tips to survive organic chemistry..

[nikefan13]

Any tips on tackling organic chemistry? I looked at all the sample problems at the end of the chapter(book is brand new 2004 Organic Chemistry 4th ed. by Paula Yurkanis Bruice) and I just want to break down and cry....

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[Jack_Adam]

Yeah...if you need help, seek it. Otherwise, read the book, study lecture material, and make your best attempt at answering the problems without consulting the solutions manual (it's the best way to learn, and to gauge your understanding of the material). You'll eventually be breezing through the problem sets, and doing well on the exams. You can always seek additional resources - library, internet, etc. Good luck! ::smile::

 

[WatchingWaiting]

Any tips on tackling organic chemistry? I looked at all the sample problems at the end of the chapter(book is brand new 2004 Organic Chemistry 4th ed. by Paula Yurkanis Bruice) and I just want to break down and cry....

Read the chapter once. Take a break. Read the chapter again more carefully and think about the mechanisms and details. Take a break. Read the chapter again. Take a break. Work through the questions at the back of the chapter. You should preferably do this as the course progresses, as cramming tends to not work very well for orgo.

Most of doing well academically is just a matter of investing enough time to learn the stuff. It is is also important to read thoughtfully and work though as many actual problems as possible (do not consult solutions until you have made a good faith attempt to actually work through and understand the questions). But, the main thing that gets people is just not working hard enough. "Hard enough," of course, varies to some extent based on your background and affinity for chemistry.

 

[Medikit]

Organic Chemistry is not a memorization class. You will be learning and applying principles. Don't just memorize mechanisms, try to make sense out of them. Yes you will have to memorize many things, as with most science classes, but the principles you need things memorized for are the most important. The first test will be mostly memorization

 

[WatchingWaiting]

Organic Chemistry is not a memorization class. You will be learning and applying principles. Don't just memorize mechanisms, try to make sense out of them. Yes you will have to memorize many things, as with all classes, but Organic Chemistry is not a memorization class.

I would tend to disagree with that a bit. Although there is a certain amount of conceptual reasoning to organic chemistry, a pretty good amount of what happens in a particular situation is, in fact, memorized. You have some principles about resonance and electronegativity and the like that let you predict a lot of stuff, but there are numerous exceptions to every principle, and which specific way electrons go in a particular reaction or what site gets attacked is generally just memorization. The reasoning is largely keeping the myriad different rules straight while applying them to slightly changed substrates. My break-down of the pre-med curriculum, and since I am now a jaded med student, a bonus on the med school coursework:

Course : % Memorization , % Conceptual/Reasoning

Your life before med school:

Bio : 80% M , 20% C
General Chem : 40% M , 60% C
Org. Chem : 65% M, 35% C
Physics : 25% M , 75% C

Your life during med school:

Anatomy : 93% M , 7% C
Histology : 93% M, 7% C
Neurosci : 85% M , 15% C
Biochem : 85% M , 15% C
Pharmacology : 99% M , 1% C
Microbiology : 97% M , 3% C
Physiology : 65% M , 35% C
Pathology : 80% M , 20% C

Translation: Learn to spend increasingly excessive amounts of time memorizing large volumes of information.

 

[nikefan13]

So WatchingWaiting,

You're saying to memorize more than to apply the concepts when studying organic chemistry?

 

[Medikit]

but there are numerous exceptions to every principle, and which specific way electrons go in a particular reaction or what site gets attacked is generally just memorization..

Give examples. Often the exceptions are based on other principles. I do agree that there are some reactions that are better to simply memorize, and there are a few reactions where they don't even try to explain the mechanism, but this is not the majority of what is taught.

 

[nikefan13]

Can we get a general consensus to those successful in organic chemistry? Spend most time memorizing or most time understanding the concepts with little memorization?

 

[Medikit]

Can we get a general consensus to those successful in organic chemistry? Spend most time memorizing or most time understanding the concepts with little memorization?

