Organic Chemistry

[Tea Leaf]

Hi guys!

So I need some advice.

I am signing up for classes- late, because I had a financial hold on my account that I just cleared, and am having trouble getting in to Organic Chemistry.

There are 3 slots with different professors:
8:15 AM - 9:10 AM with Professor M on MWF: FULL
4:15 PM- 5:35 PM with Professor J on MW: FULL
8:15 AM- 9:10 AM with Professor W on MWF

I am someone who struggles with chemistry, in the sense that I need to spend a lot of time to understand it, and a lot of time doing practice problems, and more time practicing them so I don't spend 5 minutes per question.

So here's the deal. The best orgo professor is said to be Professor M. She is apparently amazing, and people say that she is the best professor at the university, and that her classes "wake you up in the morning" because she makes the content so interesting and explains it well. She gives you iclicker points for attendance and participation. The thing is, her class is full, so I would have to email her for a permission number that would let me sign up for the class.
CONS: This class is very early, and would be difficult to attend as a commuter. I had an 8:45 AM class once and it was a disaster.

Professor J is said to be a very average professor who lectures regularly. He is older, and is said to be very old-fashioned. His exams are 50% textbook questions. His class is also full, so I would have to email him for a permission number.
CONS: I hope that the class isn't boring or he isn't too disinterested in his students, because that would let me convince myself that I don't need to go to class. Also, this class meets twice a week, so I'm worried that I'll forget about orgo and prioritize other things throughout the week.

Professor W is apparently the worst professor that students have ever had. I have friends who took orgo with him who told me that if I have to take orgo with him, it would be better to not take it at all and wait until next semester. He reads off the power point during class and is not helpful at office hours. He also is difficult to understand. His tests are 15 questions each that are apparently extremely difficult, and you cant study textbook questions for them. His class is the only one with vacancies. This class is also at 8:15 AM.
CONS: Everything.

I would appreciate if you could give me your 2 cents about which class I should try to sign up for! Also, if you have any advice about how to study for orgo I would really appreciate it! Thank you so much!

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[Milotic]

Hi guys!

So I need some advice.

I am signing up for classes- late, because I had a financial hold on my account that I just cleared, and am having trouble getting in to Organic Chemistry.

There are 3 slots with different professors:
8:15 AM - 9:10 AM with Professor M on MWF: FULL
4:15 PM- 5:35 PM with Professor J on MW: FULL
8:15 AM- 9:10 AM with Professor W on MWF

I am someone who struggles with chemistry, in the sense that I need to spend a lot of time to understand it, and a lot of time doing practice problems, and more time practicing them so I don't spend 5 minutes per question.

So here's the deal. The best orgo professor is said to be Professor M. She is apparently amazing, and people say that she is the best professor at the university, and that her classes "wake you up in the morning" because she makes the content so interesting and explains it well. She gives you iclicker points for attendance and participation. The thing is, her class is full, so I would have to email her for a permission number that would let me sign up for the class.
CONS: This class is very early, and would be difficult to attend as a commuter. I had an 8:45 AM class once and it was a disaster.

Professor J is said to be a very average professor who lectures regularly. He is older, and is said to be very old-fashioned. His exams are 50% textbook questions. His class is also full, so I would have to email him for a permission number.
CONS: I hope that the class isn't boring or he isn't too disinterested in his students, because that would let me convince myself that I don't need to go to class. Also, this class meets twice a week, so I'm worried that I'll forget about orgo and prioritize other things throughout the week.

Professor W is apparently the worst professor that students have ever had. I have friends who took orgo with him who told me that if I have to take orgo with him, it would be better to not take it at all and wait until next semester. He reads off the power point during class and is not helpful at office hours. He also is difficult to understand. His tests are 15 questions each that are apparently extremely difficult, and you cant study textbook questions for them. His class is the only one with vacancies. This class is also at 8:15 AM.
CONS: Everything.

I would appreciate if you could give me your 2 cents about which class I should try to sign up for! Also, if you have any advice about how to study for orgo I would really appreciate it! Thank you so much!

As a second year medical student, my advice is take the one you're most likely to get an A in. It doesn't really matter who teaches you better. If morning lectures are a disaster for you, don't let that be the reason you fly out with a B- from full efforts. The orgo on the MCAT is a joke and there has barely been any orgo in medical school, at least for the first two years.

 

[Technology]

You should see if either Professor M or Professor J's class is available this semester and if not you should delay taking organic chemistry to next semester because Professor W sounds awful! There is no reason for you to take a difficult class and receive a worse grade than you would have received with a better professor, unless you MUST take the class this semester.

P.S. I love bubble tea ! Good luck!

 

[MDurgs]

What worked for me:
Pay attention during class (don't chat with friends)
Take good/clean notes so you don't have to waste time making a study guide later
Type out summaries for the chapters in the book (important stuff only)
Do all assigned problems from the book, put a star by the ones you miss and revisit before exam
Make flash cards for reactions, reagents, mechanisms
Google "Towson ochem" for tons of great practice problems (I attribute my success to these)
Ochem is all about doing practice problems

Super helpful = buy ACS ochem study book and use each chapter for practice throughout the semester
By the time your final comes around, you have all the questions answered already
Even if your final isn't the ACS exam, its good practice

 

[Tea Leaf]

You should see if either Professor M or Professor J's class is available this semester and if not you should delay taking organic chemistry to next semester because Professor W sounds awful! There is no reason for you to take a difficult class and receive a worse grade than you would have received with a better professor, unless you MUST take the class this semester.

