How Do I Get Faster at Solving Organic Chemistry Problems?

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MissionStanford

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I've been going through the textbook (Organic Chemistry 6th edition by Paula Bruice) my college uses. So far I've done the first two chapters (including all 200 problems for those 2 chapters), but I still feel like these questions take too much time, especially questions that ask things like drawing out all the different isomers of a compound (Takes me a while to think of all the different possibilities). Questions on naming are annoying too. How can I get faster?
 
Solve more problems, read carefully the available solutions to see if your reasoning is different in any way. Adjust your reasoning. Review the material again to make sure you do not spend a lot of time recalling the knowledge. After you solve a problem, go back and think about a possible short-cut that might have shaved off even 30 sec.

Pay attention to the type of problems. After you solve enough they should become very familiar. For example, after reading the first two sentences you should immediately think something like this: "This is an 'Sn1 vs Sn2 type of problem'. Therefore, I need to analyze the stability of the carbocation, solvent type, Nu strengh."
 
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