General Chemistry is my weakness and I am really struggling on this section. I am currently using Bootcamp's questions and I find them much harder than Chad's quizzes. What tips do you guys have and what is your strategy for this section?
What are your suggestions for someone that is really struggling with the Gen Chem section
- Thread starter yh4747
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Keep going over Chad's videos. If you're having trouble, you can PM me. I'm a Gchem peer tutor at my school 🙂
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WARNING: VERY LONG POST
Gen. CHem was a nightmare for me. Not because the material was necessarily hard, but because of personal circumstances, I was not able to devote enough time to studying. Long story short, I had to retake both Gen.Chem 1 and 2.....and that was 2 years prior to taking the DATS, so as you can imagine, I didn't remember much. Thought I was going to bomb that section on the DATs, but actually ended up scoring 25.
Materials used: my college textbook, Chad's videos, and the DAT destroyer (the combo book. no need to buy the chem. destroyer) ; in that order.
-My suggestion would be to use your textbook, and skip to the chapters that just have material to be understood and memorized. Chapters 1 (intro: matter & measurements), 2 (atoms, molecules, and ions), 7(periodic properties of the elements), 8(basic concepts of chemical bonding), 9(molecular geometry), 23(nuclear chemistry).
--> the material from these chapters is mostly conceptual. no need to memorize formulas. Just rules. I outlined each chapter and made flash cards, which I reviewed right before I was about to tackle a new chapter. (some say that given that there is too much information to cover, you only have time to go over the material once, memorize and move on. Moving on is easy, but remembering what you reviewed 5 chapters ago isn't. I found that if I spent an extra 30 min. everyday, reviewing outlines from the previous chapters, I was able to remember the material better, and actually make connections between the different concepts found in the various chapters).
*** at least a 1/3 (10Qs!)of your DAT questions for Gen. Chem. section will come from these chapters. So make sure you remember whats what in them.
--> After outlining each chapter, I would watch Chad's videos and include any key information he would give, in my outlines. Chad's videos are awesome in that they are short, straight to the point, and present the type of questions that you are likely to see. I would make sure to copy the examples he gave (2-4 examples per section; so you really know what to focus on), and made sure to memorize them. I would then go back to the chapter covered, and do as many questions that resembled Chad-type examples as possible.
---> once I had the purly conceptual chapters down I started tackle the ugly stuff. From here on out tackle the material, as it is ordered in Chad's Video,
ex. (CHAD) G3- Gases & Phases = (TXTbk) Ch. 3 - Stochiometry , Ch. 10 (Gases) etc.
With G3 onward, Watch Chad's videos, and then outline/read up on your textbook. The whole idea of outlining the chapter (which shouldn't be more than 3 pages long), is that you will be consistently reading through them during the course of your DAT prep, making key/necessary info constantly available to you.
-->after your 50% done reviewing the gen. chem material, start doing the questions from the destroyer chem section, along with the outlining & chad's videos
***. Destroyer chem. section is has tons of information. don't be discouraged if you are getting many questions wrong because your focus should be on the answers, which are facts/pieces of information that you should know. make flash cards from key info that you find in the destroyer gen chem, that you had not noted in your outlines, or that you never learned, forgot, or just thought irrelevant, Because if its in the destroyer, it may appear on the actual DAT in one way or another. Don't just memorize the answers to the questions, make sure to understand why every other answer was wrong.
- make flash cards for specific questions that stood out to you, or you had struggled with, along with the solutions; and just plain memorize them. (I got at least 3 questions on my DAT that were same type of Q's for which I made flash cards).
I know it sounds crazy, but I did it. lol. I studied for the DATs for 3.5 months straight, 5-6 days a week. Sun. & M were my Gen Chem days. T & W were my ORgo days. TH. & Friday were my Bio. days. Soo, I ended up doing a single subject only 2x a week (otherwise I would die from boredom!).
For Gen Chem day, I would make sure to outline 1-2 chapters/day + watch the corresponding Chad video. +make flash cards + review all outlines from previous chapters. Took about 2 - 2.5 months to finish reviewing/outlining ALL the general chemistry material. the remaining month, I reviewed all my outlines + Chads examples & solutions (which I notes down) + DESTRoyer questions!!
