Reading and write essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reading and write - Essay Example It is vital to pay attention to this debate in regards for the future existence of the human race. As population keeps rising, the environment size remains constant. This leads to increased pressure on the natural resources found in the environment such as vegetation and minerals (Moseley, Lanegran & Pandit81). This scenario would result to a situation where the resources would become scarce to accommodate population. It is in this respect that it becomes vital to pay attention to this debate. As the population rises so to does the impact of human action on the environment. Human action such as industrial and agricultural revolutions has contributed to key impacts on the environment. Technological advancement has advanced food production as well as depletion of natural resources like minerals, biodiversity, and the global climate. It is vital that human beings think about the results that their actions leave on the environment. Population rise also leads to increase in waste producti on, which impacts on environmental degradation. Greater efforts need to be put in place to understand the relationship between population and environment. There are serious concerns on the results of population increase on local resources like water, soil, forests, pastures, fisheries and biodiversity. As the population keeps rising so to do humans encroach on other habitats (Moseley, Lanegran & Pandit 105). Population growth also results to development, which leads to expansion of human activities such as creation of industries and settlement areas. This development facilitated by population increase also results to encroachment of other habitats. Encroachment as a result of population rise threatens the existence of other animal and plant species. These species get forced to shift their natural habitats, and this may lead to their extinction. To create a balance in nature, there is the need for the existence of other species apart from the human race. The loss of biodiversity in t he environment posses a key threat to human beings. Population increase also contributes to climate change. Population increase may result to economic growth and development. Growth and development get characterized by technological advancement, industrial and agricultural revolutions (Moseley, Lanegran & Pandit 212). The development of industries ensures that carbon emissions impact on the climate by altering weather patterns. Population increase also results to increased pressure on environmental resources such as forests and water catchment areas. Pressure on such resources distorts the global water cycle and in turn results to climate change over time. Focus should get placed on developing sustainability between population and the environment. This concept seeks to address the issue of sustainable development. A balance should be struck between population increase and the environment. The sustainability concept seeks to address issues on population and resources, ecosystems, spe cies, and wastes. Sustainable development between population and the environment requires that focus be placed on policies and ethics by human beings. Policies should get created to protect the environment from negative human impacts. Policy makers such as governments and non governmental organizations need to develop strategies that would ensure synergistic relations between populatio

The property market at world level ( credit crunch affected ) and How Essay

The property market at world level ( credit crunch affected ) and How this goes for Hong Kong market - Essay Example Thus the impact of this is far reaching and can provide insight into the future of Hong Kong’s property market as well as its overall financial infrastructure and how they can be affected. The reason for choosing this topic is therefore to study as to how this credit crunch will affect the world markets in general as well as Hong Kong Market in particular. Current credit crunch is largely perceived as the main reason behind the collapse of the property market in international system. The reason as to why credit crunch resulted into the collapse of the property market can be traced back to the subprime mortgage crises which emerged due to the imprudent lending practices of the bank. By definition, a subprime borrower is a borrower whose credit has not been entirely satisfactory due to historical defaults on payments against loans taken. (Budworth,2009). However, such borrowers offer more lucrative options for the banks and financial institutions to lend because of their higher risk. High risk borrowers are often charged high rates therefore there is always a chance to earn high on such relationships. Based on this simple principle of risk and return banks and financial institutions started to lend to their subprime borrowers especially in mortgage markets. However, banks and other financial institutions, at the same time, also started the process of securitization through which the mortgage portfolio held as security with the bank were bundled and securities were sold out against such collaterals in the open market. The basic purpose was to recoup the liquidity lost in making the loans to subprime borrowers. Crises in property markets started to emerge when subprime borrowers started to default on their commitments and as such banks have to pay out to the holders of mortgage backed securities through other means as with the default of the borrowers a mismatch in cash flows were created. The

