By General chemistry is a course that is taught both in high school and at the university level. This is one of the most widely taught courses because it helps students to have an understanding of different concepts of chemistry. As the name suggests general chemistry serves as an introduction to the concept and not necessarily delve in them. This means there is no explicit exploration of a specific field of study.General chemistry involves the study of matter, energy and their interactions. Here students are introduced to basics and introduce them to the wide spectrum of chemistry. This is a very important course because every day we apply chemistry to what we do. For example how you touch and feel things is chemistry. The products we use on a daily basis such as toothpaste is an application of chemistry.
Having an understanding of this course is essential because you can be able to explain why things are the way they are in a better way. It is also important to know the various units that are in this course. Examples of these units include matter and measurement, atoms, bonding, chemical formulas and equations, state of matter and many others.
Different students have different opinions concerning how hard general chemistry is. In this article we shall give an answer to the question, “is general chemistry hard?” from the perspective of college grads and college drop-outs. Let’s take a look at what they will say concerning this.
Is general chemistry hard? College grads answers
General chemistry course is a requirement for college students to graduate. Without a pass in this course, you may not graduate and therefore you have to repeat it until you pass it. There are many college graduates that have attempted this course more than three times. It’s all about having a mindset and looking at the end goal which is to graduate
Different college graduates have different answers concerning the hardness of general chemistry. While others look at it as an easy course others claim that the course is hard and boring. Despite these opinions, they have been able to graduate.
For the college grads that say general chemistry is simple to understand and pass the following are some of their arguments.
Why college grads believe general chemistry is not hard
One of the reasons why a college grad will say that general chemistry is not hard is because they know the importance of having a tutor and taking advantage of them. This means when they have any questions concerning general chemistry topics they consult so that they can be able to understand challenging concepts. This way you will be in a good position to answer questions concerning a specific topic.
Many of these students who find general chemistry simply read ahead of the lecturer so that when its lecture time, they already have an idea of what is going to be taught. Some concepts require more time and practice to understand and therefore reading ahead of the teacher is one of the ways to help them put the concepts into their fingertips. Making use of the materials provided for the lecture is very important for the purpose of productivity when the lecturer is teaching.
When it comes to the lecture time asking questions concerning the different concepts in general chemistry will also give a better understanding concerning the course. Asking questions does not really mean you are poor in academics. Most of the tutors will appreciate these questions and give guidance concerning what you don’t understand. In fact when you ask a question most instructors will believe that you have been reading through the material and listening to what they have been teaching.
Another reason why general chemistry is simple to some college grads is that they do the reading when they are sober. You will find that most of them when they find a course or a unit that is hard most of the time procrastinate or read when tired. This will end up bringing negative results to this course. Ensuring that your mind is fresh when reading general chemistry will make you be alert and focused so that you may be able to understand the concepts you are studying. Being able to set apart time for reading general chemistry will be able to help you make the work easier.
Why College grads believe general chemistry is hard
While some college grads will look at the concepts of general chemistry as simple others will look at it as a hard concept. The following are the answers to college grads on why they think general chemistry is hard.
Most college grads have struggled with this course and they have attempted it many times to pass the course. One of the reasons why college grads think that general chemistry is hard is because of its broadness. Being able to capture all the concepts in the units the course carries may take a lot of time to understand. Especially when it comes to elementary algebra you will find that many college grads have struggled with this for a long time.
Another reason why college grads believe that general chemistry is hard is they blame it on their tutors. You will find many college grads claiming that the tutors did not teach the concepts well and that’s why they did not get it. Most students will want to be spoon-fed on the course so that it can be easier for them to understand. Unfortunately, the tutors have to only give 20% while they need to look for the other 80% on their own. This makes them feel that the teachers are not doing their best when it comes to teaching and that’s why they will consider the course being difficult to comprehend.
Some college grads will view general chemistry as hard because it requires a lot of time to read. It is true when reading general chemistry you need to put your mind and your effort so that you are able to understand this concept. Most students will find it difficult to concentrate on this course and therefore they find it time-consuming. This is because they want to spend other times hanging out with friends and doing other activities. This then deprives them of the pleasure and leisure most young people want.
The fact that general chemistry requires memorization, many students do not like this idea. Memorizing concepts and formulas when doing mathematical calculations may be difficult for some college students. Memorizing everything that needs to be known in this course may be hard to remember when it comes to doing your test and exams. This is because this is not the only course that the students are doing and therefore it gives them a headache to work and balance studies in school.
The fact that there are some derivations that need to be done for the purposes of calculations in this course gives a lot of college students a hard time. This is because general chemistry has some physics in it that require calculations. Some students may not be doing so well in physics and they have a poor academic background in this area. This is what makes them feel that general chemistry is hard.
Is general chemistry hard? College drop-out answers
One of the reasons why you will find college students drop-out is because of the general chemistry course. This is one of the courses that are feared most by many students because it has a lot of reading to be done. When you ask college drop-outs on their view concerning general chemistry they will have a different opinion concerning this.
The following is a list of answers concerning the hardness of general chemistry from College drop-out.
One of the reasons why a college drop-out finds general chemistry hard is because of poor study habits. Many students that have dropped out of school is because they never had a method of reading. You will find most of them will read during tests and exams. This kind of reading overwhelms students because they cannot comprehend everything concerning the topic in question. This way they will end up dropping out of school because they believe they cannot be able to make it in this area.
Another reason why college drop-outs find general chemistry difficult is because they were not prepared for college. Most of the college drop-outs left school because they lived a life of partying, and most of the time when they are in college have hangovers. This way they cannot be able to attend classes as expected or do assignments. This led them to be a responsible student and they ended up dropping out of school. General chemistry requires focus and these students could not find time to study and therefore they ended up dropping out of school.
In conclusion, to answer the question, is general chemistry hard? will all depend on your perception concerning this course. This is because while there are students who are excelling in the course others are failing terribly and dropping out of college.
As a 4th year college student and as a transfer student, I wouldn’t say it’s hard, me and my classmates spend so much on the homework trying to learn the formulas etc and we still do very poorly on the weekly quizzes, we all passed the same quiz which was in week 6. It’s a 3 credit course but are expected to spend 6 hours a day on it and that not even enough. I think I would most likely fail this semester so if I retake it in the spring or next fall, I’m only taking 12 credits or maybe be a part time student so I can spend most of my time on the course work.