If there was a general consenus it would be to learn the concepts that are taught to you. Try to understand them and put a lot of time into them. Memorize what you need to memorize. Work with molecules and get used to drawing them and imagining their 3d structure.

 

[WatchingWaiting]

So WatchingWaiting,

You're saying to memorize more than to apply the concepts when studying organic chemistry?

I'm more saying that organic chemistry consists of memorizing a bunch of rules (some could be considered "concepts"-- an electron withdrawing group tends to push a reaction in this direction, while an electron donating group tends to push a reaction in that direction), which you then apply. Unlike in bio, where you memorize a large number of mostly discrete set of facts which are then regurgitated, organic chemistry is a smaller set of highly-interrelated and complex rules and mechanisms, which is where the conceptual part kicks in.

Organic chemistry is basically a set of rules of what happens when compound X meets compound Y. A reaction "rule" is along the lines of a carbonyl group does something when interacting with a halide. You basically have to memorize the what that happens. But, the what that happens is affected by what the functional groups are. So, you also have to memorize how the size/charge distribution characteristics of the halide can affect the reaction, as well as how the electron donating and withdrawing properties of what is around the carbonyl and what the actual carbonyl is change what happens. You basically memorize what the size/charge and e- donating/withdrawing characteristics do to adjust the basic rule. One way you can get screwed is if you try memorize things in terms of specific atoms, rather than the specific properties of atoms that cause things to happen differently. There is reasoning involved, but the reasoning is largely predetermined based on the rules.

In short, you have to read the chapter several times with the goal of figuring out what the principles/rules actually are, which you then have to memorize. You then work through problems to practice applying the rules and make sure you have correctly memorized the rules.

I would also, reiterate, that being prepared to invest a substantial amount of time and keep up with the material is also very important. Bio is highly crammable because it is discrete facts. The interrelatedness and build-up nature of organic makes it more dependent on a slow-progression and synthesis of knowledge.

 

[nikefan13]

Thanks for the insightful post WatchingWaiting. Although I am usually a crammer, I guess I will need to change my study habits for this class.

 

[Code Brown]

Can we get a general consensus to those successful in organic chemistry? Spend most time memorizing or most time understanding the concepts with little memorization?

First semester, understand the concepts and some memorization. Second semester, all memorization as it's just easier and quicker that way. You'll get the concepts in lecture. Remember, your second semester final will probably be the ACS final which is all multiple choice and best tackled with memorization.

 

[me.]

Any tips on tackling organic chemistry? I looked at all the sample problems at the end of the chapter(book is brand new 2004 Organic Chemistry 4th ed. by Paula Yurkanis Bruice) and I just want to break down and cry....

o-chem can be a joke or a pain in the ass. the former requires that you take time to master first principles from which you can, for the most part, logically reason out and predict mechanisms and other concepts. the latter occurs if you treat o-chem like a bio class (plain ol' memorization). good luck

 

[DieselPetrolGrl]

If your goal is to do well memorize reagents and Ir spectra..but everythiiing else is purely like math..u know the formulas ? the trends ? get used to applying them to zany rxns u have never seen before..because let me promise you now that if ur exam is essay memorizing any reaction will not get u a great grade.

 

[drguy22]

Any tips on tackling organic chemistry? I looked at all the sample problems at the end of the chapter(book is brand new 2004 Organic Chemistry 4th ed. by Paula Yurkanis Bruice) and I just want to break down and cry....

that book you have is a really really good book....just read the book and you will understand it. Its not too difficult. Dont look at the end of the chapter questions until u do the in-chapter ones. Even then, some of the end questions are ridiculous, and our profs didn't have us do them.


Overall...dont panic...cuz if u do its all over. just relax...i thought that i would never get through orgo 1 and 2...but i ended up gettin A's. The key is patience.

 

[liverotcod]

Positive and negative attract.