Origins Of English Figurative Idioms English Language Essay

Origins Of English Figurative Idioms English Language Essay Idiom is the combination of lexical items and has its own meaning which is different from the particular individual lexical items and this figurative expression is usually understood by the native speakers because figurative idiom expression is likely to be named as the conventional scene in the their mind that serves in the speech community. Similarity, idioms are consisted as a special set of lexical items due not only to their structure elements, but also they specify a unique set of behavior when used in very language discourse. Fernando argues that the concreted phrases and the arrangement pairs in idiomatic are recognized by the usage and with its stabilized structure and limited variation. To expand the explanation, idioms can be formed a word such as nevertheless, a phrase such as in favor of, and also a sentence such as the coast is clear. According to Boers definition of figurative idiom, whose meaning is barely inferred by its literal meaning of its constituent elements. Therefore, from the semantic point of view, the expression of a figurative idiom cannot be understood from its individual parts. Structurally an idioms usually includes a series of words, any parts of its meanings cannot be replaced. Figurative idioms, it is a matter of extraordinary rather than ordinary languages. Base on Lakoff and Johnson explanation, idioms are also known as the metaphor that serves as a device of poetic imagination and the rhetorical flourish dedicates for most languages. Moreover, figurative expressions are not merely bundles of word combination; however it is a phrase that ordinarily invented to one situation that inferred to another, making an implicit comparison. Another scholar Tang explains figurative idioms unsurprisingly have been coined with the name of its meaning. Ultimately, the figurative interpretation of every idiom evokes the metaphorical expressions. As the manifestation of conceptual metaphor was introduced, Z. Kovecses conceptualizes metaphors are realized in other than linguistic ways. For example, literary works are constructed in their fully in term of conceptual metaphors such as Chaucers The Cantebury tales, Buyams The Pilgrim Progress or Frosts poem The Road not Taken are associated around the LIFE IS A JOURNEY metaphor. As result, although there is always a difference in every definition of figurative idiom, yet they all have the similar description to explain idioms have the obvious characteristics of semantic incorporated and structural stability. 2.1) Culture context Language structure is the most typical feature of cultural aspects that such relationship particularly found in the lexicon. As Wierzbicka lists out the best evidence for reality of cultures can associate the meanings of words that eventually provides ways of living, speaking, thinking, and feeling which are broadly shared in every particular society. In addition, the Polish anthropologist Malinnowsky is the first founder of the context theory thinks that discourse and context are mutually hanging closely together, the language environment is essential to understand language.(à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) Meanwhile, Boers and Stengers declare the significant of cultural figurative expression has been emphasized much recent research. Gibbs study claims that idioms are established in all languages and several types of idioms are cultural elements. Wierzbicka states that most of figurative idioms are cultural artifacts, reflecting the aspects the creation of figurative idioms which are formed by cultural elements. Thus, Inchaurralde mentions particular lexical units are linked with cultural lexical scripts, which are associated to a certain cultural background. Furthermore, Lennon points out language and culture are important to idioms because it could reflect the transformation in conceptualization of the universe and the relationship between the universe and the mankind. The Chinese Linguist Hu Zhunaglin has divided the cultural context into three types: linguistics context, situational context, and cultural context. Most importantly, the cultural context refers the involvement of social, economic, cultural, political background, and religions contexts occur in communities that would value the standard of a certain language. Dobrovolskij and Piirainen comes out with an idea to describe the different types of cultural phenomena are interrelated with conventional figurative units. This means that culturally marked lexis has focused on cross-cultural similarity and the variation across in the conceptualization of emotions. Another issue that Lakoff and Johnson discuss about whether all cultures have the same conceptual of the world. Base on Issac simplification, every figurative expression has a certain class of metaphors seems to be universal. However some cultural specifications also occur in conceptual metaphor, in other word, different culture have a different set of value systems that might result in different interaction to certain expression from others cultures. For example, in Shakespeares period, the food egg is to characterize people behavior or attitude, for instance, She is a good egg means that she is a nice person. In Chinese, there is record in the literature work egg transcript to mandarin Dan also symbolizes to a person behavior and attitude. The Mandarin word huai dan signifies as bad person. These two different cultural context has shared the same particular meaning of the phrase is directed and extended to describe people who seen to be decent person. Although English and Chinese utilize the food egg to imply the same target expression, on the other hand, the English expression good egg is to indicate a nice person, however the Chinese expression to indicate a nice person no longer utilizes egg to imply the meaning rather than change the whole word into hao ren instead of hao dan. 2.2) Idiom and culture Language has been always the carrier of culture and most important idioms that almost invariably to have their roots in a particular language. Another researcher Ronald Langacker argues that language is instrument and module of culture, speakers take part in a discourse situation, their cultural aspects are related to their acts of behavior and conversation. Moreover, Paul Friedrich calls the connection between language and culture as linguaculture. The conceptual of linguaculture is described as a domain of experience that fuses and intermingles the vocabulary, many semantic aspects of grammar, and the verbal aspects of culture; both grammar and culture have underlying structure while they are constantly being used and constructed by actual people on the