P Chem = Worst Class Ever

[Golddanboy]

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I could swear that my Physical Chemistry teacher is a demon that feeds off the confusion of her students. Its pretty damn scary when our class of 11 has 4 re-takers and a curve that threatens to fail at least the lowest two people. Our teacher spends most of the class jumping from one formula to the next but fails to explain concepts or the reasons behind the formulas. Even in such a small class, the teacher gives evil glares for asking any questions. The book is not only a better teacher but it has a better personality too.

I hope that everyones PChem class isn't quite as bad (I'm just trying to get my B )

 

[OctoDoc]

I could swear that my Physical Chemistry teacher is a demon that feeds off the confusion of her students. Its pretty damn scary when our class of 11 has 4 re-takers and a curve that threatens to fail at least the lowest two people. Our teacher spends most of the class jumping from one formula to the next but fails to explain concepts or the reasons behind the formulas. Even in such a small class, the teacher gives evil glares for asking any questions. The book is not only a better teacher but it has a better personality too.

I hope that everyones PChem class isn't quite as bad (I'm just trying to get my B )

My p-chem prof was probably cut from the same devil cloth as yours. On our first exam, I got a 36 out of 175. That was the highest score in the class. And we were all chem majors.

Still, p-chem was one of the most intellectually challenging classes I have taken. And that includes grad school. I liked p-chem because it revealed all of the half truths and limiting cases that were presented in gen chem, and it did more than any other class to explain how and why things happen.

 

[Golddanboy]

My p-chem prof was probably cut from the same devil cloth as yours. On our first exam, I got a 36 out of 175. That was the highest score in the class. And we were all chem majors.

Still, p-chem was one of the most intellectually challenging classes I have taken. And that includes grad school. I liked p-chem because it revealed all of the half truths and limiting cases that were presented in gen chem, and it did more than any other class to explain how and why things happen.

I agree that its very intellectually challenging and under the right circumstances it can be a very fun class. Perhaps it may have been more fun if my grade wasn't based on the failures of the friends i made over the past 4 years. Although I felt like I missed a lot of the “how and why things happen” . For instance while i understand the mathematical expressions to show the energy or position of a particle in a box, I have little knowledge of how it relates to physical characteristics of an object.

 

[OctoDoc]

For instance while i understand the mathematical expressions to show the energy or position of a particle in a box, I have little knowledge of how it relates to physical characteristics of an object.

Quantization of energy levels as modeled by the particle in the box is the basis for understanding the nature of light, and helps to explain such cool things as holograms, lasers, creation of images in photography, and atmospheric optical phenomena. Granted, you are not going to see many connections in your p-chem class. However, if you read about various scientific topics (like those just mentioned) in general audience type of books or publications (e.g. scientific american, discover), you will see those connections everywhere and appreciate p-chem all the more. That is to say, I didn't like p-chem very much while I was taking it, apart from the refuting of gen chem lies. But I grew to appreciate it as I saw its importance and relevance later on. I hope that happens to you, too.

 

[happydays]

I love pchem! It's my absolute fav! If you're having trouble, I'll try to explain it to you.

 

[LJDHC05]

PChem is the pennance we pay for all the fun we have in lab. Sigh, how I will never miss doing the rigid rotor and hydrogen atom derivations ever.

There hasn't been a tenured P-Chem prof in my college's chem department for like 30 some years. My prof was the sweetest lady ever and would stay until 10pm most nights for office hours to help us get through her demonic problem sets. Oh and she would not curve the class nor fail anyone because there were 13 of us in the class and didnt want us at each other's throats for 2 semesters. But she still somehow managed to have people give her crappy student evals.

 

[Saluki]

My P-Chem professor was also cut from the devil's cloth, but he also didn't speak English very well.

"Everyone say my P-Chem class is hard. Eet no hard if you study. If you no study, you get F. If you party, drink and no study, you get F. But eets no hard. Many graduate students get F, but graduate students no work hard... "

After that motivational speech, I almost dropped my chemistry major... I had to take a makeup final because my plane got delayed on my way back from one of my interviews... I actually started crying because I was so sure that I had failed. With the curve it ended up being a B! Then he gave me this speech about how I worry too much and need to relax! Oh well- it's over now 😀

 

[nimotsu]

I could swear that my Physical Chemistry teacher is a demon that feeds off the confusion of her students. Its pretty damn scary when our class of 11 has 4 re-takers and a curve that threatens to fail at least the lowest two people. Our teacher spends most of the class jumping from one formula to the next but fails to explain concepts or the reasons behind the formulas. Even in such a small class, the teacher gives evil glares for asking any questions. The book is not only a better teacher but it has a better personality too.

I hope that everyones PChem class isn't quite as bad (I'm just trying to get my B )

My pchem professor was really nice, but I asked him if he was still failing alot of people and he just smirked and said "yeah, that's pchem for you"

But he also said alot of students like to depend on the professor, and for pchem, this is simply not possible. The professor is there to answer questions. It is YOUR RESPONSIBILITY to go home with your book every night and just derive the hell out of all those formulae and understand where they come from by reading your book. It's a class where you can't just go to it and do the homework to understand things, you have to take it as a personal mission to understand the material. It is still difficult because most 1. don't have a solid mathematical background to do well 2. don't take the initiative to still try to learn when the going gets tough.

Your teacher sounds like a typical pchemist... go to lab and play with a laser, masturbate about the obtained spectra, and then oh yeah.. deal with those pesky kids

 

[Flyfisher]

pchem... yeah i got around that one. my school came out with biophysical chemistry the year i took it and met the requirement since i was biochem.

it was still hard and confusing but i got a b+ i think.

 

[Jack Daniel]

As a chemistry major, PChem was the ONLY class that spanked me--hard.
Three calcs, Orgo, biochem--mere love pats.