Who else thinks GEN CHEM is hardest science section?

[axp107]

Wow, I mean.. I did well in the class

But.. gen chem is just hard lol..

i find it harder than o chem, physics, and bio. Anyone else think this?

And I don't know why. I see a chemical reaction with coefficients and moles, a kinetics rate, and change in enthalpy sign ... and I freak out...

But when I see a nice orgo reaction, I get a nice, warm fuzzy feeling in my heart

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[Phoenix.]

I never thought I'd think that either (figured physics would be killing me), but I'm having the same experience. I think it's because gen chem was the first prereq I took, so it's a bit further back in my memory. Also, there tends to be a lot more multiplying and dividing and squaring numbers in scientific notation, which really kills me without a calculator no matter how many times I practice and read EK's math help section. I'm always off by some silly amount and pick the wrong answer.

Someone suggested this site for great gen chem practice/explanations, which looks good, but I've yet to really peruse it:

http://www2.wwnorton.com/college/chemistry/gilbert/home.htm

 

[MSTPbound]

Wow, I mean.. I did well in the class

But.. gen chem is just hard lol..

It's funny, but I had a similar experience going into prep. I think the MCAT just seemed to heavily weigh some areas I hadn't covered in as much depth in my G. Chem class - so I just identified the areas I felt especially weak in and (against the advice of my MCAT instructor ) dove into my textbook and turned those weaknesses into strengths... had to catch up on a lot of Electrochem, and certain aspects of chemical kinetics and equilbirium, and acid/base chemistry.

Try to identify whether you're just getting tripped up on certain gen chem areas consistently, and addressing them may start to open up the section to you a little more. I was counting on G. Chem to make up a solid portion of my PS score, so I just worked on it until it was as easy as I felt like it *should* have been.

Good !

-MSTPbound

 

[poly800rock]

gen chem is way harder than organic chem imo. the memorization of the laws is what kills me, they just keep throwing them at you. as opposed to organic, where there are some fundamental laws, and everything follows that, ie. plus attract minus, stability, etc.

 

[killinsound]

i hate general chem

i LOVED organic chem

im a huge nerd

 

[mrgoodkat]

I feel like gen chem goes the farthest in depth of all the science sections, which makes it very intimidating. However, with a little extra attention, you can turn those tricky concepts into your strengths and win some great points off of it. In my study time, it went from by far my lowest subsection, to the highest.

 

[MDAdam]

I found gen. chem the hardest because I took it my freshman year. I took o. chem my sophomore/junior year, physics the summer before my junior year, and I am a bio major which made that material easier to review.

 

[LuoYing]

i hate general chem

i LOVED organic chem

im a huge nerd

Right there with you. I took an accelerated organic chemistry summer course (a year of class in a summer), and I think I was the only one who was having fun.

I don't know if I hated gen chem, but it's certainly annoying that half of the 'rules' you learn aren't actually rules, but vague guidelines for specific situations.

 

[trustforward]

i hate general chem

i LOVED organic chem

im a huge nerd

agreed!

...and b/c I'm far more comfortable w/ O chem (and for the obvious reason that this topic is covered by less than 25% of BS), i haven't devoted nearly any time to review it and unsurprisingly, not getting as many items correct in practice tests as I should.

but yeah, i for sure love o chem more then it's crummy, inorganic counterpart

 

[Green Pirate]

I don't know if I hated gen chem, but it's certainly annoying that half of the 'rules' you learn aren't actually rules, but vague guidelines for specific situations.

wow I thought I was the only one who felt like this. I hated all those exceptions to the 'rules' we had to memorize.

 

[AGDJenni]

I totally agree. I HATE with all passions of passions General Chemistry.....especially Gen. Chem II.

I would much rather do orgo or even physics!

 

[soulspokn]

I guess the way that g chem and physics were taught at UCI, there was a ton of overlap.... So i guess I hated both. I much prefer ochem-- you can be intuitive there. Theres not much intuition when youre plug and chugging.

 

[Jimmy Paige]

gen chem is def the most intimidating science section. Verbal in my opinion is the hardest section tho. no matter what I do I cant score higher!

 

[GoldenSword]

Gen Chem questions are not all that bad compared to Physics.
But you can't generalize, one could be harder than the other
depending on what you get.