<p>I'm really really not sure what to do here, so I figure it would help to ask you guys. Also wasn't sure where to post this so I'll just post it here.</p>
<p>I'm currently in my first year of college and I started off as an engineering major, before deciding to go undecided for now. I'm still, however, taking engineering classes like Calculus I (MATH 151) and General Chemistry I (CHEM 105). Calculus is easy, math is never a problem for me. Chemistry also isn't too bad - the actual class isn't. What is killing me is Chemistry lab.</p>
<p>I was just about to give you my whole story about why I am pretty much failing chem lab but I realized that is unnecessary. The point is that even though I'm doing fine in the actual Chemistry class, I am doing horrible in the lab section and I don't know whether I should stick it out and take the risk of failing or play tactically and drop it. I am now planning on being a math major and therefore don't need chemistry, but I'm just wondering if it would still be bad to drop a class like this.</p>
<p>Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>One thing that should at least make you feel better is that a lot of times the intro chemistry labs are just plain brutal. I’ve heard horror stories about lab exams. So if you are struggling in lab, there is a very good chance that a lot of other people are struggling too.</p>
<p>Talk to the professor. Talk to the lab guy. Find a study group. Talk to your lab partner. There are probably lots of interventions you can take before you bail. Do them.</p>
<p>i have the same issue but with physics. I have no idea what type of lab write up to do and the lab instruction book isn’t very descriptive. push through it and go for help on every lab assignment you have. And i know math is cool, but you might want to re-look at staying in an engineering minor. more job opportunities.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies guys. Unfortunately I think I am the only one who’s struggling because there seems to be a lot of people around me that know what they’re doing. My lab professor is very strict and my TA is always trying to provoke fights with me and make everything difficult (because she knows I ask her a lot of questions and she doesn’t like me for that). I’m doing really badly in lab and I don’t think I will pass, so I don’t know what this will do to the actual chem class I’m doing pretty well in. The withdrawal date is October 23rd so I have to make a decision quick. It’s tough because I really don’t want to drop but I might have to because lab is messing me up big time.</p>
<p>A lot of general chemistry students focus so tightly on the individual steps in the procedure that they never have an overall sense of what it is they’re doing. Take a look at your next experiment or your most recent experiment, and see if you can describe the overall experiment in three or four steps. For example, first we’re going to create a precipitate, then we’re going to clean it up, then we’re going to dry and weigh it. Each one of these steps might be made up of four or five individual instructions. If you’re too busy juggling 15 instructions it’s hard to grasp the three basic steps, and you leave the lab feeling mentally exhausted and having learned little.</p>