I study very hard for Chemistry and still get C's. What's the deal?

Teachers usually post the grading criteria somewhere. Be sure to check that and see where you are scoring in each area. Understand the 'forgetting curve.' It is the basic enemy of any student. To overcome it, you need to keep a study diary so that you can review properly. Cramming for tests is counter productive. It is much better to create a proper review schedule based on your study diary. Simply put, you need to take good notes during the day of what you learned. Include the date. 1. Every day, at the end of the day, but before it gets too late, ask yourself what you learned. Write useful descriptions into your study diary, just as if you were writing about your love-life. Include anything that will be tested. If something is really important, write a reference to the original material in the text or in your class notes. 2. Turn back and read your entry from one week ago. Ask yourself if you still understand it or have forgotten it. Bring it up to your 'got it' level of consciousness. 3. Turn back and read your entry from one month ago. Ask yourself if you still understand it or have forgotten it. Bring it up to your 'got it' level of consciousness. Improve your reading study habits. 1. Scan the material's graphics, charts, and pictures and their descriptions. 2. Read any study questions found at the back of the section. 3. Read the bold type in the section and try to relate it to the graphics and study questions. 4. Read the first and last sentence in each paragraph. 5. See how many study questions you can /can't answer. 6. Find the material that explains the questions you can't answer and read it thoroughly. 7. If you don't understand it, write the question, and your estimated guess in your class notes, and ASK THE TEACHER the next time you have that class. Keep asking questions in class until you understand it. To ask good questions, you have to think before you speak. Never say 'I don't get it.' You will just make the teacher angry at your stupidity and he won't want to help you. If you ask clear, concise questions that have answers that will help everybody in the class understand the material, the teacher will be very thankful, and will want to help you. He will also give you more class participations points. Stop telling yourself that you are not good at math. You are not good at math BECAUSE YOU TELL YOURSELF THAT YOU ARE NOT GOOD AT MATH! Students often create mental blocks for themselves by this self-hypnosis. Instead, tell yourself 'Math will give me the keys to the universe.' and 'Math will enable me to win in Las Vegas.' and 'I am falling in love with math!' and 'I never knew how easy math was before!' and 'Finally! I understand math!' Don't be a loner when you study. Join - or create - study groups. Share notes and insights in regular, organized get together every week. Summarize the points learned this week, last week and main points for this section. Be sure to do your share in these groups or they will kick you out. Asking good questions that help the group understand is acceptable. Saying 'I don't get it' will make you less valuable to the group and they will not want to help you. Remember to be a real student, not a fake student who just crams for the exams and forgets it all within 2 weeks. Keep notes that are good enough to help you understand something years later, when the topic actually comes up in your future career. Relax when you have time to relax. Don't worry about it. If you are doing your best, and are using good study/learning habits, then accept - without recriminations - whatever grades you get.

I've got a much shorter answer than everyone else: Chemistry is hard. If you like it, and are good in the lab, stick it out. Practical lab experience is more important than knowing everything you can look up when you need to.

Maybe you need a new studying technique... look them up on google, studying with someone else also helps me.

Do you actually like Chemistry? If not, that could be part of the problem. One solution is: Find out exactly what aspect of chemistry is giving you trouble. Try meeting with your professors to see if they have an idea of what it is that you aren't understanding. For instance, if the math part is all that is giving you issues, write out each formula, derivative, etc on an index card, write the chapter and section on the top, and include the rules for using that function.You can then use them when you are doing your homework. This should help you with memorization, and can be used for just about anything you need to work on. You can also use these index cards, and since they are categorized, as easy study guides for semesters. These should not, unless the teacher agrees, be used on a test(common sense, right?). I understand that you are in college, and I am only a soon to be senior in high school, but this method has helped me through Geometry, Trig, AP Chem I & II, and AP Biology I & II. I also will be taking many of the same science classes in college. Good Luck next semester!

Dittos on the effective study habits. Figure out what is essential and what isn't, and don't waste your study time with superfilous crap. Often a subject is about 'getting it', being in the chemist mindset; thinking like a chemist. Some people absorb information very readily, and difficult concepts are easy. For the rest of us, we really have to work for it. In college you should be studying 2 or 3 hours per hour of lecture. ALso it's very helpful to read the book before lecture so you have an idea of what is covered. Concepts are impt, but problem solving is the bulk of the chemist test, so find if your chemistry text has a problem suppliment and get it. Get in with a group that's serious about the course and work with them. Start asking questions; don't expect to be spoonfed information your whole life. Intelligence is correlated with good grades to an extent, but my brother and I have an IQ of 130, I got a BS/MS/PhD, and my brother finally got a BA 8 years later. IQ doesn't mean much, but persistance and effort is the bulk of it. In college I did well with general chem but had a horrid time with organic chem (most people do). For O chem you are really really going to have to work. My best friend (a PhD chemist) got a C in O chem and A/B in all other chemistry. Anyway i'm proof that anyone can go all the way to the PhD without having a ton of brains.

You haven't learned effective study habits. Talk to your teacher, lab instructor or a tutor about how to study.