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- Mar 29, 2013
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Hello everyone I am a new poster here and I just want to give some advice/create a guide for people who are going to be taking Orgo 1 or Orgo 2 this fall or will be taking these classes in the future. I know that organic chemistry is a very important class that all health schools, especially medical school, look at. I am not particularly pre-med, but I am pre-health/science because I am 100% sure what exactly what I will be doing once I graduate college. However, I am very sure about how to get an A in both orgo 1 and 2. I got A's in both orgo 1 and 2, with a 97% in orgo 1 and a 100.35% in orgo 2. I know what y'all thinking, "damn you must have studied an insane amount of hours." Not really. I spent 2 hours total studying 1 chapter orgo per week and no more than 4 reviewing for an exam when I finished all of the necessary chapters. For my orgo 1 and 2 finals, I reviewed the night before. Believe me I am not trolling. I don't think I am some super genius either. I just learned methods of how to understand the material extremely well with very little time spent studying.
1) Understand the first chapter, "Structure Determines Properties" as if your life depended on it
2) Know the vocabulary very well
3) Know your nomenclature
That's it. I never did practice problems. Why? If you understand what the question is saying, know what the compound looks like if you are only given words and not pictures, and you apply the principal structure determines properties, you will do consistently well on the exams. I kid you not, the first chapter principle "Structure Determines Properties" permeates throughout the entire class. Almost all of the problems lead back to this concept. Which compound is a stronger acid? Phenol and ethanol? Why can't this particular compound undergo aldol condensation? Etc. ,etc., etc.
All of these questions can be answered by examining the compounds' structure and understanding the general trends in how structure determines properties, and how properties determine what the compounds' structure is. If you understood chapter 1 well, those questions will be a breeze. This is easier said than done for reactions. For many people, reactions and their mechanisms as well as multistep questions give them trouble, especially in orgo 2. There are so many variables and methods and things to think about and so many reactions to learn some people's head explodes. It is hard, unless your memory is very good, to memorize every single reaction. Only memorize some of the reactions. I will tell you this, multistep questions and learning reactions and their mechanism came naturally for me. Reactions and multistep was my favorite part of orgo 1 and orgo 2 as well as mechanisms. Understand that there are about 3-5 main reactions that repeat over and over, and they all have to do with a compound's structure. A compound's structure determines it physical and chemical properties.
For example you know a benzene ring is very stable because it is aromatic. So catalytic hydrogenation won't reduce it to cyclohexane. But benzene can be reduced under very specific conditions like the Birch Reduction. Understand the structure of every compound that you encounter (hydrocarbons, alcohols, alkyl halides, carbonyls, etc.) and you will know how to answer most questions. Look at key things like the type of atoms in the compound (C, O, polar bonds?), the functional groups, (we know hydroxyl is a poor leavng group so that has many implication and can hydrogen bond so high boiling pount), possibility of resonance etc.
Sorry for this lengthy random bullsh** I just want to help people who may be struggling in orgo or are terrified of taking orgo. I know the pressure can be too much sometimes, so I want to help alleviate some of that.
All in all, when you are looking at general physical and chemical properties, look at the functional groups within the compound. When you have trouble figuring out what the products of a reaction will be, look at the functional groups and logically guesstimate what they will do based on what you know. For reaction mechanisms, understand what type of compound you are working with and whether it is a catalytic, reversible, etc. so that the steps will be a logical map rather than straight memorization. And for multistep, compare the starting compound and finished product (# of carbons present, any new functional groups,etc.) and work backwards. Good luck
1) Understand the first chapter, "Structure Determines Properties" as if your life depended on it
2) Know the vocabulary very well
3) Know your nomenclature
That's it. I never did practice problems. Why? If you understand what the question is saying, know what the compound looks like if you are only given words and not pictures, and you apply the principal structure determines properties, you will do consistently well on the exams. I kid you not, the first chapter principle "Structure Determines Properties" permeates throughout the entire class. Almost all of the problems lead back to this concept. Which compound is a stronger acid? Phenol and ethanol? Why can't this particular compound undergo aldol condensation? Etc. ,etc., etc.
All of these questions can be answered by examining the compounds' structure and understanding the general trends in how structure determines properties, and how properties determine what the compounds' structure is. If you understood chapter 1 well, those questions will be a breeze. This is easier said than done for reactions. For many people, reactions and their mechanisms as well as multistep questions give them trouble, especially in orgo 2. There are so many variables and methods and things to think about and so many reactions to learn some people's head explodes. It is hard, unless your memory is very good, to memorize every single reaction. Only memorize some of the reactions. I will tell you this, multistep questions and learning reactions and their mechanism came naturally for me. Reactions and multistep was my favorite part of orgo 1 and orgo 2 as well as mechanisms. Understand that there are about 3-5 main reactions that repeat over and over, and they all have to do with a compound's structure. A compound's structure determines it physical and chemical properties.
For example you know a benzene ring is very stable because it is aromatic. So catalytic hydrogenation won't reduce it to cyclohexane. But benzene can be reduced under very specific conditions like the Birch Reduction. Understand the structure of every compound that you encounter (hydrocarbons, alcohols, alkyl halides, carbonyls, etc.) and you will know how to answer most questions. Look at key things like the type of atoms in the compound (C, O, polar bonds?), the functional groups, (we know hydroxyl is a poor leavng group so that has many implication and can hydrogen bond so high boiling pount), possibility of resonance etc.
Sorry for this lengthy random bullsh** I just want to help people who may be struggling in orgo or are terrified of taking orgo. I know the pressure can be too much sometimes, so I want to help alleviate some of that.
All in all, when you are looking at general physical and chemical properties, look at the functional groups within the compound. When you have trouble figuring out what the products of a reaction will be, look at the functional groups and logically guesstimate what they will do based on what you know. For reaction mechanisms, understand what type of compound you are working with and whether it is a catalytic, reversible, etc. so that the steps will be a logical map rather than straight memorization. And for multistep, compare the starting compound and finished product (# of carbons present, any new functional groups,etc.) and work backwards. Good luck