(to quote my organic instructor's mantra)

 

[UDbiochem]

Organization is the key for organic chemistry. For my class, I made a packet of every single reaction/type of reaction that I had to be able to recognize. That packet went everywhere with me, and as the class went on, I added pages to it. It was worth it's weight in gold to me that sophomore year...

 

[drguy22]

Organization is the key for organic chemistry. For my class, I made a packet of every single reaction/type of reaction that I had to be able to recognize. That packet went everywhere with me, and as the class went on, I added pages to it. It was worth it's weight in gold to me that sophomore year...

ya i had sumthin similar.....although it didnt go EVERYWHERE wit me

 

[g3pro]

Organic chemistry memorization is a bit ambiguous, because nobody takes flashcards and mentall memorizes the image of the reaction mechanism but rather how the mechanism works. But then again, we don't have physical chemistry taken, so we don't really know how the mechanism works.

But watchingwaiting's table is not accurate in what the undergraduate classes expect of you. Biology is not almost pure memorization, but rather understanding the concepts in great detail.

 

[aparecida]

Use your model kit.
Study with a pencil in hand, working out anything you don't understand.
Work all practice problems.
Keep track of all electrons at all times -- this is usually the key to understanding the reactions.
Brush up on your molecular orbital theory.

 

[MizzouDrWannabe]

I had to draw mechanisms over and over to get them. I still have sheets and sheets of mechanisms drawn in my orgo notes. Study as often as you can. My teacher told us to study 3 hours out of class for every one in class - which is pretty impossible for most people! But study as much as you can and DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT wait until a few days before the test! That NEVER worked for me! And just remember that it IS possible to get an A, don't psych yourself out! Just study and you'll do fine Flashcards worked for me as well for things like functional groups.

 

[freesolo]

i have the same book too its a good book, ive been just keeping up with the problems, dont get behind it sucks trust me, and keep doing problems over and over again, i hope you have the solution manual its my bible =D. i havent used the model kits yet, were on chapter 5 now getting kinda tough =/, i did good on the first test, hopefully the next one will be the same.

 

[boilerbeast]

Buy the solutions manaul for the book and make it your best friend. It's the best $40 I ever spent. When you don't understand its solution, find your prof/TA.


I put all the reactions on flashcards and kept them in a recipe box...just flipped through them most evenings while I drank my tea and relaxed. I never remember O-chem being hard and I only remember completely cramming once (and then it was terrible).

 

[secretasianman]

Use your model kit.
Study with a pencil in hand, working out anything you don't understand.
Work all practice problems.
Keep track of all electrons at all times -- this is usually the key to understanding the reactions.
Brush up on your molecular orbital theory.

memorize the structures, memorize the trends/patterns, and know the basics of why things want to do certain things.

 

[dnelsen]

A lot of it will depend on your prof. Find out who you have and talk to others who have had him/her in the past.

My O. Chem I prof. was really big into the conceptual and problem solving side of O. Chem. Almost 50% of each test consited of questions like:

"You start with X. Propose a multistep synthesis to give you Y."

Your job was to figure out a series of reactions that would get you from X to Y. Man these sucked!

My O. Chem II prof. just asked questions on discrete reactions. He loved mechanisms too!

 

[freesolo]

bruice starts off with saying dont memorize the overall reactions but understand the mechanisms, but than half this stuff is really complicated mechanisms that bruice gets into, and the only realistic thing is to memorize the overall structures, so im confused =o.

 

[45408]

Organic Chemistry is not a memorization class. You will be learning and applying principles. Don't just memorize mechanisms, try to make sense out of them. Yes you will have to memorize many things, as with most science classes, but the principles you need things memorized for are the most important. The first test will be mostly memorization

There's a LOT of understanding things like mechanisms, but I would DEFINITELY recommend making notecards so he can learn reactions like Grignard reagents, aldol condensations, oxidations, reductions, etc. Notecards really gave me a boost.