Stuck in General Chemistry! Help!

[the Undergrad]

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Hey guys,

My situation w/chemistry is getting quite ugly and complexed. Heres the background:

-took it in hs...got a B..yay 🙄
-started intro chem (NOT GENERAL CHEM 1 !) my first sem (Fall 2001) at my community college...got a C..atleast I passed..
-Enrolled in General Chem 1 for first time in Spring 2002...thought it was the worst thing...dropped it with a "W"
-Okay, enrolled in General Chem 1 again for Fall 2002....this time completed it....with a D 😱 (63.5%, 65 is a C)...

The latest news:

-Come Spring 2003 (presently) and enrolled in General Chem 1....the semester is ending this Friday...i'm getting a D again!🙄 🙁 😱 😡 Now, only have a final this thurs as my final hope....

The reasons for everything:

-When I first took General Chem, I was workin at that time and was pretty new to the college life and thought it was the hardest course..agreed the teacher was very dry..but she explained well...i was a naive teenager and didn't think abt the future, med school, etc...wanted to get away w/the course plus i was workin as well...so I dropped it then...BIG MISTAKE, now when I think about it!!!!

-I took the course again the next semester....this time the professor was excellent....even i worked hard...did well on the quizzes and labs..but still i was never great in chem...i didn't do so well on the final and my grade dropped to 63.5% and 65 is a "C" passing....

-Now this semester I took the same course again, after receiving a "W" and a "D" earlier....but unfortunately, this time the prof was super hard and an extremely boring person...not organized at all....his lectures are out of place and exams extremely advanced....hence, my grade in this course is at a "D" as of now....the final exam is this thursday...

NOW TELL ME...What should I do?

What if I get a "D" again?

How do med schools look at it?

Anyone know if the "Ds" are gonna appear twice on my transcript or just once since its for the same course? (IMPORTANT quest)

Anyone been through a similar situation ???

I'm done with my Bio courses, my physics( one more sem to go), calculus, and GE reqs. But I am STUCK in chemistry...i just cant get through GENERAL CHEM 1...something or the other happens everytime...AND AT MY JC, THEY DON"T ALLOW A COURSE TO REPEATED MORE THAN TWICE!!!!

Please, I need some advice here....I have no idea...

 

[the Undergrad]

nobody?

 

[mh2002ny]

🙁

 

[Chronotropic]

If you get the D suck it up and just let it be. Move on and do well in chem 2 as well as orgo. You might have been able to get away with taking it once or twice and doing bad but a 3rd time and adcoms will start to wonder if you can handle science.
Cut your losses and just write the D(s) off as having a bad semester(s).

Now this semester I took the same course again, after receiving a "W" and a "D" earlier....but unfortunately, this time the prof was super hard and an extremely boring person...not organized at all....his lectures are out of place and exams extremely advanced....hence, my grade in this course is at a "D" as of now....the final exam is this thursday...

No offense but your grade is your doing. Don't blame your prof. Besides you have already had the class twice so having a bad prof is not an excuse.

 

[the Undergrad]

so, in a nutshell, all im asking is, how would med schools react if they see i have a "W" in gen. chem, then a "D," then another "D" in the same class...and then I repeat the course for the third time!?!? (Wait, thats IF my JC lets me repeat it for the third time )


Seriosly Im afraid now that my performance in this course will keep goin down becuz im sick of doin the same labs and hearin the same lectures...

i mean i do well in all my other clsses...As and Bs in Bio, A currently in calculus based Physics 1....

but for some reason, im stuck in general chem 1...

 

[the Undergrad]

Originally posted by danwsu
If you get the D suck it up and just let it be. Move on and do well in chem 2 as well as orgo. You might have been able to get away with taking it once or twice and doing bad but a 3rd time and adcoms will start to wonder if you can handle science.
Cut your losses and just write the D(s) off as having a bad semester(s).



No offense but your grade is your doing. Don't blame your prof. Besides you have already had the class twice so having a bad prof is not an excuse.

but thing is that i cant move on to general chem 2 w/o first passing this class!

Who knows, maybe I'll ace the final....

thanks anytways

 

[Ernham]

Dude, I'm not sure what you want to hear. If you can't retake it at that institution, you could try some other one.

However, I think you are putting the cart in front of the horse. The question you should be asking yourself is: why do you continue to do poorly in the course? Chemistry is all about doing problems. Get as many problems you can and do them until your hands bleed. When you do something wrong make sure you know WHAT you did wrong.

I don't know what to tell ya. Honestly, Your record is looking pretty poor. 🙁 I think it's going to be an quite obstacle for you.

 

[Chronotropic]

You have to have a "C" to move on?

Well if thats the case get off SDN and start cramming!!!!!

 

[mh2002ny]

Originally posted by the Undergrad
but thing is that i cant move on to general chem 2 w/o first passing this class!

Who knows, maybe I'll ace the final....

thanks anytways

You better ace the final. Study like you've never studied before. Get off here and get to work! Good luck!

