If you’re trying to figure out how to pass CHEM 107 TAMU, you’re not alone. A lot of engineering students walk into this course thinking it’s going to be the easy part of their first semester. Then week three hits and they’re staring at electron configurations, wondering where things went wrong.
I’ve helped students through CHEM 107 enough times to know exactly where the rough patches are. Here’s the breakdown — what the course actually demands, where students lose points, and what to do about it.
What Is CHEM 107 TAMU?
CHEM 107 is General Chemistry for Engineering Students. It’s not the same as CHEM 101 or 102 — it’s designed specifically for engineers, which means it moves faster and expects you to apply concepts quantitatively, not just know them in theory.
You’ll take it alongside CHEM 117 (the lab), and both together give you the full general chemistry requirement for most engineering majors at Texas A&M. The lecture and lab cover the same material — doing the lab reinforces what you’re learning in class.
The course covers six major areas:
The course is built around three exams and a cumulative final. Your OWL homework grade counts too — don’t blow those off.
CHEM 107 is not a memorization course — it’s an application course. Every exam hands you a problem and expects you to set it up correctly. That skill only comes from working lots of problems, not re-reading your notes.
The OWL Homework: Don’t Treat It as a Checkbox
OWL (the online homework platform) assigns about 13 problem sets over the semester. Some students rush through them to get the points and move on. That’s a mistake.
OWL problems are practice for the same reasoning you’ll need on exams. If you’re using hints constantly and just clicking through to get the answer, you’re not building anything. Work through each problem on paper first, show your units, and use OWL to check your setup — not as your first resort.
Also: assignments can include unannounced in-class quizzes. There are no makeups. If you miss one, that’s a zero. The class policy is that your lowest score gets dropped, but you don’t want to burn that drop on something avoidable.
⚠️ No Makeups on Quizzes
Unannounced in-class quizzes can happen any time. Missing one is a zero. Attendance isn’t optional in CHEM 107 TAMU.
Where Students Actually Lose Points
Most students who struggle with CHEM 107 TAMU make the same mistakes from week one. The three topics that cause the most damage:
Stoichiometry
Stoichiometry is the backbone of this course, and it shows up everywhere — limiting reagents, solution concentration, gas calculations, thermochemistry. Students who build a solid understanding of mole conversions early in the semester float through. Students who don’t end up fighting the same confusion in every new unit.
The key skill: unit tracking. If your units don’t cancel properly, your setup is wrong. This sounds obvious, but under exam pressure people stop tracking units and start guessing. Practice until tracking units is automatic.
Quantum Numbers and Electron Configurations
This section trips people up because it involves memorization AND logic. You need to know the rules (Aufbau, Pauli exclusion, Hund’s rule), but you also need to be able to apply them to elements you haven’t seen before. Drilling just the common elements won’t be enough if the exam asks you about an element in period four.
Equilibrium and Thermochemistry
These tend to show up later in the semester when students are already burnt out from midterms. Equilibrium concepts — K expressions, Le Chatelier’s principle, ICE tables — are actually very logical once they click. But the first time they don’t click, students assume it’s harder than it is and give up too early.
Thermochemistry is math-heavy. Know your formulas, know the signs (exothermic = negative ΔH), and practice setting up Hess’s Law problems from scratch.
The Chemistry Help Desk
The Chemistry Help Desk is in HELD 406, open Monday through Wednesday 8am–6pm and Thursday–Friday 8am–5pm.
This is a free resource and it’s actually good. The tutors there know CHEM 107 specifically. When you go, bring the exact problem you’re stuck on and show them what you tried — don’t just say “I don’t get equilibrium.” The more specific you are, the more useful the session will be.
All three free resources — the Help Desk, OWL practice, and Week in Review sessions — are built specifically for CHEM 107 TAMU. Use them before looking for paid help. They know exactly what your exams actually test.
How to Pass CHEM 107 TAMU Exams: Before Test Day
Your professor (or the course coordinator) will post a review sheet with the topics covered on each exam. Use it as your guide for what to study — don’t study everything equally, study what’s on the exam.
Past CHEM 107 exams are available through student organizations and sites like Studocu. These aren’t official TAMU resources, but past exams from previous semesters give you a feel for the problem format and difficulty level.
One rule I give every student: do the practice exam twice. First time open-book to understand the problems. Second time closed-everything, timed, under real exam conditions. The gap between those two runs tells you exactly how prepared you are.
Review sheet first: Your professor’s exam review sheet tells you exactly what’s being tested. That’s your study priority list — not the textbook chapters.
Practice exam open-book: Work through every past exam problem. If you get stuck, look it up. The goal is to understand the setup for every problem type.
Practice exam closed-book, timed: Do the same exam again — no notes, no phone, 50-minute timer. Grade yourself honestly. This is the real diagnostic.
Show all your work: Partial credit is real. An incorrect final answer with correct reasoning can still get you points. A correct answer with no work shown might not.
Quick Tips to Pass CHEM 107 TAMU
Take OWL homework seriously — it’s practice, not just a points checkbox. Work each problem on paper first.
Build stoichiometry fluency early. It shows up in every unit after week two — limiting reagents, gas laws, thermochemistry.
Use the Chemistry Help Desk in HELD 406. It’s free, it’s specific to CHEM 107, and it actually helps.
Do practice exams twice — once open-book to learn, once closed and timed to test yourself honestly.
Show all your work on every exam problem. Partial credit can be the difference between passing and failing.
Know your formulas. Find out early whether your professor gives a formula sheet — if not, memorize them cold.
Don’t skip lecture. CHEM 107 lectures include nuances and worked examples that aren’t obvious from the textbook.
If You’re Behind in CHEM 107 TAMU: What to Do Now
If you’re past week six and you feel like you’re already in trouble, the most important thing is to not wait. The longer you wait, the more material piles up and the harder it gets to catch up.
I’ve worked with students who came to me in week 10 with a failing grade and pulled it to a C by the final. It required real effort — but it’s possible. What’s not possible is cramming three months of chemistry into the last two weeks of the semester.
🕑 The Sooner You Act, The Better Your Options
CHEM 107 has three exams. If you bombed the first one, the second is your biggest opportunity. Waiting until after the second exam to get help is when options start running out.
Summary: How to Pass CHEM 107 TAMU This Semester
CHEM 107 TAMU isn’t impossible — but it does require you to treat it like the real course it is from the first week. The students who pass are the ones who do the OWL homework seriously, show up to the Help Desk before they’re completely lost, and practice exams under real timed conditions.
The material stacks. What you learn in week two shows up in week six. What you skip in week four costs you in the final. Stay consistent, use the free resources that are actually built for this course, and don’t wait until you have a 40 to start asking for help.
Struggling with CHEM 107 TAMU?
I work with TAMU students in College Station and online. Let’s find exactly where you’re losing points and fix it before the next exam.
📅 Book a Session with Alex →
