How to Prepare for Organic Chemistry?

[Alexd0223]

I am a sophomore chemistry major, and am about to take organic chemistry. I have just recently finished gen chem 1 and 2 in the spring and summer semesters, and earned A's in both. From what I hear, Orgo is a completely different animal. I have just under a month before the class starts, and have already begun reading the textbook and taking thorough notes. I really want to ace this class, as I would like to transfer to an elite school next year, and get into medical school someday. Any tips or techniques I can use to prepare me well for this class?

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[deleted1064759]

Jeez, are people pre-studying for undergrad now?

1. Stop calling it "orgo"
2. Buy Paula Bruice's Organic Chemistry + solutions manual and keep doing problems until you feel good
3. ????
4. Have fun at 'elite' school

 

[RespectTheChemistry]

The only thing I can think of right now is to review VSEPR and electron configurations from Gen Chem.

Best of luck to you!

 

[deleted895369]

Here was my strategy for acing orgo and scoring top of the class.
1. Don't prestudy.
2. Do lots of practice problems. The best book is David Klein's Organic Chemistry textbook with associated solutions manual. There are ~80 questions per chapter, so you won't run out of practice problems.
3. The most helpful technique for me - write your own "self-check" questions for problems that you get wrong as you progress through the practice material. For example, I was working a problem in which I only needed to reduce an ester to an alcohol. This could be accomplished with the reducing agent LiAlH4. However, I neglected to see that there was also a ketone in my molecule (which would also be reduced by LiAlH4, which I didn't want). Thus, I got the question wrong. After checking the correct answer, I realized I needed to put a protecting group on the ketone first prior to using the reducing agent. I then added this self-check question to my list:
"If I am reducing a functional group with LiAlH4, am I making sure that there are no other functional groups that will be unwantedly reduced at the same time?"
By asking myself these self-check questions as each time I worked through practice problems, it kept me actively engaged with problem solving more than simply memorizing a list of rules. By the time it came to the test, I would have close to three pages of these self-check questions, and I practiced them enough that I could check myself during the exam.

Hope this helps.

 

[Doctoscope]

Organic Chemistry as a Second Language + Professor Dave Explains/leah4sci on YouTube were incredibly helpful for me in getting A's in both orgo.

 

[DNAJB6]

Most of organic chemistry boils down to three principles: sterics, electrostatics, and resonance. Familarize yourself with those concepts. The people that say organic chemistry is "all memorization" don't really understand it. You will have to remember reaction mechanisms no doubt, but you will see commonalities. Many of the reactions are predictable if you understand the principles above.

 

[JimKimSlim]

Educator.com —> Professor Rafi —> helped me get through Organic and Physical Chem-Is-Try.

 

[yokiguz]

The trick is to do a TON of practice problems and understand exactly why the correct answer is the correct one. Don't passively accept something because it follows the 'pattern' shown in the previous chapter.

Draw a mechanism: are there two possible outcomes? Why is one the major product and another the minor one? Ask yourself the tough questions so you truly understand the concepts.