Ochem and physics?

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ERmed3eb

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Is ochem and physics too much to take during the same quarter? My advisor said I should be fine but I have read some comments in some threads on here that say differently. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks
 
after that... you can take ochem2 and biochem1 😀
 
Taking both at the same time is pretty hard, but VERY do-able if you stay on top of your materials. 😀
 
Angelanin said:
Taking both at the same time is pretty hard, but VERY do-able if you stay on top of your materials. 😀

glad to hear that its possible
 
Getting a "possible" from the land of over-achieving GPA stats (SDN) isn't a good sign. 🙂
 
bah, try taking ochem, physics, anatomy & phys, and calc all in the same semester...and taking the 2nd part of the 1st 3 classes the spring semester. welcome to my sad existence.
 
I took ochem 2, class mech (physics 4), anatomy and physiology, synthesis lab, and organismal bio all this semester. It's extreme hell, but doable. 🙂
 
Why would you worry about physics and organic, physics is such a joke compared to organic (not saying that i am amazing at physics). But, those two classes don't really compare in difficulty so i'd imagine it would be fine.
 
i just took these two this past year and o-chem and physics is really not that bad of a combo. but you have to stay on top of the material. for me, i found physics to be more challenging of the two and thus managed my time accordingly. i'm not sure how it is at other schools but i found the labs for both classes to be extremely tedious and a huge waste of time (along with the obligatory lab reports). but yeah, take them both and then you're ready for the mcat since they'll be fresh in your mind.
 
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ERmed3eb said:
Is ochem and physics too much to take during the same quarter? My advisor said I should be fine but I have read some comments in some threads on here that say differently. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks


all depends. how badly do you want that A. if so, its very possible lol. just make sure you stay ahead and never fall behind
 
I wouldn't recommend it, unless if you're taking no labs.

I was pressed for time and found myself sacrificing study time. In the end, I got a B in Orgo II and a C in Physics. Really disappointing. I'm going to try and get an A in Physics II to balance it out. My first ever C, really hurt me.
 
I took them Ochem I and Physics I together, and also OChem II and Physics II...it wasn't that bad, you just have to make sure you don't get behind and you'll be fine. 🙂
 
PullMyFinger said:
I wouldn't recommend it, unless if you're taking no labs.

I was pressed for time and found myself sacrificing study time. In the end, I got a B in Orgo II and a C in Physics. Really disappointing. I'm going to try and get an A in Physics II to balance it out. My first ever C, really hurt me.

Do you mean "pulled your finger" as what you are implying by your screename...thats what we all need to know! 😉
 
I took Physics I and II, Bio II and Orgo II and all their labs in one semester, then followed up with Orgo I, Gen Chem I and II + labs in the next semester. Talk about begging for those overrides!

So yeah, it's doable, but prepare to be called "Mr. Cranky" 😡
 
for me those classes both had huge curves. so its not so much about doing well, but doing better than other people. I would say go for it.
 
What other classes are you taking? I personally don't see orgo as being the monster that everyone paints it to be. Take them, work a bit, and you'll do fine. It might be a good idea to keep your semester load to no more than 16 or 17 credits if you're taking all classes like that though.
 
colt said:
Getting a "possible" from the land of over-achieving GPA stats (SDN) isn't a good sign. 🙂

Try taking physics, physics lab, genetics, genetics lab, ochem2 and ochem lab + an advanced religion class on the same semester and making straight A's, working part-time and doing extra-curriculars. It's DEFINETELY POSSIBLE. 👍 Good Luck!
 
ERmed3eb said:
Is ochem and physics too much to take during the same quarter? My advisor said I should be fine but I have read some comments in some threads on here that say differently. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks

Taking OChem and physics at my school was more than too much. It was the beginning of the year in which I truly changed. It wrought on my first 'real' experiences with not achieving my goals, which was painful, but for which I am unequivocally thankful in the end. It was through experiencing that kind of pain and handling situations I'd never truly handled (letting myself down) that I became the person that I'm happy to be.

So I would say do it. If it's too little, your GPA won't budge. If it's too much and it packs a wallop on your GPA, you'll change for the better.

Good luck.
 
akinf said:
Why would you worry about physics and organic, physics is such a joke compared to organic (not saying that i am amazing at physics). But, those two classes don't really compare in difficulty so i'd imagine it would be fine.

I actually found physics I to be harder than orgo II this semester. While I felt like if I just memorized like crazy, learned the few mechanisms that get repeated over and over again, and worked on my sign pairing (is it nucleophilic or electrophilic? kind of stuff), I could do well. Physics on the other hand, no matter how many problems I tried and review sessions I attended, I still got to the tests and had trouble. It just wasn't intuitive at all for me so I guess it depends on the student. I found myself spending just as much if not more time on physics and I still did worse in my physics course.

Still, I took both of these classes and also worked full-time this semester. I found it manageable, but certainly had my stressful moments when tests weren't spaced out and I didn't do as well in my physics class as I had hoped at the beginning of the semester. As others have said, you can do it. Just make sure you're studying throughout (instead of cramming for the exams which had a ton of material each at my school) and go to your prof the second you don't understand something since both classes build on the early material (especially in physics!)

Good luck.
 
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I will be taking Physics I, Orgo I and Calc II this fall, next spring will be Physics II, Orgo II, and MCAT.

plus running my own business and remodeling our house.

So far I've been able to handle 2-3 courses a semester, so it shouldn't be too bad.

i figure if I can't handle it then I probably shouldn't go to med school since there will be lots more information thrown at me than this!
 
megboo said:
I figure if I can't handle it then I probably shouldn't go to med school since there will be lots more information thrown at me than this!

Agreed. 👍
 
This semester I had Orgo 2 + Lab, P-Chem 2 + Lab, Instrumental Analysis + Lab, Virology, an Independant study in Partial Diff. EQ / NL dyanmics, and a racial issues course. You can do it, it's just about time management and learning how to study efficiently.
 
Physics and Orgo together is doable - if you're taking trig-based physics (and there's no reason to take calc-based physics for medical school unless you want to) and your trig/algebra skills are current, you should be fine - especially if you have a physics professor who doesn't object to your using an advanced calculator like the TI-89 (I love my 89 with a passion that I rarely give to inanimate objects). If you haven't taken a math course in a while, Physics may chew up more time than you realize - and orgo definitely takes-up a lot of time.
 
Non-TradTulsa said:
especially if you have a physics professor who doesn't object to your using an advanced calculator like the TI-89 (I love my 89 with a passion that I rarely give to inanimate objects).

Our professor had a no-calculator-allowed-on-exams policy. It sucked because it was mch easier to make stupid mistakes, but I think it was helpful for MCAT preparation and MCAT mental agility/speed.
 
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