Will B's in both organics hurt a nonscience major?

[beebreezy]

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[LizLemongrab]

Your GPA is gorgeous. If you're informally taking pre-reqs, I think you'll be fine. I think you also might be underestimating your ability to do ochem 2. Provided most of your other pre-reqs are A/A- and a good standardized test score with satisfactory completion of all the other application stuff, you'll be fine.

It's not like some adcom is going to be like mmmmmm everything is perfect... a B in ochem!? UNACCEPTABLE!!!

 

[MedWonk]

I am a post-bacc student with a liberal arts degree, so I don't have that many courses that will factor into my science and math GPA. Right now, I have a 3.96 overall GPA and a 4.0 math and science. However, I'm currently enrolled in physics 1 and ochem 1, and well...ochem could be going better. I made A's on the first two exams and then a 64 on the third one. This was after spending twelve hours at a time studying some days and working literally 40 pages worth the problems. I'm not sure I have it in me to grasp mechanisms at this point, which worries me since that is all the second semester is. An A isn't completely off the table since we still have our final, but it's not incredibly likely. Realistically speaking, there's a good chance I won't be able to pull that A in ochem 2 either.

How badly will this affect me? I'm doing well in all of the other prereqs and am about 95% confident I got an A in the lab portion of ochem 1 (There's always the chance I somehow completely screwed up the final, but I think it went okay. )

It'll affect you none. Possibly less than none. For real, you need to relax.

 

[beebreezy]

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[AM508]

One semester of Organic Chem was the only thing I ever got a C in...It was brought up only in passing once by only one interviewer at one interview and was never brought up at any of my other interviews. I think you are fine with a couple of B's😉.

 

[beebreezy]

Rule 1: Take a Breath.

This is a long, complicated, marathon and if you stress over over foot step in the miles of route, you will drive yourself nuts

I take lots of breaths! Doesn't help. 😛 I probably need anxiety meds or...something.

 

[Deranged Medic]

Your GPA is gorgeous. If you're informally taking pre-reqs, I think you'll be fine. I think you also might be underestimating your ability to do ochem 2. Provided most of your other pre-reqs are A/A- and a good standardized test score with satisfactory completion of all the other application stuff, you'll be fine.

It's not like some adcom is going to be like mmmmmm everything is perfect... a B in ochem!? UNACCEPTABLE!!!

I concur with the statement regarding Ochem 2. My Ochem 2 class was completely different (and easier) than Ochem 1.

 

[iatros13]

I'm in Ochem II and taking my final on Wed. I pulled a B- in first semester. Ochem II isn't really HARDER - they just throw reactions at you faster. In retrospect - if I had spent some of the mini break I had between the two classes solidifying what I had learned in Ochem I, I would be struggling less now. But I work a lot and I know I don't study enough.

I recognize that doesn't really help you much OP - I just thought I would commiserate a little bit.. lol

It is so beautiful to hear that this one class isn't going to keep me out of med school if I get a C. Cuz, did I mention final in two days?

Ok - back to studying!

 

[beebreezy]

I hope you guys are right on ochem 2 not being too bad and potentially being a little easier! I just figured if it's mechanisms that get me, I'm kind of doomed in that class. Based on ratemyprofessor ratings, the general consensus seems to be that the professor I have is fairly difficult but good about basing exams on the homework (which my prof now is kind of terrible about), so here's to hoping. I am taking it over the summer, which kind of sucks. :/ Have to so I can fit biochem in the following semester (thanks, new MCAT! 😡 ).

Good luck, iastros! I have my final in two days as well. Currently in the library buried in the ACS study guide, speaking of which, does anyone have any opinions on the helpfulness of the guide? Is studying it alone sufficient? Do I need to review lecture notes as well? Is the guide a waste of time?

 

[AM508]

I hope you guys are right on ochem 2 not being too bad and potentially being a little easier! I just figured if it's mechanisms that get me, I'm kind of doomed in that class. Based on ratemyprofessor ratings, the general consensus seems to be that the professor I have is fairly difficult but good about basing exams on the homework (which my prof now is kind of terrible about), so here's to hoping. I am taking it over the summer, which kind of sucks. :/ Have to so I can fit biochem in the following semester (thanks, new MCAT! 😡 ).

Good luck, iastros! I have my final in two days as well. Currently in the library buried in the ACS study guide, speaking of which, does anyone have any opinions on the helpfulness of the guide? Is studying it alone sufficient? Do I need to review lecture notes as well? Is the guide a waste of time?

I, for one, found Organic II harder...but that is just me.

