Physical chem makes me want to cry

[Fakesmile]

I'm just 4 weeks into P-chem (needed for my major) and it's driving me crazy. I didn't do so well in general chem (though I aced orgo) and I especially hated kinetic theory, heat capacity, enthalpy, heat, etc. Now those topics have come back in P-chem to haunt me. The material is so abstract and prof's lectures don't help much. I reread the text 3 times and still feel lost. We're learning more and more material and I'm starting to panic. For those of you who have taken P-chem, please share how you aced it.

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[Pills Of Soap]

i got a 50% on my pchem final. i got an A in the class.

for most of my pchem class, no one knew what was going on (including myself). in the end, the grade was curved so it worked out.

just do the homework problems and go to a lot of office hours. theres not really much else you can do with this class.

 

[FlowRate]

I'm in pchem right now. It seems like the key is keeping your equations and your conditions straight.

 

[mbdenver]

I hated P Chem and felt lost for the entire 2 semesters. It is definitely a rite of passage for a chemistry degree. I also think it is universal that P Chem professors are not very good at conveying and explaining the material. My theory is that the abilities to communicate and to comprehend P Chem are mutually exclusive. That being said, I aced both semesters and I will second what FlowRate said, know your equations and exactly what they are used for. The text I used in class was pretty worthless but I borrowed a different one for second semester from a friend that I really liked. If you have the means I would highly recommend Physical Chemistry: A Molecular Approach by Donald A. McQuarrie and John D. Simon. I wouldn't wish kinetics and thermodynamics on anybody, good luck to you. Second semester is at least more interesting - quantum mechanics, relativity and such.

 

[BlueElmo]

I've never taken P-Chem, but here's my shoulder to cry on. Hope everything works out.

 

[FlowRate]

I hated P Chem and felt lost for the entire 2 semesters. It is definitely a right of passage for a chemistry degree. I also think it is universal that P Chem professors are not very good at conveying and explaining the material. My theory is that the abilities to communicate and to comprehend P Chem are mutually exclusive. That being said, I aced both semesters and I will second what FlowRate said, know your equations and exactly what they are used for. The text I used in class was pretty worthless but I borrowed a different one for second semester from a friend that I really liked. If you have the means I would highly recommend Physical Chemistry: A Molecular Approach by Donald A. McQuarrie and John D. Simon. I wouldn't wish kinetics and thermodynamics on anybody, good luck to you. Second semester is at least more interesting - quantum mechanics, relativity and such.

Surprisingly, my PChem professor happens to be one of the best lecturers I have ever had. Unfortunately, he won't be teaching the quantum portion... even though that part is his specialty. Boo!

 

[DirtyJustice]

I remember those days.... happy its over.

 

[dw2158]

I wouldn't wish kinetics and thermodynamics on anybody, good luck to you. Second semester is at least more interesting - quantum mechanics, relativity and such.

whoa, my quantum class was waaaay harder than thermo. but to each his own, i guess.

Surprisingly, my PChem professor happens to be one of the best lecturers I have ever had. Unfortunately, he won't be teaching the quantum portion... even though that part is his specialty. Boo!

me too, only i was lucky enough to have my prof for quantum and thermo

OP, i got As in both semesters of pchem and i really believe it was because of my obsessive outlining! i created one giant outline (like 10 pages) of the course material, which i added to after each lecture, and color-coded it by section. then for each section i would have (in a separate notebook) necessary equations and practice problems in that color. somehow the colors helped me remember things, i guess. good luck!

 

[schrizto]

Calc 3 is a prerequisite for Physical Chemistry at my school. Eww. No way I am taking that.

 

[Wheee]

If P-Chem makes sense to you, you're doing it wrong.

Heh. My (analytical, not p-chem...my pchem prof thought she taught everything so clearly) said that to me. I like it. In all seriousness, though, I was pretty lost at the beginning. Eventually, lots of practice problems later, it all came together. I have no idea how I aced it, other than those problems and turning my class notes into outlines/study guides with the important stuff. Like Pills of Soap, I also didn't do so hot on the final, but ended up with an A in the class. If your lab grade is combined w/ lecture, do really well on the lab reports so you get a nice cushion so you can get a 70% on the third exam and still not have to worry much about the final.

 

[dw2158]

Calc 3 is a prerequisite for Physical Chemistry at my school. Eww. No way I am taking that.

i thought calc 3 was easier than calc 2.

 

[schrizto]

i thought calc 3 was easier than calc 2.

Well I am currently taking Calc 1, so if I were planning to take Physical Chemistry I would have to take Calc 2 and 3 also.

 

[Mesokun]

To me the biggest difference between my 2 quarter of PChem was how I studied. In the first quarter I went to all review sessions and prof office hours, did all of my homeworks and practice tests, and got a 2.8.

