I will be taking either Introductory or General chemistry in Fall 2018 depending on my major. I haven’t had a chemistry course since my freshman year of high school and this course was more conceptual rather than a mathematical approach to chemistry because the name of the course was Intergrated chemistry and Physics so this might have not prepared me for college level chemistry. If I take General chemistry, It’s kind of reccomended that I take introductory before I take general. Should I sit in as a free student in a chemistry class over the summer before fall or find some resources to study the material over the summer? I don’t think that I should actually take and earn credit for an introductory chemistry course over the summer if i go a route that requires General chemistry because I’m worried that I’m at risk of nearing my maximum time frame completion for financial aid and don’t wanna lose it for any reason of not meeting SAP. Are the concepts in chemistry or the lab components more important from high school or introductory chemistry for preparing for college level General chemistry?
Hi @SuperGeo,
I know very little about chemistry myself, but my husband is a chem professor. He’s not home at the moment to ask, but I do think (from years of listening to him talk about his job) that the # 1 tip is to go to every extra study session the professor offers and/or visit office hours whenever you feel confused, and to stay on top of the work. Attention to detail and accuracy are important (I know this from watching him grade stacks of lab reports!) Just like in math, the concepts build upon each other, so you don’t want to miss any steps or get behind. My husband has said many times that the students coming to his extra sessions are rarely the ones he has to worry about.
I would think it’s a great idea to audit an intro chem class this summer…whether you end up actually enrolling for credit in the fall in the intro OR the general class…auditing it in the summer may give you a feel for which course you will be able to handle in the fall (I think you said you will be taking some challenging math classes at the same time?) I know you are very focused lately on improving your grades so you can get into a four-year college…I think going slow and steady will help you the most in the long run if it increases your ultimate chance of success…even if it takes a semester longer to get there.
I’m not sure about your last question but I’m assuming your high school chemistry class was also introductory, so I think n introductory college class would be more advanced than the high school class.
Not sure if the concepts or the lab skills are more important…they probably go hand in hand…it might have more to do with which YOU find more difficult, as different people have different strengths.
You sound great lately, btw! I’m glad to hear you’re focused and optimistic and getting better feedback from professors than you did last year (I read your other thread the other day.)
I think you could do some background studying on your own starting a few months before you start in General Chemistry in the fall. For example, MIT puts their courses online:
https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/chemistry/5-111sc-principles-of-chemical-science-fall-2014/
I would recommend taking intro chemistry over the summer because having a class and tests will help you know what you don’t know better than self-studying would.
My daughter’s AP class used the book Calculations in Chemistry for most of the summer prep work. It is pretty straightforward.
Another resource I would recommend is BozemanScience.com
Under the videos tab, warm up with the Chemistry playlist and then do the AP Chemistry playlist if you want more challenge.
Another good YouTube channel for chemistry is Tyler DeWitt
Thank you for the reply @inthegarden and @rocket88. I will be taking my challenging math courses and ECON in the spring and then take some version of Chemstry, Biology, and Calculus in the fall. Any more feedback from you that you may gather please be sure to tell.
Whatever you do, I recommend taking an intro course before taking “general” chem if your school (like mine) assumes all students taking general chemistry are already familiar with regular high school chemistry. (I haven’t taken chem in college and probably won’t, but this is what the chem professors told me when I was asking.)
Like everyone said, It seems that you’ll be at a community college for a long time. I was there for three years. It was the best experience ever for me. I think you need to start from intro to chemistry. It will help you a lot.
@NASA2014 I remember you mentioned that I should take introductory Chemistry I and II together but you have to take introductory Chemistry I before Introductory chemistry II. is it necessary to take both introductory Chem courses to be successful in General chemistry?
My Ds were required to take a Chemistry placement test during their summer scheduling day. This was to determine the level of chemistry they would be able to take. Those that needed the basics were placed into an introductory chemistry course and those who were more proficient in the basic science and mathematics were placed into General Chemistry 1. Much of the test was to test your proficiency in the math needed to do well in the course (primarily algebra).
My daughter has said that Chemistry as taught at her university is very different than the way it was taught in high school, so you may want to start with the Introductory Chemistry to ease into it.
My daughter aced AP Chemistry in high school and made a 5 on the exam, and it was all easy for her, yet in college she struggled in her Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry classes. I recently asked her why, and one thing she said was that her Org Chem professor had assigned “optional” homework that would not be graded. Since she was very busy with classes and a part-time job in a lab, she skipped the optional assignments. By the time she figured out that working through those “optional” problems was necessary to grasp the material and make an A in the class, it was too late and she made a B-. In Biochem, she had an A/B throughout the semester, but did so poorly on the final exam that it brought her grade down to a C. She is still mystified how that happened, but clearly the final counted toward a lot of that grade.
I recommend doing any and all optional homework you can, and stay on top of the material as it is presented. Also attend any tutoring classes offered to get extra explanations and practice (this is another thing my daughter could have done but didn’t do, as her university offered weekly tutoring). Although her experience was with chemistry classes at a higher level, the principles are the same. Chemistry builds on itself, and once you get behind in understanding it can be hard to catch up. Do whatever it takes to grasp the material as you go. Make sure you understand the material thoroughly and are well-prepared for the final exam. Pay attention to what counts most toward the grade in a particular class – whether homework, midterm exams or the final exam.
I had a choice to make when I register for introduction to chemistry 1. My choice was to take the full semester or take introduction to chemistry 1 and 2 at the same time. Since I only needed one chemistry course for meteorology major I decided to take both at the same time and finish the requirement for chemistry the following semester. So I took the class and I had to admit it was a lot of work. So much homework and it was the due the following week sometimes in two days. During the time I was taking the course I was also taking precalculus and Macroeconomics. Then as days goes by I started to the like the material I never thought I would like. Since you know about my past with biology how it took seven times to finally pass in high school. When I took the final for intro to Chem 1 it was by far the easiest exam I’ve ever taken. You can tell because I fell in love with the subject. I took the exam on a Thursday I believe.
Then the following Monday introduction to Chemistry 2 started. To make the story short, this class was very hard for me because it had less math and more concepts than the first one. The reason why I still got a B was because of the math involved.
My choice for taking general chemistry 2 in the summer was because I enjoyed chemistry and wanted to learn more about it. The introduction to Chem 2 was not the same when I took the general chemistry 2.
@mommyrocks that’s why I don’t like about organic chemistry. Some professors make the homework optional and that what makes student do bad on tests. I recently retook organic chemistry 1 and passed with a C+ This semester
To those who take AP chemistry in high school and got a 5. DO NOT take organic Chemistry your first semester. If you have the choice take General Chemistry 1 and 2 first. Maybe skip gen Chem 1, but don’t skip it.