I know that I studied my lecture notes and the ACS materials. But in the case of my school, they felt the ACS multiple choice test was not sufficient, so we took that, turned it in and then they gave use a departmental exam with 5 or 6 big mechanism and synthesis questions and our grade was the combined points of the ACS exam and the departmental questions....Ugh...I hated Organic.

 

[Goro]

It won't kill you, but you do need to ace your other coursework.

I am a post-bacc student with a liberal arts degree, so I don't have that many courses that will factor into my science and math GPA. Right now, I have a 3.96 overall GPA and a 4.0 math and science. However, I'm currently enrolled in physics 1 and ochem 1, and well...ochem could be going better. I made A's on the first two exams and then a 64 on the third one. This was after spending twelve hours at a time studying some days and working literally 40 pages worth the problems. I'm not sure I have it in me to grasp mechanisms at this point, which worries me since that is all the second semester is. An A isn't completely off the table since we still have our final, but it's not incredibly likely. Realistically speaking, there's a good chance I won't be able to pull that A in ochem 2 either.

How badly will this affect me? I'm doing well in all of the other prereqs and am about 95% confident I got an A in the lab portion of ochem 1 (There's always the chance I somehow completely screwed up the final, but I think it went okay. )

 

[Deranged Medic]

I hope you guys are right on ochem 2 not being too bad and potentially being a little easier! I just figured if it's mechanisms that get me, I'm kind of doomed in that class. Based on ratemyprofessor ratings, the general consensus seems to be that the professor I have is fairly difficult but good about basing exams on the homework (which my prof now is kind of terrible about), so here's to hoping. I am taking it over the summer, which kind of sucks. :/ Have to so I can fit biochem in the following semester (thanks, new MCAT! 😡 ).

Good luck, iastros! I have my final in two days as well. Currently in the library buried in the ACS study guide, speaking of which, does anyone have any opinions on the helpfulness of the guide? Is studying it alone sufficient? Do I need to review lecture notes as well? Is the guide a waste of time?

I took both Ochems in 12 weeks over the summer. I feel your pain. Enjoy!

 

[beebreezy]

I just logged into my account and saw "A" next to Organic Chemistry on my student record!! Had to gloat somewhere, as I recently deactivated my Facebook. 😛

Honestly, I'm torn. On one hand, grades are grades in the game that is med school admissions, and organic chemistry is just a hoop in ways. On the other hand, I didn't earn that and wonder if the fact that I started mildly tearing up in her office after seeing my last exam made her pity me (We had to go to her office to see our grades because she wasn't able to be there the last day of classes. Even I was surprised by this and tried to make a quick escape because I was so embarrassed). Based on my calculations, I needed a 95 on the ACS final to remain in the A range. I know I didn't make that, and my school doesn't scale the scores on that exam (I asked). She did say that if we were close to being in the range of the next letter grade, she would bump us up as long as we've been attending class, but there's no way I was even close unless I got REALLY lucky on the ACS questions I was unsure of.

 

[AM508]

Well I wouldn't worry about it 😛. It is possible that they tweaked the final class grade cut offs a little. I had a few instructors that would not scale exams, but in the end they would decide what constituted each letter grade based on the point distribution of the class.

 

[beebreezy]

Well I wouldn't worry about it 😛. It is possible that they tweaked the final class grade cut offs a little. I had a few instructors that would not scale exams, but in the end they would decide what constituted each letter grade based on the point ng distribution of the class.

I think she does do this to an extent because a girl in my physics lab group told me she was afraid she would fail her class only to wind up with a B. I just didn't believe it because she never gave any indication that she was in the business of scaling final scores. 😛

Since I had some trouble finding info on other people's experiences with the ACS study guide, just figured I'd say READ IT to anyone who has to take it and is reading this. It's more helpful for learning to crack the test format than anything. For instance, a trend I noticed in the practice problems was that if there were two very similar answers, it was basically always one of those two, which raises your chances from 25% to 50% when you don't have a clue.

 

[iatros13]

Well... I got a C+ in ORGO II. Had a B in ORGO I. I do not think I have ever been pleased with a C before... But with so much stress and stuff I have been through over this semester, I am thankful I survived it and didn't do worse. I am a little ashamed of feeling that way, because my grades are important to me. I guess I won't be getting a rec letter from that professor - which stinks because I really like her. But it is behind me - on to the next classes and studying for MCAT during the second half of summer break.

I just had to share this with others who understand my pain. Thanks for listening 🙂

 

[beebreezy]

Well... I got a C+ in ORGO II. Had a B in ORGO I. I do not think I have ever been pleased with a C before... But with so much stress and stuff I have been through over this semester, I am thankful I survived it and didn't do worse. I am a little ashamed of feeling that way, because my grades are important to me. I guess I won't be getting a rec letter from that professor - which stinks because I really like her. But it is behind me - on to the next classes and studying for MCAT during the second half of summer break.

