How to study for Organic Chemistry

Started by dmbgg
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dmbgg

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This is a question specifically for people who have already taken Organic 1.

I am transferring to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in the fall. I am taking Organic Chemistry 1, and I am kind of nervous. I have already ordered my books and has a question.

Is there a specific way I should try to kind of study over the Organic stuff over the summer before the fall semester begins?

I guess I don't want to get there and feel less educated than the other people in my classes. I took Gen Chem 1 and 2 at a local community college, and while I did well in those classes, I am not completely sure that I remember everything that I want to for Organic 1.

So I guess I am just kind of wondering if there are some tips you could give for some self studying for Organic 1.
 
dmbgg said:
This is a question specifically for people who have already taken Organic 1.

I am transferring to the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) in the fall. I am taking Organic Chemistry 1, and I am kind of nervous. I have already ordered my books and has a question.

Is there a specific way I should try to kind of study over the Organic stuff over the summer before the fall semester begins?

I guess I don't want to get there and feel less educated than the other people in my classes. I took Gen Chem 1 and 2 at a local community college, and while I did well in those classes, I am not completely sure that I remember everything that I want to for Organic 1.

So I guess I am just kind of wondering if there are some tips you could give for some self studying for Organic 1.
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I would review key concept from General Chem, not the calculations, but lone pairs, definitions of acids and bases, molecular geometry, then start reading your organic chemistry textbook. If you have a good understanding of the concepts of General Chem, it should make organic chemistry make sense earlier on. You will have to put a lot of time into OChem in the Fall, so if you feel like you want to get an overview now, more power to you! Good luck!
 
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CardinalGirl210 said:
I would review key concept from General Chem, not the calculations, but lone pairs, definitions of acids and bases, molecular geometry, then start reading your organic chemistry textbook. If you have a good understanding of the concepts of General Chem, it should make organic chemistry make sense earlier on. You will have to put a lot of time into OChem in the Fall, so if you feel like you want to get an overview now, more power to you! Good luck!
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Definitely agree with CardinalGirl's comments regarding acids and bases. Lewis Acids and Lewis Bases, i.e. pushing electrons is one of the tenants of organic chemistry. Refreshing yourself with the basic understandings of pKa's, functional groups, electronegativity (polarity, dipoles), hybridization and resonance structures will put you in good shape.

Parts of the book that RxforSuccess mentioned can be viewed online at http://books.google.com/books?id=vpFKDBFlxDsC&lpg=PP1&pg=PR7#v=onepage&q&f=false. I think that it is a helpful book to give you some background, although to really apply the concepts, it wouldn't hurt to work some problems out of your text book.

If you REALLY wanted to get ahead, I'd learn how to name compounds (alkanes, alkenes, alkyl halids, alcohols) since that's something that always causes problems for Organic 1 students. If you're especially ambitious, you could look at reaction mechanisms although IMO, it's going to be pretty tough to understand them out of the textbook. (However, your chemistry professor may not be much better at explaining them ...)
 
I probably have to agree with what everyone has said so far. Pushing electrons is definitely something you would want to brush up on though.

I'm sure you'll be fine. Ochem 2 is when the the material starts to get tough. Good luck!
 
So, I'm a third year, taking my last quarter of organic chemistry. I got a B for my first quarter, and a C for my second (my first C in a while, so it was jarring...). In this current quarter, my score for the two midterms have been around the class average (class isn't curved). So, my question is simple... what is the best method to use when studying for organic chemistry? I have done stuff like redoing homework, making flashcards, etc... am I missing some hidden secret? Thanks.
 
hye345 said:
So, I'm a third year, taking my last quarter of organic chemistry. I got a B for my first quarter, and a C for my second (my first C in a while, so it was jarring...). In this current quarter, my score for the two midterms have been around the class average (class isn't curved). So, my question is simple... what is the best method to use when studying for organic chemistry? I have done stuff like redoing homework, making flashcards, etc... am I missing some hidden secret? Thanks.
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Have you figured out your weakness(es) yet? If you know them and ask people about how you can improve on those areas, I'm sure they can give you specific advice.
 