 

[the Undergrad]

Wow so much for helpful advice...

but i guess this is the first time it has ever happened....

i guess im the exception...i guess something like this has never happened to anyone before...

out of so many ppl at SDN...wow...im the only one w/a unique situation? 😱 😱

I guess being stuck in general chem means you're a ******* and ur As in Bio and Physics don't count for anything..

to get to med school, everyone must be chem geniuses....

yeah thanks guys...thank u so much for makin me realize that chemistry is what counts...my A's in Bio and Physics dont mean a thing...yeahhhhhhhh

🙄

 

[the Undergrad]

And yeah, im gettin off SDN..

i shouldve never asked anyone....i feel a lot worse....

bye

 

[HessExpress]

Dude that's life...if gen chem is this bad for you wait for upper level stuff and even worse...med school! Just study your ass off and compensate the bad grade with solid e.c.'s...if you dwell on crap like this you'll just burn out. There's a million things you can do to fix this problem...change majors to say an "slightly" easier major, social science, to boost your overall GPA...take some cake science courses to boost the sciene GPA. List goes on.

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by the Undergrad
-Come Spring 2003 (presently) and enrolled in General Chem 1....the semester is ending this Friday...i'm getting a D again!🙄 🙁 😱 😡 Now, only have a final this thurs as my final hope....

I have a Master's degree in Chemistry. BUT, many years BEFORE I earned this degree, I was in a general chemistry class strugling to pass with a "C" I also got a "D" in the first semester course. As matter of fact I flunked Orgo I and II the first time I took them too!

Fast forward 6 years and I still want to go to medical school so I enroll in college as a Chemistry Major. My advisor almost laughed me out of his office so I chose another one. My mother didn''t believe I had actually earned the Bachelor's degree until she saw my diploma (which was months AFTER the graduation ceremony). With my new advisors support and some better study habits, I not only did much better in these classes which I had to repeat, but I was hired by the department to tutor other students taking general and organic chemistry. A few years after that, I was accepted MD/PhD but passed on matriculation for personal reasons.

So the moral of the story is if I could do it, so can you !!

Good Luck and I hope you feel better !!!!!

 

[~EnnI~]

undergrad,

study your butt off and shoot for the C. if you can't do it, then i suggest you figure out what to tell adcoms. take it again for the 3rd time...and the 3rd time, you HAVE to do REALLY well. if not, adcoms are going to question your ability to handle med school...

good luck😉

 

[CH3CH2OH]

hi, i'm assuming ur still in a cc
ok, gchem is not easy, bot not impossible (way easier than physics if u ask me, lol).
as far as ur transcript goes, all ur Ds and Ws will be there, but only the highest grade will factor into ur gpa. now, ur school may not let u repeat the class more than twice, so be careful. if u do take it in another school, both the grade from ur current school (the D) and whatever u get in the other school will factor into ur gpa, in other words, better repeat in ur school.
as far as passing ur class goes, is there a tutorial center in ur school? if there is u can get free or very cheap tutoring from students who took the class before. also study ur a$$ off, go to ur professor's office hours, etc. if u have the time, try going to lecture b4 u take the class, both to get a head start on the material (which is probably not very applicable to u, lol) and to see whether u like the instructor. speaking of instructors, i know this is not easy, but ask around and take a good, or at least an easy one. also try to set ut priorities accordingly, maybe work less hours or take less classes... i know this is real life, and things like that are easier said than done🙁

good luck

 

[Lebesgue]

How many credits are you loading up with?

Maybe back off a little and concentrate on the important classes...

🙂

 

[ShaylaFinn]

Things to consider - some med schools *require* that all prereqs be completed at 4 yr universities and not at junior or comm. colleges. And most require that all prereqs be completed with a grade of C or higher. Also, regardless of how your school computes GPA, AMCAS counts ALL attempts (incl. repeats) when computing GPA - and this is the GPA that the med schools will see on your application.

With that said, don't let one class (or in this case the chem sequence) sway you from your desire to pursue medicine, if that's what you really want to do. Yeah, the MCAT is loaded with chem so you'll have to face it again. But people do get admitted with Cs and even Ds on their transcripts, so it can be done. Good luck.

 

[WorkOnIt]

I'm taking Chem for the second time right now. i withdrew the first time. Chemistry isnt that hard, is it? all u really have to do is put the work into it.

 

[~EnnI~]

Originally posted by ShaylaFinn
Things to consider - some med schools *require* that all prereqs be completed at 4 yr universities and not at junior or comm. colleges. And most require that all prereqs be completed with a grade of C or higher. Also, regardless of how your school computes GPA, AMCAS counts ALL attempts (incl. repeats) when computing GPA - and this is the GPA that the med schools will see on your application.

With that said, don't let one class (or in this case the chem sequence) sway you from your desire to pursue medicine, if that's what you really want to do. Yeah, the MCAT is loaded with chem so you'll have to face it again. But people do get admitted with Cs and even Ds on their transcripts, so it can be done. Good luck.

really? i had no idea...how shallow. if you know which schools, please, let me know so i can avoid applyin to them and wasting my money.

 

[An Yong]

What I find confusing is the fact that the OP did so well in physics and calculus yet has so many problems with GC. It just seems like a very strange and rare situation.

 

[supersunny]

Originally posted by An Yong
What I find confusing is the fact that the OP did so well in physics and calculus yet has so many problems with GC. It just seems like a very strange and rare situation.

it's probably more common than you think. i know quite a few people who had problems with gen. chem but aced calc and did well in physics. i think with me it was due to disinterest in the subject.