<p>I've so far taken general chemistry, and next semester, i will be taking organic chemistry. how difficult was organic chemistry to you? </p>
<p>i'm worried because i'm getting low B (possible high C) in general chemistry, and am really anxious to go on to organic chemistry next semester. i've heard many many horror stories about orgo(pre-med weed out, etc). i mean, there're just so many bad conspiracies about being a chemistry major. (social ostracisation, tedious labs, ridiculous wordload, etc) </p>
<p>is it a bad idea to continue on chemistry track if i'm struggling in gen. chem? </p>
<p>any effective study tips? how much do you study for chemistry per week? </p>
<p>thanks.</p>
<p>I actually heard of some people finding organic easier than gen chem. I guess because it’s more specialized and not as broad but I dunno.</p>
<p>hey, i’m double majoring in chem/neurosci. overall, I find chem slightly easier and less time-consuming, but maybe that’s because i’m more of a “chem person” than a “bio person”. most chem majors breeze through intro chem, but don’t worry if you don’t have an A or whatever, a B/B+ is fine. i thought orgo was harder than gen chem, but overall it isn’t that bad; it’s just a lot more specialized, which works for some people. to be honest, i think the reason Orgo got a reputation for being hard is because many non-science majors in a pre-health program take it and find it hard compared to their classes, but it shouldn’t be too bad if you’re a Chem major. A lot also depends on your college, professors, size of classes, what other classes you’re taking, etc, so talk to chem majors in your school.</p>
<p>You should definitely go for the chem major if you’re interested. But to be honest, most people find gen chem pretty easy. you might be studying the wrong way; intro chem was about learning basic concepts and learning to apply them to solving problems. don’t study for it like a history test where you read the book and highlight stuff - practice problems and understand the concepts/theory behind them, so on a test you can analyze the problem correctly and put it into context, instead of floundering and wondering what the next step is. </p>
<p>i spend maybe 2-4 hours doing chem a week, most of which is spent doing the hw/problems/lab write-ups. it’s definitely not as time-consuming as Bio or Engineering.</p>
<p>*edit - in my college, if you get a C or lower, you have to redo the class if it’s for your major, so check what the policy in your college is to make sure you can register for orgo. good luck with everything :] and it’s only halfway through the semester so you can definitely pull your grades up too.</p>
<p>Organic is basically this: you first memorize 50 chemical reactions and also NMR spectroscopy rules. Then you use your knowledge to turn 1 molecule or another, or use NMR data to fiigure out a molecule’s structure (easier than it sounds).
It is all conceptually easy but time consuming. I hope you are good at seeing patterns and extending concepts to new situations.</p>
<p>Starling, does your school have different gen. chem and organic chem sections for CHM and CHE majors? In the schools that do split up the majors from the pre-meds and others taking it as a requirement, often the class size is smaller and the instruction better. The instructor usually has more of a vested interest in wanting these guys to make it to the higher levels and will tend to spend more effort in their instruction.<br>
At least that was my opinion back in the day, both as a student and as a graduate TA.</p>
<p>Things actually didn’t get tough until we hit P-chem our junior year…</p>
<p>I barely got a C in gen chem…but aced every single organic class I’ve taken.</p>
<p>Personally gen chem (and p chem) can suck it, but I can do orgo in my sleep.</p>
<p>If you really like chemistry then go for it. It really depends what your aspirations are. If you’re a pre-med then your undergrad major won’t matter so much. If you’re looking for a long term career in chemistry, you’d better like it.</p>