Should I Retake Gen Chemistry Before going to Pharmacy School

[Big PharmD]

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Help Guys,

I completed my prereq's about 4 years ago. I start my p1 year this fall now I am freaking out 😱 Should I retake Chemistry this summer, I don't remember anything, I opened a Gen. Chem Book and let's just say I got really nervous I can't recall 75% of the material. 😕 I know its sad, I believe in being prepared, is it essential to retake these classes this summer before I start or is the first semester review to get you ready for the rigors of Pharmacy School.

Thanks

 

[WVUPharm2007]

I wouldn't worry about it...

 

[Mentis]

Lucky for you, P1 is just pre-pharm in a nutshell.

 

[aboveliquidice]

Lucky for you, P1 is just pre-pharm in a nutshell.

Why yes... yes it is

 

[Mentis]

Why yes... yes it is

I wish they'd make a batchelor's degree required and remove the P1 year completely, its entirely superfluous as far as a degree in pharmacy is concerned. Replace it with an extra year of rotations or something useful like that...

 

[hitzgirlforever]

Yes I totally agree that P1 is superfluous. Might as well be another year of undergrad. And no, you don't need to freak out about the gen chem. There's a lot of review in your first year...

 

[xiphoid2010]

I have to voice some disagreement.

yes, for someone with a BS in chem or bio, P1 year is largely review. But for a P1 that came in with minimum requirement, it's not. For example, Biochem and physiology isn't usually pre-pharm requirements, neither is memorizing top 200 drugs and drug literature search. Medchem is about 30% O-chem, but 70% is on drug SAR and pathways that O-chem never covered.

I'm sure the material covered in P1 differ by school, but it does have it's place. Especially for those with only 2 years pre-pharm, or took undergrad degrees in non-nature sciences.

 

[Mentis]

I have to voice some disagreement.

yes, for someone with a BS in chem or bio, P1 year is largely review. But for a P1 that came in with minimum requirement, it's not. For example, Biochem and physiology isn't usually pre-pharm requirements, neither is memorizing top 200 drugs and drug literature search. Medchem is about 30% O-chem, but 70% is on drug SAR and pathways that O-chem never covered.

I'm sure the material covered in P1 differ by school, but it does have it's place. Especially for those with only 2 years pre-pharm, or took undergrad degrees in non-nature sciences.

Well that's why I originally stated pharmacy schools should require a bachelor's degree! It wouldn't work otherwise. 😀

I just feel like there's no reason to be teaching undergraduate level courses in a professional school, P1 or no.

As for memorizing the top 200 drugs, don't get me started on that...

 

[aboveliquidice]

I have to voice some disagreement.

yes, for someone with a BS in chem or bio, P1 year is largely review. But for a P1 that came in with minimum requirement, it's not. For example, Biochem and physiology isn't usually pre-pharm requirements, neither is memorizing top 200 drugs and drug literature search. Medchem is about 30% O-chem, but 70% is on drug SAR and pathways that O-chem never covered.

I'm sure the material covered in P1 differ by school, but it does have it's place. Especially for those with only 2 years pre-pharm, or took undergrad degrees in non-nature sciences.

That is why pharmacy school require pre-reqs - What information do you go over (as review) in the 1st year that is not covered in your pre-reqs at some point?

My first year was less painful because a fair bit of it was review - but adding the calculations, top200, seminar, med chem, etc... kept everything interesting. However, a lot of fat could have been trimmed out.

 

[AngelaCL]

That is why pharmacy school require pre-reqs - What information do you go over (as review) in the 1st year that is not covered in your pre-reqs at some point?

Med chem, pharmacology, biochem, pathophysiology... Yeah, my immunology course was just a more indepth version of microbio, and pathophysiology applied some information from P&A, but overall I would NOT say my P1 year is a review of my prereqs, not in the least.

 

[xiphoid2010]

Well that's why I originally stated pharmacy schools should require a bachelor's degree! It wouldn't work otherwise. 😀

I just feel like there's no reason to be teaching undergraduate level courses in a professional school, P1 or no.

As for memorizing the top 200 drugs, don't get me started on that...

Well, even if you required a BS, you still got to cover materials for those who studied art history. 😀

Besides, even if you take all the review stuff out, about half of the stuff at my school in P1 was new pharmacy stuff. So it only saves 50%.

 

[Mentis]

Well, even if you required a BS, you still got to cover materials for those who studied art history. 😀

Besides, even if you take all the review stuff out, about half of the stuff at my school in P1 was new pharmacy stuff. So it only saves 50%.

