Ochem in the summer

[sc4s2cg]

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So I am taking Ochem I and II with both labs this summer. Started Monday, ends August 22nd.

This is also the summer that I decided to really get my act together. I've incorporated a morning/evening routine of stretching and working out so I can run again (case of Runners Knee), and now I'm trying to incorporate studying into my everyday. So I was just wondering, to all you c4.0 students out there, what is your study habits? Do you have a study routine like a running routine, which you absolutely cannot miss? How do you control stress and the occasional freaking out? And how do you combine 8:50-2:00pm lectures/labs with studying (ie reading the entire chapter, notes, and practice problems), hobbies, volunteering? Where do you study? How long do you study? How do you keep from not grttig distracted, and finally, how do you develop the discipline and stamina needed to keep this up for the summer, fall, and spring?

Would appreciate any help.

 

[aza]

So, I took gen chem as a summer intensive, then took o-chem over fall-spring. A+s all 4 semesters. My advice:
- summer intensives are intrinsically painful. Develop REALLY GREAT relationships with the people in the class (I assume it's a smallish class?). Screw the curve and typical pre-med competitiveness -- make good friends and help others out wherever you can. Try to get the whole group to have a sense of camaraderie and "we're in this together". If you're on a tight curve, the grades will still sort as they would've otherwise but it will be FAR less painful and far more fun. Also, even if you're golden on the material and don't need others' help now, you never know if you'll need it in the future. If you make the class about 'group spirit' or helping others (i.e. something more than just 'me me me' and 'how do I get my A?'), you'll have a much better time and a much more rewarding experience. And it'll probably make it easier to maintain good discipline and study habits.
If you're not strong enough on the material to tutor others or answer their questions, there is still a lot you can do: bring breakfast, bake brownies on test day (takes 5 mins if you use a mix. It's cheap too). Share your lab data or class notes with anyone who wants them.

-Stress management: exercise (I exercised 45 mins 6 days a week during summer intensives. I was lucky that my gym was a block from campus and I could get 45 mins in during lunch and only be slightly late to lab), eat decently, GET ENOUGH SLEEP
(IMO it's never worth sacrificing sleep for study or problem sets), meditation/relaxation exercises, hobbies, social life. And, most importantly, point one: getting support from your peers and enjoying the social aspects of the class.

- In a summer intensive, most people don't have time to 'do it all' on their own. Do what matters on your own (i.e. learning the material); for the stuff that matters less, share the burden (lab stuff; if you're working in pairs or groups, have one person do the experiment while the other writes the report and answers the post-labs and pre-labs for the next day. Or split lab stuff between a larger group. If problem sets are unmanageable or more than you need to master the material, divvy them up)

- Make good use of your time. IMO, you shouldn't have to attend lecture AND read the entire chapter. In gen chem, I chose the book (I'd read and do HW during lecture and not pay a whiff of attention to the guy droning on in front). In o-chem, lecture was king and I opened the book only 3 times over 2 semesters (problem sets were for the student's benefit, not for the grade). Which you choose will depend partially on your learning style but also on the quality of teaching and the quality of the text.

- Try to multi-task: if you learn best by the book, can you do homework during lecture and still listen with half an ear? There should definitely be enough downtime during o-chem lab to get large amounts of homework and lab reports done. If you're working with partners or in groups, everything due the next day can easily be done by the end of lab.

- Never had a freak-out from chemistry, but dealt with them in others. BREATHE!!! Remember that your entire future does NOT ride on one o-chem grade. If the pace is too intense, you can always drop and take it during the semester. If you're on a curve, the accelerated course will hurt most others as much as it hurts you. Read a bit about meditation. If all else fails, take a Xanax ;-) Seriously, this is a good time to learn stress management b/c you will need it later in life.

I was a bit of an outlier in these classes so my study habits likely won't help you much. However, I can offer the following b/c I AM prone to distraction:

- wherever you study, make it a distraction-free zone. No TV, no laptop (disconnect the wireless if you have to), put all interesting reading materials somewhere else, and DEFINITELY leave your cell phone in another room. Bring enough food/water to get you through and don't leave that study space until you've accomplished what you need to accomplish (breaks are fine, so long as you don't jump into a time-sink. If you take a 10-min break, you probably can't watch tv or go on the internet or start making calls... 10 mins will quickly turn into 2 hours. Make your breaks about relaxation and giving your brain a rest -- stretch, go outside for a moment, meditate, etc. But don't start anything that will lead to procrastination).

Your motivation for staying focused? As soon as you're done, you get GUILT-FREE, STRESS-FREE 'me time'!
I mean, which is better:
1) spending all day Sunday procrastinating or start-stop studying (usually by taking 'short breaks' that stretch into hours), feeling guilty about it, feeling increasingly stressed as the hours go by and nothing is being accomplished, then doing a half-assed, tired job at the last minute; or
2) sequestering yourself in a distraction-free zone for a few hours of the morning (or maybe even 8am-3pm if you somehow saved 7 hours of work for a single day) and sucking it up for that time period, and then having THE REST OF THE DAY FREE to actually enjoy yourself, engage in your hobbies, have dinner with friends, and rejuvenate.
I go with option 2 -- your study time will be more efficient and your free time will be far more fun!

 

[Poliscidoc]

I'M takeing Ochem right now over the summer and I read the chapters assigned and do the practice problems. But no real schedule since I work also I try and fit studying in were I can but it's been a lot of all nighters. Also I use the weekend to review and work ahead. But the thing I think has help the most is Organic Chemistry I as a secound language. That book is awesome!!!!!