ground. (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) As an important part of language and culture, particular source domain of metaphorical expression may not be equally salient across cultures. (à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦) Meanwhile, few researches have been introduced on the cultural features in the present study that lead Boers and Stengers to investigate on the composition of idiom and culture. They explore weather domain that track most in English figurative idioms. The weather domain is commonly associated to English figurative idioms because talking about the weather is a very basic and frequently topic in Britain because it is notoriously variable and unpredictable. However, the weather lexical units can be implemented through meaning extension to other domains such as economy and feeling, for example, when a financial storm struck down Wall Street, traders sought shelter in the dollar and Alex feels the chill of economic downturn. As result, the sentence illustrates the weather domain to a situation and feeling to indicate the seriousness on how Englishmen see weather as well as the economic phenomena. Boers, Demecheleer, and Eyckmans suggest that there are two complementary methods to estimate the two linguistic communities differ with respect to relate salience of a source domain. One method is to investigate the comparison of both languages such as English and Dutch idioms, that English idioms has much broader selection of expressions converted from card games and gambling such as to over play ones hand, to play with stacked deck, the chips are downà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Another much more straight forward example is the domain of sports, popularity of certain sports may coin widely across cultural aspects. Baseball for instance, is much more popular in the United States than in European, for sure it is evidently that American produces more baseball figurative expression such as I had a date with Alice yesterday night, unfortunately I cant even get to first base with her; Three strike and youre out. Similarity, British English hold a source domain in cricket such as Bat on a sticky wicket, Hit someone for six. Besides, Englishmen also like to have horse racing eventually contributes to figurative expressions as well such as A dark horse, Hear it from the horse mouth. The another method is to detect cross-cultural variation done by researcher Alice Deignan results that the source domain of sailing is reflected more often in English than in French discourse. For examples, running tight ship, talking the wind out of someones sails, when you ship comes in, clear the decks, and many more. Boers and Demecheleer suggests that French figurative discourse is more likely flavoured by the source domain of food and cooking. Alice Deignan concludes that the cultural aspects and figurative idioms are considered indirect ones in the sense that cultures of the past and present reflect most of idioms and Boers sums up that even native speakers lack of awareness towards the origin of the idiom they use. 2.3) Origins of English Figurative Idioms According to Smith (1971), generally universal origins of idioms can be divided into six main cultural aspects. 2.3.1) From daily life Smith suggests that most idioms develop from daily life are linked with particular occupations such as many phrases that related to navy have been invented by the sailors as well as the athletes use phrases related to sports. Most of the idioms were invented and they are concise, oral dialect and vivid, and are closely associated to our life. Soon enough those idioms were used by the people in the daily life to indicate certain expressions. Such figurative expressions are useful and eventually it has been evolved from common dialogue to conventional language which those idioms are commonly use such as to share and woe, strike the iron whole it is hot, a pot of money, to take the bread out of someones mouth and many more. 2.3.2) From ancient myths, legends and fables Some English figurative idioms were influenced by the Ancient Greek and Roman civilization. From example, idioms such as Midas touch, the apple of discord, sour grape, pandoras box, trojon horse, etc are derived from Greek myths and legends which are widely used in writing. 2.3.3) From religion Religion stands an important role in contributing the source of idioms. In early western countries, traditionally, Christianity has always been the main religion, many sources of idioms are regularly used in verbal dialogue are mainly came from the bible such as judass kiss, olive branch, much cry and little wool, turn the other cheek, cast peals before swine, and writing on the wall. 2.3.4) From classical literature Apart from the religion contributes most of the source of idioms, classical literature is indentified as a main source of idioms. During Renaissance period, Shakespeares master pieces have been on e of the most important source of idioms in English language. For examples, pound of life, give the devil his due all come from Shakespeares plays. Besides, the famous Greek epic poem the Iliad also gives numerous contributions to the English idioms such as screw up ones courage, Achilles heel. In addition, one of the most famous English idioms the ugly duckling is from the Andersons fairy tales. 2.3.5) Form occupation Nevertheless, idioms are not only formed by social daily interaction, religions, historical background, and literature works, but also certain idioms are associated by the occupation as well. The United Kingdom is a country with high capability in sailing around the world, therefore, they are many idioms that related to navy such as ships in the night, to rock the boat, plain sailing and carry too much guns. Thus contrary, China is a large nation with agricultural aspects of production and process which have become the centralization of forming idioms that related to agricultural elements and those idioms have been passing on by farmers from generation to generation. 2.3.6) From Sports Sports domain also demonstrates the important source of idioms. Liu discusses that most of the English figurative idioms in American are derived from sports, business, and driving. However, the Chinese idioms are more likely from eating, family, and Chinese opera ultimately play and important roles in Chinese society that have pluralized many figurative idioms. United States has shown there are more baseball- based figurative idioms such as first base, three strike and youre out, while cricket is more popular in United Kingdom that formed their English figurative idioms such as bat on a sticky wicket, hit someone for six, etc. As result, these six types of domains can trace the origin of idioms which have a very specific cultural context.

