General chemistry

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General chemistry (sometimes referred to as "gen chem") is offered by colleges and universities as an introductory level chemistry course usually taken by students during their first year.[1] The course is usually run with a concurrent lab section that gives students an opportunity to experience a laboratory environment and carry out experiments with the material learned in the course. These labs can consist of acid-base titrations, kinetics, equilibrium reactions, and electrochemical reactions. Chemistry majors as well as students across STEM majors such as biology, biochemistry, biomedicine, physics, and engineering are usually required to complete one year of general chemistry as well.[2]

Pre-medical track

Students in colleges and universities looking to follow the "pre-medical" track are required to pass general chemistry as the Association of American Medical Colleges requires at least one full year of chemistry.[3] In order for students to apply to medical school, they must pass the medical college admission test, or MCAT, which consists of a section covering the foundations of general chemistry.[4] General chemistry covers many of the principal foundations that apply to medicine and the human body that is essential in our current understanding and practice of medicine.[5]

Topics of general chemistry covered by the AAMC Medical College Admissions Test

  • Acids and bases
  • Atomic structure
  • Bonding and chemical interactions
  • Chemical kinetics
  • Electrochemistry
  • Equilibrium
  • Solutions
  • Stoichiometry
  • The gas phase
  • Thermochemistry
  • Redox reactions

"Weed out course"

References

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