Should I take Gen Chemistry or Introduction to Chemistry?

[HouseKrita]

Hi, I'm new here! I'm making my schedule for next semester and I'm concerned with what I should do?

I'm shakey with chemistry. High school chemistry I didn't do the greatest in, unfortunately. I'm not sure if I should refresh with introduction to chemistry or if i should jump into general chemistry. If I should choose to go into gen chemistry, how many hours should I take to study the course?

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[TheDancingWriter]

I don't know what you mean by shakey, but I was as well. I skated by on homework and labs to get a B but ultimately mostly failed tests when it came to stoichiometry and what not. But what I did was instead of taking an intro class, I reviewed it on my own (stoichiometry and balancing equations, mostly). You'd be surprised what being older and more mature can do for you to make the subject less intense. So I took gen chem and got an A in both I and II.

 

[AMCASTuesdays]

Hi, I'm new here! I'm making my schedule for next semester and I'm concerned with what I should do?

I'm shakey with chemistry. High school chemistry I didn't do the greatest in, unfortunately. I'm not sure if I should refresh with introduction to chemistry or if i should jump into general chemistry. If I should choose to go into gen chemistry, how many hours should I take to study the course?

What differentiates these classes? I think a med school will probs see these the same way right?

Good luck! You might find that as an UG you are just so tired that you take to chemistry better. Chem is complicated sure, but once you learn a concept, you can apply it to everything else (that's vs bio which is memorization heavy, and maybe easier when you have the energy in highschool).

 

[Saturday’s Child]

Hi, I'm new here! I'm making my schedule for next semester and I'm concerned with what I should do?

I'm shakey with chemistry. High school chemistry I didn't do the greatest in, unfortunately. I'm not sure if I should refresh with introduction to chemistry or if i should jump into general chemistry. If I should choose to go into gen chemistry, how many hours should I take to study the course?

I was in a similar boat as you but decided to start with gen chem. Was in way over my head even from the start and ended up getting < 30 on my first test. LUCKILY my school had an option to “drop down” to an intro chem class after the first gen chem test. So I did that and got an A because it was very basic material. The key thing I did though was I kept going to class for gen chem, despite not being enrolled in it anymore. I just went to take notes, hear explanations of topics, and get a little bit more familiar with the class before I attempted to take it again. THEN, when I took gen chem the next semester, I already had all the notes and had a much more solid grasp of the material, so I ended up doing very well in the class.

Regarding hours, there’s no set number. Just study to the point where you are very comfortable with the info and are able to do practice problems consistently well.

TLDR: if you’re shaky on chem, enroll in intro chem but also go to class for gen chem and take all the notes. Then, enroll in gen chem the following semester and study your butt off.

 

[MannyManny]

For you who is eventually going to be a medical student and a doctor? It really does not matter in the slightest.

Go with what you think you can do well in and learn from. Remember that 10 years from now, you'll have forgotten why you were worrying about this at all...

 

[Bonne Nuit]

If this is anything like my undergraduate institution, the "introduction to chemistry" course is likely to serve as a refresher course and will not function as a gen chem prerequisite for medical school application purposes.

I strongly recommend taking the intro/prep chem class before attempting gen chem given your background. I TAed for gen chem and we tried to funnel people with poor or remote chemistry experience into our 1 credit preparation course. Those who didn't listen and enrolled in gen chem anyway failed out at an incredibly high rate.

You need your grades to be as high as possible as a premed, so do everything you can to set yourself up for success.

 

[Destalchemy]

I took placement classes at 26 for english and math but there was no equivalent for science. I had no choice at my school because even though I had got an A in honors chem my sophomore year, it was more than 3 years ago.

I would have chosen intro chem anyway. Chem is hard and is a weed out course. Not knowing the basics that were expected of you would have sucked. I have no doubt it's possible to study on your own to prep for gen chem, but it's your (our) first semester of college. We arent expected to be able to study on our own like that yet. That prep for autonomy of studying med school material will come in the next 4 years.

And my school apparently saw a high enough fail rate in gen chem (CC for what its worth) that they made intro chem mandatory. Just my 2 c. Look at it as a GPA booster.

 

[rchapman200]

Hi, I'm new here! I'm making my schedule for next semester and I'm concerned with what I should do?

I'm shakey with chemistry. High school chemistry I didn't do the greatest in, unfortunately. I'm not sure if I should refresh with introduction to chemistry or if i should jump into general chemistry. If I should choose to go into gen chemistry, how many hours should I take to study the course?

I only recently decided to switch to pre-med, so I had only taken my major's chem requiremetns: my school's equivalent of intro to chem (fundamentals of chemistry) as well as fundamentals of organic chemistry. Now I have to go back and take gen chem 1 and 2 as well as organic 1 and 2 which will require me to take a gap year after my undergraduate.

I struggled a bit in high school chemistry as well, but taking after taking fundamentals, I feel like I generally understand the concepts a lot more. I'm going into gen chem 1 next semester, and I'm not worried at all. Those fundamental courses required a decent amount of work, but should transfer over well to the actual courses.

If you want to slam through undergrad quickly, go right into gen chem. I don't think it will be as hard as you think. Just make sure you do enough practice to gain a good understanding of the class. But if you're nervous and have other tough classes, go for the intro. It can't hurt, right?

Just remember, we're not in a rush. You're not punching any time clock to be a physician, and if you have to take some extra time in order to accurately prep yourself, then that's totally okay!

Good luck!

 

[HouseKrita]

I was in a similar boat as you but decided to start with gen chem. Was in way over my head even from the start and ended up getting < 30 on my first test. LUCKILY my school had an option to “drop down” to an intro chem class after the first gen chem test. So I did that and got an A because it was very basic material. The key thing I did though was I kept going to class for gen chem, despite not being enrolled in it anymore. I just went to take notes, hear explanations of topics, and get a little bit more familiar with the class before I attempted to take it again. THEN, when I took gen chem the next semester, I already had all the notes and had a much more solid grasp of the material, so I ended up doing very well in the class.

Regarding hours, there’s no set number. Just study to the point where you are very comfortable with the info and are able to do practice problems consistently well.

TLDR: if you’re shaky on chem, enroll in intro chem but also go to class for gen chem and take all the notes. Then, enroll in gen chem the following semester and study your butt off.

Thats a very good idea! I've been struggling with chemistry in high school because I kept on accidentally reversing my equations (which is a mistake I've been trying to correct) and stoichometry/balancing equations. That should help!

 

[chemphysicsinstructor]

Hi, I'm new here! I'm making my schedule for next semester and I'm concerned with what I should do?

I'm shakey with chemistry. High school chemistry I didn't do the greatest in, unfortunately. I'm not sure if I should refresh with introduction to chemistry or if i should jump into general chemistry. If I should choose to go into gen chemistry, how many hours should I take to study the course?

From the perspective of a chemistry instructor....I strongly recommend taking the introduction to chemistry course before starting the general chemistry sequence. I give this advice routinely to students who come to college with little or no background in college. I also make this recommendation for students who have been out of school for awhile. A refresher course will definitely help you in the long run.

If you do choose to go into general chem directly, be prepared to spend at least twice as much time as the average student would have to spend on the material.

 

[jamaica jan sun princess]

I hadn't taken chemistry before college but still made As in both I and II. I did spend a ton of time studying though.

 

[TheDancingWriter]

I hadn't taken chemistry before college but still made As in both I and II. I did spend a ton of time studying though.

I think I just had a really good professor who didn't try to scare us. But I also didn't want to spend more money than I needed to since I was paying out of pocket for my pre-reqs.