I made the decision last night, and it is final – but I’m not entirely happy about it. I decided that I need to drop Organic Chemistry. I should have done it at the very beginning, as I could tell right away that there would be problems. When I registered, Prof. A was supposed to be my instructor. I had researched Prof. A, I knew how Prof. A lectured, I was set. It was going to be a tough class, but good. I could do it.
Then I walked in on the first day and discovered that I had a replacement prof, Prof. Z. Prof. Z does not normally teach at my school, although he does teach Org. Chem at a private institution here in Houston. He is a nice guy, but his lectures are scattered. There are only so many times in one lecture that you can say, “Oh, wait, never mind – you don’t need to know that” or “Oh, wait, that’s not right.” Uh, great. It is a hard enough subject, but when someone keeps shifting directions on you – it is terrible.
I tried to take Trig online last year, and I learned then that I need a lecture to learn. I am too auditory to teach it to myself by reading alone. I have discovered now that I need a good lecture to learn. I can still quote things I learned in Chem. I over a year ago, but this class? I’m so lost. Beyond lost. Terribly lost.
Mike ended up getting a phone call from me last night with me ready to go off the deep end. I could NOT figure out the material. Reading the book was like reading a textbook I had found and just randomly opened up to the middle of the book. I felt lost. I felt frustated.
I can not take it anymore.
There is enough going on in my life with my family. I do not have 5 hours a day to devote to relearning the parts where I am weak in this course. Unfortunately, I got lost back at memorizing the initial functional groups. They are too important. I can not do it.
I’m even more frustrated because I actually *get* the concepts. I understand why things work the way that they do. Just don’t ask me to draw a ketone for you.
Prof. A will be teaching it again in the spring. It wasn’t his fault that they had him take over a different class and gave mine away. So I’m going to drop this one, and take it again. I’m scared that it will look bad to have two classes that I have withdrawn from on my transcripts, but overall it has to look better than taking a C or even a D in the class. My GPA simply can not handle that hit. In addition, I can’t imagine coming out of Org. Chem I with that weak of a grade and doing well in Org. Chem II.
I hate giving up. But my family has to come first, and I have reached my breaking point. I need to be able to focus on Jason and helping him through his rough patch at school. I can’t do any more than what I am doing at this moment. Hopefully, round two will go better. I’m still bitter about the whole thing though.
As for the Trig class that I dropped last spring? I currently have a 99 in the class. I rock the Trig. Who knew? Here I always thought I sucked at math!
