What are the topics covered in the Chemistry Placement Test at UMich?
Does it require preparation?
How well do you need to do to place into Organic Chemistry?
Is it a good idea to take Organic Chemistry in your first semester if you manage to place into it?
(I’m doing a major that requires me to take Organic Chemistry at some point)
My son took the placement test at orientation last month. He did not do any preparation, and scored a 97% and placed directly into organic chemistry. He took an honors chemistry his junior year of high school (so more than a year ago), but not AP, so we were all a little surprised at how well he did (and he said it was fairly easy). However, we did discover that UM (unlike other schools) only offers one semester of 100-level general chemistry and lab before orgo, so I now suspect that the test only covered that much information. My son is pre-med, so in order to fulfill the full year of general chemistry that med schools require, he will get a letter of exemption from UM for the first semester, and then take another 200 level general chem class AFTER orgo. There are some pre-health students who decide to go ahead and take the general chem anyways in order to boost their GPA and review before orgo, but right now my son is not one of them. Orgo is supposedly one of the hardest classes at UM and known as being the weedout class for pre-med students. We’ve been told that students are adding and dropping classes up through the first two weeks of the semester, so we will see if my son decides to stay in the class or go back to general chem.
I agree with what is said above. I decided not to do any preparation even though I had basically forgotten everything I learned in AP Chemistry but still scored a 98%. The test was super easy, you just need to know the very basics of chemistry. I recommend to not prepare for the test to make it a fair assessment of your strength in chemistry basics. During orientation, I was told that organic chemistry is not as bad as it seems as long as you don’t procrastinate. I’m pre-med and I decided to take orgo chem anyways. If you are not in pre-med, required to take orgo chem, and place into it w/ ap creds or thru placement test, you should probably go for it. If you are pre-med, you should base your decision on your assessment on whether or not you have a solid foundation for chem. GL!