Who do you suggest for BCH 451 if you hate chemistry??

10/15/2009 3:07:10 PM

If you take Knopp, you will learn BioChem inside out. He wrote the textbook and lab manual, and you WILL know your stuff when you get out. Undergraduate students coming from NCSU who took Knopp for BCH451 beat the pants off of many grad students at other universities. That being said, Hardin is your better choice.

If you can take this in the summer, do it, and make this your only course, and this will be the only thing you do for ~40 hours each week for 5 weeks.

Not to sound rude, but, why are you taking this course if you hate chemistry?

10/15/2009 8:13:37 PM

I need Biochemistry for my major, but I need to learn the stuff. So maybe Knopp is a better teacher?

10/16/2009 7:22:41 AM

Why do you need to learn it? I'm guessing you're taking a bio major or something similar to try to get to med school. Chemistry just isn't a popular subject - if you don't like it and struggle with it, med school might not be for you.

10/16/2009 3:52:04 PM

Hardin is easier, Knopp is a better professor

pick your poison

[Edited on October 16, 2009 at 4:42 PM. Reason : s]

10/16/2009 4:40:27 PM

Not too many folks like Organic 1/2. Biochem is VERY different from those courses. You can take the course and make a C to pass with a bit of effort. However, as has been said, you really want the knowledge, take it with Knopp and put in the effort to get an A / get the knowledge. It really comes in handy down the road for both grad school and/or career.

10/17/2009 10:11:08 AM

Take Knopp. Great teacher. Knowledgeable, problem sessions put everything in perspective. Can't speak for Hardin b/c I don't know much.

^ having a love for chemistry doesn't have as much to do with medical school as 'zapped' suggests. It's just a prereq and tested on the MCAT. Get a B or above, and move on. Those chemical equations are NOT going to come back and haunt anyone. It's just hilarious that someone thinks it's an indicator of determining whether or not someone should go for a career in medicine. I have been accepted and I don't LOVE chemistry. BUT If I don't like playing the guitar, does that mean I shouldn't try out for American Idol?

[Edited on October 20, 2009 at 2:25 PM. Reason : vague. ]

10/20/2009 2:20:46 PM

^

Quote :

"having a love for chemistry doesn't have as much to do with medical school"

I'm just curious how much experience you have of medical school to make such a claim?

10/20/2009 7:07:22 PM

Probably went a little overboard with that - and I am probably wrong. I just don't like it when over-ambitious pre-meds tell each other to find a new discipline. Just because someone is struggling with chemistry or physics or any subject matter, they should be told the career path isn't right for them. There are always ways to overcome obstacles. And sometimes, that means struggling through a course someone hates just to make a good grade and move on. Nothing personal.

10/20/2009 8:41:05 PM

Quote :

"Hardin is easier, Knopp is a better professor"

But Hardin is also a pretentious jackass who is OCD and can be evil even when you're nice and respectful to him (and making a great grade in his class). I think Knopp will have harder material but Hardin is ridiculously strict on minute things. For example, one kid in the practice session drew an amino acid. He told them, no, that's too small - draw it again. So, they drew it again. Then he said, no, that's too big. SERIOUSLY? So if you take him prepare to deal with things like that. Sometimes he will also put things on the test that we didn't go over and that not even Knopp's TA's knew the answer to (or wtf it was).

That being said... He's probably your better choice if you hate chem.

10/21/2009 7:45:07 PM

Quote :

"If you take Knopp, you will learn BioChem inside out. He wrote the textbook and lab manual, and you WILL know your stuff when you get out. Undergraduate students coming from NCSU who took Knopp for BCH451 beat the pants off of many grad students at other universities."

qft

Knopp's class helped me ace my advanced nutrient metabolism class in grad school. He's one of my favorite undergrad profs.

10/22/2009 12:27:57 PM

i would have to second dr.knopp being one of my favorite professors

10/22/2009 3:36:23 PM

I took Hardin during a summer session and loved it, and I was scared to death of this class before I took it. Wasn't too hard, just had to put in some time to memorize shit...investing in a dry erase board to draw structures over and over and over is a smart idea though. Hardin is a jackass, but that's why I loved him so much. People would just ask questions that he had just answered so he didn't want to go over it again b/c the class was only 5 weeks and we didn't have time, so that pissed off a lot of people.

10/25/2009 11:34:59 AM