Best way to memorize reactions for organic chem?

[floatingribs]

I'm a pretty good memorizer but sometimes my test anxiety gets the best of me. I received an A on my previous exam so I know I'm fully capable of doing well and I'm having no trouble doing complex synthesis/mechanisms, but I keep blanking whenever I need to do single/double step reactions (I think seeing 30 blank spaces spread out between 2 pages makes me forget everything lol).

Definitely trying to get my anxiety under control in the next couple of days so I can kill my final, but I'm now realizing I totally memorized vs understood complex synthesis problems and mechanisms, whereas there's lots of single step reactions I' haven't even come across. I've currently got a very long running list of reactions I've come across in the course, but I can't seem to find a way to actually have them stick in my head. Is the best way to just try to keep memorizing reactions and build some muscle memory, or is figuring what reagents do a better method? Any recommended methods to "cram" all these reactions in a couple of days?

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[ciestar]

Write those buddies out over and over again until you can do it in your sleep

 

[new_dood_don't_be_rude]

Many reactions in Organic 2 require much more than one step. Learn the chemistry behind it rather than using rote memorization.

 

[Blanky]

Learn how the mechanisms work and why, then make some notecards of the reactions and its easy.

 

[Kpw101]

Learn how the mechanisms work and why, then make some notecards of the reactions and its easy.

This, and once you learn the mechanisms draw them out on an index card and run through your index cards until you can run the entire mechanism in your head.

 

[TehTeddy]

While I don't remember the specifics of all the reactions anymore, I do remember that I never rote memorized in organic chemistry. A lot of problems could be solved by understanding the mechanics and stability of molecules in determining how they'll interact. The people that tried to study for organic chemistry like biology (i.e. memorizing) ended up studying way more than they needed to, in my opinion, even if they got an A.
Going forward, I'd advise looking not merely at what happens at each step, but why (based on electron density, polarity, stability, solvents, etc.) a reaction proceeds the way it does. Then it will look like a logical progression, rather than random, isolated steps. If you end up forgetting part of the reaction on test day, it'll also be easier to fill in the gaps.

 

[Blanky]

LiAlH4 is pretty straight foreword. What comes to mind when I talk about electron pushing is NO2 attached to an aromatic ring allowing it to act as an electrophile, that's asthetically pleasing to me.