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It is really hard to single any of those topics out. Chemistry is just one of those classes that, like all others, you have to make sure you understand the class you just had and preread for the next if possible to get the jump on the next topic. It is doable. I didn't have chemistry in hs at all but did well enough in it but it takes a lot of dedication, which gets repeated a lot in this forum. If your school has it, check into tutors if you don't feel confident that you can "get' the material. Our school had them and they did help some of the students, and they were free. God luck!!
As someone who used to tutor chem ages ago, these are the ones that my students seemed to have the most difficulty with:
Solutions
a) Methods of expressing concentration, molarity, molality, normality, osmolality, ppm
Solutions of Electrolytes and Acids/Bases
g) ‘pH, pOH, Ka, pKa, Buffers
) Ksp
REDOX
a) Definitions (here just remember LEO GER {loss of electrons = oxidation, gain of electrons = reduction} )
b) Balancing
Mols! Mols mols mols. It might be hard and it might be easy depending on who you are. But the second you hear your teacher say this word sit up straight and start taking notes if you aren't already. I think its the most difficult thing to understand and they usually don't get to it until at least the last half of the semester. Remember to listen for it. If you miss a day and it happens to be on the day you talk about mols you will get behind. And once the teacher mentions it, it will be on the rest of the class. Keeping that in mind, chemistry did not seem to be too hard as long as you understand that part. Good luck! :pumpiron:
Sounds like my Chem 101 class this past spring. None of it was really *hard*, the problem is that everything tends to build on previous concepts so it's not like you can just forget the stuff once you take a test. Take advantage of tutoring at your college and use it right away if you don't understand something b/c if you let even a couple of class periods go by w/out fully understanding the concepts you will experience a lot of stress! Don't EVER miss a class if you can help it. It will be fine though, just take it seriously and keep up with all the assignments and it is definitely doable...I even liked it a little bit! Wierd! Good luck!
as someone who used to tutor chem ages ago, these are the ones that my students seemed to have the most difficulty with:solutions
a) methods of expressing concentration, molarity, molality, normality, osmolality, ppm
solutions of electrolytes and acids/bases
g) ‘ph, poh, ka, pka, buffers
) ksp
redox a) definitions (here just remember leo ger {loss of electrons = oxidation, gain of electrons = reduction} )
b) balancing
we remembered this with the sentence: leo the lion says ger
as far as the rest, as others have said, chemistry is definitely one of those subjects that builds on each class. the key is to keep up...if you don't understand something....get help right away, because it's easy to get behind.
peace,
curiousme
msdeannah
281 Posts
Ok this going to be long.. My professor just posted our sylabus. I was just looking for feedback on the topics he has listed. He says this is a beginners chem class, can you guys give me an idea which topics will be the most difficult for most students, and are these topics for the most part for beginners?
As always thanks for your feedback!!
Matter:
a) Physical and chemical properties
b) Measurement
c) Intensive and extensive properties
Structure of Matter
a) Atoms
b) Atomic Structure
c) Distribution of Electrons
d) Atomic Masses/Isotopes
e) Symbols
f) Periodic Table
Nomenclature
a) Formulas; short hand and naming
b) Radicals
Laws of Chemistry
a) Conservation of Matter
b) Definite Proprotions
c) Avogadro's Hypothesis
d) Equation writing
e) Formula computations
f) Equation computations
Energy
a) Exothermic and endothermic changes-
b) Enthalpy
c) Entropy
Electron Configuration
a) Bohr Model
b) Quantum Numbers
c) Shells/Sub shells
d) Orbitals
e) Buildup (Aufbau and Hund)
Gases (in laboratory)
a) Pressure, temperature
b) Charles and Boyles Laws
c) Standard Conditions
d) Partial Pressures
e) Kinetic Molecular Theory
f) Ideal gases
Liquid and Solids
a) Vapor Pressure
b) Evaporation
c) Solid State
d) Crystalline solids
e) Energy and change of state
Solutions
a) Methods of expressing concentration, molarity, molality, normality, osmolality, ppm
b) Solubility
c) Partition
d) Solvents
e) Colligative properties
Rates and Equilibrium
a) Introduction
b) Rates of reactions
c) Chemical equilibrium
d) Constants
Solutions of Electrolytes and Acids/Bases
a) Ionization
b) Strong and weak
c) Reactions
d) Equilibrium
e) Mass action
f) Ionization Constants
g) 'pH, pOH, Ka, pKa, Buffers
h) Hydorlysis
i) Ksp
REDOX
a) Definitions
b) Balancing
c) Net Ionic equations