General Chemistry advice

Colleges and Universities A-Z Washington University in St. Louis
1

<p>This is directed at all of you students who have already braved general chemistry and came out on the other side with flying colors. </p>

<p>H and I got a tearful call from freshman D tonight. She is not doing as well as she would like on the first quizzes despite what sounds like endless studying. She seems to be missing small things which end up causing her to miss a problem. We can't figure out if she is just trying so hard to do well that she is stressing out and missing details, or if she should be studying in a manner she is not, or what is going on!?! She had her first lab today and didn't think it was difficult but didn't put some sheet between the papers she was working on and her copy was "messy" (guess labs are graded also on 'neatness'). She told the TA about it and asked if anyone else had that happen to which she got the answer, "NO". </p>

<p>She is in a PLTL study group. She says she doesn't think the professor has office hours (said, "Probably because he doesn't want 400 kids coming into his office".). Would Cornerstone be beneficial in a case like this? Do you have any recommendations for things you found helpful in doing well in this class?</p>

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<p>It's good that she's in a PLTL group, that definitely made a difference for me. Professors do have office hours (or they did last year anyway). I didn't attend any for gen chem, but I gathered from friends that it's more of a classroom setting where kids take turns asking questions as opposed to actually meeting in an office. She should check out the review sessions. I think three professors hold them weekly and go over the material that was covered (I liked Buhro's). She could certainly try Cornerstone, but I doubt it will do anything that her PLTL group doesn't.</p>

<p>It's still very early in the semester. It's entirely possible she's just gotten unlucky up to this point. She's working hard, I'm sure it will work out for her.</p>

<p>Oh, I was also frustrated with having points taken off for messiness on a lab report. Life went on, though.</p>

3

<p>Life does go on, but Wash U definitely has enough resources to help her succeed.</p>

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<p>as somebody who did terrible on my chem151 quizzes, i can safely say its possibly to recover. going to the weekly help sessions by the profs really brought up my scores.</p>