<p>Sorry but this is going to be pretty lengthy. </p>
<p>My school (UCF) offers several gen chem course options. If I'm reading my course catalog correctly (it's not very clear), CHM 2040 is where the classes that satisfy the pre-med requirements start. So my advisors recommend taking either 2040 + 2041 or 2045 + 2046 your first year. 2045 is a semester class that is the equivalent of a semester of 2040 and a semester of 2041, so it is obviously harder. I'd like some advice as to which one to take and if going the 2040/41 route would negatively impact my entrance into medical school.</p>
<p>Now, I have to admit that I got a 2 on the AP Chem exam. I've taken 10 AP exams and it's the only one I've failed. Although, I'm pretty sure I only missed a 3 by a couple questions (like one or two) because we took many practice tests and on each one I flipped between a 2 and a 3 based on getting/missing like one question. I did get an A in the class though, so take that for what you will. I did pretty well the first semester, averaging high-C's to mid-B's on the tests but second semester was a very different story. The first week of second semester we started kinetics and my teacher also came to the realization that we were pretty far behind schedule so she ramped up our workload and pace by quite a lot. Just to make things worse, I got mono just before starting second semester and missed a week and half of class and wound up playing catch-up for a good part of the semester. </p>
<p>Adding to this, it wasn't until I got to the exam that my classmates and I realized that were had never learned much about several subjects on the test - namely voltaic cells (which had it's own FRQ), galvanic cells, entropy and enthalpy. My class had a 17% pass rate on the exam - 4 out of 24 kids passed.</p>
<p>How all this ties back to my current decision over which class to take is as such. The 2040/41 route is obviously the easiest and the one I would probably go with, however they are both general classes (I'm in the Honors college at my school) and as such will be ENORMOUS (one of the 2041 classes is nearly 500 students). On top of that, the professor of 2040 is only listed as "staff" so I have 0 information about him/her and the professor for 2041 has very poor ratings on ratemyprofessor (2/5). On the other hand, the Honors college offers 2045/2046 classes with only 20 students in each. However, the same professor teaches all the classes and he has abysmal ratings (1/5) and it says something to me that not a single one of his classes is full yet. Lastly, there is a general 2045 class. It has about 250 students and is obviously going to be harder than 2040/41 but it's professor has excellent ratings (4.5/5) and I've heard good things about her from other students. </p>
<p>So, to wrap this awfully long post up, which class do you think I should take? Which class would you take or have taken? I'd really appreciate any input.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>