<p>I am wondering if it would be better to go ahead and take intro to chem next semester or just jump straight into chem 1. </p>
<p>A few friends have said intro to chem was a waste of time, some say it was a good reminder. </p>
<p>Any insight would be appreciated.</p>
<p>To be frank, it depends on how comfortable you are with gen. chem. If you know these basic concepts–limiting reactant, moles, stoichiometry, combustion, diatomics, etc.–I would advise you to forgo that course. </p>
<p>The class is typically known for weeding-out incompetent premed wannabees. </p>
<p>Hope this helped.</p>
<p>Jump straight into Chem 1. no matter how comfortable you are with it. If you have never seen chem before then just spend 1-2 weeks before the semester begins studying your book or an intro to chem website or something. </p>
<p>Hell, if you get weeded out at least you can say it was done by the real thing instead of that waste of time intro class.</p>
<p>Ha! thanks both of you for the responses. I took chemistry in 10th grade only and took bio the other 3 years. It has been quite a while, but Dnation, I recognize the concepts you mentioned, they are hidden in my brain somewhere since it was so long ago I took chem. </p>
<p>I have a friend who did chem 1 this semester, and in high school he did chemistry, physics and bio simultaneously and did fine in all of them and he is really struggling to pass chem 1 so that is what worries me.</p>
<p>quite a common story… my explanation is that it is college… you are competing with many other bright students. There is a curve and therefore a limit on who can get what grade. It runs at a pace much faster than high school. I really take the proposed predicted correlations between past performance in high school and performance in college with a grain of salt. College level basic science is the real deal and you have to be ready for it.</p>
<p>I was in your scenario before. I took chem in high school, then I decided to take intro to chem. I was really glad I took intro. Intro refreshes your memory and prepares you for chem I. I am currently in general chem and find it really easy. In fact, I have the highest grade in my class. It depends how well you want to do in gen chem. Are you looking to pass or do you want an A? I wanted to do well and I am satisfied with my choices.</p>
<p>lavender- I’m looking to get an A. Sounds like you benefited really well from taking intro to chem, thanks for your advice!</p>
<p>Whichever you do decide to do, do not take intro online. The only exposure to Chem I’ve had before UF was an online class in high school, and I didn’t really learn anything in it at all. If you feel that intro will help you prepare for gen chem, then take the lecture class. But I went straight into gen chem despite not remembering anything about chem and am still on track to get an A-/B+, and the only reason it’s not better is because I didn’t take studying seriously until after I failed my first test. Thankfully there was a drop, but now I regret not having studied for that first exam because I could’ve done well on it had I made an effort. As long as you get off to a good start in the class you should be fine. Also, TutoringZone is a great supplement to regular studying.</p>