Chem 1210

<p>I’m a freshman at Ohio State and I was wondering if anyone attending has any information on the infamous Chemistry 1210. I’ve been reading some reports of the difficulty of the class and I was wondering if anyone who has taken the class has an tips on avoiding starting college with an unwanted grade in a “weed out” class. Would anyone argue that these discrepancies may be attributed to freshman transitional problems?</p>

<p>I took this class this spring of my freshman year. I ended up dropping it. I’ve had chemistry classes before, so it wasn’t like I was going in blind, but I was highly disappointed with the way this class was taught. For me personally, it seemed like my instructor expected us to teach ourselves the material, which is why i ended up dropping. With my course load, I didnt have time to basically teach myself chemistry. I understand studying on your own, and have no problem with that. But we basically just went over a handful of problems in lecture at the basic level in each class, which did not prepare students for the much harder exams. Class averages were very low for exams, with around a 50-60% average. I have heard that the Chemistry department at Ohio State is under review/investigation, but these may very well just be rumors. I do not plan on taking any other chemistry classes here, and will instead take them at another university for transfer credit. </p>

<p>Knowing what I know now, I believe I would have had a much harder time transitioning if I were a first semester freshman, because the first semester is stressful enough without worrying about getting a bad grade. But if you have a strong background or interest in chemistry, go for it. Take advantage of the tutoring room if needed. Try studying ahead over the summer as well. Just be aware of deadlines in case you want to drop the class.</p>

<p>I hope some of this helps! And again, this is just my own personal experience and opinion. Let me know if you have any other questions!</p>

<p>I have the class this fall as a engineering major. I am trying not to think about the class. Is the class for honors only? If so, the curve will be tough. Are there different instructors for the different classes?</p>

<p>No, it isn’t honors only. I’m not in the honors program, so I’m not sure if there is an honors option available for this class. </p>

<p>You will have one lecturer, plus two TAs – one for your recitation and another for your lab.</p>

<p>I have to take this class as an exercise science major too, you deff suggest taking it somewhere else? how about chem 2?</p>

<p>I will be looking into taking my chemistry classes elsewhere. I am definitely not trying to discourage anyone from taking it at OSU. I just wanted to share my own experience with this class, and some things I wish I would have known earlier on. And I haven’t taken chem 2 yet.</p>

<p>I took the chemistry majors version of chem 1210 (and 1220) but it’s essentially the same thing. My professor last year actually taught a section of 1220 while teaching 1620 so we had literally the same exam as they did. I don’t really know why people are saying it’s super difficult; sure it’s not a cakewalk and I had to study to do well (got a B+ for chem “1210” and a B for “1220”) but not sure why it’s way difficult. It definitely helps if you’ve taken previous chemistry classes, and if you’ve had a decent teacher it’s not impossible to do ok in this class. There is an honors version of this class (chem 1910 and 1920) which actually IS impossible, but so few people take 1910H and fewer 1920H so it’s really not worth mentioning here. But yeah, if you put in a lot of effort you’ll be ok in this class. I know plenty of people that got A’s, A-'s, B+'s, and B’s in the general chem sequence, and you can be one of them too.</p>

<p>I took chemistry 1250 last year which was required for mechanical enginnering. It combined 1210 and 1220 into one semester. The class was extrememly difficult and taught by Dr. Zellmer (You’ll hear of him once you get to OSU). Even though the class was alot of work, it was still managable. Zellmer has a bad reputation but in my opinion he is very helpful and very good at what he does. Lectures are fast-paced and I often left there confused not knowing what he had just taught. My best advice is to read the textbook and do all homework problems because this is where many of the exam questions come from. Also, try to skim over the class notes or the textbook section for a lecture before going to class. Overall, this will be the hardest class of your freshman year… But, as long as you know this before hand and dont fall behind you should be able to manage a decent grade. FYI there is always a bell curve at the end of the year… Mine was about 9 points.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the helpful info. I really appreciated it! </p>

<p>-Just curious about something else.
My freshman honors schedule for fall has my first class, Engr 1281.01H & Engr 1180, at 8:00am M-F then my last class Math 1151, ending at either 4:00 or 5:00 M-F.<br>
I was told during orientation that if I picked AM classes I wouldn’t have late afternoon classes and vis vera, if I pick afternoon classes I wouldn’t have early morning classes. I picked AM classes but I have that late afternoon math class. I do not like that my day starts at 8:00 am each day and doesn’t end until 4 or 5. Is this common?
Would it be worth calling to see if my schedule could be reviewed? Thanks</p>

<p>It all depends on when you went to orientation and what classes were open. Sometimes you just cant help having bad times but for the most part what you said above is true. You can try emailing your advisor and ask him to try to rework you schedule so that it doesnt span throughout the whole day but classes might be full. For future reference, you will get to make your own schedule and change it by yourself at any time before classes start so you can avoid an unwanted schedule.</p>

<p>I just looked up math 1151 and almost every lecture is still open. Your advisor should be able to work you in earlier in the day depending on the rest of your classes.</p>

<p>TexasBuckeye: Any idea who I could call? I just called and did not have much luck, they didn’t know who I should call.</p>

<p>Last year I was able to fix my schedule by calling my advisor for Mechanical Engineering. If they don’t answer just leave a message and send them an email. Heres a link to the engineering advisors contact info.
[Undergraduate</a> Academic Advisors | College of Engineering](<a href=“http://engineering.osu.edu/students/undergraduate-students/academic-advisors]Undergraduate”>Undergraduate Academic Advising | COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING)</p>