macbeth :: essays research papers

The play Macbeth was written by William Shakespeare. This play tells of betrayal, temptations, ambitions, murder, treason and manipulation. The readers feels sympathetic for MacBeth, as he is stuck in the middle of a situation he can’t get out of. However, sympathy is lost when MacBeth commits evil deeds that he is only responsible for. Macbeth is only persuaded to commit treason, but due to his paranoia he kills many more people. The main focus is Macbeth, being the unfortunate victim, from the 3 evil witches to Lady Macbeth. His downfall is caused by other people around him. Macbeth is the unfortunate victim of other people’s greed and for this the reader sympathises. The three withes are a physical presence of evil. They conspire to kill as many people as possible, under their superior, Hecate. Using their evil gift to see into the future, they can tell that by using Macbeth as a tool for destruction they can fill him with evil. To get Macbeth to do their evil biddings, they first influence him by planting a seed of evil into his mind. By giving Macbeth that prophecy, they ensure that their plans will work. Macbeth is a good and loyal kinsman who would never harm his King. Were it not for outside forces, he would have lived happily as Thane of Cawdor, a high position title in itself. Macbeth does not even want to kill King Duncan. He says â€Å"chance may crown me without my stir†, which means that if he become king, he would not commit any evil to get there. Fearing the witches’ message means that he will kill the king in the futur e, he says â€Å"Present fears are less than horrible imaginings.† Three evil withes foretell that Macbeth will become Thane of Cawdor and even King of Scotland. Macbeth ignored their prophecies, but after he was promoted to Thane of Cawdor for his brave fight in the war, Macbeth wonders if he could become king, and than his ambition takes over. Up until this point, sympathy is lost, as MacBeth takes a turn for the worst, obeying to his wifes commands, and being tempted by the thought of becoming king. Lady Macbeth is an ambitious woman like her counter-part, but there the reader never feels sympathetic for her. She is an evil women, blinded by her greed, she makes MacBeth commit evil deeds, and leads herself and MacBeth to their self destruction.

Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet Essay

Known as a minimalist and experimental composer, Richard Gavin Bryars unleashed an emotionally intimate constructed piece out from a lone old vagrant singing, Jesus’ blood never failed me yet, this one thing I know, for he loves me so†¦ Originally recorded from footage of a documentary by his friend Alan Power in 1971 (Grimshaw), this aged voice served as the focal point and backdrop for Bryars’ poignant yet challenging work unfolding and reiterating itself over the course of 74 minutes in length. Whereas music that falls under Minimalist movement, sometimes associated the emotional neutralization of repeated materials, Bryars’ has the reverse effect in which rather than numbing the listener’s sensibilities, he heightens them and instead of imposing postmodern indifference toward the subject matter, it forces confrontation with it (Grimshaw). The entire lengthy music might deflate the interest of its listeners as the lines simply repeated over the recording, but Bryars managed to extract the spirit of the tramp’s captive song as he slowly introduced an accompaniment. The first part was merely the sole voice of the old man then eventually enhanced by string quartet, followed by plucked bass and guitar. Moreover, as the instruments subsequently fade out, the tramp’s song continues and eventually underscored by a much richer sounding ensemble of low strings, then woodwinds, brass, and delicate percussion and finally full orchestra and choir (Grimshaw). The soul of the music originated from the compassionate nature of the old vagrant who sang the religious tune during the recording of Power’s documentary that was about the life of street-people around Elephant and Castle and Waterloo in London. Bryars’ recounted; while they are filming the documentary, some people broke into drunken ballad or opera songs, but there was a particular homeless old man sang â€Å"Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet†. When he played it at home, he noticed the exact tune of the singing to his piano, and, he discerned that the first section of the song that is 13 bars in length formed an effective loop that repeated in a slightly unpredictable way. Therefore, he took the tape to Leicester and copied the loop onto a continuous reel of tape having the idea of adding orchestrated accompaniment to it. During the act of copying, he left the door that lead to the large painting studios, and when he came back, he found people weeping and silently listening over the old man’s singing, at that point, he realized a great emotional influence from the noble faith and tranquil music (Howse), a merely accidental root behind this epic. This particular Bryars’ piece was a breakthrough as there were other versions made during the latter years. Tom Waits singing along with it in 1990 and Jars of Clay released their own version on their album Who We Are Instead in 2003, aside from the fact that it was also used for several theatrical presentations. Covering credits for its very straightforward message to the people, the unyielding constancy of the lyrics—repeated over 150 times—essentially keeps the music from achieving greater feats. It is said that no matter how many times you paint a house, it remains to be the same house. Still, that verse holds together the entirety of the minimalist piece, a factor that you cannot simply neglect. Focusing on keeping his music very simple yet haunting, this composer and double bassist is a native from Goole, East Riding of Yorkshire, England and born on January 16, 1943. His first musical reputation was as a jazz bassist working in the early sixties with improvisers Derek Bailey and Tony Oxley. He abandoned improvisation in 1966 and worked for a time in the United States with John Cage, until he collaborated closely with composers such as Cornelius Cardew and John White. He taught in the department if Fine Art in Portsmouth, Leicester from 1969 to 1978, and there he founded the legendary Portsmouth Sinfonia, an orchestra whose membership consisted of performers who â€Å"embrace the full range of musical competence† — and who played or just attempted to play popular classical works. He also founded the Music Department at Leicester Polytechnic (later De Montfort University) and served as professor in Music from 1986 to 1994. Meanwhile, his first major work as a composer owe much to the so-called New York School of John Cage—with whom he briefly studied, Morton Feldman, Earle Brown and minimalism. His earliest piece was The Sinking of Titanic (1969) and was originally released under Brian Eno’s Obscure Label in 1975 and the Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet (1971) both famously released in new versions in the 1990s on Point Music Label, selling over a quarter of a million copies. The original 1970s recordings have been re-released on CD by Virgin Records. A major turning point in his development was his first written opera Medea, premiered at the Opera de Lyon and Opera de Paris in 1984. He has written another two operas, both with libretti by his long time collaborator Blake Morrison: Doctor Ox’s Experiment, and G, commissioned by the Staatstheater Mainz for the Gutenberg 600th Anniversary. Aside from that, Bryars has also produced a large body of chamber music including three string quartets and a saxophone quartet both for his own ensemble and for other performers. He has also written extensively for strings as well as producing concertos for violin, viola, cello, double bass, saxophone and bass oboe. He has also written choral music, chiefly for the Latvian Radio Choir, with whom he has recently recorded a second CD, and for the Estonian Male Choir. From being a jazz bassist, composer, professor and opera writer, he also made a name as he collaborated with visual artists, worked with choreographers who have used his pieces, and written numerous Laude for the soprano Ana Maria Friman, to name a few. And to date, he recently completed a theatre piece, To Define Happiness, with Peeter Jalakas for Von Krahl theatre in Tallinn, and a project around Shakespeare’s sonnets, Nothing Like the Sun, with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Opera North. Gavin Bryars is an Associate Research Fellow at Dartington College of Arts and Regent of the College de ‘Pataphysique. And married to Russian-born film director Anna Tchernakova with three daughters and a son. He is currently living in England and British Columbia, Canada. WORKS CITED Howse, Christopher. â€Å"The Assurance of Hope†. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006. xix. ISBN 0-8264-8271-6 Mckeating, Scott. http://www. stylusmagazine. com/articles/seconds/gavin-bryars-jesus-blood-never-failed-me-yet. htm Grimshaw, Jeremy. â€Å"All Music Guide†. http://www. answers. com/topic/jesus-blood-never-failed-me-yet-orchestral-classical-work http://www. gavinbryars. com/ http://www. myspace. com/gavinbryarsmusic http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Jesus%27_Blood_Never_Failed_Me_Yet

