organic chemistry 1 blues

[lizlemonfan73]

Hi Everyone,

I have a question for you guys. I bombed my Organic Chemistry test today(lowest in the class), which lowered me to a C. At this point in the semester, I have C's in all of my classes(o-chem, entomology, genetics, forensic anthropology). This is my second time taking Organic Chemistry, the first time I withdrew and this time the best I can hope for a C. I'm not too confident at this point at the idea of taking Organic Chemistry 2. I'm leaning towards either trying Organic Chemistry 1 one more time or giving up on med school. Please be honest with me. If I struggle this much with Organic Chemistry 1 is my dream even realistic at this point?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[RogueBanana]

How good of a chemist you are has no bearing on how good of a doctor you will become.

Sounds like you need to look at your study methods / time management instead.

Will it be easy to recover from this? No.

Can it be done if medicine is your dream? I'd bet my peel you can.

 

[Coltuna]

Hi Everyone,

I have a question for you guys. I bombed my Organic Chemistry test today(lowest in the class), which lowered me to a C. At this point in the semester, I have C's in all of my classes(o-chem, entomology, genetics, forensic anthropology). This is my second time taking Organic Chemistry, the first time I withdrew and this time the best I can hope for a C. I'm not too confident at this point at the idea of taking Organic Chemistry 2. I'm leaning towards either trying Organic Chemistry 1 one more time or giving up on med school. Please be honest with me. If I struggle this much with Organic Chemistry 1 is my dream even realistic at this point?

My old Organic Chemistry teacher said his class saved lives because it detoured unmotivated students from pursuing medicine. The class has no choice but to be cumulative because each topic really does just build onto a framework, so maybe you're missing a fundamental concept? I would suggest talking to your instructor and asking what has worked for students in the past. My advice is do PRACTICE PROBLEMS.

 

[Saifa]

Like any case, you need to be drawing out your practice problems. A lot. And make sure you actually understand how and why electrons move. This may involve rebuilding your foundations on orbitals and bond geometry.

Organic chem I is like after a dozen discrete intermediates and transition states, extremely specific reaction conditions, and proper alignment of the moon and Jupiter, congratulations. You've added a hydroxyl group to your starting material. Now wait until you see how we add it to the TRANS side.

 

[RogueBanana]

Like any case, you need to be drawing out your practice problems. A lot. And make sure you actually understand how and why electrons move. This may involve rebuilding your foundations on orbitals and bond geometry.

Organic chem I is like after a dozen discrete intermediates and transition states, extremely specific reaction conditions, and proper alignment of the moon and Jupiter, congratulations. You've added a hydroxyl group to your starting material. Now wait until you see how we add it to the TRANS side.

Just wait until we start asking our good friend Cahn-Ingold about telling our right from our left

Nothing quite like having to take a 2D drawing and turn it into a 3d model in your mind-brain

 

[Saifa]

No joke I bought a moly-mod kit for this. It was actually pretty helpful.

 

[RogueBanana]

Did they let you pull it out during tests?

When I was an orgo tutor, I found the hardest aspect of orgo was being able to take 2d molecular structure and imagining it from different angles in their head. Some people just don't have the cognitive skill to be good at that particular problem. Most of them understood the prelog, they just couldn't imagine the darn molecule in space to determine stereochemistry.

 

[Saifa]

Did they let you pull it out during tests?

When I was an orgo tutor, I found the hardest aspect of orgo was being able to take 2d molecular structure and imagining it from different angles in their head. Some people just don't have the cognitive skill to be good at that particular problem. Most of them understood the prelog, they just couldn't imagine the darn molecule in space to determine stereochemistry.

At first, yeah. I was one of the few people that actually bought one and I couldn't believe how great it was for that. I've gotten pretty good at pointing the low priority group away in my head at this point.

 

[RogueBanana]

At first, yeah. I was one of the few people that actually bought one and I couldn't believe how great it was for that. I've gotten pretty good at pointing the low priority group away in my head at this point.

I can still hear my old prof screaming " THE HYDROGEN GOES INTO THE PAPER"

 

[Go_Pokes_11]

I got a D in organic I the first time and retook for a B. Went to tutoring for organic II and it came easier. I think the reason the first one was hard for me was my professor used ghost notes to teach. However, the same professor taught organic II completely off the chalk board and it came way easier writing it all out, made a high B. Genetics is tough at my university too a lot of people get C and D, luckily for me biochem can opt into animal genetics for the easy A. At this point I would take the C because you will be falling behind in your graduation schedule.

Advice for the class: It is so hard to catch up once you fall behind because it is so much material, so make sure to keep up. It is almost 100% memorization and knowing what each reagent does to the reactant each step is easier than memorizing 3 or more step reactions. The hardest mechanism you will have to draw is the robinson annulation and the synthesis problems are hit or miss, but always work using retro.

Edit: Professor was MIT grad, ex Harvard prof.

 

[mistafab]

I highly suggest you think hard right now about why you have C's in all your classes at this point in the semester.

You need to fix this overarching trend now. What do you think has you struggling in all your classes? I suspect that you are focusing on Ochem since it has been your bane, however it seems as if you are doing poorly across the board, meaning that it isn't necessarily Ochem that is the problem - rather it is a problem with study habits, time management, or another variable.

