HELP Organic Chem!

[vhouse3]

Ok... I am preparing to take the DAT in June and I haven't taken Organic Chemistry yet... I won't be taking it until Fall semester. SOOOO... I am attempting to learn organic chem all by my lonesome... I have 2 textbooks, one with the solutions manual, schaums big orgo book, and their little orgo book, and i just ordered ochem odyssey... oh yeah, and all the kaplan DAT books.
Here is my hold up... where do I begin? They all just dive in to "naming" compounds and I am LOST by page 6??? I feel like I need some kind of game plan? do I need to just suck it up and memorize ALL these names before moving on? do I start somewhere else? Do I need some really good organic class notes? is this too ambitious? well if it is too ambitious, thats too bad and I will just do bad on the ochem section of the DAT... How bad will that be if I do REALLY well on all other sections? I am in a little bit of a panic? I will have to 'move in' to the tutoring lab at my school I guess... but when I went there to talk to someone about help, they were astounded and 'put off' by the fact that I wasn't in the class and I wanted to use their time helping me and my 'lost cause'...

Also... is anyone near Alabama or applying/attending UAB Dental?
THANKS!

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[rdhdds1]

My suggestion would be to take at least Ochem 1 before attempting the DAT. Trust me on this. I was in a similar situation last year. I opted to study with an Ochem tutor for two months (prior to taking the class) and needless to say the Ochem as well as the QR were my two lowest scores on the DAT. I am retaking in June/July.

I feel that without a good understanding of basic Ochem, studying all you want with material that you do not understand is self-defeating. One and be done that is the motto.

 

[curiosteph]

If you're going to go at it alone, I think it is possible but quite difficult. I would definitely start with how to name compounds. You won't be able to do the rest of the material without a basic understanding of the names. Since you have a book, I would read through it, make note cards, and test yourself as if it were a class. After that, just take it chapter by chapter! I

I took O-Chem in college but it had been over 4 years since I saw the material when I took the DAT. I used Kaplan and Kaplan's notecards to help me, which was a big help.

Good luck!

 

[Orgodox]

Yea you kinda do have to know the names of compounds at least a little to be familiar with them when they are referenced in the text. But its not memorizing. There is a very logical system. I would recommend waiting until after orgo 1. At that point you will have a strong foundation and can learn the rest by going ahead. But starting from scratch-- you may spend loads of time and still not do well. YOU CANT MEMORIZE YOUR WAY THROUGH IT. Too much material. It is a great subject and makes sense. There is a little memorizing of reagents but after a while they become natural. If you want to memorize though theres room for that too....BIO!

 

[War Eagle]

I agree with Orgodox. You can't memorize your way through O-chem. You have to understand the concept of why things happen. I knew kids that would put entire mechanisms on notecards and try to memorize them that way. I tutored O-chem for a semester and had people trying to do that. It just doesn't work. You have to be able to think your way through a mechanism and understand why the electrons are "pushed" as they are. That way you don't have to try to memorize a stack of notecards that is like 8" thick (I actually saw people trying to do that). Taking the class would obviously be the best choice, but if that isn't a possibility I would do the following:

• Read the chapter and do the example problems as you come accross them.
• Don't think you understand a concept or mechanism from just reading or looking at it. Pretty much if your pen isn't moving a lot, you aren't learning a lot. Repetition was key to my understanding reaction mechanisms.
• Do the problems in the back of the book. (My orgo professor said he'd give us 1 pt extra credit if we did every problem in the chapter. He said the semester before he had 2 guys do that for every chapter. They both got A's, and it wasn't thanks to extra credit). I'm not saying to do every problem because it sounds like you don't have time for that, but don't move on until you have mastered a reaction mechanism or concept.
• O-chem is the most comprehensive class I have ever taken. In chapter 23 you still need to remember most everything from the previous chapters. Constantly reviewing previous chapters will help.
• Let a professor know what you are doing. Find out if he'd be willing to help you with questions. A quick visit to his office could save you hours of trying to figure something out.

These are things that worked for me; it may be different for you. I would say that doing Orgo II alone after taking Orgo I would be much easier than doing Orgo I with no instructor. Best of luck.