CHEMISTRY COMMUNITY

I'm really stressed out right now. The textbook is a lot of information with lots of formulas to know. Any advice for understanding the material better & to help me feel more prepared & confident?

I recommend going to step up sessions in covel! They are super helpful for clearing up topics and letting you know what you need to focus on! I find that the textbook tends to give way too much information and ends up confusing me.

Definitely take advantage of the step-up sessions! But also, many of the equations and conversions will be given to you on the front sheet of tests. Therefore it will be more helpful to try and focus on the mechanics of the problems and overall idea, instead of stressing too hard on memorizing each equation and conversion. For now I would recommend trying to understand the concepts and make maybe a reference page with all the formulas that you can use as you go. This way, by the test date your constant usage of each equation should be more familiar and maybe even easier to translate. Also, Lavelle still has the modules up on his website that you can use! They helped for the review chapter and am sure would be just as helpful for this too.

Even the workshops are really helpful to review the material learnt. Also, there are review sessions before the midterm so I think that would help too.
Good Luck!

705379941 wrote:I'm really stressed out right now. The textbook is a lot of information with lots of formulas to know. Any advice for understanding the material better & to help me feel more prepared & confident?

if you are referring to the section in the textbook 1D that has the chart of all the formulas, we can actually omit all of that information. From my understanding, we won't be needing to do precise calculations, but only understand the material conceptually.

Other than that, all of the other formulas are on a formula chart that will be given test day.

I also agree and think a step-up session would be super beneficial! The 2 times i have gone have been great.

It would probably be really helpful to go to the step up sessions, since those start from the beginning and once you feel more comfortable you can go to the drop in ones. I also wouldnt stress about memorizing formulas because many will be provided but its important to know units (eg use kg and not g in equations that have a variable that is in Joules) and small things like that. Good luck!

I also find that attempting to do the homework and then looking at the book when you are stuck has worked better for me than simply reading the book before doing homework problems.

Reading the textbook also confuses me since there is additional information that is sometimes not covered in class. I recommend going to step-up sessions in Covel to review topics covered in class and then attempting to do all assigned homework (or at least a few problems from each section) on your own afterwards to see if you understand the material better! If you then have additional questions TA office hours may be helpful. Hope this helps and best wishes to everyone studying!

Also, if none of the above works, you can always resort to YouTube! Hearing it repeatedly could help retain information. Plus, if you're a visual learner, YouTube is a nice and convenient method that doesn't require access to a textbook or notes. Hope this helps!

Going to the step up sessions or making your own study group could be helpful!

I suggest finding a group of people you are comfortable with and make a study group. just remember everyone gets stressed but college is the time to conquer your fears.

Go to the sessions that Lavelle provides, and I would also suggest that you watch YouTube videos on topics that you don't understand. I personally, understand the best through step-by-step videos so hopefully that helps you too!

I'm a visual learner so youtube always helps me. Depending on your learning style, try and find what works best for you! It goes a long way

Personally, I go to the tutoring sessions and the step up sessions up in Covel! They really do help since they hit just about everything we cover in lecture, just in a slower and more explained way. Another thing I would recommend is getting some extra help from your TA at office hours. Good luck!

Step-up sessions are definitely worth it. They've helped me out a lot.

Find a study room with a white board and find some people who are also in the class so you can talk it through and draw it out on the board, that's what helps me.

Definitely go to the sessions!! There are tons and tons of extra hours of practice available to you. TA office hours also help a lot, and doing homework problems with a solutions manual will help a lot.

Don't stress too much! there are tons of resources available! I find that talking to other people in the class helps a lot.

I would also advise to watch videos on the topics you struggle with, that helps alot

personally, reading a textbook does not help me, so I always recommend youtube videos. It is good to know what formulas you do not need to memorize, so you can watch these videos over and over again while focusing on learning to apply the formulas and conversions.

Usually what I do to really make myself feel prepared is a series of specific steps. Professor Lavelle usually tells us what we are going to be covering in the next lecture so to prepare for that I usually first read the section in the textbook and look over and do the example problems. After that I glance over the exercises at the end of the chapter to see if I'd be able to do them and what I need to pay attention for during the actual lecture. Then, if the class website as it, I would do the module that covers the specfic topic that is going to be talked about (since, really, it is just the lecture he's going to be giving). After that I attend the lecture and take notes, marking down specific things I may not have caught from reading the textbook and watching the video module. Once the lecture is over, and I have time, I work on all the "assigned" problems for that chapter. I usually feel decently prepared after that, but if I don't I just do the whole process again, minus the lecture part.

Definitely attend the step up sessions and apply to get a PLF in Campbell Hall to get extra help during the week.

Attend step-up sessions, but also do not over extend your mind. Study a little day by day until you are understanding it more and more. By this, you will soon be very prepared! Good Luck!