<p>Taking OrgoI and THEN gen chem II?
has anyone ever done this?</p>
<p>I was supposed to register for general chem II at a school near me for the summer, and then take orgo I at school in the fall. But the chem class seems to be fully registered now, and there is a slim chance that someone will drop it so that I can take the class. But, the Orgo 1 class isn't full yet. I was thinking of maybe taking orgo for the last weeks of summer, but i'm wondering if that is pretty much a death wish...</p>
<p>I NEED to be done with both orgo classes I &II, and Gen Chem II, by the end of next year, and must have at least 1 orgo class completed by the end of the fall semester.</p>
<p>Has anyone else ever taken these classes backwards? Has your school even LET you take them backwards-and at another school?</p>
<p>very bad idea. You need to know the basics from gen chem before taking o-chem. I don't think people are even allowed to do that at my school - gen chem is a pre-req for all other chem courses. Maybe you can waitlist & see if the prof will add you in.</p>
<p>I don't think that it's a terrible idea. I took Organic Chemistry (I&II) without taking any general chemistry first and was one of the best students in the class. Prior to that the last contact with Chemistry had was 4 years earlier back when I was in highschool. It helps to know a few things from general chemistry, but most professors tend to explain them and in different ways than they were explained in general chemistry anyway. If there are any issues or gaps in your education, it should be easy enough to pick it up as you go along.</p>
<p>I think that you'd be fine as long as you worked hard and kept up with it. But you have to do this with Organic Chemistry anyway; if you don't you don't stand a chance at doing well. The only place that I could possibly see it hurting you is lack of experience in the lab, but it's really a minor issue as long as you are careful. A good organic lab class is very complex and the reactions are very picky compared a general chemistry lab.</p>
<p>I agree with noct, I think if you can study on your own, not procrastinate, you won't have THAT hard of a time keeping up . . . did you take chemistry in high school? even if not AP, i think you can definently just go to orgo then.</p>
<p>if you haven't had any chemistry before and don't even know what C, N, and O are.... ochem before gen chem would be impossible. If you have a good understanding of general chemistry before hand you may be able to pull it off.</p>
<p>Things I think you should know or at least have heard of before taking ochem (off the top of my head): know how to write reactions & interpret the meaning of a written reaction, how to do basic stoichiometry, how to count electrons, how many electrons atoms have, know about the shapes of molecules (also sterical hinderance, chirality, cis & trans), know about hybridization of orbitals, valence bond theory, molecular orbital theory, periodic trends such as electronegativity and ionic radius. All those things are taught in general chem and are assumed you understand it already because if you ask in class you'll be slowing everyone else down. They are difficult topics, just sort of basic background that is used often in ochem.</p>