Retaking Gen Chem Predicament--Please help!

[onetruenorth]

I'm getting to the end of the semester, and I am in a big predicament. I have already taken general chemistry II once and didn't do well (failed it to be precise due to having 2 jobs, etc. etc), and I am taking it again to replace the grade. (The professor is ridiculously difficult and gen chem at my campus is one of the hardest classes you can take on campus. On average, 50% of the class drop and of those 50, roughly half fail.) Due to a really busy semester with a job and all these extracurriculars, I have been doing really well in organic chemistry II and Spanish (my minor) and another upper division biology class, but again I am sucking it up in general chemistry. In order to pull out a C in this class, I would have to get an A-A+ on the final. As many of you know, pulling an A+ on a final is ridiculously difficult with all the other difficult classes to study for.

My question is, would it be a bad idea to take the class for a credit/no credit and retake it again? I would take the same class three times, but would medical schools look at it as I perservered, or as a bad thing? If I take the class for credit/no credit, I can focus more on pulling out an A in my other classes.

Please help! I'm totally at a loss.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Confused2626]

My question is, would it be a bad idea to take the class for a credit/no credit and retake it again? I would take the same class three times, but would medical schools look at it as I perservered, or as a bad thing? If I take the class for credit/no credit, I can focus more on pulling out an A in my other classes.

Please help! I'm totally at a loss.

Well, if you need an A+ just to get a C, it looks like you are looking at a D. Most med schools, this will not be sufficient for the pre-req requirement as they require C or better...so if you don't pull a C, you'll have to retake it.

Have you considered taking Gen Chem at another school?

 

[onetruenorth]

I have considered taking it at another school, but would it look bad if I transfer the credit just for that one course? To me, it seems like they would see that as me giving up and taking it at another school just to get a better grade. Do you think that would be the case?

 

[JJMrK]

I have considered taking it at another school, but would it look bad if I transfer the credit just for that one course? To me, it seems like they would see that as me giving up and taking it at another school just to get a better grade. Do you think that would be the case?

Yes, you need to retake, and yes, it will look bad if you take it at another school. Try taking it with a lighter load.

 

[onetruenorth]

I guess my last question is, do medical schools see it as a bad thing to retake a class 3 times, or is it a sign of commitment?

 

[Stratego]

Yes it looks bad, but I still think you should take it at another school, and prove you understood the material with a high MCAT subscore. If you get a D, you'll need to retake it anyway. Better to do it maybe over the summer when you can put 100% of your effort into it.