Do Gen Chem grades predict Orgo grades?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
premedked said:
Is how well you do in gen chem predictive of how well you do in orgo? what kind of skills do you need to do well in orgo?
Click to expand...
Of course doing well in gen chem will help, but orgo is more complicated.
 
From what I've seen they do not. Only thing from Gen Chem that comes back in Organic is orbitals and interactions between atoms, such as electronegativities and the like.
 
they do not. I did well in Gen chem cause it was easy. Orgo was WAY HARDER. However, it's also about the different infos. I know people who thought gen chem was harder and easily aced Orgo.
 
ochem is not more complicated than gen chem. In my opinion, ochem is easy to understand conceptually but has a lot more information. Gen chem appears to be easy because everything can be intuitively figured out with math , but to truly understand the fundamentals of gen chem is a different story. Try taking quantitative chemistry or inorganic chem lmao =P. I stress this because you have to understand the fundamentals of gen chem to a very high degree to score well on the MCAT. This is based off my own opinion after taking a couple practice mcat exams.
 
They have almost nothing to do with each other. Most decent orgo books will teach you the GenChem info you need in their specif chapter (usually in the first few lectures of orgo I). I got a C,C+ for my GenChem I, II and I dont understand much, but in orgo I, I got a B, and OrgoII A. Tbh, Orgo is more fun, you might like it.
 
anbuitachi said:
they do not. I did well in Gen chem cause it was easy. Orgo was WAY HARDER. However, it's also about the different infos. I know people who thought gen chem was harder and easily aced Orgo.
Click to expand...

quite the opposite for me, I did well in orgo but horrible in gen chem. I thought orgo actually made sense 🙂
 
I didn't understand gen chem (and still don't), and orgo was my favorite subject by far and I excel at it. So I don't think that your grade in gen chem is necessarily reflective of your orgo grades.
 
Nope. /thread

Understanding a few topics in gen chem WILL make your transition to ochem a little easier though, including: VSEPR theory, MO theory, periodic trends, Lewis Dot structures, etc.
 
Snowsquall said:
I didn't understand gen chem (and still don't), and orgo was my favorite subject by far and I excel at it. So I don't think that your grade in gen chem is necessarily reflective of your orgo grades.
Click to expand...

What qualities do you think allowed you (or anyone) to excel at Orgo instead of gen chem? Is it being a more visual learner (instead of math based gen chem)?
 
Probably. I'd be shocked if people who get As in science courses don't have a higher chance to get As in Gen Chem (and same with bad grades). If you're asking if Gen Chem is similar to OChem in terms of how to study and such - the answer is probably no. It's just about putting in the work.
 
Not in my experience. I did a lot better in gen chem, and IMO it's MUCH easier than organic.
 
I used more visual thinking skills in Ochem. Gen Chem was always like a math class to me.
 
...
 
Last edited:
The only way they are predictive it that those who do well are often hardworkers who have their learning style down and have strong study skills that transfer to the new class. Other then that, from what I heard of Orgo, the two are different worlds.
 
I actually thought gen chem was a lot harder than orgo. Orgo is not as bad as everyone says it is, you just need to get the concepts down and do lots of practice problems. Once you understand how to do mechanisms and the basic concepts, it's not so bad. I would highly recommend that you buy Organic Chem as a Second Language by Klein. Those books saved my life and will make everything much easier than your textbook will.
 
I got around the same mark in ochem as gen chem. I never thought about that before. Freaky...
 
zeppelinpage4 said:
From what I've seen they do not. Only thing from Gen Chem that comes back in Organic is orbitals and interactions between atoms, such as electronegativities and the like.
Click to expand...


You mean... like the CORE of Ochem is Gchem? 😉

OP, yes, your Ochem and Gchem scores are likely to correlate at least somewhat, although Ochem IS quite different. Ochem relies heavily upon Gchem concepts, despite what many students seem to think. (Perhaps, they are missing the core of Ochem and, as a result, memorizing all of the reactions? Come MCAT time, that'll hurt!)
 
B, B+ Gen CHM/A-, A Orgo. Orgo is much more different. A different kind of learning.
 
