CHEM1A — General Chemistry I

There is a common understanding amongst math and science students that the general science education classes they take are harder than general education classes taken by students in other disciplines, such as the Arts, Humanities, and so on.  This was my first real science course and at least once a week I would think to myself or comment to others that “this is by far the hardest class I have taken in school.”

When I started this course I had already completed about 45 units of college work, the majority of which came from standard GE classes like English, Psychology, and Anthropology.  The differences in course difficulty and the higher expectations for student performance were immediately apparent to me.  Additional confirmations came throughout the semester by way of the rapid pacing of the class, the amount of material we were required to learn, and the large workload consisting of laboratories, homework assignments and exams–there was just so much that needed to be done.  Science students really do have more on their plates and, provided they can survive the punishment, this is why they end up making more money after graduating.

In hindsight the above statement of “this is so much harder” is kind of funny to me because the first semester of General Chemistry is structured in such a way that it serves as an introductory science course of sorts for new students.  After taking other lower division science courses–Physics in particular–first semester General Chemistry is wholly unintimidating to me, although this certainly wasn’t true at the time.

Exams

– Forthcoming