is organic chem dependent on general chem?

[mabo]

<p>that is to say, would organic chem be much harder to someone who took general chem two years ago than someone who just took general chem?</p>

[norcalguy]

<p>VERY little overlap. You’ll be fine. My orgo professor said only 5% of what we learned in gen chem will be used be used in orgo.</p>

[ASMAJ]

<p>I think the only think I used from gen chem was the molecular orbital theory.</p>

[mabo]

<p>oh cool thanks</p>

<p>wait…but then why is gen chem usually a prereq for orgo?</p>

[uvajack]

<p>So you know what electrons are.</p>

[shades_children]

<p>As a chemistry major, I agree with the other posters in this thread. I did very well in Gen. Chem., and then I went on to muddle my way through Orgo. The two don’t have much to do with each other. You need Gen. Chem. to understand orbital shapes, which will help you with understanding stereochemistry and some mechanisms.</p>

[mabo]

<p>ok</p>

<p>so you’d all recommend looking over electrons and orbitals, but not going in depth over anything else?</p>

[ASMAJ]

<p>I wouldn’t suggest going over anything. Usually the first 2 or 3 chapters of you orgo book is a basic review of the prereq material needed to understand the material.</p>

[2o_o7]

<p>Is it possible to take 2nd semester gen chem with 1st semester orgo?</p>

<p>Or would this be stupid.</p>

[mabo]

<p>i don’t know, but it sounds like it’d be okay</p>

[eternity1115]

<p>this is nice to know because I was worried that I wouldn’t remember much chem from last year in order to take orgo freshman year</p>

[my_0.02]

<p>A 2003 article from The Chemical Educator entitled, “Factors Influencing Passing Rates for First-Semester Organic Chemistry Students”</p>

<p>

Abstract: A five-year study of the factors affecting the passing rates of first-semester organic chemistry students at a public university in California is reported. Student attitudes, perceptions, and attributes were examined at the beginning of the course (N = 234) and at the end of the course (N = 161). There is a definite correlation of increased study time and student expectations with passing rate. One counterintuitive result is that there appears to be no correlation between the amount of time since the last college-level chemistry course was taken and the passing rate. In addition, another result hints that for the subgroups in this study, there seems to be no affect on the passing rate for students having one versus two semesters of general chemistry preparation. These two results may imply that, at least for the group of students in this study, the exact content preparation of students may not play as large a role in determining the passing rate in first-semester organic chemistry as other student attributes, such as study skills and motivation.

<a href=“http://chemeducator.org/sbibs/s0008002/spapers/820155pj.htm[/url]”>http://chemeducator.org/sbibs/s0008002/spapers/820155pj.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Note the dichotomous outcome measure is pass rate; relevance to continuous measures and other populations is unknown.</p>

[bluedevilmike]

<p>If you’re going to Duke, I believe GC is a prerequisite for OC.</p>