SamF
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Chemistry CLEP
I'm going back to school after a hiatus and I decided that this time around I'd like to take a crack at chemistry. However I cannot enroll until May.
I decided it might be nice to take the Chemistry CLEP examination before then. I'm preparing by painstakingly working my way through Chemistry The
Central Science by Theodore Brown. Any suggestions on how to most efficiently self study chemistry? I'm going through the book with a notebook,
making notes and periodically doing exercises.
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Saerynide
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Hmmm... I would suggest doing a bit more than "periodic" excercises haha. For organic chem, I learned the hard way that not doing the "optional"
(according to our prof) problem sets was a bad idea...
[Edited on 12/1/2010 by Saerynide]
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DDTea
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What you have to understand about science and math is that at a fundamental level, they are problem solving. Simply reading the notes is *good,* but
if you aren't doing the exercises--and lots of them--you're not doing yourself any good.
They're hard, and they should be. However, *complaining* that practice problems are difficult is like going to the gym and complaining that the
weights are heavy.
"In the end the proud scientist or philosopher who cannot be bothered to make his thought accessible has no choice but to retire to the heights in
which dwell the Great Misunderstood and the Great Ignored, there to rail in Olympic superiority at the folly of mankind." - Reginald Kapp.
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SamF
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I'm new to chemistry, but not to problem solving. I finished the third year of a math major including courses in real analysis, complex analysis and
abstract algebra. Then my personal life exploded and three years later I'm coming back to school. I just don't feel motivated to stick with pure
math. Though physics might seem like a natural place for someone with a math background to go to, chemistry feels more tangible. A physicist will
hand you a paper describing the answer, a chemist will hand you a vial containing the answer. Besides, if I want to be mathematical, chemistry offers
plenty of room for that too. Oh, I discovered the excellent text by David Oxtoby and Chemistry the Central Science has been relegated to the
bookshelf.
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DDTea
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Yes, there is plenty of room for math and physics in Chemistry. One of the more creative biochemists I know earned his B.S. in Physics before
shifting over to biochemistry.
"In the end the proud scientist or philosopher who cannot be bothered to make his thought accessible has no choice but to retire to the heights in
which dwell the Great Misunderstood and the Great Ignored, there to rail in Olympic superiority at the folly of mankind." - Reginald Kapp.
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SamF
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How do you do that? How do you go from physics to biochemistry? Did he just apply to a biochem grad program? Did he have to take undergraduate
organic chemistry? I mean there's a lot of chemistry specific stuff that's not in the usual undergraduate physics curriculum.
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DDTea
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Whoops, I was a bit off. His B.A. was in Physics and Ph.D in Biophysics. The thing about your bachelor's degree is that it's not *really* important
so long as what you want to do with it is somewhat related (so, a business major trying to get into a physics grad program would have issues; a
chemist going into a physics grad program would be fine).
Basically, the problems he concerns himself with are things like the structure and interactions of RNA, enzyme catalysis, and developing spectroscopic
methods. There are so many little niches in any subfield that you can always find one that fits your skills and interests.
"In the end the proud scientist or philosopher who cannot be bothered to make his thought accessible has no choice but to retire to the heights in
which dwell the Great Misunderstood and the Great Ignored, there to rail in Olympic superiority at the folly of mankind." - Reginald Kapp.
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