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I have to take Chem 4A as part of my major, but did not take AP Chem in high school, as it was not offered. Will I be completely screwed, or can the gap be made up by hard work?

By Im_Blue (Im_Blue) on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 09:25 am: Edit

According to the course catalog, the only prerequisite for Chem 4A is high school chemistry. Calculus can be taken concurrently, and high school physics is recommended. You should be fine without AP Chemistry, but be aware that many of your classmates will already have taken it, and the class will be more competitive than 1AB since it is for chem majors.

By Ucaaron (Ucaaron) on Tuesday, August 24, 2004 - 12:40 pm: Edit

Yea... but there's also the fact that some of them might not study as hard because they are sure they know the material. So, I shouldn't stress about, I guess? I would think that having taken a lot of calc and physics will help at least a little bit.

By Alk331 (Alk331) on Monday, September 06, 2004 - 09:52 pm: Edit

You will not be screwed. DON'T EVEN WORRY ABOUT IT.

I took Chem 4A, and if you like chemistry, I wholeheartedly advise you take 4A. They may cover a little more material at the end, but this doesn't necessarily make the class harder.

So why is 4A better? 1A classes are meant for non-majors...meaning all the premed and "other" students. These classes are well over 500 students large, whereas 4A is less than 100 for lecture. The curve is lighter in 4A, the competition less intense since people are there to genuinely learn, and the class tends to be more "enjoyable." I loved my chem 4A experience and the only people who didn't, were the ones who didn't study or realized they didn't like chemistry in the first place.

As for the AP Chem stuff. If your classmates (who took AP) actually studied in high school, then they will probably just have to study less than you to achieve the same result for certain topics in the course. But trust me, unless if you learned nothing at all in high school chem, this shouldn't make a difference to you.