organic chem

[futuremd11]

hi everyone,
i am new to this site, and I need a lot of advice.
I am taking the first semester of Organic chemistry. I just took my first exam. i studied as much as I could, day and night. and I still got a D on my exam. i feel so discouraged right now and I don't know what to do. I really wanted an A in that course, now I don't even know if I will pass. If I get a C in o.chem does that mean my chances at med school should be forgotten. please give me advice, i feel so discouraged and ready to give up.

what sucks is that I studied really hard for that exam and still bombed it. thanks everyone.

 

[drumming207]

It would be to your benefit to get a C or better in O Chem-- but don't worry about it. I know many people who have gotten C's in classes like O Chem and Biochem and they have been accepted to medical school. Don't let one class discourage you-- there is a possibility that your teacher may not be the best. Organic chem is hard and it takes work, so don't let one test overshadow your goal of being a physician. The worst that could happen would be that you would have to take it over-- it may take you longer to get out of school, but it is not the end of the world. Your passion for medicine will make any class possible... (at least that's what I told myself and it helped me greatly)

Drumming

 

[Raptor]

Don't worry its just the first test, how many more test do you have? I just got back my organic chemistry test back today and I got a C. However, the professor drops your lowest test score, so if its like that at your school then everything will be alright. Sometimes studying hard doesn't equate into good grades. In addition, I think that I received that C because I just freaked out on it. I mean I knew my stuff and when I got the test, my mind just totally blanked out on me. Sad thing is that the professor felt confident about my skills because I done her practice test which was way harder then the real test and I done better on her practice test then on her real. So as long that you have the concepts down pack, don't worry and start preparing for the next test. Best of luck.
Read my signature its inspiring

 

[drumming207]

Great quote Raptor

 

[Joe Joe on da Radio]

make sure you understand the concepts now. you don't want to get C's through your entire O-Chem sequence, which will definitely raise a red flag when you apply to med school. make flashcards, try to visualize reactions/syntheses in your mind in order to really learn what's going on 3-D, get tutoring help, etc. g'luck.

 

[SMW]

Welcome to SDN, futuremd11.

It's natural to feel discouraged, but just figure out what went wrong -- were you nervous? didn't really understand the concepts despite all that studying? didn't study properly, i.e. do enough problems to test yourself?. Maybe studying with a friend or study group would help. Also, how about getting help from the professor during his/her office hours? And a couple of C's won't keep you out of med school, but naturally it'd be better not to get them.
Best of luck to you!

 

[futuremd11]

Hi again everyone!! thank you so much for you input. It really made me feel a million times better. You guys are so great. After I saw my score I felt like jumping off a bridge, but when I read your replys it motivated me and helped me pick myself back up. Wish me luck everyone. Good luck to you guys also.

Is there any UCLA undergrads here? I wanted to ask a specific ucla question.

Thanks again everyone! You guys are awesome

 

[CD]

organic isn't something that you can pick up in a night. It takes hours of work EVERYDAY to fully master it. It's like a big puzzle. All the pieces are in front of you, you can memorize the pieces, but unless you LEARN HOW to fit them together it isn't going to work. The only way to begin to "see" how the pieces fit together is to work many, many, many problems. Do as many as you can find time for. Just like in a jigsaw puzzle, the more "puzzles" you do, the easier it becomes to see how the pieces fit.

Make sure you don't fall behind. Starting out with a D puts you at a disadvantage because organic more than any other class I've taken builds upon itself. You NEED those initial concepts to work the coming problems. Go back and learn where you went wrong, it will help in the long run. Pretty soon you'll move into spectroscopy which will give you a breather to learn the previously missed concepts. In addition, if you don't approach a problem the same way the book does, go see your prof. and see if your approach would work. Sometimes there is more than one way to "solve" the puzzle.

I wouldn't get discouraged yet. Some people are better "memory" people and some are better "process" people. I fall into the later. For that reason I found first term to be a challenge (hated enantiomers etc. and still can't keep them strait) while second and third terms were easier. Be careful though. As tempting as it may be to strictly memorize reactions, DON'T DO IT. by the end there will be so many that it will be impossible to keep them strait. Instead understand WHY a reaction takes place. If you understand the why's then you can "predict" what the product will be even if you don't remember the reaction.

Good luck!

 

[SMW]

bump

 

[Raptor]

sorry, but what does the acronym BUMP means

 

[Raptor]

Originally posted by immediatespring
bring up my post

its just putting the thread on the first page for people to see and post.

oh thanks now i understand

 

[UCLAstudent]

Originally posted by futuremd11
Is there any UCLA undergrads here? I wanted to ask a specific ucla question.

That would be me. I'm a sophomore at UCLA and I've taken some O-Chem, so ask away!

 

[kidsmd]

I went to UCLA too, just graduated......

 

[kidsmd]

oh by the way, I wouldn't feel too discouraged about ochem.. i had the most horrible professor when I took it; hated his guts... made the whole class feel like crap.. I ended up dropping the class and taking it again with Luceigh who I thought was sooooo much better and much more passionate. And to top it off, I ended up tutoring organic chem at covel...... who would have known?

 

[exigente chica]

THe class doesn't seem that bad right now. I got A's on my qizzes!!! THe techer is good. Nice lecture and handouts...lab is cool too..except setting all of that stuff up

 

[PrincessCKNY]

I won't repeat what everyone else said, but it is all basically true.

I know I keep saying this about every subject, but it's all PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. Keep your molecular model kit close by your side too. Your chances in med school are not down the tubes because of a glitch or two in your transcript. You are human and are allowed to make mistakes. I got a B- (would've gotten a C, but pulled an all-nighter for final) the first quarter of O.Chem, but got A's for the last two quarters.

Almost everyone flounders in their first quarter of O.Chem. It is the first class you will encounter as an undergrad that is totally new and has its own "language." It's OK if your grades aren't stellar the first quarter, but just make sure that they improve thereafter.

Good luck. PM me if you want to know how I studied and/or took notes.

 

[Tweetie_bird]

Try and check out Solomon's Organic Chemistry book. IT's purple, colorful and very easy to read. I did alright in Orgo and I really owe it to how well the book was written, and the solutions manual.

Hint: For orgo, you HAVE to do all the problems in the back of each chapter and go over the solutions manual. check every answer. Learn how THEY do it right. Even if you got the right answer, you should learn to see how they did it. Mark the ones you got wrong and try and see why you got them wrong. Check back in two weeks to see if you can solve all those "marked" problems that you had missed earlier. Guage your progress. Every time you do a review, mark more problems that you can't get right. Learn again from the manual . See where the glitch is. I am promising you, Orgo is NOT that hard if you have a very organized and frequent review to refresh your memory.

Also, make sure you keep tedious notes in Orgo. The first quarter is probably the best at building a good foundation for what you are going to encounter later on. So don't give up now, or it's only going to get harder.

And go pick up that Solomon's book.

Oh, one more thing--
I decided not to buy or even look at a molecular bonding kit when I was taking Orgo. Why? because they wouldn't allow it in our exams and they sure as hell don't allow it for the MCAT. I figured that I have to learn how to manipulate organic molecules in my mine...sorta like imagining a 3D molecule instead of using a kit. I know a lot of people who got hung up on that kit and were so dependent on it, that they couldn't perform on the test without it. Again, imagining 3D molecules in your mind IS going to be hard. But you do it a couple of hundred times, and I know it will work.