O. Chem Blues

No, no, Hells naw, I'm NOT the one with O. Chem blues these days!!! The student I'm supposed to start tutoring this week has it BIG time and is looking to do well on a final exam in 2 weeks. For the most part, I'm the most optimistic person in the world. But as anyone reading my blog knows, I also keeps it real! And the reality is that I'm just not sure my student is gonna get this done and here's why. Going on vacay for 7 days before your final exam in a class you're not acing just isn't a very good idea. At least in my 45 year old hindsight, it isn't. Being honest, my late teens/early 20's self probably would have done the same thing this student is doing, hence my med school rejection back in 1991, LOL!!!

The image in this photo is of the book I'm going to be using as my teaching text because it literally saved my butt when I retook O. Chem. I haven't seen the latest edition, but because I still have this book from 1985 along with a detailed solutions booklet to the problems in the book, I've hung onto it for dear "pass O. Chem" life. Now that I think about it, I have ALL my chemistry major books from general chem to p- chem, that's Physical Chemistry the hardest, funnest class I've EVER taken!

Anyhoo, I'm going develop lesson plans for my student to study on vacay, and I sincerely hope they work. But I'm gonna be hotter than 15 hells if this student doesn't pass the class, blames my tutoring, then gives me a bad review. Yeah, make that 100 hells. So I sent a disclaimer to this person TODAY explaining that cramming doesn't work in O. Chem so expect NO miracles grade wise if that's the case. My lesson plans are good, but no lesson plan in the world can replace putting the time in everyday leading up to a final exam.