Taking Chem 111A without high school physics?

Johnson181
Sat, 27 Aug 2011 00:22:11 +0000

I had neither real physics nor chemistry (I took them in high school, yes, but both classes were a joke). The physics in chem 111A is like p-chem lite. In other words, physics 117/197 and 118/198 really won’t help all that much.

Either way, only 198 covers similar topics (118 does not) - while it was nice because it gave a better explanation than 111 does, it’s not necessary to do well in 111.

So what it comes down to - why do you want to take chem??? You HAVE to take chem 111 now if you want to take bio 2960 in the spring (there are exceptions, but 1 in 600 people exceptions). Not taking 2960 in the spring could mean you don’t finish the basic bio sequence until half-way through your junior year, which is an issue for some majors.

But on the other hand, if you’re a polisci major thinking of taking chem for the fun of it, it’s fine to wait a year.

Also, who is your advisor? This is advice I’ve never heard before and I’m curious what angle they’re coming from.