Poetry Story

An author writes a book or novel to have the whole story put right out for you with a clear cut beginning middle and end. A poet can write a â€Å"novel† in very minimal lines or a few verses. They tell a story but give the rest for you to think and ponder about A poet uses multiple literary devices in one single poem. When reading a poem you have to decode or decipher what the poet is really trying to say. They may use metaphors, Irony and much more, In the poem â€Å"l Finally managed to speak to her†, the poet, Hal Sorority uses both of these literary devices.The first literary device that is used in this poem is a metaphor. The poem â€Å"l finally managed to speak to her† is about a young man sitting across from a young girl on a bus. They are driving through New York City, and he would like to talk to her. He says â€Å"The trees look so much greener is this part of the country. In New York City everything looks so drab. † Although he is referring to the trees, Sorority uses the trees as a metaphor for him. Despite the fact that he has written about the trees you have to look deeper and the meaning and decipher what Is trying to be said.Since the metaphor is really talking about him rather than the trees it really brings out the meaning of the poem. In an interview Sorority said â€Å"she was too self-involved. Or to put it in nicer terms, she wasn't into me. â€Å"(lengthier) When he said this what I got is that when he wrote that she said â€Å"when you find another one let me know† Is that she didn't really want to talk to him so she Is finishing the conversation. The metaphors in this poem are outstanding and really give you a glimpse into the author's life. Till you actually really take a deeper look into the poem and realize what he Is trying to say you may think that he Is literally talking about the trees In different parts of the country. The second literary device that Sorority uses in his poem â€Å"l final ly managed to speak to her† is irony. Irony is used in Sorority poem â€Å"l Finally Managed to Speak to Her because originally reading the poem you blatantly see that he is talking to a girl on the bus about trees. While you reread the poem you start to realize that It Is not just the trees he is talking about, it is her.Even though you want to think one thing there are multiple ways to look at this poem. This is where the irony comes in. Is it Ironic that he says â€Å"everything looks so drab†? If he is trying to talk about her is he trying to refer to every other girl being drab so that she can feel special? Despite the fact that we can look at this many ways Sorority says, â€Å"l wanted her to see me rather than the differences in the trees. † (Interview) It is very ironic that the author is using Reese to talk about a love life that never happened.It's like he is trying to put the trees and the girl he Is talking to out there for others to realize that yo u may get turned down every now and then but don't give up. The literary devices Hal Slowly used in his poem, â€Å"l finally Managed to Speak to Her was metaphor and irony. He used them in two similar ways but when you look at them they are completely different. The way he uses his metaphors Is astonishing. The irony that Is put Into this poem Is all around noteworthy.The way he makes you think about what your reading, and does not just give it to you. Although it is a little more work for the reader it is worth it. When you are just reading It for what is written you will never get the tulle story. Weather you are a girl or boy you can relate to this story because almost every person in the world has been turned down once in their life time and that is what makes this poem over the top, almost everyone can relate to it. Works Cited: Sorority, Hal. â€Å"†I Finally Managed to Speak to Her†Ã¢â‚¬  E-mail interview. 10 Par. 2013

Chemistry Major College Courses

Chemistry Major College Courses Are you interested in studying chemistry in college? Here is a look at the courses you can expect to take if you have a chemistry major. The specific courses you take will depend on which school you attend, but in general you can expect a heavy emphasis on chemistry and math. Almost all of the chemistry courses include a lab component, too. General ChemistryOrganic ChemistryInorganic ChemistryBiochemistryAnalytical ChemistryPhysical ChemistryPhysicsBiologyCalculusProbabilityStatistics Computer Science Sequence of Courses Some of the required classes can be taken whenever you can fit them into your schedule, such as probability, statistics, and computer science. Others have prerequisites. What this means is that you have to take one or more other classes before youll be allowed to enroll. If possible, a chemistry major should try to take general chemistry as a freshman. The course is typically broken up into two parts and takes an entire academic year to complete. Taking it early helps a student determine whether chemistry is truly what they want to pursue and it opens the opportunity to take organic chemistry. Organic chemistry also requires an entire academic year to complete at most institutions. It is a prerequisite for biochemistry and other interdisciplinary courses. In other words, a student usually needs three years to get through the general chemistry, organic chemistry, and biochemistry sequence. If youre a chemistry major and you wait until your junior (third) year to take general chemistry, you cant graduate in less than four and a half years! In addition to organic chemistry, general biology is a prerequisite for biochemistry. General biology lasts an entire academic year. A student should be careful when registering for general biology to make certain its the correct class. Many schools offer a watered down version of general biology for non-science majors that may count for college credit, but wont satisfy the requirements for a major or to take higher level biology or chemistry courses. Physics and sometimes calculus are required to take physical chemistry. Because physics is often taken in the second or third year, its normal for physical chemistry to be one of the last major courses a chemistry major takes. Inorganic chemistry always requires general chemistry. Some schools tack on additional requirements. Like physical chemistry, its typically taken later in a students academic career.