Is organic chemistry that hard?

[Doug Underhill]

It depends on the person. Some people are really good at it and some aren't. I was one of those people who loved o-chem and despised physics.

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[lifetothefullest]

Really depends on what kind of a person you are, really. If you're visual, you'll love o-chem and inorganic, if you decide to take it. But if you're more of a quantitative person, you won't like it as much.

 

[Pitamaken]

Organic Chemistry is one of the most, if not the most, difficult courses you will have to master. You will have to put in the work in this class for a good grade. If you made it past Gen Chem and Biology - you have the ability to do well. It is all up to you. Doctors I work with say this is the class that separates the good students from the rest of the pack. In order to survive med school, you have to be a good student. Sure, adcomms may overlook a C in Org Chem II but if you can do better than that and stand out by applying yourself - why not? (I made an overall 99% in Org Chem II - and no, I'm not going to be the dingus who says it is easy when it's not)

 

[JavariPharmD23]

It was definitely something very different from everything else. I wish they would actually explain how each and every reagents work. Every mechanism can be understood by careful examination of electron density. Gotta love those balls and sags drawings.

Maybe you can help me because I’m having a really hard time in o chem 2

 

[JavariPharmD23]

My point was that most people struggle because of HOW they are studying. I really don't think it's that tough of a class. The second comment was in reference to those implying "you must have had an easy course." (I didn't... most people failed the midterm and final and many failed the class, but that's not because it's a "hard class." It's because they didn't know how to approach the course and this prof tends to be very, very difficult. That said, it's beatable.) Sorry if it came off as something else to you. In my experience, Ochem is one of the most overrated courses in college.

Show me how to study for o. Chem

 

[altblue]

Show me how to study for o. Chem

1. Start well in advance of each exam and be consistent about studying
2. Understand reagents before you memorize them
3. Learn how to solve problems. If you weren't given x as an answer, what would your approach be?
4. Building off of 3, don't look at an answer until you are A. confident in your own or B. shown how to find it (tutoring or something similar is valuable for this)
5. Time yourself if your exams are time crunches
6. Find commonalities in mechanisms
7. Building off of 6, recognize that the steps of most mechanisms in organic 2 can be explained well by some combination of charge, resonance, and yes leaving group stability and general stability. Very few are fully hand-wav-y
8. If you are provided large molecules, be able to quickly identify functional groups and whether or not they would react with each reagent. This comes with practice. Practice explaining what would happen in acidic vs basic conditions

Be honest with yourself on how thoroughly and intelligently you study for the class. Improving on some or many of these aspects will help you out.

 

[Dwight Snoot]

Not as hard as people say it is. Organic II was definitely my hardest class though

 

[MCATISEZ]

Organic Chemistry is one of the most, if not the most, difficult courses you will have to master. You will have to put in the work in this class for a good grade. If you made it past Gen Chem and Biology - you have the ability to do well. It is all up to you. Doctors I work with say this is the class that separates the good students from the rest of the pack. In order to survive med school, you have to be a good student. Sure, adcomms may overlook a C in Org Chem II but if you can do better than that and stand out by applying yourself - why not? (I made an overall 99% in Org Chem II - and no, I'm not going to be the dingus who says it is easy when it's not)

I did very well in Organic too. I think your post is very dramatic. Everyone has their strong and weak subjects, although it is relative.


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[naway]

I realize this is a super old thread, but since it got bumped and I'm bored out of my mind, I'll respond with my experience.

My experience is that organic is one of those subjects professors can make as easy or as difficult as they want. There is a popular meme that shows three different organic reactions, one that is very simplistic labelled "in class," one that is moderate in difficulty labelled "on the homework," and one that is very complex labelled "on the exam." It's obviously just a meme meant to be funny, but it is true that professors can pretty much make the same basic organic reactions appear as simple or as complicated as they want. I struggled in organic I because I had a professor who believed in putting a lot of "special case" reactions that didn't neatly follow the general rules on her exams. Organic II was a piece of cake because I had a professor who explicitly told us he hated when professors did what my organic I professor did. In his view, an exam was NOT the time to try and trip students up but rather a time to test how well they've grasped the general principles. I would recommend trying to take organic with the latter type of professor, but the more difficult professor's teaching and exam styles probably prepared me better for the MCAT.

 

[Robin-jay]

No.