My key thing was exposure to the material. I studied an hour everyday, 4 days out of the week, to make sure the material was fresh in my head. When crunch time came before an exam, I was not overwhelmed by material that I hadn't gone over yet.

Another good thing to do is to list all your rxns on a piece of paper and organize them according to some similarity they share. I wish I could recall what I did but I forgot all my orgo 🙁
 
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This is one class you want to read the chapter before class, so you get exposure to it twice. Also, Organic Chemistry is a subject you want to review on a daily basis. It is definitely not something you can cram for.
 
docss26 said:
This is one class you want to read the chapter before class, so you get exposure to it twice. Also, Organic Chemistry is a subject you want to review on a daily basis. It is definitely not something you can cram for.
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offtopic but: I saw from your earlier posts that you were a UIC student. Me too! Did you happen to have Miranda for Orgo? I had him, for both 1 and 2 😛
 
It kind of depends on how your course is taught, but for me, it was practice practice practice. Redo class examples and do unassigned mechanisms, and make sure you're looking for the similarities between the different mechanisms! There's a lot of repetition if you're looking 🙂
 
hye345 said:
So, I'm a third year, taking my last quarter of organic chemistry. I got a B for my first quarter, and a C for my second (my first C in a while, so it was jarring...). In this current quarter, my score for the two midterms have been around the class average (class isn't curved). So, my question is simple... what is the best method to use when studying for organic chemistry? I have done stuff like redoing homework, making flashcards, etc... am I missing some hidden secret? Thanks.
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I'm assuming you're a ucsc student. Are you in the ace program by any chance?

For o-chem, definitely repetition all the way. Write out the mechanisms as many times as it takes to make them stick. Do as many practice problems as you can.
 
Things you must know:
1) Carbon forms four bonds.
2) Negative attacks positive.
3) De-localized electrons == stability.
4) Weak conjugate base constitutes strong acid and vice- versa.
That's it. You're done! : )
 
kinipela35 said:
I'm assuming you're a ucsc student. Are you in the ace program by any chance?

For o-chem, definitely repetition all the way. Write out the mechanisms as many times as it takes to make them stick. Do as many practice problems as you can.
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Yeah, the 'Santa Cruz' location probably gave that away 🙂

And no, I'm not in the ace program.

If my performance on the midterms/finals are any indication, my primary problems seems to be the following:

  1. deciphering complex NMR graphs.
  2. synthesis of complex molecules from simple starting materials.
  3. To a certain extent, careless errors bought on by either nervousness or overconfidence.
 
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hye345 said:
Yeah, the 'Santa Cruz' location probably gave that away 🙂

And no, I'm not in the ace program.

If my performance on the midterms/finals are any indication, my primary problems seems to be the following:

  1. deciphering complex NMR graphs.
  2. synthesis of complex molecules from simple starting materials.
  3. To a certain extent, careless errors bought on by either nervousness or overconfidence.
Click to expand...

yeah 🙂 ... I went to ucsc also so that stood out

ACE was awesome for o-chem. You should stop by Baskin and talk to Nancy and see if she will give you some extra practice problems. The repetition and tons of practice problems are what got me really good at nmr. She also has a plethora of synthesis practice problems.

For synthesis, everyone is different. I say pay attention to functional groups and bond changes. Sometimes, it even helps to try and work backwards. Repetition on the various mechanisms will help.

As for careless errors, always go back and check your work on the exams, if you have time. I always tried to give myself at least 10 minutes to go back and check my answers on those exams to make sure I didn't miss things.
 
docss26 said:
This is one class you want to read the chapter before class, so you get exposure to it twice. Also, Organic Chemistry is a subject you want to review on a daily basis. It is definitely not something you can cram for.
Click to expand...