Hope I was of help. Sorry for long response.
Gen. CHem was a nightmare for me. Not because the material was necessarily hard, but because of personal circumstances, I was not able to devote enough time to studying. Long story short, I had to retake both Gen.Chem 1 and 2.....and that was 2 years prior to taking the DATS, so as you can imagine, I didn't remember much. Thought I was going to bomb that section on the DATs, but actually ended up scoring 25.
Materials used: my college textbook, Chad's videos, and the DAT destroyer (the combo book. no need to buy the chem. destroyer) ; in that order.
-My suggestion would be to use your textbook, and skip to the chapters that just have material to be understood and memorized. Chapters 1 (intro: matter & measurements), 2 (atoms, molecules, and ions), 7(periodic properties of the elements), 8(basic concepts of chemical bonding), 9(molecular geometry), 23(nuclear chemistry).
--> the material from these chapters is mostly conceptual. no need to memorize formulas. Just rules. I outlined each chapter and made flash cards, which I reviewed right before I was about to tackle a new chapter. (some say that given that there is too much information to cover, you only have time to go over the material once, memorize and move on. Moving on is easy, but remembering what you reviewed 5 chapters ago isn't. I found that if I spent an extra 30 min. everyday, reviewing outlines from the previous chapters, I was able to remember the material better, and actually make connections between the different concepts found in the various chapters).
*** at least a 1/3 (10Qs!)of your DAT questions for Gen. Chem. section will come from these chapters. So make sure you remember whats what in them.
--> After outlining each chapter, I would watch Chad's videos and include any key information he would give, in my outlines. Chad's videos are awesome in that they are short, straight to the point, and present the type of questions that you are likely to see. I would make sure to copy the examples he gave (2-4 examples per section; so you really know what to focus on), and made sure to memorize them. I would then go back to the chapter covered, and do as many questions that resembled Chad-type examples as possible.
---> once I had the purly conceptual chapters down I started tackle the ugly stuff. From here on out tackle the material, as it is ordered in Chad's Video,
ex. (CHAD) G3- Gases & Phases = (TXTbk) Ch. 3 - Stochiometry , Ch. 10 (Gases) etc.
With G3 onward, Watch Chad's videos, and then outline/read up on your textbook. The whole idea of outlining the chapter (which shouldn't be more than 3 pages long), is that you will be consistently reading through them during the course of your DAT prep, making key/necessary info constantly available to you.
-->after your 50% done reviewing the gen. chem material, start doing the questions from the destroyer chem section, along with the outlining & chad's videos
***. Destroyer chem. section is has tons of information. don't be discouraged if you are getting many questions wrong because your focus should be on the answers, which are facts/pieces of information that you should know. make flash cards from key info that you find in the destroyer gen chem, that you had not noted in your outlines, or that you never learned, forgot, or just thought irrelevant, Because if its in the destroyer, it may appear on the actual DAT in one way or another. Don't just memorize the answers to the questions, make sure to understand why every other answer was wrong.
- make flash cards for specific questions that stood out to you, or you had struggled with, along with the solutions; and just plain memorize them. (I got at least 3 questions on my DAT that were same type of Q's for which I made flash cards).
I know it sounds crazy, but I did it. lol. I studied for the DATs for 3.5 months straight, 5-6 days a week. Sun. & M were my Gen Chem days. T & W were my ORgo days. TH. & Friday were my Bio. days. Soo, I ended up doing a single subject only 2x a week (otherwise I would die from boredom!).
For Gen Chem day, I would make sure to outline 1-2 chapters/day + watch the corresponding Chad video. +make flash cards + review all outlines from previous chapters. Took about 2 - 2.5 months to finish reviewing/outlining ALL the general chemistry material. the remaining month, I reviewed all my outlines + Chads examples & solutions (which I notes down) + DESTRoyer questions!!
Hope I was of help. Sorry for long response.
