Professors - Page 2

sunnyday9630 · 07-04-2008, 02:53 PM

any suggestions for taking either chem 6bh vs. chem 6c?

astrina · 07-05-2008, 06:31 PM

major / premed or not / goals in life / preparedness for organic chem / interest in theoretical chemistry?

sunnyday9630 · 07-05-2008, 11:22 PM

general bio/pre-med/as far as college goes: get into good med school/never taken organic chemistry; more interested in math-y chem

that being said, is chem 6bh or chem 6c generally more time consuming?

astrina · 07-05-2008, 11:33 PM

general bio + premed = go for chem 6c, and wait until you've got elective time (and turned in your apps) to take the interesting and potentially GPA-lowering classes.

sad, but really, that's the best approach to med school. show them what you're good at.

sunnyday9630 · 07-07-2008, 07:29 PM

ah. wait. so, i'm coming from the point of view of having scored a 5 on the ap chem test going into revelle, and i'm understanding that i CAN'T at all take chem 6 a, b, or c, but i can take chem 6bh or 6ch. i was thinking i could just take a and b over again to make things easy, but apparently i can't. any tips on what to take from here?

astrina · 07-07-2008, 09:32 PM

you CAN take chem 6a, 6b, 6c if you want. but you're not getting credit for any of them.

you WILL get credit if you take 6bh, 6ch.

some med schools do require a full year of gchem, meaning that seniors will have to go back and enroll themselves alongside freshmen. but not every med school does this, and not every premed goes back to re-take gchem.

sunnyday9630 · 07-09-2008, 02:55 PM

is there any point in taking a course if you don't get credit for it?

and am i correct in saying that the course won't factor into my gpa?

thnx.

astrina · 07-09-2008, 03:21 PM

is there a point? well it depends -- if you need a class to help you get into med school, then yes.

and no, no effect on GPA whatsoever if you're taking a class you already passed out of.

if you're so desperate to take gchem (and maybe even score yourself a few As while at it), how about just NOT sending in the collegeboard score report?

sunnyday9630 · 07-10-2008, 12:33 AM

meh, well i kinda already did that when i took the ap tests and it asked to send scores to colleges. is there any way to "withdraw" certain scores once they've been sent?

astrina · 07-10-2008, 09:02 AM

if they've been sent, no. (unless you're willing the jump the mailman, and that's probably not a good idea)

if you already took them and haven't sent them, yes, you can selectively cancel scores off your record.

and to avoid further confusion: operate under the assumption that UCSD has your AP scores floating around and will eventually post them to your academic record. you're effectively barred from taking 6abc for credit or a grade. 6bh/ch are NOT MCAT prep -- they're more like theoretical principles applied to gchem. if you're premed and have a slew of other things on your plate, just get started with the 140A series and physics. take the MCAT the summer after sophomore year. with those scores, start searching for possible med schools. of the schools, some will let you petition in AP credit for the gchem requirement, some won't. decide from there and use some emptier quarter in junior/senior year to make up 6abc if you have to. live happily ever after.

my thoughts are that you want to hit the ground running -- you'll be tempted to ditch class if you're not learning anything.

sunnyday9630 · 07-20-2008, 01:35 AM

is organic chemistry difficult to take during the first few quarters of one's college career (i scored a 5 on the ap chem test, if that helps in assessing)?

astrina · 07-20-2008, 09:14 AM

well ... you already know that a "5" automatically places you into the organic chem series, ochem is the next step for anyone who finishes gchem, and since you've already finished gchem ....?

it's not hard.

OoPurestOo · 07-26-2008, 06:56 PM

What about for math20a??

astrina · 07-27-2008, 12:45 AM

what *about* math 20a? we've been talking about chem on this forum ...?

i_lose · 07-27-2008, 12:51 PM

how to survive the first 2-3 weeks of 140a: know electron dot structures, electronegativity principles and resonance. if you know that, great, you're good to go for half of the first midterm.

next five weeks: random stuff, sn2/sn1/e1/e2 reactions and the differences
last week or 2: 50 reactions for alcohols = you just got f'ed for the final (overexaggerating here)

in reality, if you got a 5 on the AP test, you shouldn't worry about being at a disadvantage for 140a. i got a 5, retook the chem6 series, and i don't find that it helped all too much for ochem. i should have just jumped into ochem freshman year and gotten it over with.

ugh last night i had a horrid dream that i actually hadn't completed the 140 series. horrible way to wake up in the middle of the summer.

too bad i still have the 143a lab to plow through in the fall. any tips, astrina? or old lab reports :P