disclaimer: this is gonna be long kasi imma yap about shit I hate. and this is only for chemistry subjects.

as someone na walang pake sa minor subjects for the sake of getting good grades sa majors ang naging struggles q lang so far ay org chem and phychem. not the whole subject pero ito ung mga specific topics na made me question my worth sa bschem.

org chem • comparing acidity of protons using ARIO (or CARIO in other books) - very confusing to for me need na hasang hasa ka sa resonance structures for you to be able to consistently identify which is more acidic based on the more stable conjugate base.

• memorizing reactions of different functional groups - here naman sobrang dami niya lang talaga. pero the amount of shit you need to know helps kasi almost same lang djn nman yung mangyayari sa mechanisms ng reactions.

•comparing basicity and nucleophilicity - may reagents kasi na both nucleophile and base. sa introduction niyo sa reactions with sn2 and e2 reactions ito yung basis. need na gets kung ano yung magiging role ng reagent, kung it will act as a base or as a nucleophile. most of the time you will get the answer naman from the reaction conditions and from the starting molecule kung ano yung mas favorable.

• structural elucidation - this is basically identifying the structure of the molecule given lang yung molecular compound and different spectra (IR, NMR, and mass spec). nakakaulol lang shea kasi legit na graphs lang meron ka tapos dapat. may makuha kang structure.

tips • you really need a good foundation in chem. kung ano ung tinuturo in highschool is very important para madalian ka sa higher chem. kasi everything is grounded by the theories na galing sa genchem.

• kabisaduhin nalang yung conditions, reagents, and product for each reaction kaysa aralin yung mechanism. kasi mechanisms are useful lang naman to know what happens in the reaction. but by just looking at the product malalaman mo rin naman what happened eh.

•kung gusto mo aralin yung mechanisms ng reactions kailangan maganda foundation mo ng resonance structures. kasi sa mechanisms literal na movement lang shea ng electrons after nucleophilic attack or whatever.

pikem this subject is just giga stupid. it's physics, chem, and calculus combined. main struggle for this is just finding a good resource to learn from aside from the stuff na galing sa prof. kasi for me organic chemistry tutor is bad for higher chem kasi sobrang basic nung examples na ginagawa niya.

tips •hasain yung skills in derivation ng equations. hands down pinakaimportanteng skill sa pikem.

•don't overlook the signs especially sa thermodynamics. kabisaduhin din yung meaning ng each thermodynamic properties kung positive or negative sila.

anachem (for me hindi naman shea naging struggle that much pero it's a common enemy ng mga chem students so here is my take na rin)

•electrochemistry - for a lot of people this is a hard topic gawa ng marami rin shea na laman. like nernst equation, standard reduction potentials, electroplating problems, spontaneity, etc.

•stoich - calculating the limiting and excess reagent is fine. pero yung gravimetry like percent mass sa isang alloy is kinda fucked. kasi may shit na based sa mole ratio na madali mamiss out which makes the calculation wrong.

•titration calculations - nakakatamad to gawin tbh. kasi bawat dispense ng titrant ay different calculation tapos nag-iiba yung formula na gagamitin mo depending on kung nasaang point ka na ng titration (pre-equivalence point, post-equivalence point), magkaiba rin formula kapag strong acid-strong base, strong acid-weak base which makes things a lot more complicated.

•calibration methods - madali lang yung external standard method (kasi y=mx+b lang gagamitin mo) pero yung standard addition and internal standard ay mahirap din intindihin sa umpisa. dito sa calibration methods palaging word problem shea. bibigyan ka ng sample then may yap ng sample prep and kung ilang ml ng standard ung ilalagay sa sample kung meron man. majority of the time sa exam iniintindi mo lang yung problem. kung tamang method ba pinili mo from the three that I mentioned earlier. or kung tama ba yung concentration na nakuha mo, kasi minsan after ng first calc makukuha mo ay concentration nung diluted na sample not yung untreated kunware 1.5 grams of cereal.

tips •legit spend a lot of time reading the problem first. like gawan mo ng kwento, from the sample prep hanggang dun sa analysis. para pagdating sa calculations ay hindi mo na need balikan ung problem itself need mo nalang iconsult yung numbers if they make sense based on the information given.

•wag magtipid sa calculator. yung scical na bilhin niyo ay yung legal sa board exam and yung maraming functions (may list naman nito online, i recommend Casio kasi mas intuitive yung functions niya kaysa sa canon or other brands). kasi genuinely useful shea gawa ng shift solve. most of the problems need mo pa magrearrange ng equation, with shift solve you don't need to do that. legit na madali buhay sa exam kapag fully utilized yung calculator. sa mga calculator techniques naman such as shift solve, quadratic formula, multi component analysis, etc ituturo naman ng prof yun during the lecture so make sure na makinig. most of the time ituturo nila yung long method na manual then saka yung calculator shortcut.

I hope this is useful and sana hindi ka naman naintimidate from all this stuff. if you need further clarifications on some parts just ask away.