<p>Has anyone taken the Chem Placement test? What are your thoughts… Also, how about Spanish test. I took it, but don’t understand how I placed. Does scoring well mean you need less credits to minor?</p>
<p>You’re going to need a basic working knowledge of chemistry. If you haven’t taken chemistry in awhile, I think they suggest going over the first five chapters of the book.</p>
<p>scoring well just means you start out in tougher classes. Like if you do well on the spanish test, you start in the 200 level or above instead of 100 level</p>
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<p>NOT a good idea to just go for all the easiest classes, especially if you’re pre-med since the med school adcoms will see right through it on ur transcript and plus most of those people end up getting complacent with their schedule rigor and think the easiness will translate on to the mcat, which explains the high perentage of premeds here that score <30.</p>
<p>With that being said, you do not want to bomb this chem exam on purpose since a) they may suggest you take a lower 135, 120, etc… chem class which would put u behind ur premeds b) the general chemistry assessment test (“GCAT”) is worth 3% of ur 141 grade so if you do go into 141 you’ll be down to a 97 in the class on the first day c) if you really can’t handle gen chem by this time in your educational career you probably don’t want to go pre-med (or any pre-health track requiring chemistry classes).</p>
<p>They were talking about language classes collegestu lol. I’m sure plenty of people try to rig the Lang. placement exams w/lower scores. But yes, I’ll agree about chem. Even a person who thinks they suck at gen. chem should be able to get B-/B (maybe C+ if really inexperienced, but C+/B- certainly shouldn’t happen both semesters) the way the class is set up. You can not do well on exams and still do okay, almost as if you are in organic chem. or something.</p>
<p>So I bombed my assessment, but according to the website you can review and work on the areas you need to and retake the test to get to 80%. I haven’t taken Chemistry since 10th grade, and had a horrible teacher when I did. Do you really think bombing the assessment means I’m not a good candidate for pre-med/nbb? I’ve never been the best test taker either… Now I’m getting nervous!</p>
<p>It doesn’t really mean anything. You had to wing that exam with no recent exposure to the material (many Emory students recently had honors, IB, or AP chem). In general chem., you’ll have plenty of exposure w/good professors before you take an exam. An impromptu exam doesn’t tell you much. Many people have failed the placement exam and have done okay in the class.<br>
Study, and just keep taking it until you pass (maybe you can study now, and take it again slightly before or during orientation).</p>
<p>Thanks Bernie, I feel better : )</p>
<p>To add to bernine’s comment, one single placement exam can’t decide if you’re fit for pre-med so don’t let urself down because of that. What I meant was lacking knowledge in chemistry (or any other important class for that matter) and refusing to learn or challenge urself to be get ahead or at least be on par with ur peers (but instead trying dodge the hard classes and hope for miracles), that is something that won’t get u far. Most people who try will at least be able to handle the material in gen chem. (although not necessarily get an A in the class), but if u are struggling even after studying a lot for the an exam then u definitely need to figure HOW to study more effectively, or be at a huge disadvantage in comparison to ur pre-med peers (with the immense competition in the overcrowded pre-med population these days, only those at the top have a good shot at med school).</p>
<p>Group Study (though, before getting in a group, it helps to study before you meet that way it doesn’t turn into a giant social festival. Instead, you can discuss material you were already exposed to) and learning resources are students’ friends. Almost all of the top students use them. I find that students that aren’t arrogant or overconfident and accept help do well. Part of being at a top school (or college in general, but especially at top schools, where incoming students were almost perfect at their HS) is some students accepting that they are far from perfect in this environment and doing whats necessary to adjust study habits and get help in “challenging” environments as opposed to simply deciding: “I rather just not deal w/such a scenario in the first place. I much rather take classes that make me look like an awesome student than to actually become one”. The former is the key to being a successful pre-health student in particular. It pays in the long-run.</p>
<p>Thanks guys, I feel better. I know I will work very hard and I will also look for help when needed. Study groups would be great! I just didn’t want to hear that some people just can’t cut it because of something they are lacking or something. If the helps is out there and I study hard I think I will be okay.</p>
<p>what if you fail the chem placement exam? do you still get the 3% back if you do the prep thing? i got a 4 on ap chem… havent taken the test yet. so scared right now :/</p>
<p>If you eventually pass the exam, you don’t lose the 3%.</p>
<p>I’m kind of confused right now… I logged onto classes.emory.edu a few weeks ago, and when I clicked on 2011-2012 Placement Exams, the Chemistry placement exam showed up as one of the options. I wanted to put of taking it until I had a free weekend and was planning to take it tomorrow, but when I logged back on today, the Chemistry placement exam link was gone (but there were still links to the Chinese placement exam and some other placement exams). When I did the search feature, I found the Oxford Chemistry placement exam link, but I don’t think that’s the same thing… When I went on to Emory’s Chemistry website, it had no mention of a placement exam on classes.emory.edu, but only mentioned the GCAT, which I thought was different from the Chemistry placement test on classes.emory.edu… does that mean that I have missed the deadline for the online placement test, am I not looking in the right place, or has it been completely replaced by the GCAT thing on aleks, but they just did not take the link down until just recently?</p>
<p>Also, on the GCAT, my pre-test score was definitely not stellar, but I have worked on the objectives I missed earlier, and when I click on Gradebook, my GCAT score now shows as 97%… I didn’t have to retake a test or anything; I just worked through most of the objectives I have missed (I have 3 left that I have not worked through/“mastered”). Does that mean that I have earned the 3%, or will I still have to take some other post test to earn the 3%?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure you have earned it, but if you can, eventually contact a prof. or some contact associated w/the exam. I’m not sure about all of this because I took orgo. as a freshman.</p>
<p>is there a time limit?</p>
<p>there is no time limit, mostly it’s either you know it or you don’t…even if you “fail” the review lessons let you redeem yourself, and are VERY helpful imo</p>
<p>is the whole test online or do you have to download something?</p>
<p>when i tried to use aleks, it made me download a java thing. are you suppose to download it? can you use aleks without java thing?</p>
<p>it also made me download aleks32.exe … when i was installing it, it says that that thing has unlimited access to my computer. im kinda freaking out right now is this a virus???</p>
<p>As a follow up to my post 14, I e-mailed Professor Mulford, and he said the only placement exam this year was the GCAT, so it looks like I’m all set! </p>
<p>As for ALEKS, I remember having to install it several times before it would work… I don’t remember it asking me to install anything else… it just had some Allow/Deny thing pop up. I didn’t really look at it that closely, because I thought it was just asking for permission to install ALEKS. My laptop hasn’t had any problems or anything as a result of installing ALEKS. </p>
<p>Also, I agree with begoodperson about the lessons. The software is really frustrating at times… like if I accidentally rounded wrong or was off by a sig fig, it would assume I didn’t know what I was doing and make me practice a lot more of stuff I already knew, but all in all, the software was really helpful in reteaching me stuff that I had long forgotten, and I feel a lot more confident starting class this upcoming semester. =)</p>