Is there anything I should review from gen. chem before I start organic?

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MUN2005

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Just to be ahead since it is a difficult course...Thanks

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If you can, you might take a glance at the textbook or the syllabus for the course. My o-chem class spend the first quarter of the semester or so reviewing all the g-chem concepts we needed, so I imagine yours would too, but you should double check.
 
I think the important thing for Ochem is to have the very basics down, ie lewis structures, polarity, pKa and pH issues etc. I had a very weak Gen chem background, but I did very well in Ochem. Don't worry too much. It's hard, but it's suprisingly fun. I'm sure you'll be fine. I can't think of a course that I enjoyed a whole lot more in terms of making my li'l brain do its thing.
:confused: => :)
 
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Enjoyable? eeeeeew! Our Orgo teacher told us that Orgo was the level of hell Dante forgot about. All that saved me was getting old peoples exams and doing all the blasted problems in the Orgo book! That solution manual is a must! Good luck! :wink:
 
Not really. Just appreciate O Chem for what it is, a fun CONCEPTUAL chemistry class. If you are a chem major, you will learn to appreciate O Chem when you begin taking evil quantitative advanced chem classes.

O Chem is FUN! Enjoy it. :wink: :p
 
Understanding valence is important...be able to look a periodic table and immediately know how many valence electrons there are and which elements are more electronegative. Understanding pKa and pH (acid/base chemistry) can also be helpful.
 
I was in the same position you were in last year: worrying about orgo. Now after taking it, I think orgo is about on par with general chem. If you did fine in g-chem you'll be fine in o-chem. Good luck.
 
I would recommend looking at nomenclature/structures, as trivial as it seems. Part of the key to doing well in orgo is knowing how to draw structures and what they're called. For example in orgo if you're asked how to synthesize 2-chlorobutane on an exam you might have a hard time if you don't know what the name means.
 
There's a book out there, called "Pushing Electrons" which is a must if you want to understand the nitty gritty stuff about Orgo. i absolutely loved Orgo, and didn't fall upon that book until the final day of my last quarter of Orgo. I did well in the class nevertheless, it was very enjoyable. But if you can get your hands on that little book, get it. It's been a life saver for many of my friends.

Also, another orgo (very interactive) book I liked was Solomon's. It's a big thick purple book and this guy wrote it. Check out the book store to see if they have deals on it. Overall, you don't need any extra books to do well in Orgo. these are just additional resources you can use in case your school text does not address something well enough.

Cheers!
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