I took general chemistry 1 and 2 at my community college. I found it to be easy, maybe because I love chemistry. Please don’t tell that the courseload is way easier at a community college. Yes it is easy but I’ve done problems and exams that I found on google from UCLA, brown university and Ohio state university. They seem easy. Is it because the student who takes chemistry hates the subject?
A lot of schools use it to thin out the pre-meds/pre-dentals as it’s a med/dental school prerequisite. Same goes for Organic Chemistry.
That makes sense, but how does the professor know if the student is either a pre-med student or chem major? If the all class was half of pre-meds and only small amounts of chem majors. Will He/she make the course super hard?
Easy? Didn’t you get a B in chem 1, a C in chem 2, and a D or F in orgo 1?
Got a D in Orgo 1. Why bring my grades up? That wasn’t the purpose of the question
Because it contradicts the basis of your question?
So evidently it wasn’t all that easy.
@elliebham You’re missing the point. Grades don’t define how smart you are. I see schools where they use curves or grade inflation.
I deserve the B in chem 1 and C in chem 2. If I was taking Organic 1 in a bigger school the prof will probably curve everyone’s test. Probably would have gotten a C instead of a D
But the point of a weeder course is for it to be difficult to make good grades… so if you’re saying that grades are irrelevant or meaningless, despite having made average/low grades, then I’m not sure what your point is?
Grades do matter, but the grades that are given by a massive curve aren’t.
what is your question, OP?
Clearly yours were not the result of a “massive curve,” so by your own admission they matter, and they do directly contradict your statement that chemistry is soooo easy.
A 1.67 GPA for this past semester might indicate that you are, in fact, getting weeded out.
So I’m going to drop my dreams because I got a 1.67 GPA? It’s not weeded out. It just means I need to learn more and put effort to it. Sadly students who go to pre-med only goes to schools that do grade inflation and easily gets an easy A.
Fifth semester is a bit late to be learning that lesson, no? What about the schools you’re looking to get into – will they look at those updated grades and want to take a chance on accepting you? What about meteorology’s 2.75 minimum at one of them, a requirement your grades no longer meet? Awfully blasé about this.
Anyway, point is, chemistry isn’t always easy and this thread is silly.
@NASA2014 I’m going to pretend that I didn’t read the part about your grades. Here’s my response assuming that - if you got a solid understanding of chemistry and it came easy to you, good for you. That doesn’t mean it comes easy to everyone, however. That’s why it becomes a weeder class.
Now, a response regarding the grades - curves do not equal grade inflation. Curves are used if the class is taught in a way where it virtually impossible to have a reasonable grade distribution. It’s not as simple as “big school —> curve.” I was in a class with a large curve at the end (an engineering class with a big reputation as a weeder) and trust me, getting a good grade even with the curve took a hell of a lot of effort. I worked my behind off, even though there was a curve. Unless you had a menace of a teacher (which is possible, I’m not saying it isn’t), it’s likely there was a fair grade distribution, so there was no need for a curve in your class.
No one is suggesting you just give up. Good luck trying again.
》》 Grades don’t define how smart you are《《
True. But they do define how well you were able to show you understand a certain topic. Saying something is “easy” when you don’t have a high level of mastery of the subject just doesn’t make sense, which is why the grades are brought up.
Am I the only one who finds it hilarious that OP is getting weeded out and doesn’t even realize it?
A professor does not change the difficulty level of a course based on the composition of majors in the class. At least none of the chem profs I know spend their time thinking “I’m going to make this test 10% harder because I have 30% chem majors and 50% pre-med in my section this year”…
Freshman chem (and other science) courses are hard because schools want students to figure out early on if they’re in the right major when there’s still time to switch to something else and possibly graduate in 4 years. There are typically different courses (or sections) of courses for non-majors which will be easier - since it may be a graduation requirement but isn’t required for the major. But your chem, biochem, engineering, pre-med - they’re all going to get taught at the same level since the course is foundational for their majors.
Students who poorly freshman year often have to adjust their “dreams” to fit their personal strengths. That’s where “weeding out” isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Students who don’t switch majors, and continue to do worse every subsequent semester, are proving that the “weeding out” process has a purpose and some are just too stubborn to get it and may find themselves struggling to graduate with any degree before money runs out.
Colleges want to see pre-med students who have a realistic chance of acceptance into med school. Sure, some schools grade inflate, some grade deflate, some don’t do either - but ultimately it comes down to how well you master the information (which is illustrated by grades) and how well you do on MCATs - which require a highly motivated student, not one who spends their time complaining about other students’ “having it easier”.
I do realize it, that’s why I have back up majors such as geography, history and economics.
Okay so, I’m not really sure I’m following this. I’m going to lay out what I’ve taken from this thread, point by point, and you can let me know how accurate it is.
- You made this thread asking how chemistry could be a weeder course. In your opening post, you mentioned that you found chem to be easy.
- Other posters pointed out your chem grades, which are lower than one would expect from someone who found the classes easy.
- Someone pointed out that you're getting weeded out and don't realize it.
- You admitted that you realize you're getting weeded out.
So assuming I’m following this correctly…why’d you make this thread? If chemistry is weeding you out and you flat-out acknowledge it, what’s the point? Clearly you’d have personal experience with it being a weeder class in that case, right?
Unless you made this thread just to get reactions, in which case you got what you wanted. Or maybe you meant something else with your thread title, in which case people can better respond to you if you clarify.
People have different meanings of what “easy” is.