Basic Chemistry vs. General Chemistry OR online refresherr

[Shellydon]

My almost graduated senior had her college orientation and advising today (virtual).  She will be a molecular biology major.  Her advisor is recommending to take basic chemistry as a prerequisite to the general chemistry class.  The advisor said that the general chemistry is much harder and has a fail/drop rate of 50%.  Has anyone had something similar recommended for their student-- take the easy class first, then the harder one you need?  Should we just try to find a non-graded college course online to act as a refresher?  This is new territory for me. At my college there was one chemistry course available 🙂 

[MamaSprout]

I was given the opposite advice on the high school board when I was registering my dd for DE this year. Has you dd done any chemistry before?

I would have her look up and email the professors who teach the "for major" class and ask what they suggest.

[Dicentra]

@Shellydon Molecular biology is going to be pretty chemistry-heavy so you'll want to make sure that your dd has a really good foundation in intro/general chemistry.  @MamaSprout has a good idea - email the profs to see what they suggest.

Gen Chem for STEM students at college is often a "weeding" course.  I know - that's a terrible term.  Basically, if a student can make it through Gen Chem, they can make it through the other stuff.  If a student can't make it through Gen Chem, they get "weeded" out.  If the college suggests taking Basic Chem first, that may be the best idea.  If you do want to look into a online refresher, my self-paced, parent-graded Honors Chem course is pretty rigorous.

All the best to your dd!  Molecular bio is an awesome field to be entering! 🙂

 

[Mbelle]

DS is taking Chem (1211).  It's the one for getting into engineering.  He's a DE student in his senior year.  His instructor is very organized and her syllabus is up to date.  This class is challening, even with the clear set dates and info.    I think the class average is a D.  Thankfully ds is above the curve, but he is having to over study.  He writes notes for every section in the textbook and he writes lots of notes for everything in the class.  He is barely getting a B.    The expectations since going online have not been lessened, but simply moved to online. 

edited..correct course number

Edited April 9, 2020 by Mbelle

[SanDiegoMom]

My niece took hon chem and AP chem in high school, though it was very haphazardly taught and no one passed the exam.  She still figured she had enough chem background to go into regular chem even though the advisor thought otherwise and pushed the intro to chem.  Now 2/3 of the way through Regular chem she is dropping it because at this point she can't raise her grade enough to pass. 

She is an average well rounded honors student. Her brother is very mathy and he survived regular chem just fine. But you have to know your student and their background. 

[kiana]

Ask if you can access either an entry exam for gen chem or an old final for intro to chem and see how much she knows.