Hi ladies,

I'm new to the group and PW so I wanted to introduce myself and ask if anyone had any tips for studying for Chemistry. I took Zoology last semester and loved it, but I'm having a hard time with Chem. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!!

welcome, unforunately Im not help; I havent taken Chem yet.

Thanks anyway. I've went to a few tutoring sessions, but it hasn't really helped so far. Apparently Chem is about a lot of practice. One of my tutors said I needed to spend 5 hrs studying for every hour I was in class. That would be 15 hours a week!!! Yeah I'll jump right on that because I totally have an extra 15 hrs a week lol

i have a white board and thats how i studied for chemistry. specifically organic chemistry. Oh and models help a lot with orgo too.

freelanceteach on youtube.. he really explains a lot well! I use it to help with orgo

Ugh I hated chem & ochem but your right that you really just need to practice ALOT (on top of reading and going to class of course =)) And like carocuore said models do help a lot of ochem if you ever have to take it. But hang in there! You can do it's just a lot of hard work.

Good for you to try out the tutors! I'm surprised they weren't more helpful. I'm a third year chemistry major and understand that it can be challenging at times!

I try to do my homework in groups, with other students from my classes. Work through the study questions in the text as you do the reading and ask the prof if there are extra problems from the text that they recommend for practice.

If you are having a difficult time with the math, sometimes a solutions manual that accompanies your textbook is a good resource. Most of my upper division classes require them. Seeing a problem worked out step by step is the best way to understand it, you just have to learn not to rely on it too much.

I wouldn't necessary recommend spending money on a modelling kit for a general chem class. I would download a free molecule builder, like Jmol, from the Internet if you are having difficulty visualizing molecules.

Good Luck!