Organic Chemistry

[thedocsn]

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I am in my first semester of organic chemistry --- and drowning. 😱

Anyone have any helpful study tips for surviving organic, any resources you tapped into aside from text books and lectures (any other helpful texts, websites, videos, CD's, etc.). Anything that helped your understanding.

Or maybe you are drowning too -- please let me know Im not alone.

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[Street Philosopher]

go to your TA and to your professor and ask for help. then go home and do practice problems. form study groups. there is no shortcut.

 

[sunkizt]

I'm going through the exact same thing, you definitely aren't alone. I've found some online tutorials to be helpful, but doing practice problems over and over is usually what helps the most. What book are you using?
- Danielle

 

[petersongator]

Practice practice practice.

And use the Wade textbook if you or your library has it.

 

[geldrop]

Just read the book and make sure you UNDERSTAND everything and then the exams are easy. Worked for me. Do some practice problems also to verify you understand everything. Oh yeah read slowly. Do some practice problems at the back of the chapters. Worked for me, 2 As.

My problem was Biology where you have to just memorize rather than problem solve.

 

[UCLAstudent]

I loved organic. The key is to practice. Try to make a little time for it everyday and you'll be fine. What stuff is your class learning right now?

 

[oldtown]

What worked for me was i made a flash card for every single reaction we learned. mix it up- on the front i'd put 2 out of the 3 things involved (reactants, catalysts, products) and on the back i'd draw the entire reaction with the missing link, and write any special notes or intricacies about the reaction. then you shuffle the cards and just look through them every once in a while. great way to pound this stuff into your brain

 

[wazupshah]

The powerpoint slides on this website are the bomb! They are an entire course in and of themselves. I used these to ace the MCAT, I only wish I had known about them when I was taking Orgo in college. Good Luck.

http://web.uccs.edu/chemistry/organic_online/331index.htm

 

[r_salis]

Practice problems, flash cards, and a lot of time = success in organic.

 

[stillpremed]

word- its all about doing problems, problems
also, if the teachers have past tests available for sale/internet then itwould be in your best interest to practice those. teachers rarely deviate so much from those tests. although problems will change, it is somewhat unlikely that the format will change so much

 

[PhillyEaglesFan]

I also drowned in my first semester of organic. Doing just a little better in my 2nd semester.

Agree with the other posters saying do more problems. Does your instructor give out problem sets or just give problems from the book?

I use index cards too, but not flash-card type. I write the full mechanism on each one (if necessary) while I read the chapter/go over the notes. Kills four birds with one stone. You can't know the mechanism without knowing the reactants, products, and reagents too.

I got A's in general chem without trying but got a lovely C my first semester of organic while really trying! Hang in there--you're not the only one--and the second semester is easier!

 

[YaFwiendToluene]

I thought that the standard deviants vcr tapes (www.standarddeviants.org) were VERY VERY good for learning organic chemistry in a fun way. The retention rate is good. If you have the channel PBSONE, they show the organic chemistry series quite often(The Standard Deviant's School)...you can probably record them. Practice is also good...just don't get in the habit of "memorizing". Memorizing won't help you when you become stuck on an exam. Try to get a hold of the standard deviants tapes though.

 

[ShaylaFinn]

I resisted using flashcards in OChem because it reminded me of being a kiddie learning multiplication tables or something. I struggled through with C's both semesters. Studying for the MCAT many years later, I made some darn flashcards and it was like a lightbulb went on over my head. I learned the rxns and mechanisms and then could solve the problems (instead of fudging by just recopying the problem several times on the test and hoping for divine inspiration like I did in undergrad). I even made flashcards to memorize the spectroscopy peaks for major functional groups.

Good thing, too. One of my MCAT passages had a GIANT flow chart of orgo rxns with missing intermediates and end products and I had several indy, "discrete" questions about IR spec. Yuck.

 

[An Yong]

Make a reaction notebook, I was really happy I made one when it was time to take the finals. Also, it became my life-line in organic chem II when the number of reactions/mechanisms you have to know skyrocket.

Suggested format:

1 page per reaction

Make a preview, mechanism, notes section on the paper.

Preview is just: reactant(s) + catalyst(s) ---> product(s)

Mechanism is just that, a mechanism =)

Notes, anything special about the reaction that you might need to know.

If you make one of these everytime you encounter a new reaction, it becomes a really effective study tool.

L8ter!

 

[CD]

I agree with all the other posters! Practice is the key. In addition, I kept a page that listed only reactions and products. Each time I encountered a new reaction, I added it to the list. Then as I worked a problem I could look up the "tools" I needed (If I forgot) to get to the end. This really helped me because sometimes I would know (for example) that I needed a brominated alkane to synthesis my product, but what I was given was an alcohol. Since this wasn't a reaction I used very often looking on my "tool" table would "refresh" me that PBr3 was the appropriate "tool" to convert my alcohol to a brominated alkane. I didn't have to spend valuable time looking stuff up. This worked ONCE I understood the mechanisms and had a working knowlege of what worked.

 

[Asclepius]

I made flashcards as well, but only of basic information - fundamental reaction types/mechanism, important reagents, etc...the flashcards were 1/4 an index card and so simple they could be reviewed at a glance. You've got to memorize these "tools."

Everything else is application...as you get into it you'll realize that orgo is very repetitive. As EVERYONE else has said - practice problems...try to apply these tools in as many different conditions, reactions as possible...make problems up if you need to... I thought Orgo was almost like taking a language...the more exposure you gain, the more new material begins to make sense.

 

[lattimer13]

READ THE BOOK! this is the only class in college that i actually read the entire book. i missed lots of class and just got all the material i needed out of the book.

use flashcards too, to memorize reactions. use a whiteboard to write and rewrite reactions until you know them cold. like lots of other people said, it's all about practice, practice, practice. probably the most time-consuming class you will take in undergrad.

 

[maiko82]

I've found that it helps to form lists of general reactions (substitution, elimination, etc) and add the reactions you learn to the lists as you go along. Also, those Barron's Orgo cards have been very helpful (maybe too specific for the MCAT, but very good for the classes). Good luck!

 

[thedocsn]

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions and helpful ideas!
I will institute them and see how things work out for me. It seems like the two key things are to do practice problems and compile all the reaction mechanisms in a central place for reference.

We are using the Oraganic book by Solomons and Fryhle (its orange, 7th edition)

We generally have the basic organic outline. Right now we are on NMR & Mass Spect. which is pretty simple.

Thanks again for the suggestions -- I'll let you all know how I do in the class.

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