I just had to share this with others who understand my pain. Thanks for listening 🙂

Well, congrats on being done with the dreadful subject! I look forward to the day when I can say I have officially survived organic. 😛 And you never know! My organic professor actually told us any of us could ask for letters of rec regardless of our grade because it said something that we even still kept coming to class (by the end of the semester, half the seats were empty).

 

[KaBoom'd]

Your GPA is gorgeous. If you're informally taking pre-reqs, I think you'll be fine. I think you also might be underestimating your ability to do ochem 2. Provided most of your other pre-reqs are A/A- and a good standardized test score with satisfactory completion of all the other application stuff, you'll be fine.

It's not like some adcom is going to be like mmmmmm everything is perfect... a B in ochem!? UNACCEPTABLE!!!

I'm not sure if you were referencing this with "UNACCEPTABLE," but here it is.

(NSFW)

Ranger School Promo:

 

[mavric1298]

Just be glad you aren't in our ochems. Our final average in the 2nd term (we have 3 quarters 2nd one being; arenas aromatically, EAS/NuAroSub, IR/NMR, Organometalics, alcohol/diol/thiols, ethers/epoxides/sulfides, ketones/aldehydes, and Nu Carbonyl addition) was a whopping 32%. The highest grade on any test was in the high 70's, and the average grade for the class was a 2.4. Gotta love the manditory 2.6 average +-.2 by our chem department.

 

[beebreezy]

Just be glad you aren't in our ochems. Our final average in the 2nd term (we have 3 quarters 2nd one being; arenas aromatically, EAS/NuAroSub, IR/NMR, Organometalics, alcohol/diol/thiols, ethers/epoxides/sulfides, ketones/aldehydes, and Nu Carbonyl addition) was a whopping 32%. The highest grade on any test was in the high 70's, and the average grade for the class was a 2.4. Gotta love the manditory 2.6 average +-.2 by our chem department.

That kind of hazing is so gross. I don't know how people handle it. :/

Thought I'd update on how organic 2 is playing out. It seems to be a bit of a repeat of organic 1 in that the first 2 tests went great, and it was downhill from there. Not as bad, though. I got a 100, 99, and 88 on the exams we've had so far. I'm being neurotic and panicking about the 88 because I was hoping I would continue to get perfect or near perfect scores so the ACS final wouldn't kill me...better start preparing for that right this second. Next week, we have our lab final, a lecture exam, and the ACS final back to back. :/ Then I'm freeee. Kinda. Until the MCAT.

 

[mavric1298]

It feel great taking one of those tests too cause you like "ahhhhh I have no F'in clue whats going on, this is impossible, I just wanna give up"...fosters a great mindset.

 

[beebreezy]

It feel great taking one of those tests too cause you like "ahhhhh I have no F'in clue whats going on, this is impossible, I just wanna give up"...fosters a great mindset.

I don't get why professors think this is a good teaching strategy. Learning organic is actually pretty cool but not when you're so stressed about your grade that you resent everything about the topic.

 

[beebreezy]

Well, I'm officially done with both organics and officially received A's in both labs and both lectures. Organic 2 went much, much more smoothly. My test average was 96. The ACS final was traumatic this time around, but I guess it didn't kill me in the end.

Kinda crazy that I'm now through with the class I feared most when I started my post bacc journey. Kinda anticlimactic lol, but there's still biochemistry to give me plenty of chemistry-based fits. Starting my last semester of prereqs in 2 weeks!

 

[deleted520847]

That is amazing.

 

[----------12c]

I am a post-bacc student with a liberal arts degree, so I don't have that many courses that will factor into my science and math GPA. Right now, I have a 3.96 overall GPA and a 4.0 math and science. However, I'm currently enrolled in physics 1 and ochem 1, and well...ochem could be going better. I made A's on the first two exams and then a 64 on the third one. This was after spending twelve hours at a time studying some days and working literally 40 pages worth the problems. I'm not sure I have it in me to grasp mechanisms at this point, which worries me since that is all the second semester is. An A isn't completely off the table since we still have our final, but it's not incredibly likely. Realistically speaking, there's a good chance I won't be able to pull that A in ochem 2 either.

How badly will this affect me? I'm doing well in all of the other prereqs and am about 95% confident I got an A in the lab portion of ochem 1 (There's always the chance I somehow completely screwed up the final, but I think it went okay. )

Neagitive Ghost rider! Had to B+'s myself.