? from a pre-dent

[sunshiney]

Hi,
I am planning on applying to d-school this coming cycle. I have done alright in my science classes, but I am having alot of trouble with Organic chem 2. I'm afraid that I may be getting over my head with dental school. I want to know if any of you had a tough time with Orgo and what your experience is like in d-school. (overwhelming, ok?) Should I consider another option? I have put so much time and effort into this process, but I would hate to fail out of dental school and have the burden of 100k+ debt.
Thanks!

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[dentalman]

Focus on orgo right now. Get help. Organize things into groups instead of just lists to memorize. Visualize every single reaction. Don't just try to memorize it. If you can see it in your head, you will remember it.

My first quarter of Orgo I did have a lot of trouble, but after that I learned how to study, and I decided I would take no prisoners. I aced the next two classes. You just have to realize that you have to memorize more than everyone else in the class. But, have a group of friends to study with, and help each other out, because sometimes having someone to talk or draw things out with helps. In fact, if you can teach a concept to a friend, then you will know you will know it on the day of the exam.

Even one C won't kill you, but focus on doing better starting right now.

 

[Wayne Coronado]

Hi,
I am planning on applying to d-school this coming cycle. I have done alright in my science classes, but I am having alot of trouble with Organic chem 2. I'm afraid that I may be getting over my head with dental school. I want to know if any of you had a tough time with Orgo and what your experience is like in d-school. (overwhelming, ok?) Should I consider another option? I have put so much time and effort into this process, but I would hate to fail out of dental school and have the burden of 100k+ debt.
Thanks!

I agree with dentalman. Understanding how the reactions occur is the key to smacking this course. When I took orgo I, our professor had an interesting approach to this course which helped me out tremendously. This guy pretty much dissected the required text and compiled all of the useful stuff into a bound notebook for us. As opposed to professors who previously taught the course, he did not want us to exhaust ourselves trying to keep up with notetaking and learning the concepts simultaneously. All we had to do in class was follow along in the notebook and annotate here and there. He also had us go out and buy molecular model kits which helped with 3D visualization. During class (and exams!), he encouraged us to use the models to understand spatial relations and how molecules flip-flop (cis to trans and so forth). I realize that you are now in orgo 2 and you may have little use for these, but for the core concepts it could be useful. I smoked the organic section of the DAT (which helped make up for my lackluster score on reading comprehension ) and believe that was part of the reason. Here's the link to the company that sold them to our class...

http://www.darlingmodels.com/

As for dental school, I used very little of what I learned from orgo in d-school courses. This is just my experience. We were not required to regurgitate or write out biochemical reactions for our exams and I feel that biochem in d-school was a lot easier than biochem in undergrad for this reason. If struggling with orgo has got you second-guessing professions, please don't let it. Just find the best way for yourself to learn the material and stay at it...

Good Luck!!!

 

[aphistis]

Moving to pre-dent.

 

[DASicari]

When I took orgo I, our professor had an interesting approach to this course which helped me out tremendously. This guy pretty much dissected the required text and compiled all of the useful stuff into a bound notebook for us. As opposed to professors who previously taught the course, he did not want us to exhaust ourselves trying to keep up with notetaking and learning the concepts simultaneously. All we had to do in class was follow along in the notebook and annotate here and there.

This is exactly what my professor did for us and is a tremendous help. I'm nearing the end of Orgo I but these new synthesis reactions are giving me a bad feeling.