I have always excelled in my math and science courses. Whether it be physics, geometry, biology, calculus, or anything else I have taken. All these came easy for me and seemed natural, except for one course. The dreaded chemistry course had been the most difficult for me to fight through in high school. And now as I sit here doing my week’s homework; finishing up Calculus II homework confidently, checking off my English 106 homework as I type, and progressing through my other classes with not too many problems, knock on wood. Finally, I sit down to finish off the workload and find myself staring at the screen just wondering about what the heck is going on with the sig figs and conversions in my chemistry course. Math and physics conversions are no problem, but there is something different about the content in chemistry. I feel as though I do not remember a thing from high school. The ways that things are done in chemistry just seem backwards and incorrect. So, I thought a quick blog about my struggling chemistry skills would free up some memory of my previous knowledge of what I am supposed to be doing, but no dice so far. Back to my kryptonite, chemistry.
Amen to that, bro!
ReplyDeleteChemistry is most definitely my Achilles heel as well. Actually, as I read your post, I thought back to what my high-school chemistry class consisted of, and well...to be honest, it was a bit of a joke. The original teacher I'd been assigned left the school to work elsewhere, and we actually got a college professor who would turn out the lights and read from a power-point presentation for 90 minutes (we had block scheduling), and then after the first test when we all did pretty poorly (as not too much of the material was learned from the lectures), he started just e-mailing us the tests beforehand so we could 'see the material' and pretty much memorize what we needed to know to ace the test. And, the effect - I'm getting my rear end handed to me by Chem 115! We'll be fine though...it's just hard to see yourself be slower at one subject when you compare it to how quick you are in all the other ones.
What a coincidence! I too have forgotten chemistry dude! Looks like someone brainwashed all of it leaving math and physics. Just yesterday while I was working on my chemistry homework I got pretty confused with the mole concept (basics of chemistry). It is like a mystery to me now.While I'm typing this, I'm also revising some basic chemical formulas and also the mole concept.
ReplyDeletePatrick! I wish our professor did the same.
(Jayne)
I am in the same boat as all three of you! Throughout high school math and science have been my strong points. Currently I am doing fine in my Calculus class, but just as you all said, Chem 115 is killing me! It seems I dont remember anything from my high school chem class, which I took two years ago. The gap inbetween certainly doesnt help. I cant wait to get this course over with because it is truely a struggle, and I can honestly say this is the first time I have absolutely no idea what is going on in a class.
ReplyDelete(Jayne)
Patrick, thats halerious about your chem professor! I had a bit of a similar problem with my high school alegebra professor. He was retiring at the end of the year and had stopped caring long before then. So, for our final exam he told us "if your comfortable with the grade you have (based on homework), throw your exam in the trash on your way out." Needless to say, my exam went in the trash!
ReplyDeleteThanks guys, now I know that I am not the only one. It sounds like everyone has the same problem of not remembering the basic fundamentals of chemistry that we are expected to know. But don't worry I hear repeatedly that the undergraduate physics and chemistry classes are mainly there to weed out the people who are weak, so we'll get it done.
ReplyDelete(Jayne)