Frazier said:
yes, gen chem is predictive for orgo grades...

Gen chem: A -----> Orgo: A


Hope that helps.:meanie:
Click to expand...


Same here....I know, I know, everyone is going to say: "Strong work....Strong work"
 
I would say not necessarily. I actually found gen chem to be more difficult because I do not like anything that deals with numbers or calculations. Organic seemed much more cohesive and fluid. For this reason, I enjoyed it more and found it to be easier.
 
For me Organic was mostly memorization. Learn the reactions and mechanisms and then keep drawing them on scratch paper until you can produce any required rxn or mechs. without any errors. For our tests it was like playing with legos... you know all of your pieces, you know how they fit / work together, now use some critical thinking and build!

I much prefer organic over gen chem.
 
premedked said:
What qualities do you think allowed you (or anyone) to excel at Orgo instead of gen chem? Is it being a more visual learner (instead of math based gen chem)?
Click to expand...

I think people already mentioned it above, but it's about learning concepts, patterns and it involves more visualization. If you understand the core mechanism then you really don't have to memorize that much, contrary to popular belief. I could also picture molecules in 3D pretty easily, and move around it as needed too, so that helped a lot.
 
Snowsquall said:
I think people already mentioned it above, but it's about learning concepts, patterns and it involves more visualization. If you understand the core mechanism then you really don't have to memorize that much, contrary to popular belief. I could also picture molecules in 3D pretty easily, and move around it as needed too, so that helped a lot.
Click to expand...


Agreed. I don't think gen chem is necessarily predictive of ochem grades at all. Of course, solid study skills will transfer from one course to another.

I think one of the better analogies is that ochem is like learning a foreign language... It's a completely different types of problems than you encountered in gchem. Does doing well in your English class help you do well in your foreign language class in high school? Yes and no. The same general principles (grammar = chemistry) still apply. You just have to learn a new set of 'rules' and apply them.


The best study advice I can give for ochem is this. First, understand the mechanism and WHY the reaction is happening. Second, do practice problems to make sure that you are applying your knowledge correctly. Finally, i think it helps to get some friends together and have each other make up problems...really test your knowledge base for ochem.

I for one, loved ochem and had an amazing professor. So while, it was 'difficult' in the sense that it required more work it wasn't some sort of insane time consuming course that people make it out to be. Don't worry, you'll be alright 👍
 
Obviously there is some really basic stuff from gen chem that translates (pKa's, orbitals, whatever) but its different so doing well or poorly in gen chem shouldn't be an issue. How work ethic or learning ability comes into play is a different story but conceptually they are extremely different.
 
apumic said:
You mean... like the CORE of Ochem is Gchem? 😉

OP, yes, your Ochem and Gchem scores are likely to correlate at least somewhat, although Ochem IS quite different. Ochem relies heavily upon Gchem concepts, despite what many students seem to think. (Perhaps, they are missing the core of Ochem and, as a result, memorizing all of the reactions? Come MCAT time, that'll hurt!)
Click to expand...
Haha well in way I think I am saying that.
Though I think these concepts about orbital theory and interactions between atoms were key to understanding organic.
In the Gen Chem classes at my school, the professors focused more on the math and simply noted those basic concepts, even if they are the core of Gen Chem, they really weren't the focus at my school.
Hence I am saying that it is what comes back in organic (and is a lot more heavily emphasized) and it is something you need to understand/know. However it's very different from Gen Chem, at least at my school. Understanding fundamental concepts in Gen Chem were also a lot harder for me. :meanie:
But yes, I do agree, know your basic concepts for Organic.
 
I haven't taken orgo but I am pre-studying for my summer class right now. Orgo is a lot more conceptual and chem is a lot more computational.
 
TribalSeeds said:
I haven't taken orgo but I am pre-studying for my summer class right now. Orgo is a lot more conceptual and chem is a lot more computational.
Click to expand...


from what i remember.. you have to be more meticulous in general chem then with orgo chemistry. with the calculations and all
 
I found that organic chemistry made way more sense and it was a lot more interesting that general chemistry. However, I had a really great professor for both years of organic. He was definitely AGAINST direct memorization of mechanisms, instead he approached all of them from a overall conceptual understanding of how electrons will move (Lewis Acids/Lewis Bases) and emphasized "It's all about the electrons." I never had to "memorize" a mechanism because all of them follow certain principles of getting into lower energy states, etc, etc and you can predict what the next step should be. This will greatly decrease how much you need to "memorize."

