First year university chemistry, catching up

Bottle_of_Smoke

Hi guys,

Started a degree in Human Nutrition and in first year I'm studying Chemistry

We've covered this so far

Lecture 1 - Atoms and Radioactivity
Lecture 2 - Electronic Configurations
Lecture 3 - Shapes of Molecules and Ions
Lecture 4 - Water, Hydrogen Bonding and Solubility
Lecture 5 - The Mole
Lecture 6- Chemical Equations
Lecture 7 - Oxidations and Reduction Reactions
Lecture 8 - Solutions and their Physical Properties
Lecture 9 - Reaction Rates
Lecture 10 - Chemical Equilibrium
Lecture 11 - Acids, Bases, Salts and pH
Lecture 12 - Acid Base titrations and buffers
Lecture 13 - Thermodynamics
Lecture 14 - Entropy and Disorder

I've been to vast majority of lectures and all practicals/tutorials and whilst in class I understand most but I haven't been studying so not retaining much. Exam in January so I have to put a lot of effort in between now and then.

I'm just looking for any suggestions on the best method of learning. Eg what method of study would be best. Have notes for the above from lecturer but not great imo, more a lecture reference than anything else.

Usually I read textbook but doesn't seem to stick. Has anyone any advice or tips for exercises that might help?

Thanks

sunnyjim

It's kind of hard to suggest this since you're only starting off into chemistry, but if you can find a book that covers a more interesting aspect of chemistry it makes it easier to understand and recall.

To be honest, just download the past papers and print them off, put away your notes and go about trying to answer what you can. Once you know what you don't know, you can focus on that, rather than trying to learn your whole course.

Jokesetal

Quick answer: Get the past papers!
You've posted this well before the end of the first semester, which is how long the 1st set of lectures should take. So this would mean that you have probably just touched on each section but not too much in depth. So I would recommend one textbook (CHEMISTRY, by Steven S. Zumdahl and Susan A. Zumdahl) and MOST IMPORTANTLY the accompanying Student Solution Guide.
This is worth its weight in Gold IMO (I taught 1st and 2nd year chemistry for two years and used this solutions book religously!)

DemocAnarchis

The first year chemistry paper should be fairly formulaic. Print off the past papers and attempt some with notes, then attempt some blind and repeat. I'd hesitate to recommend a textbook - even basic general textbooks are beyond the scope of a first year chem course (imho). Use the lecture notes as a guide to study, as you cant be asked anything not covered in them, and only refer to a textbook if you do not understand a concept. Dont know how much organic chemistry you've done, but http://www.organic-chemistry.org/namedreactions/ is a goldmine, mechanism for every reaction under the sun.

You should also repeat your tutorials without notes, tutorials should be fairly representative of the sort of questions you'd be expected to answer. I remember in second year being told by a postgrad that he could teach a monkey to pass first year chemistry in two weeks, and having reached final year, on reflection i'd agree. There shouldn't be anything tricky or unexpected on the paper, put the work in and you'll be grand. One last thing, I find that the occasional study session with another member of the class really helps, as you find out that you might need to brush up on an area you had sorted.

Most of this is fairly general, hope its of some use!