The second time I found myself a study group where I was able to get along with the members really well. I still went to the review sessions and prof office hours, did homeworks and practice tests, but I think the critical difference was that in our study group we explain how to solve homework/test problems to each other whenever we can. I got a 3.3. Not too much difference to some, but I think it identified the potential in group studying.

But my Pchem curriculum may differ from yours; my first quarter was almost all thermodynamics where I do derivatives of equations to get specific numerical values, and my second quarter focused on quantum mechanics where I spend a lot of time just deriving integrals of equations. Group study might not really work for you too since people might get distracted.

The funny thing is that I didn't really use either of my textbooks for the quarters; I relied on lecture notes and practice. After all PChem is still mostly math, especially calculus I think.

i thought calc 3 was easier than calc 2.

I had exactly the same experience.

 

[amberisma]

I am also taking P chem right now, and no one knows what is going on. We have time during most classes to work on problems in groups but most of the time no one comes up with anything.

We just started chapter 3 last class (been in class for over a month), but the chapters are so dense. We had a quiz a few weeks ago and I got 1.25 out of the 2 questions correct and still got a 100%. I think it will be okay after the curve, like has already been mentioned.

I went to office hours and that really helped, so I would definitely try doing that. Our first test is Monday and I don't plan on doing too well on it. Oh well.

 

[tmcleavor]

Calc 3 in no way prepares you.Partial diffy Qs and Ordinarys should be required. They make the material so much easier because you don't get lost in the math as much.

 

[dw2158]

Calc 3 in no way prepares you.Partial diffy Qs and Ordinarys should be required. They make the material so much easier because you don't get lost in the math as much.

agreed.

 

[BoxerCar12]

I'm with you on this P-chem garbage. I never know what is going on. But our class has some weird grading scale, so I have a decent grade atm haha...

 

[MilkmanAl]

PChem makes you cry? Take quantum mechanics. You'll go through a more intense version of PChem in the first 3 weeks of the class. It's super fun!

 

[vickpick]

me 2

 

[vickpick]

PChem makes you cry? Take quantum mechanics. You'll go through a more intense version of PChem in the first 3 weeks of the class. It's super fun!

for me quantum mechanics was easier than pChem... of course, QM prof was way better and i learnt way more in that class than Pchem

 

[Chemdude]

Dude, are you at Cornell?! We had the worst PCHEM prelim yesterday...it was so horrible..about 20 pages of crap that you had to do in 1.5 hours. The median for the pchem exam last year was 18%,though. Just remember, it's not how well you do on the midterm, it's how well you do compared to everyone else.

 

[Fakesmile]

Good to know that I'm not alone in this. Thanks everyone for your posts!

 

[ThaliaNox]

P-chem just royally sucked in general. I found that it helped to know, mathematically, where the formulas come from so that I wasn't just memorizing them but also internalizing their implications so that when they changed the circumstances of the question I could still solve it.

That being said, isn't it fun telling people that when you mix two substances together the volume of the resulting solution isn't simply the volumes of the two separate substances added together? I've messed with people over that one.

 

[BoxerCar12]

Hahaha...we just learned that yesterday..blows my mind.

 

[BozoSparky]

for physical chemistry & physics in general....do practice problems! i found schaum's outline series had a good number of practice problems. maybe there's something better now. even if you can't do them all, you can flip through and see if there's a similar problem to what you are working on. it's all about finding examples to learn from. also, see if there is a solution's manual available. they can be really helpful for understanding derivations, etc. if you are using Atkin's pchem, i am pretty sure there is a solution's manual available. of course, don't just copy the answer if your homework is based on the text problems. try it yourself!

 

[BozoSparky]

Dude, are you at Cornell?! We had the worst PCHEM prelim yesterday...it was so horrible..about 20 pages of crap that you had to do in 1.5 hours. The median for the pchem exam last year was 18%,though. Just remember, it's not how well you do on the midterm, it's how well you do compared to everyone else.

oh...yes, i can confirm that Cornell physical chemistry is really hard.........

 

[FloatOn]

I somehow managed to kick major tush during first semester pchem (thermo, kinetics, gases, etc). I worked out the derivations over and over again, finding easier ways to substitute in variables and simplify them each time. The McQuarrie textbook helped some, although a gagillion equations were introduced each page, half of which we did not have to know, so that only makes half a gagillion equations...hmmm. Second semester is a distant blur that I never want to recall. Something about particles in a box, normalization, and character tables.

 

[TurkSurg]

I'm just 4 weeks into P-chem (needed for my major) and it's driving me crazy. I didn't do so well in general chem (though I aced orgo) and I especially hated kinetic theory, heat capacity, enthalpy, heat, etc. Now those topics have come back in P-chem to haunt me. The material is so abstract and prof's lectures don't help much. I reread the text 3 times and still feel lost. We're learning more and more material and I'm starting to panic. For those of you who have taken P-chem, please share how you aced it.

1. Practice book problems
2. Office hours