Hi all,
I’m a freshman right now who is planning on double majoring EVST with Econ. The only prereq I have left is the general chemistry sequence which I’ll be starting next fall and I guess I just wanted to know how difficult it would be or if I should try and do any prep before hand. The last time I took chemistry was honors level in sophomore year of high school and I did pretty well (A-). Is the lowest level gen-chem sequence notoriously difficult for what it is? What are the best ways to prepare for this before I get to it? By the end of sophomore year I will be well into the econ major (inter sequence complete, math finished, econometrics finished, etc.) and will have the EVST prereqs + an elective or two out of the way.
Thanks!
My daughter took the first half of Gen Chem and is a freshman. She said it was considerably more difficult than she had expected it to be. She had a lousy TA and found that she was on her own to figure things out most of the time. Study sessions were more confusing than helpful. I don’t think the difficulty came in the form of being unprepared and more in the form of the amount of information you needed to know because the exam pulled from everything. She said that rather than studying facts and formulas she needed to study entire concepts so that you can use all that you learn along the way to solve new problems in the exams. She also learned really fast that the lab reports of HS were not what was expected at the college level. I would suggest that you find someone that has already taken it and learn to write out the new format of a lab report. She also said that the only people that take Gen Chem are either pre-med or science majors because nobody would voluntarily do it otherwise. Her friend who took the first semester with her is not taking the second because of what was involved. I hope that this helps.
There are two Gen Chem sequences: 161/165 and 163/167 (more advanced, builds upon AP material). The course that @Memmsmom 's daughter took appears to have been 163 by the description (correct me if I’m wrong). Most people I talked to agreed that it was by far the hardest Gen Chem course because of the wide range of detailed (and in many people’s opinions, irrelevant) information you needed to know.
On the other hand, most people I knew taking 161 agreed that it was quite reasonable, so if you have the choice, I’d take that one 
Thank you both so much! I was definitely looking to do the more reasonable of the two, especially having been away from chemistry so far. I’m not looking to invest too much into chemistry beyond the requirements I need for EVST, so it is good to know that the major won’t be completely inaccessible (especially because you CAN place out of the chem prereq with an AP credit so I was hoping it wouldn’t be too unreasonable/the material needed for the major wouldn’t be too advanced in scope).
@CardioParty, you have more choices than 161/165 or 163/167 (http://evst.yale.edu/academics/prerequisites):
AP Chemistry credit on Yale transcript; or,
CHEM 161 and CHEM 165 (General Chemistry I and II); or,
CHEM 163 and CHEM 167 (Comprehensive University Chemistry I and II); or,
CHEM 112 and CHEM 113 (Chemistry with Problem Solving I and II); or,
CHEM 114 and CHEM 115 (Comprehensive General Chemistry I and II); or,
CHEM 118, (Quantitative Foundations of Chemistry)