{"id":1604,"date":"2014-10-08T02:23:07","date_gmt":"2014-10-08T02:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aceorganicchem.com\/Elite\/?p=1604"},"modified":"2014-10-09T02:08:03","modified_gmt":"2014-10-09T02:08:03","slug":"organic-chemistry-trick-5-dont-emphasize-lab-section","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aceorganicchem.com\/Elite\/organic-chemistry-trick-5-dont-emphasize-lab-section\/","title":{"rendered":"Organic Chemistry Trick #5: Don’t over-emphasize the organic chemistry lab section"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the biggest complaints that most TAs hear is that the \u00a0organic chemistry lab section is a lot of work for just one credit.\u00a0 There are no two ways about it\u2026this is a true statement.\u00a0 Think about it.\u00a0 If you were to do everything most TAs require for the lab, you would spend at least one hour prior to the lab preparing for it, three hours in the lab itself, and two hours analyzing your data and writing your report.\u00a0 This equals six hours of work per week for one lousy credit.\u00a0 Compare this to your organic chemistry lecture class, which is usually three hours of class for three credits.<\/p>\n

\"organic<\/a>
Yep, that sums it up for me.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We can\u2019t change the system, but we can learn how to work it to our advantage.\u00a0 With respect to the pre-lab preparation, one trick we have found that works well is to get together with a group of labmates and split the work on the lab preparation by alternating who does the lab prep for that week.\u00a0 Some TAs want to you to have the MSDS sheets for all chemicals to be used, in addition to answering pre-lab questions about what you are going to do in lab that day.\u00a0 By alternating who does that each week, you could save hours of time that could be devoted to the lecture portion instead.<\/p>\n

The report to be written after each lab exercise is another place that many students waste countless hours.\u00a0 Remember that the most important part of the lab is to do the calculations correctly.\u00a0 It does not matter that your data is crappy, it matters what you do with that crappy data.\u00a0 Second, do not spend a ton of time on the narrative portion.\u00a0 Concisely write what you did and leave it.\u00a0 Don\u2019t fool yourself into thinking that your TA is going to go over this with a fine-tooth comb.<\/p>\n

Many will find this to be a controversial statement, but we have found that a \u201cB\u201d in the lab section is not going to preclude you from going further in science, whether that be to a graduate degree or medical school.\u00a0 The one credit from the lab section does not factor that heavily into your \u201cscience GPA\u201d or overall GPA.\u00a0 If you could spend three hours less per week on the lab and focus that time into studying the lecture portion, you are much more likely to see a tangible benefit down the road.\u00a0 Further, would it be worth spending that extra three hours on the lab portion if it were only going to raise your lab grade a little bit?\u00a0 (For example, from a \u201cB\u201d to a \u201cB+\u201d)\u00a0 This is even more true if all you want is to pass the lab section and don\u2019t care about the grade.<\/p>\n

\"There<\/a>
There is worse in life<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do not mistake what we are saying here, as the lab portion can be a fun and rewarding experience.\u00a0 We are only advocating that for some students it may be helpful to not over-emphasize an organic chemistry lab class that is only worth one credit.<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the biggest complaints that most TAs hear is that the \u00a0organic chemistry lab section is a lot of work for just one credit.\u00a0 There are no two ways about it\u2026this is a true statement.\u00a0 Think about it.\u00a0 If you were to do everything most TAs require for the lab, you would spend at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4tPTC-pS","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aceorganicchem.com\/Elite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aceorganicchem.com\/Elite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aceorganicchem.com\/Elite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aceorganicchem.com\/Elite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aceorganicchem.com\/Elite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1604"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.aceorganicchem.com\/Elite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1615,"href":"https:\/\/www.aceorganicchem.com\/Elite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1604\/revisions\/1615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aceorganicchem.com\/Elite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aceorganicchem.com\/Elite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aceorganicchem.com\/Elite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}