Pre-Med concerns

[tealover30]

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Hi guys,
I am an English Pre-Med...and I am currently taking Gen Chem 1.

Idk how I'll do (not so well but I'm determined to do better), but I feel the urge to retake the class with a different professor just to learn more in depth about the topic. Of course I would do better the second time, but I need to push myself more (basically to the edge).

I know some comments said to re-study alone, but honestly I need someone to explain the topic to me from the pre-historic age to now (I need to know every single detail or I will be confused)...

I do feel like an anomaly because it takes other students much shorter time to understand these topics, but I don't want to walk away from chem not knowing some of the information I needed to learn.

Any pieces of advice you guys have? I'm being serious about this...definitely will try to refrain from doing this again but I don't want to go into orgo not knowing half the subjects from gen chem.

Thank you all, and good luck with the pre-med life :O

 

[kamakazi5]

If you aren't absolutely strapped for cash hire a tutor. Also, I'm not sure if every school has this but mine had SI (supplemental instructor I believe) leaders that essentially acted as a group tutor for all of my intro classes that were free. I'm sure all schools also have some sort of science learning center where there are people available to help as well.

Outside of that, Khan Academy has great videos and youtube, in general, has tons of tutoring videos.

 

[freak7]

Idk how I'll do (not so well but I'm determined to do better), but I feel the urge to retake the class with a different professor just to learn more in depth about the topic. Of course I would do better the second time, but I need to push myself more (basically to the edge).

That won't help unless you're retaking it as honors or something.

I know some comments said to re-study alone, but honestly I need someone to explain the topic to me from the pre-historic age to now

As suggested above, Khan Academy has great vids/explanations on all things gen chem. You could also YouTube or (if you feel like losing the next 6 hours of your life down a rabbit hole) Wikipedia some of the topics.

I need to know every single detail or I will be confused

That's not going to happen. That's not going to happen even if you major in chem. Chem is such a sprawling topic that it'd take years of time to understand every single detail. That's part of what makes chem is so cool. You can learn a LOT from the internet and understand what you need to understand forwards and backwards, but the "why" of it is a bit handwavey in gen chem. If you're legit interested, consider taking more chem classes and majoring in it.

I do feel like an anomaly because it takes other students much shorter time to understand these topics, but I don't want to walk away from chem not knowing some of the information I needed to learn.

A lot of those students took chem or AP chem in high school. Just put in the time and learn however you learn best. Here's something I'd always tell my old students: The classmates that you have who learn quickest are doomed to crash and burn in the first class that they don't understand because they don't have good study skills in place. It happened to me. On the other hand, you'll be ahead of the curve by already having great study skills in place. Put in the time, it's worth it.

I don't want to go into orgo not knowing half the subjects from gen chem.

O-chem is an entirely different beast that will make you feel dumb all over again. Like I've said, just put in the time and you'll be fine.

 

[deleted781806]

but I feel the urge to retake the class with a different professor just to learn more in depth about the topic

That's called "Gen Chem 2", which I'm sure will follow shortly in your Chemistry sequence of courses. But in all seriousness, if you feel like you really want to get more out of the class, go set up appointments with tutors or maybe peer study groups. You really aren't going to be able to get *all* of the information out of Gen Chem, that's called getting a PhD and even that is only specializing in a very specific sub-category of a particular field within the domain of "Chemistry".

Also, Orgo is a completely different set of topics and a different perspective on chemistry. Doing well in Gen Chem will not mean you will do well in Orgo, they're completely separate fields and require different approaches to understand the material.