Definitely agree...Organic chemistry surely requires everyday studying
 
CardinalGirl210 said:
I would review key concept from General Chem, not the calculations, but lone pairs, definitions of acids and bases, molecular geometry, then start reading your organic chemistry textbook. If you have a good understanding of the concepts of General Chem, it should make organic chemistry make sense earlier on. You will have to put a lot of time into OChem in the Fall, so if you feel like you want to get an overview now, more power to you! Good luck!
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He just listed almost everything you need from Gen Chem for Organic Chem. Throw in a decent understand of lewis dot structures and formal charges and you're pretty much set.
Get your textbook, and start cracking. I found my organic chem textbook to be very very good. I relied on it for ~70% of my studying. We have Organic chemistry by Wade
 
hye345 said:
So, I'm a third year, taking my last quarter of organic chemistry. I got a B for my first quarter, and a C for my second (my first C in a while, so it was jarring...). In this current quarter, my score for the two midterms have been around the class average (class isn't curved). So, my question is simple... what is the best method to use when studying for organic chemistry? I have done stuff like redoing homework, making flashcards, etc... am I missing some hidden secret? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Study the trends: http://is.gd/cagC1 It really helps when it comes to multiple choice exams like the MCAT, ACS exam, and your professor's exams (multiple choice are much less work to grade)
Also - look for repetition in the mechanistic steps: there are really only 10-15 different types of reaction, and there is a lot of repetition.
Separate the things you need to memorize (nomenclature mostly) from the concepts you need to understand. The memorization stuff is a gimme. You should *own* that stuff. Concepts take longer to grasp.
Do problems mindfully: ask - "what is the key concept that is being highlighted by this problem?". Every problem serves a purpose for the instructor - to see how well you understand the concepts. Figure out what that little nugget is.
 
hye345 said:
Yeah, the 'Santa Cruz' location probably gave that away 🙂

And no, I'm not in the ace program.

If my performance on the midterms/finals are any indication, my primary problems seems to be the following:

  1. deciphering complex NMR graphs.
  2. synthesis of complex molecules from simple starting materials.
  3. To a certain extent, careless errors bought on by either nervousness or overconfidence.
Click to expand...

I HIGHLY recommend doing retrosynthesis for these. Work backwards from the final product. If you get good at this, when it comes to exam time, even if you get the first step and then work backwards to get the last couple of steps, you can get partial credit even if you miss a step or two between. Besides, seeing the first and last couple of steps helps you to piece it together. Retrosynthesis all the way! 👍 It saved me.
 
rxlea said:
I HIGHLY recommend doing retrosynthesis for these. Work backwards from the final product. If you get good at this, when it comes to exam time, even if you get the first step and then work backwards to get the last couple of steps, you can get partial credit even if you miss a step or two between. Besides, seeing the first and last couple of steps helps you to piece it together. Retrosynthesis all the way! 👍 It saved me.
Click to expand...

When I took ochem2 we our instructor recommended this for us also. We were even allowed to answer synth q's on exams backwards (just using back arrows).
 
If my performance on the midterms/finals are any indication, my primary problems seems to be the following:

  1. deciphering complex NMR graphs.
  2. synthesis of complex molecules from simple starting materials.
  3. To a certain extent, careless errors bought on by either nervousness or overconfidence.
[/QUOTE]

"Complex" NMR (2d, COSY, HQSC, complex multiplets, coupling constants, long range coupling, non-equivalent hydrogens on the same carbon, etc.) are normally considered beyond the scope of a 2 semester (or 3 quarter) organic chemistry course. If you take the ACS organic chemistry final you shouldn't see any of these things - just relatively straightforward C13 and proton NMR's. Where I go to school we didn't learn these things til an advanced lab that required ochem2 as a prereq. - only chem majors (and biochem/molecular bio majors) normally learn these things in undergrad where I go.

2 - see Lea's post and my previous one that quote's her.

3 - well, that's pretty much all on you...
 
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