Organic Chemistry 1?

[Psycho Bob]

Hey everyone,

I am currently a sophomore and I'm taking Gen chem 2 this semester. Although I am set to receive an A in the course (if I can ace the final), I feel as if I didn't understand a single concept in gen chem 2. Our tests were curved an average of 20% and without these curves, I'd be getting a solid C. (Thank You Jesus).
Anyways, what concepts should I take away from gen chem 1 and 2 so that I can fully understand Orgo 1 and 2?
Should I restudy gen chem 1 and 2 during winter break just so I can have a good shot at doing well in orgo chem and if so, what methods should I be using?

Thanks in advance!

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[soadhead]

Hey everyone,

I am currently a sophomore and I'm taking Gen chem 2 this semester. Although I am set to receive an A in the course (if I can ace the final), I feel as if I didn't understand a single concept in gen chem 2. Our tests were curved an average of 20% and without these curves, I'd be getting a solid C. (Thank You Jesus).
Anyways, what concepts should I take away from gen chem 1 and 2 so that I can fully understand Orgo 1 and 2?
Should I restudy gen chem 1 and 2 during winter break just so I can have a good shot at doing well in orgo chem and if so, what methods should I be using?

Thanks in advance!

You don't really need to know any concepts from Gen Chem all that well to do well in Organic Chem. It's a whole other animal. You could review molecular orbitals, but even that isn't going to make or break you.

 

[Psycho Bob]

You don't really need to know any concepts from Gen Chem all that well to do well in Organic Chem. It's a whole other animal. You could review molecular orbitals, but even that isn't going to make or break you.

What about for the mcat? Would one winter break of studying gen chem be enough to understand most concepts so that when it comes time to studying for the mcat, I can understand the gen chem portion of the test?

 

[Lucca]

Acids and Bases. The wave equation. Periodic table trends. Electrochem. Henderson Hasselbach. Kinetics and thermodynamics principles.

These are things from gen Chem that come up again and again.

 

[Cotterpin]

Yeah, I would say that acids and bases and thermodynamics are most important.

@Lucca why the wave equation? 😕

 

[Lucca]

Yeah, I would say that acids and bases and thermodynamics are most important.

@Lucca why the wave equation? 😕

P-Chem (P-Chem 2 esp) if you are a chemistry major. Otherwise, the most likely scenario is that you wont see it again.

 

[Lawpy]

P-Chem (P-Chem 2 esp) if you are a chemistry major. Otherwise, the most likely scenario is that you wont see it again.

Don't remember using the wave equation in pchem. Unless you're talking about the Schrodinger equation and wave functions... but those weren't covered in gen chem iirc.

 

[soadhead]

What about for the mcat? Would one winter break of studying gen chem be enough to understand most concepts so that when it comes time to studying for the mcat, I can understand the gen chem portion of the test?

I feel like you should already understand the concepts from Gen Chem because you took Gen Chem, but if you don't feel confident about it, then you should do some extra studying. Whether one winter break is enough or not depends on many personal factors, so I don't know. And if it's the concepts themselves that you are having trouble with, then you might want to find somebody who will help you understand them better.

 

[Cotterpin]

P-Chem (P-Chem 2 esp) if you are a chemistry major. Otherwise, the most likely scenario is that you wont see it again.

But not in orgo. Which is what this thread is about. 😉

 

[Lucca]

Don't remember using the wave equation in pchem. Unless you're talking about the Schrodinger equation and wave functions... but those weren't covered in gen chem iirc.

They were superficially covered in our gen Chem one. The solution for one electron at least

 

[Lucca]

But not in orgo. Which is what this thread is about. 😉

Right 😛

 

[sacholiver]

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[7331poas]

My advice would be knowing Acid base chemistry very well before Organic. Also, know what reaction energy diagrams are and why they are important for understanding a reaction.

 

[Gandyy]

My advice would be knowing Acid base chemistry very well before Organic. Also, know what reaction energy diagrams are and why they are important for understanding a reaction.

Acid Base chemistry is the key to everything.

 

[AnotherLawyer]

Klein's Organic Chemistry as a Second Language and his text book are both excellent. If you want to get a head start, just get the second language book and start working through it.

 

[Cinclus]

Orgo is very different from gen chem. It is ancient history for me, but I remember orgo being much more visuospatial with tons of consideration for "what will bring this to its lowest potential energy?" Bam. Orgo. Pretty much all I remember from 2007, lol.

 

[7331poas]

Klein's Organic Chemistry as a Second Language and his text book are both excellent. If you want to get a head start, just get the second language book and start working through it.

I highly recommend Klein's TEXTBOOK. Not the 2nd language.

I usually find that premeds lose out on Organic when they attempt to use shortcuts provided to them in the 2nd language book. Organic requires complete knowledge of mechanisms and reactivity. Something that cannot be replicated by shortcut books.

I also recommend actually reading the textbook. Organic is one class where I read the textbook front to back (the Klein book coincidentally). As a result I made the top grade above all the retakers as well.