P.S. I love bubble tea ! Good luck!

Thank you! Bubble tea is great

 

[Cookiess]

Pick the OChem class/professor that you think you'll do the best in. Based on what you wrote, I would avoid Professor W even if it means waiting until the next semester to take OChem. Professor M sounds great, but the commuting issue might be a problem for you. If you think you can accommodate the early class, I would try reaching out to Professor M. If you think the 8AM commute is going to be tough to manage over the entire course of a semester, I would reach out to Professor J instead.

 

[Brawndo2016]

Hi guys!

So I need some advice.

I am signing up for classes- late, because I had a financial hold on my account that I just cleared, and am having trouble getting in to Organic Chemistry.

There are 3 slots with different professors:
8:15 AM - 9:10 AM with Professor M on MWF: FULL
4:15 PM- 5:35 PM with Professor J on MW: FULL
8:15 AM- 9:10 AM with Professor W on MWF

I am someone who struggles with chemistry, in the sense that I need to spend a lot of time to understand it, and a lot of time doing practice problems, and more time practicing them so I don't spend 5 minutes per question.

So here's the deal. The best orgo professor is said to be Professor M. She is apparently amazing, and people say that she is the best professor at the university, and that her classes "wake you up in the morning" because she makes the content so interesting and explains it well. She gives you iclicker points for attendance and participation. The thing is, her class is full, so I would have to email her for a permission number that would let me sign up for the class.
CONS: This class is very early, and would be difficult to attend as a commuter. I had an 8:45 AM class once and it was a disaster.

Professor J is said to be a very average professor who lectures regularly. He is older, and is said to be very old-fashioned. His exams are 50% textbook questions. His class is also full, so I would have to email him for a permission number.
CONS: I hope that the class isn't boring or he isn't too disinterested in his students, because that would let me convince myself that I don't need to go to class. Also, this class meets twice a week, so I'm worried that I'll forget about orgo and prioritize other things throughout the week.

Professor W is apparently the worst professor that students have ever had. I have friends who took orgo with him who told me that if I have to take orgo with him, it would be better to not take it at all and wait until next semester. He reads off the power point during class and is not helpful at office hours. He also is difficult to understand. His tests are 15 questions each that are apparently extremely difficult, and you cant study textbook questions for them. His class is the only one with vacancies. This class is also at 8:15 AM.
CONS: Everything.

I would appreciate if you could give me your 2 cents about which class I should try to sign up for! Also, if you have any advice about how to study for orgo I would really appreciate it! Thank you so much!

Do you have Klein's ochem as a second language?

 

[exacto]

If it were me, I'd choose the second one for a couple of reasons. 1. it only meets two times a week, 2. his tests are 50% from the book and 3. its not a morning class...i hate morning classes and having O-chem would be the worst one. I had an O-chem lab in the morning, do not do it.

 

[Tea Leaf]

Do you have Klein's ochem as a second language?

No, I just looked it up and it is $46 on amazon, is it worth the money?

If it were me, I'd choose the second one for a couple of reasons. 1. it only meets two times a week, 2. his tests are 50% from the book and 3. its not a morning class...i hate morning classes and having O-chem would be the worst one. I had an O-chem lab in the morning, do not do it.

You're right, the morning class will be very difficult to manage throughout the semester. I could barely make my 9:20 AM class this semester.

 

[Tea Leaf]

I also wanted to ask you guys how much time you dedicated studying orgo each day, and how much time you spent per week? I feel like I try to spread out my studying to each day, but I drop it once there is an upcoming test in any of my classes. I honestly have no clue how to make sustainable and consistent study schedules and habits, or how to study "effectively".

 

[javajunkie19]

I don't know how your chemistry department works, but ours every organic chemistry student took the same test. If that's your case you can just go to the teacher you like, if not I would wait it out, sometimes people will drop that first week because they realize they are taking too many classes etc. I really enjoyed Organic and I only studied the week before the test would just read the chapters and made outlines then did a lot of practice problems. It really isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be.

 

[JustAPhD]

I also wanted to ask you guys how much time you dedicated studying orgo each day, and how much time you spent per week? I feel like I try to spread out my studying to each day, but I drop it once there is an upcoming test in any of my classes. I honestly have no clue how to make sustainable and consistent study schedules and habits, or how to study "effectively".

It's been a little while but maybe one hour/day for Orgo, sometimes not even that. If I had an exam in Orgo within the next 10 days or so I would study about an hour each day for days 7-10 and then bump it up to 2 hours 7-4 and then about 4 hours 4-1. The hours varied a good deal because I learn the best through teaching others, so it kind of depended on how well they were grasping the info.

Worked well for me, but everyone is different. You'll need to find a system that works for you.

 

[7331poas]

Get Klein's white textbook with the vials on the front. It's the best textbook out there.

 

[Brawndo2016]

No, I just looked it up and it is $46 on amazon, is it worth the money?




You're right, the morning class will be very difficult to manage throughout the semester. I could barely make my 9:20 AM class this semester.

I can do you much better. I finish ochem II tomorrow morning. I don't know how PM works but send me your address and I'll send you both of my Klein second language books. I only ask that you cover shipping. I'll put a self addressed envelope with them to facilitate this. Why free? We're all in this together, aren't we?