When should I start studying for Organic Chemistry?

[hs2013]

I plan on buying the book organic chem as a second language and want to start studying before the semester starts. I got A's in both gen chems but my weakest subjects are definitely orbitals, shapes, VSEPR, geometry, polarity, intermolecular forces, etc... don't really remember too much of those.

I really want to do well and get an A in this class, but I worry because I hear a lot about how the people who are really strong at the math side of chemistry don't do well in organic because of the more visual aspect of it.

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[techyguy]

The introduction in the first semester book has a good piece on learning and memorization. It likens ochem to a long movie. Like any movie, the more times you see it, the more likely you will be able to recall every line of dialogue. The book starts at a very introductory level, so you can dive in any time.

I didn't buy the first semester book until I started to get a bad feeling about how my professor was explaining some things, about mid-way through the course. I didn't get the second semester "second language" book until about a year after I'd finished the second class. I really have no recommendation on when to start. If you're enjoying your summer enough, sure, learn some orgo.

 

[Ducttape1]

I bought organic as a second language and read it over the 3 weeks before I began the lecture. I thought it was really helpful! Hope this helps!

 

[FancyFloss]

Organic chem is much more than visualizing, it's all about understanding how different molecules react under different situations. The sooner you start studying the better. Orgo is no joke and one of the toughest prereqs.

 

[youngy]

Organic chem is much more than visualizing, it's all about understanding how different molecules react under different situations. The sooner you start studying the better. Orgo is no joke and one of the toughest prereqs.

it is no joke, but it's not super hard either. It can be challenging for some, but with enough time put in, anyone should be able to do well in it.
It's not a rocket science. Understand the concepts!

 

[techyguy]

Congrats on the A's in Gen Chem, by the way. If you're making A's in "hard" classes already, you've probably figured out what you need to do to make A's elsewhere, operationally, anyway. (e.g. cramming vs. practicing every day, staying up late, etc.)

Oh yeah, any organic book, and your professor, will implore you to practice drawing out reactions to learn the mechanism. That is, draw each step in the reaction, and the electron pushing arrows needed to go from one step to the next. That's generally a good idea, and the "second language" books provide a place to do this.

 

[minerva29]

It honestly depends on you, I found organic chem to be much easier and enjoyable than gen chem. I did use orgo as a second language for the first semester and I looked over the first few chapters on my own a couple weeks before I started the class. Some of the material was easier for me to understand when I had someone else explain it to me so I went to office hours and cleared things up on youtube! Good luck!

 

[HaverfoodsDDS]

http://www.freelance-teacher.com/videos.htm#ORGANICCHEMISTRY

Literally all you need.....I'm surprised this site doesn't have more recognition on these forums. He's also great at teaching genchem and physics.

In terms of studying early - there's no need. Ochem is pretty easy and with any effort you should be fine....Like others have said if you can get an A in the genchem series, you have the study skills (and basic intelligence) to get an A in ochem. The concepts are nothing that is too difficult to grasp if you put in a few hours a week of studying once the semester starts.

 

[customx]

Learning the basics like nucleophilicity, polarity, etc will really make orgo much easier. The most difficult part of the course for me was having to memorize over 120 reactions by the end of the 3rd quarter. We would have to synthesize 10 molecules, often involving 7-9 steps. The rest was manageable with enough studying

 

[Glimmer1991]

How about you buy Chad's orgo videos? (For the actual class, not for the DAT.) I haven't used them personally, but I suggested them to a student I tutored in orgo and she only had great things to say--I think they helped her a lot. Plus, Chad makes the chems interesting (or at least as interesting as possible, haha) to listen to. I'd definitely go that route.

 

[techyguy]

Khan Academy has some good, free videos, too:
https://www.khanacademy.org/science/organic-chemistry

I watched a few of them back when I was taking organic 1. (For the record, my organic 2 prof. was good enough that I didn't need any extra material. Great slides, great lectures. She also happened to write me an LOR.