WARNING: VERY LONG POST
Gen. CHem was a nightmare for me. Not because the material was necessarily hard, but because of personal circumstances, I was not able to devote enough time to studying. Long story short, I had to retake both Gen.Chem 1 and 2.....and that was 2 years prior to taking the DATS, so as you can imagine, I didn't remember much. Thought I was going to bomb that section on the DATs, but actually ended up scoring 25.
Materials used: my college textbook, Chad's videos, and the DAT destroyer (the combo book. no need to buy the chem. destroyer) ; in that order.
-My suggestion would be to use your textbook, and skip to the chapters that just have material to be understood and memorized. Chapters 1 (intro: matter & measurements), 2 (atoms, molecules, and ions), 7(periodic properties of the elements), 8(basic concepts of chemical bonding), 9(molecular geometry), 23(nuclear chemistry).
--> the material from these chapters is mostly conceptual. no need to memorize formulas. Just rules. I outlined each chapter and made flash cards, which I reviewed right before I was about to tackle a new chapter. (some say that given that there is too much information to cover, you only have time to go over the material once, memorize and move on. Moving on is easy, but remembering what you reviewed 5 chapters ago isn't. I found that if I spent an extra 30 min. everyday, reviewing outlines from the previous chapters, I was able to remember the material better, and actually make connections between the different concepts found in the various chapters).
*** at least a 1/3 (10Qs!)of your DAT questions for Gen. Chem. section will come from these chapters. So make sure you remember whats what in them.
--> After outlining each chapter, I would watch Chad's videos and include any key information he would give, in my outlines. Chad's videos are awesome in that they are short, straight to the point, and present the type of questions that you are likely to see. I would make sure to copy the examples he gave (2-4 examples per section; so you really know what to focus on), and made sure to memorize them. I would then go back to the chapter covered, and do as many questions that resembled Chad-type examples as possible.
---> once I had the purly conceptual chapters down I started tackle the ugly stuff. From here on out tackle the material, as it is ordered in Chad's Video,
ex. (CHAD) G3- Gases & Phases = (TXTbk) Ch. 3 - Stochiometry , Ch. 10 (Gases) etc.
With G3 onward, Watch Chad's videos, and then outline/read up on your textbook. The whole idea of outlining the chapter (which shouldn't be more than 3 pages long), is that you will be consistently reading through them during the course of your DAT prep, making key/necessary info constantly available to you.
-->after your 50% done reviewing the gen. chem material, start doing the questions from the destroyer chem section, along with the outlining & chad's videos
***. Destroyer chem. section is has tons of information. don't be discouraged if you are getting many questions wrong because your focus should be on the answers, which are facts/pieces of information that you should know. make flash cards from key info that you find in the destroyer gen chem, that you had not noted in your outlines, or that you never learned, forgot, or just thought irrelevant, Because if its in the destroyer, it may appear on the actual DAT in one way or another. Don't just memorize the answers to the questions, make sure to understand why every other answer was wrong.
- make flash cards for specific questions that stood out to you, or you had struggled with, along with the solutions; and just plain memorize them. (I got at least 3 questions on my DAT that were same type of Q's for which I made flash cards).
I know it sounds crazy, but I did it. lol. I studied for the DATs for 3.5 months straight, 5-6 days a week. Sun. & M were my Gen Chem days. T & W were my ORgo days. TH. & Friday were my Bio. days. Soo, I ended up doing a single subject only 2x a week (otherwise I would die from boredom!).
For Gen Chem day, I would make sure to outline 1-2 chapters/day + watch the corresponding Chad video. +make flash cards + review all outlines from previous chapters. Took about 2 - 2.5 months to finish reviewing/outlining ALL the general chemistry material. the remaining month, I reviewed all my outlines + Chads examples & solutions (which I notes down) + DESTRoyer questions!!
Hope I was of help. Sorry for long response.
Wow your hard work paid off! Can I be a little greedy and ask how you prepared for the other sections?
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WARNING: VERY LONG POST
Gen. CHem was a nightmare for me. Not because the material was necessarily hard, but because of personal circumstances, I was not able to devote enough time to studying. Long story short, I had to retake both Gen.Chem 1 and 2.....and that was 2 years prior to taking the DATS, so as you can imagine, I didn't remember much. Thought I was going to bomb that section on the DATs, but actually ended up scoring 25.