 

[CapnCrunch]

Pretty good advice above albeit a little intense. Study groups should be a must, keep up with the material instead of learning all of it 2-3 days before the test, and ask questions or see the prof during office hours if possible.

Honestly, I think you're making a big mistake taking both the lab and the lecture. On average, a dedicated student having difficulty with ochem is studying about 8 hours a week during the semester (4 months * 4 weeks * 8 hours = 128 hours). Condense that into 4-5 weeks per semester and you will be studying around 25-32 hours per week! On top of that, you want to take lab, which will include another 12 hours per week (three 4 hour classes) which will require you to write a lab report every day in between?! You're going to be totaling around 12 hours of lecture, 12 hours of lab, and 40 hours of studying/writing labs! 64 hours a week for the next 2 1/2 months...

I would highly suggest only taking lecture if possible. All the above would be true for my university since lecture and lab are separate classes and your experiences with the difficulty of the course will obviously be highly dependent on your instructor.

Hopefully, if you choose to endeavor ochem in full, there will be a break in between summer school and the fall semester otherwise you might feel some burn out.

 

[ZaiNaJaNan786]

Where are you taking Ochem?

 

[orgohacks]

Aza, that was fantastic. I bookmarked it so I can give that advice to my own students.

 

[sc4s2cg]

@ZaiNaJaNan786: I'm taking Ochem at Kent State University in OH.

@Aza, that was a very well-thought out post, thank you for the numerous advice!

My lecture this summer for ochem is a class of 70, as of this morning now 58, and the lab is a class of 20. Lecture has a very independent feel to it, but in lab most of us are doing both courses over the summer and I'm sure some camaraderie can be created there. Unfortunately, the TA and his "boss" made it very clear that lab is an individual work, and we are not to be seen conversing with each other about the process. We do have some grace though, as there are only three lab reports per summer semester.

I hope you don't mind if I use this post as a "self-analyzation" tool! I am able to organize my thoughts better in writing, so I thought going point by point through your post would be best. 🙂

- Although our class is encouraged to be independent in lab, our (superb, amazing) lecture professor encourages group sessions. I have taken intro to ochem as a requirement of my nursing degree, so I think I may have an edge over the others in that and be able to provide some knowledge that way.

- It's great that you mentioned exercise. I used the three week period between spring and summer to start some kind of an exercise program as mentioned in the OP. I think getting a routine in will help in managing stress.

- For lecture material, our professor told me to read the entire chapter, instead of just the parts that are in the slides. For lab, we are expected to read chapters ahead of lab in preparation for daily quizzes and oral questioning.

- Unfortunately, we are expected to do both to excel in the class.

- Thankfully, we only have three lab reports due and homework is not graded. That definitely gives us some breather room.

- Thank you for the reassurement!

- Disconnecting the wireless is the big one, all my devices are wireless: ipod, laptop. The rest are all internet based: server, laptop, tv, ipod, zune, etc. Breaks are another thing I will have to work on. Usually when I take breaks they are 30-60 minutes long. To illustrate: yesterday I studied from 9am till 7pm before I collapsed in bed. I estimate around three hours of total break time. But, I did finish the entire ch 2 on alkanes, including slides!

- I've realized these two options as well, although never really put it in my brain. Reading them makes the choice much, much, much clearer.

As @CapnCrunch mentioned, the possibility of burnout is very much there. And that is what I fear the most. I took Gen Chem I and II with both lab at a regional campus (45 min drive. Ochem classes are at the main campus, 15 min drive) and achieved a B(lecture 1) AAA score. Come fall, I promptly failed my Nursing Interventions class. Granted, I did not have a morning/evening routine, I did not have a good study plan, I did cram most of the chem classes in, my Nursing professor was a horrible lecturer, and I did only have one week of break between GChem II and the fall semester. And the fall was also filled with Pharmacology, Genetics, and a slew of other courses.

On the other hand, I was burned out from chemistry since the beginning of fall, and barely passed pharm.

And that is what I am trying to prevent: a burnout. Because this summer will be a (tad, because of previous introchem) more difficult than last, and fall and spring semesters will be filled with two of the hardest nursing classes in the nursing program (Adults/Gero and Peds/OB) as well as Physics I and II with "Recitation" (I assume that's like lab, only we're quizzed orally?). MCAT is in the Spring of 2011, and the NCLEX is either in the Spring of 2012 or Winter of 2011.

But anyway, no more rants. Hopefully I can complete this summer using good morning, workout, running, study, evening routines. I'll keep ya'll posted. 😉

But just incase anyone has more to add/correct me on something, my routine:

6:00a - Wake and do leg stretches and straight leg raises for patellofemoral syndrome therapy.
7:00a MWF - Upper body workout.
TRSU - Shower, brekki
8:00a - Shower, brekki
8:20a - 2:00p MTR - Class
8:20a - 11:00p W - Class
7:00p - Stretch and straight leg raises
8:00p - Bed, read fun book/surf YT/FB/Twitter
9:00p - Sleep

Weekday:
4:00p - 7:00p Review material, read half chapter
Wednesday studying starts at 1:00pm, giving more time to catch up with anything I missed over the week.

Weekend (plus Friday):
9:00a - ?? Complete chapters, review material, look over flashcards, look over lab.

And that's my life till August 22nd. Any suggestions?