<p>I'm taking Chem 1A this coming fall...I've never taken AP Chem and got a C in high school chem...I'm a second year so it's been about 2-3 years since I took chemistry....I'm screwed.</p>
<p>I couldn't get into an introductory chem class at a community college so I'm planning on reviewing the Chem 1A book (Chemistry: The Molecular Science, 3rd Edition; Moore, Stanitski, Jurs) I got from a friend who also had the same professor I will have (Stacy).</p>
<p>My question is.....for all you people who survived Chem 1A...is the reading helpful for the course...do the lecture topics actually go hand-in-hand with the reading? Or is Chem 1A one of those courses where the book is completely useless? Will doing the reading in advance this summer be helpful in the fall or will it be a waste of time?</p>
<p>Thanks!!</p>
<p>If you can truly understand the theory from the reading and how to apply it, it will help a lot. Learning facts and repeating them in tests is only a subset of what you need for the class. Applying all the formulas correctly is only a subset. Understanding the concepts and working out implications to situations you have not encountered before will be the key to a decent grade.</p>
<p>Well, I’d like to note that the textbook for Chem 1A changed. Now they’re using the same textbook as the Chem 4A people so I’m gonna assume it’s a good textbook. I had Stacy too last fall and I remember her distinctly telling us that the textbook was more of a reference and that we need only understand the material in her lectures. Well, that is not completely true. There was material not covered in her lecture in all four midterms and the final. If your background in chemistry is weak, I’d say reading the text is probably a good idea and so is joining a SLC study group and going to office hours frequently (Stacy sometimes gets inspiration for test questions from questions people ask during her office hours from what I’ve observed at times.) Chem 1A teaches chemistry in a very intuitive manner and sometimes expects you to have some basic chem background. If you can see trends in chemical atoms, compounds, reactions, etc. and apply these trends when you’re presented with something you’ve never seen before, then you should be okay.</p>
<p>bump i’d like to know too</p>
<p>nitche spring uses chem 4a textbook</p>
<p>anybody mind telling us the name of the text? thanks</p>
<p>p.s. i have majda fall 2009, so whatever text he uses would be helpful too. Thanks again</p>