Seeking Advice on Chemistry Study

[bacte2013]

Hello!

I am a rising sophomore with double majors in a chemistry and microbiology. The reason I wrote this post is to seek your advice on my plan to review the chemistry for myself and for the research lab; I am currently working for the synthetic chemistry lab that focuses on the antibiotics and medical microbiology. Besides the research, I do not have anything to do for this summer so I am planning to devote the time on my studying.

I will be taking the organic chemistry course along with the biochemistry. I think it is a good idea to preview the organic chemistry during this summer, but I think I did not master my general chemistry as well as I should...I remember that the course was heavily focused on the physical chemistry (elementary). Should I skip the review of general chemistry and go right into studying of organic chemistry and research-related papers, or should I review the general chemistry during this summer? Can I study both organic chemistry, general chemistry, and biochemistry at the same time? Here are the topics from general chemistry that I feel confident: wavefunctions and electron density, basics of chemical bonding (no MO theory), stoichiometry, and acids-bases & electrochemistry & chemical equilibrium (I took the analytical chemistry on last semester).

Thank you very much for your time!
I look forward to your advice!

 

[R.Mesri]

Since you have some background in general chemistry already, it may be helpful to review the basics of the topics you feel confident with before moving on to organic chemistry and biochemistry. This will help give you a good foundation for the more advanced topics that will come in those courses. It might be beneficial to focus on the topics from general chemistry that you are less confident in, as they may be important building blocks for organic chemistry and biochemistry. Additionally, if there is time in your schedule, it could be helpful to read some research papers related to the field to get a better understanding of current research.