprepared for the subject matter and the study requirement. Some of you may scoff at this, but I honestly have never had a class where the professor completely expected me to teach myself all of the material from the book; this is very different from how my biology classes have been taught. Anyway, I immediately began retaking the class this semester. I took the first exam last week and still didn't do very well. I feel like I have completely lost my confidence and now I'm just psyching myself out, not to mention I'm no more prepared for this now than I was last semester. I'm sick with stress and pretty sure I could screw up again and permanently destroy my transcript (even more than it already is). I'm considering withdrawing from the course, taking an intro chem class this summer, and starting over again fresh next year with the gen chem track. My math skills are pretty weak, so maybe I should take a college algebra class this summer also.

If you were in this situation, what would you do? For what it's worth, I have great grades right now in my other bio-major classes. I just need to get past this mental block, and I don't want one course to hold me back from achieving my career aspirations. I know admissions will already be an uphill battle. I suppose at this point I'm so far behind that maybe I should just consider if it's even worth continuing. I'm open to taking a gap year if I need to, or maybe even doing a grad program if that might put me in a better position and give me extra time to study for DAT and get in some more EC's. I just need some advice.

Thanks

You need the basic foundation first.

Do the intro to g chem and polish up the math. This will build up your confidence. You can't expect to sprint before you start to learn to walk first.

Or get a tutor, or watch k academy. Work out the textbook examples.

Acdom like to know how you overcome challenges. This can be one of them.