Care to reflect on this forum?

Hi Everyone,

I have a question for you guys. I bombed my Organic Chemistry test today(lowest in the class), which lowered me to a C. At this point in the semester, I have C's in all of my classes(o-chem, entomology, genetics, forensic anthropology). This is my second time taking Organic Chemistry, the first time I withdrew and this time the best I can hope for a C. I'm not too confident at this point at the idea of taking Organic Chemistry 2. I'm leaning towards either trying Organic Chemistry 1 one more time or giving up on med school. Please be honest with me. If I struggle this much with Organic Chemistry 1 is my dream even realistic at this point?

 

[idontwatchgreysanatomy]

It is almost 100% memorization

No it isn't. Maybe this is why you didn't do so well in ochem. Success comes from having a conceptual understanding of why reactions occur under certain conditions. If you try to memorize everything, you're going to have a bad time.

 

[RogueBanana]

No it isn't. Maybe this is why you didn't do so well in ochem. Success comes from having a conceptual understanding of why reactions occur under certain conditions. If you try to memorize everything, you're going to have a bad time.

This x100

Knowing WHY things worked was the reason I did well in Orgo. If you understand the concept behind the reaction, you won't be tripped out when they start putting functional groups on big scary carbon chains to freak you out.

if they tested you on just the reactions in the book exactly as they were written, orgo would be the easiest subject out there.

 

[pseud0]

Orgo is damn hard for almost every student, don't let it get to you. If you get a C in orgo, but have a high sgpa overall, you'll probably be fine.

Just push through it and memorize everything if you're struggling with the "language" aspect of it. You wont need to think about it ever again once the MCAT is over anyway.

 

[lizlemonfan73]

I highly suggest you think hard right now about why you have C's in all your classes at this point in the semester.

You need to fix this overarching trend now. What do you think has you struggling in all your classes? I suspect that you are focusing on Ochem since it has been your bane, however it seems as if you are doing poorly across the board, meaning that it isn't necessarily Ochem that is the problem - rather it is a problem with study habits, time management, or another variable.

Care to reflect on this forum?

Hi. I think it might be a combination of both time management and lack of understanding. For Organic Chemistry, this is frustrating because my first two tests were good 87% and 89% respectively. It was my test today(58% ) and two bad quizzes that brought me down. I have been doing practice problems, but I struggle with NMR and expoxide reactions.

 

[WhereMyLiberalsAt]

My professor taught NMR the first semester as well. We had to do a stupid bench NMR to confirm our results in lab..... Biggest waste of time ever! In my honest opinion genetics is super important so don't lose focus on that! So many labs use molecular genetics to answer their research questions. Its critical to know how to use these techniques so you can contribute to a future research team!

But to answer your question about orgo though.... I would not retake this semester. Hold onto your C for 3 more weeks, and review the key concepts over break. I would strongly suggest you purchase Organic Chemistry as a Second Language, and review it over break. Heck maybe get it to help you with your final. You need to get some laser focus for next semester though! You need to practice problem yourself to death!

I also wholeheartedly disagree about memorizing! Yes maybe finish the semester out by memorizing, but orgo is actually kinda easy once you really know why things are happening! You know which concepts take precedence, and you can work yourself out of problems.

 

[BombsAway]

Buy Klein's Ochem as a 2nd language. I haven't opened my school's textbook at all and got the highest grade in the class on each exam so far. Only the ACS final remaining, and the curve it, so my A is all but locked in.

I should add, I did all my prof's practice problems, but she made her own, not from the textbook. Anything not in the Klein book, or something i needed more help on, I got from leah4sci or Khan academy videos.

If you have one exam and a final left, you could cram the Klein book over a weekend and do well on the last exam. Then you could beg in office hours for your final to replace a poor grade (becasue its all cumulative anyway). Bring cupcakes. Could result in a B

Never forget A>b>>W>>>C>>>>>D. However multiple W's look shady. One W could be a weird prof. 2 Ws, maybe your dog died. 3 Ws...?

Anyway, good luck. Hopefully my advice works out, as its a right now fix rather than hoping for the best from people/things outside your control. take charge of your own life, and all that jazz.

 

[lizlemonfan73]

Buy Klein's Ochem as a 2nd language. I haven't opened my school's textbook at all and got the highest grade in the class on each exam so far. Only the ACS final remaining, and the curve it, so my A is all but locked in.

I should add, I did all my prof's practice problems, but she made her own, not from the textbook. Anything not in the Klein book, or something i needed more help on, I got from leah4sci or Khan academy videos.

If you have one exam and a final left, you could cram the Klein book over a weekend and do well on the last exam. Then you could beg in office hours for your final to replace a poor grade (becasue its all cumulative anyway). Bring cupcakes. Could result in a B

Never forget A>b>>W>>>C>>>>>D. However multiple W's look shady. One W could be a weird prof. 2 Ws, maybe your dog died. 3 Ws...?

Anyway, good luck. Hopefully my advice works out, as its a right now fix rather than hoping for the best from people/things outside your control. take charge of your own life, and all that jazz.

Thanks for the advice Unfortunately, there is only a 10 point quiz left in our class so I don't think anything could change my grade at this point. I actually did buy David Klein's Organic Chemistry as a Second Language and I think that's why my first two tests were good.