<p>We got it back today, and I did terrible. I thought I did good, considering the amount of effort I put in and understanding about this subject I had.</p>
<p>And the crappy part is the gsi or whoever graded mine didn't even show where my mistakes were...the person just did -2, -3, etc on the bottom right....so how am i supposed to know where i went wrong.......</p>
<p>sigh. turning out to be a repeat of chem1a, except I love bertozzi's style of teaching and i thought i was comprehending this organic chem....guess not...fml.</p>
<p>dont they post the key later? that should tell you where you went wrong…</p>
<p>are you doing the sample problems in the book and do you completely understand the examples she gives in lecture? that’s an important first step in doing well in the class.</p>
<p>key hasn’t been posted yet. and yes i do. i took her old practice midterms and aced them. went to the mock midterm and aced that…</p>
<p>and yes i do the sample problems in book.</p>
<p>that’s very weird then. i don’t know, do you get exam jitters or something? when the key gets posted, check to see if you just made a bunch of stupid mistakes or if you actually didn’t know how to do the problems and then post back in this thread. i’m very curious…</p>
<p>idk i might get exam jitters. but i was pretty confident (not over confident since arrogance always leads to downfall, atleast in my case…) that i would do good on this test. i’m curious too…i triple checked everything. ok i admit, some problems i ididn’t know, but most, i thought i did. </p>
<p>man, i’m sad about this. i didn’t procrastinate it, i read every chapter starting from day one of this freaking semester so that i wouldn’t have to cram. i went to slc study groups and they clarified things that didn’t make sense to me. i thought i had this…</p>
<p>for chem1a, i made mistakes. i didnt go to OH and i waited till last minute. for o chem, i decided to not do that…i go to OH, review sessions, you name it…</p>
<p>and it still doesn’t work. sigh…</p>
<p>aww im sorry. i guess the only thing you can do from this is learn. so if it doesn’t workout if even after you try to make up for your mistakes, maybe consider taking other classes or switch majors. take it from…clueless.</p>
<p>No, you didn’t do the work required, if you had, you would of gotten a good grade.</p>
<p>ok let my clarify. by terrible i mean i missed the average by 1 point…average was i believe a 74.</p>
<p>and meteman, yeah thanks for that.</p>
<p>clueless, thanks i guess. i’m not oging to switch though because i like science.</p>
<p>and yes i know now i might seem like i care too much about grades. but i realize how competitive this world is and how competitive berkeleey is. just one point difference could mean a lot.</p>
<p>does anyone know if there’s a curve for this class?</p>
<p>not trying to make you feel bad, but you should aim higher than the class average…the average will at best grant you a B/C. On the other hand, 1 point off the average isn’t going to really make/break your grade (unless it becomes a cutoff point I guess).
For Frechet the first midterm was more or less review of old chemistry so I don’t know what Bertozzi’s like. Follow the advice that’s been given: just look at the key and figure out what you did wrong. The next middy only gets harder as I think you guys are starting the Sn1/Sn2 and all that stuff? (I’m in a class after this ochem class and I see the writing on the board with backside attacks and all and I’m just like argh.) There’s still another half a semester to pick up your grade and it’s easily doable.</p>
<p>Is the average 74 out of 150? If so, then HOLLLY SHEET. Bertozzi must be killing you guys. The average for Pedersen’s first 3A MT last semester was like 104 out of 150, I believe. </p>
<p>1 point off the average isn’t too bad. There are still many points left to be had for the 2nd MT and the final. Be extra extra careful for the second midterm. It should cover almost entirely mechanisms (Sn1, E1, Sn2, E2) which will require you to pay attention to the small details. If her average for the first one was 74, the second will be like… 50 LOL.</p>
<p>Yeah, my goal was to get above average lol. And when i went to go pick up my midterm, I was kind of excited because i thought i beasted on this test. guess not.</p>
<p>and yeah out of 100 lol</p>
<p>oh god…there is more than sn2? </p>
<p>and i actually did frechet’s old midterms/ pedersons/vollhardts…i did good on the questions that pertained to our class, except for a few…</p>
<p>@misterelephante: yeah 104. the average for the second was hovering around 80 if i recall correctly…</p>
<p>as for OP: ochem is a lot about being careful. you might draw a wedge bond instead of hash, write ‘e’ instead of ‘a’ (which counts for a lot in nomenclature)… sadly it’s these details that attack during an exam.</p>
<p>the good thing is, if it’s only these details that are bogging you down, you’ll probably do way better in the next midterm relative to the rest of the class which is struggling with the concepts.</p>
<p>&yes there’s E1 and E2, elimination, which gives you alkenes from alkyl halides.</p>
<p>Oh ok, 74 out of 100 sounds about right then lol. meakame is right- it’s all about DETAILS!!</p>
<p>HEY! For Frechet last spring, the average was around 74 out of 150…and I got slightly below average on both midterms. I got a B in the class.</p>
<p>yeah, you’re right. im looking at the key…details/silly mistakes. i forgot to add a single barbed arrow in a free radical halogenation problem (granted though, it was incredibly hard and she had never done anything like it in class, but i still got the products though). </p>
<p>man. but the gsis took off so many points just for that one thing, plus whatever else. whatever…</p>
<p>silly mistakes are whatevers, you can’t do anything about it. but as for details, ochem is all about details. i think you feel as if you get the material but perhaps in reality you don’t have as good a grasp of the concepts as you think. you need to start with the fundamentals and understand thing at the mechanistic level. always ask WHY something happens. if you don’t know, find out. </p>
<p>don’t directly jump into problems. really try to absorb the things they talk about in the text first. do close readings. also closely review your lecture notes. bring a tape recorder to class too.</p>
<p>i’m absolutely certain you can still pull off a good grade. in 3b, i scored a little above the average on midterm 1 but studied hard for mt2 and the final and ended up with a solid A.</p>