General chemistry was just a bunch of "OK, here, know that this happens when you do this." Not much explanation and conceptual understanding didn't help me nearly as much as it did with organic.

As with ANY class, it's pretty dependent on the professor who teaches it. If you have a crappy professor, then your luck of succeeding and actually enjoying the class is smaller than if you have a really great professor teaching you.
 
hivoltage said:
from what i remember.. you have to be more meticulous in general chem then with orgo chemistry. with the calculations and all
Click to expand...

gen chem is definitely more math. I found it really easy to do the math problems, but the concepts were tougher for me. Bottom line is they are both challenging classes, but you can do well in both and get A's if you put in enough work. Repetition is the best way to practice so keep doing problems over and over.
 
TribalSeeds said:
I haven't taken orgo but I am pre-studying for my summer class right now. Orgo is a lot more conceptual and chem is a lot more computational.
Click to expand...


There's really no point to 'pre-studying' orgo. Seriously just enjoy your summer.
 
Orgo I thought was much easier than Gen Chem. I TA'ed orgo for a year, and I always kept noticing a pattern where the people that did well in gen chem were doing lousy in orgo, and vice-versa. I'm much more of a visual person, as also were the people that didn't do hot in Gen chem but aced orgo. By far orgo was a much better experience, and I definitely felt like I could study much less than Gen chem where I had to make sure I was up to speed constantly. Studying 3 weeks of material over the weekend before the test was doable for orgo, but for gen chem I'd be screwed to hell, so it depends on the person in the end.
 
premedked said:
Is how well you do in gen chem predictive of how well you do in orgo? what kind of skills do you need to do well in orgo?
Click to expand...

If you did poorly in gen chem you can either give up or use it as motivation to do better in Orgo. I chose the latter.

I got a B- in gen chem 1 and a C in gen chem 2 and went on to get an A in orgo 1 and orgo 2. I got the highest grade on the final exam of orgo 1.

Try your best and study hard.

Go forth.
 
TribalSeeds said:
I haven't taken orgo but I am pre-studying for my summer class right now.
Click to expand...

That's what I did too last summer! I was embarrassed and didn't tell anyone I was studying for a class that was still months away but it really helped me a lot! Drilled down the basic concepts I needed to not get bogged down (like counting carbons, line drawings, etc.).

Make sure you're using OChem as a 2nd Lang to study! 👍
 
Thornwalker said:
There's really no point to 'pre-studying' orgo. Seriously just enjoy your summer.
Click to expand...

You remember things better when you've been primed so I don't see how this holds any weight.
 
Thornwalker said:
There's really no point to 'pre-studying' orgo. Seriously just enjoy your summer.
Click to expand...
Though I agree it's very important to relax and recuperate over the summer. Spending a little bit of time each day or a few hours a week getting the basics down helped me a lot and gave me a strong start in O-Chem.

It is probably dependent on the person too but I see nothing wrong with pre-studying a little bit.
 
I think it really depends on the person, like people have said already. I have heard from only one person that Orgo is more "enjoyable" but I think most people had an easier time with general chemistry than I did. I got a B and A- in the gem chems, but it really hurt being A) bad at math B) never having touched chemistry in high school.

I could be completely wrong, but I think physics and calc next year are going to make orgo seem exciting. I really hate anything with numbers:scared:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

J
Physics 1, Orgo 2, and gen chem 2 in one semester?
Replies
9
Views
1K
bigboy318
bigboy318
Firing Neuron
Navigating Secondaries With Bad Grades
Replies
2
Views
894
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
U
Secondary: Discrepancies in Grades
Replies
0
Views
359
ugabanana
U
epicshawty
Options to remediate grades?
Replies
3
Views
437
Mr.Smile12
Mr.Smile12
D
senior year grades post acceptance
Replies
4
Views
1K
J_doc1
J_doc1
Top