[raserei]

I'm freaking out about my first Organic Chem 1 quiz. Literally 90% of the class failed. Its a 25 person class and 3 people passed.

The quiz was a review of General Chemistry, pretty much acid/base reactions, balancing, naming... Pretty straight foward and easy BUT I failed cause there were 4 questions total and I forgot the formula for Ascetic Acid and Bicarbonate/carbonate. Very very stupid I know BUT I studied the night before on a worksheet review sheet and the morning before class. I knew these but then I got the quiz and it just emptied out of my brain.

I understand everything else and the new stuff he's talking about like electrons, resonance, resonance hybrids, ect I understand. But when it comes to remembering more abstract molecules like Ascetic acid ect... I just SUCK...

My real question is this, what are some good studying tips to remembering these types of things. Pretty much memorization... I really fail in this department, my memory is terrible but I do understand the mechanics of what were studying. Im pretty much freaking out thinking im going to fail the course.

[renge ishyo]

1. Relax. Unless you got a perfect score on a 4 question quiz then it is easy to do poorly on it. Small populations of anything don't give reliable and accurate measurements.

2. Study. The is a direct correlation between the amount of time you spend studying a thing and the amount of information you can understand and retain. People don't want to hear that because they would rather be doing other things, but you CAN get good at Chemistry by practicing it. It's no different than playing the piano; you suck for awhile at it, but with practice you get better.