<p>Hello, I'm a current high school senior in Oklahoma, planning to be pre-med. My first choice school is Vanderbilt, and I will be finding out if I'm accepted or not in a few days. Anyway, I am quite worried about chemistry in college. Since I'm pre-med, I'll have to take Chem 1 & 2 and Organic 1 & 2 (if I'm not mistaken.) </p>
<p>The thing is, I'm terrible at chemistry, and I'm not sure why. I took Pre-AP and AP Chem my sophomore and junior year. I made As in both classes, but ended up with a 2 on the AP test. I know I wouldn't get credit for it anyway, but this is my lowest AP score and the least favorite class I have ever taken. I'm not sure if it was my teacher (who was a total jerk) or something on my part that just doesn't click with chemistry. It's weird, because I love biology and other sciences, and I got a 780 on the Biology-Molecular SAT II Test. (which has elements of chemistry in it.) But I am genuinely terrified that my chemistry classes in college will be hell and that I won't be able to get into medical school.</p>
<p>Is there anything I can do over the summer to prepare myself? I've thought about maybe buying a chemistry textbook off of Amazon and studying from it. We do have a local community college that offers chemistry classes but I'm not sure how Vanderbilt or other colleges might feel about me taking a class there. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Some details about chem labs though: Depending on which school you will go to, you may need to take either a “double-sized” science lab, or two regular-sized science lab (say, for orgo I.) Most state schools do the latter; SOME (but not all) of private schools do the former. The lab could be a big sink of your time which could otherwise be spent on premed ECs so find out what your school’s policy on this.</p>
<p>Studying from the tome (i.e., textbook) in a summer may be too much for summer and is generally not recommended. I do not know about general chemistry (i.e., how good that series of books are for gen. chem.) For orgo, isn’t there a small book called “Organic Chemistry I as a Second Language”? The size of that book is not so daunting at least and it could help you to refresh some very basic stuff you have already learned relatively quickly. (With this said, DS really did not do this as his class notes from his AP chemistry class were good for this reviewing purpose. But he got 5 on AP chemistry easily though.)</p>
<p>A potential problem in a college class is: Some chemistry professors may prefer to use a textbook that is as advanced as possible, even though they may have a hard time to cover most parts of it. DS once mentioned he had a professor (likely in orgo I or II) who was especially slow in covering the topics he had planned to cover most time in the semester; then, in the week before final, he rushed through 6 or 7 chapters per lecture, and he told the students with a mischievous smile that: “See, I have covered everything in the book that I have promissed to cover.”</p>
<p>With the new MCAT in 2015, you’ll also need to take Biochem besides the other chem courses you listed.</p>
<p>Do NOT under any circumstances take a CC class since you will have to report your grade on your AMCAS application, regardless of whether your college will accept the credit or not. Thus you will have Intro to Chem I twice on your record leading to questions about why you took it twice. (This practice can also backfire on you too. If take chem at a CC, then retake it at your home school and earn less than an A–it looks very bad since it will be your second time thru the course.)</p>
<p>And don’t buy a random textbook–if you’re going to buy one, check your college’s bookstore and buy the one you’ll use in class. (Why waste money?) Also get the workbook (and almost all intro to chem texts have one) and try working thru the problems at the end of each chapter.</p>
<p>My kiddos said that having a firm understanding of physics helps with chem because all chemical reactions are driven by electron orbital filling. Another way of saying this is that if you’re trying to memorize chemical reactions rather than understanding why they occur, you’re making the subject a whole lot harder than it needs to be. </p>
<p>If you’re visual/tactile learner, you might also want to buy a chemical model kit.</p>
<p>i wouldn’t study from a textbook if i were you. just pick up a good chemistry review book, like a highly-rated Chem AP book, to get your feet wet first. then consider taking orgo I during the summer so you can focus on just that one course.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the answers! I will definitely look into a chem workbook of some sort. And thanks for all the info on college chem, I had no idea it was like that.</p>
<p>Make sure you have a strong math background and make sure to apply it in Gen. Chem. On a flip side, Orgo has nothing to do with Gen. Chem., so you might be OK there, as it is mostly memorization, while is very very hard, no math is needed though.
Gen. Chem. was the easiest science class at D’s UG (public state), but apparently it depends on school. My math recommendation is based on D’s observation (D. ended up being hired as an SI for Chem. prof. and was working in this position for 3 years) that many approach Gen. Chem from the wrong prospective, trying to memorize it.</p>
<p>Bee, this thread is almost a year old and the OP hasn’t been active for several months. Please do not post on old threads and revive them, instead use the New Thread button if you want to discuss a topic.</p>