Materials used: my college textbook, Chad's videos, and the DAT destroyer (the combo book. no need to buy the chem. destroyer) ; in that order.
-My suggestion would be to use your textbook, and skip to the chapters that just have material to be understood and memorized. Chapters 1 (intro: matter & measurements), 2 (atoms, molecules, and ions), 7(periodic properties of the elements), 8(basic concepts of chemical bonding), 9(molecular geometry), 23(nuclear chemistry).
--> the material from these chapters is mostly conceptual. no need to memorize formulas. Just rules. I outlined each chapter and made flash cards, which I reviewed right before I was about to tackle a new chapter. (some say that given that there is too much information to cover, you only have time to go over the material once, memorize and move on. Moving on is easy, but remembering what you reviewed 5 chapters ago isn't. I found that if I spent an extra 30 min. everyday, reviewing outlines from the previous chapters, I was able to remember the material better, and actually make connections between the different concepts found in the various chapters).
*** at least a 1/3 (10Qs!)of your DAT questions for Gen. Chem. section will come from these chapters. So make sure you remember whats what in them.
--> After outlining each chapter, I would watch Chad's videos and include any key information he would give, in my outlines. Chad's videos are awesome in that they are short, straight to the point, and present the type of questions that you are likely to see. I would make sure to copy the examples he gave (2-4 examples per section; so you really know what to focus on), and made sure to memorize them. I would then go back to the chapter covered, and do as many questions that resembled Chad-type examples as possible.
---> once I had the purly conceptual chapters down I started tackle the ugly stuff. From here on out tackle the material, as it is ordered in Chad's Video,
ex. (CHAD) G3- Gases & Phases = (TXTbk) Ch. 3 - Stochiometry , Ch. 10 (Gases) etc.
With G3 onward, Watch Chad's videos, and then outline/read up on your textbook. The whole idea of outlining the chapter (which shouldn't be more than 3 pages long), is that you will be consistently reading through them during the course of your DAT prep, making key/necessary info constantly available to you.
-->after your 50% done reviewing the gen. chem material, start doing the questions from the destroyer chem section, along with the outlining & chad's videos
***. Destroyer chem. section is has tons of information. don't be discouraged if you are getting many questions wrong because your focus should be on the answers, which are facts/pieces of information that you should know. make flash cards from key info that you find in the destroyer gen chem, that you had not noted in your outlines, or that you never learned, forgot, or just thought irrelevant, Because if its in the destroyer, it may appear on the actual DAT in one way or another. Don't just memorize the answers to the questions, make sure to understand why every other answer was wrong.
- make flash cards for specific questions that stood out to you, or you had struggled with, along with the solutions; and just plain memorize them. (I got at least 3 questions on my DAT that were same type of Q's for which I made flash cards).
I know it sounds crazy, but I did it. lol. I studied for the DATs for 3.5 months straight, 5-6 days a week. Sun. & M were my Gen Chem days. T & W were my ORgo days. TH. & Friday were my Bio. days. Soo, I ended up doing a single subject only 2x a week (otherwise I would die from boredom!).
For Gen Chem day, I would make sure to outline 1-2 chapters/day + watch the corresponding Chad video. +make flash cards + review all outlines from previous chapters. Took about 2 - 2.5 months to finish reviewing/outlining ALL the general chemistry material. the remaining month, I reviewed all my outlines + Chads examples & solutions (which I notes down) + DESTRoyer questions!!
Hope I was of help. Sorry for long response.
Thank you Innadental15 for your very informative post. It will help a lot of students. You clearly understood General Chemistry was your weakness and through hard work turned it into a strength with a huge 25 in the section. As I suggest to our students focus on learning and don't be discouraged when you are studying if you don't know an answer. While studying that is the time to discover a weakness, not on test day. The DAT is a very challenging test and there are many different versions, you clearly understood that and prepared property.
Congratulations and keep us posted on interviews and acceptances.
Nancy
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Thanks! I appreciate it. Now I'm just trying to figure out how to tackle Biochemistry.