Really? We honestly didn't have any new material, other than the 'intro to pharmacy' class, which could have been squeezed in anywhere. Biochem, A&P, etc.

Also, if we're going to have P1 just for people who majored art history, why not just make a more extensive pre-req list! Make biochem a mandatory pre-req (which is it already in some schools). Anyway, I agree you can't just take out the first year completely due to the introductory classes that ARE necessary, but you could certainly make better use of it. We didn't start our first pharmaceutically-related major course (nervous system disorders) until 2nd year!

 

[Big PharmD]

Thanks for the advice

 

[aboveliquidice]

Well, even if you required a BS, you still got to cover materials for those who studied art history. 😀

Besides, even if you take all the review stuff out, about half of the stuff at my school in P1 was new pharmacy stuff. So it only saves 50%.

I think my point was missed - the review portion of P1 year (not the new subjects) - are all introduced in the pre-reqs. That is why your initial degree, whatever it was, does not matter for pharmacy school.

So saying that a student with an English background is somehow at a disadvantage to the generic bio major is completely inaccurate - they have both been exposed to the material.

From that point - the new subjects of the P1 year - success is determined by a students ability to pickup the material - past student experience plays a minor part.

One of the most accomplished students at my school was a journalism major - while he may be an exception - I doubt it was his extensive literature background that makes him an excellent pharmacy student - certainly the lack of additional chem / biochem hasn't held him back.

 

[kdt110]

I wouldn't worry about it. Chemisty used to be a big part of pharmacy school but not anymore.

 

[xiphoid2010]

I think my point was missed - the review portion of P1 year (not the new subjects) - are all introduced in the pre-reqs. That is why your initial degree, whatever it was, does not matter for pharmacy school.

So saying that a student with an English background is somehow at a disadvantage to the generic bio major is completely inaccurate - they have both been exposed to the material.

From that point - the new subjects of the P1 year - success is determined by a students ability to pickup the material - past student experience plays a minor part.

One of the most accomplished students at my school was a journalism major - while he may be an exception - I doubt it was his extensive literature background that makes him an excellent pharmacy student - certainly the lack of additional chem / biochem hasn't held him back.

I think you partially missed my point as well. I'm trying to point to the fact that those with degrees in natural sciences (and studied beyond pre-reqs) will have more of a "review portion" in the P1 year.

Of course how much "review" is school dependent, but for OSU the pre-req material review don't last beyond 3 weeks from start. If you have a BS degree, then you got about 5-6 weeks worth of review instead of 3. Of course, if you skipped the second half, you'll still flunk the class, BS or no BS. 🙂

 

[aboveliquidice]

I wouldn't worry about it. Chemisty used to be a big part of pharmacy school but not anymore.

 

[xiphoid2010]

Really? We honestly didn't have any new material, other than the 'intro to pharmacy' class, which could have been squeezed in anywhere. Biochem, A&P, etc.

Also, if we're going to have P1 just for people who majored art history, why not just make a more extensive pre-req list! Make biochem a mandatory pre-req (which is it already in some schools). Anyway, I agree you can't just take out the first year completely due to the introductory classes that ARE necessary, but you could certainly make better use of it. We didn't start our first pharmaceutically-related major course (nervous system disorders) until 2nd year!

Yeah, OSU is pretty tough. In fact, we were the first school to require a 4 year degree for admission.

I would agree that it would be more efficient to require more pre-reqs. For example, physio, biochem should be pre-reqs. I really wish we had half a year more therapeutics and pharmacology in its place to cover infectious diseases in more depth, and also do a course on emergency/life support med.

But some of the things we cover in P1 are too pharmacy specific to really require. E.g most of medchem, drug delievery, pharm calc, top 200 drugs/ethics/database/literature search... and the aweful 120 hour pay-to-work "experiential" rotations.

 

[dempsie5688]

I think my point was missed - the review portion of P1 year (not the new subjects) - are all introduced in the pre-reqs. That is why your initial degree, whatever it was, does not matter for pharmacy school.

So saying that a student with an English background is somehow at a disadvantage to the generic bio major is completely inaccurate - they have both been exposed to the material.

From that point - the new subjects of the P1 year - success is determined by a students ability to pickup the material - past student experience plays a minor part.

One of the most accomplished students at my school was a journalism major - while he may be an exception - I doubt it was his extensive literature background that makes him an excellent pharmacy student - certainly the lack of additional chem / biochem hasn't held him back.

I pray that P1 is largely review, I am 32, changing careers and took my prereq's at night while I worked 50 hours per week. Everything is a blur. I do have a Master's Degree though, so hopefully I will be fine. Time will tell 😉