Organic help - how did you study?

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mariposas905

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Is there any good website you guys recommend for quick learning of the organic chemistry reactions and material in general for the MCAT. I know my basics (NMR/IR, SN1, SN2, stereochemistry stuff) pretty well. But I am so confused on what to do for the reactions. I despise organic and I never really learned it well in college. There are so many reactions, so I'm wondering how to best utilize my time in studying for this subject.

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Although I have not taken the MCAT yet, I can provide some general advice for orgo (sorry if it isn't what you're looking for):


Since you know the basics, don't try to completely memorize too much more in terms of reaction patterns (well, I guess you have to memorize some common reagents). A good pair of books to learn a decent overview of Orgo 1 and 2 is Klein's Second Language books. Klein's Organic Chemistry textbook is also a good source (you may be pressed for time though). These books honestly provide great practice problems and intuition. They're also student friendly. In terms of MCAT passages, my friend said that the TBR helped him demolish any chem problems that he got on the MCAT. He got a 518 overall; the books are a little lengthy though. UC Irvine also has a great Youtube Series of Organic Chem courses that can be done fairly quickly if you're dedicated. So does Leah Fisch. MasterOrganicChemistry is a website with great intuitive insights, as well.

For reactions, do problems, more problems, and even more problems on top of that! Organic is literally another language. Practice "speaking" the language. Do not go to the solutions until you completely finish the problem or have been stuck on the problem for a long time. This is a way to deceive yourself in terms of how much you're actually learning. If you do as many problems as you can, you essentially engrave the products of a reaction in your head. You'll be able to do the arrow-pushing in your head because you will be that proficient in the language. I'd say that this is the most important thing you can do right now. If you want, I can also provide you a problem of the day for orgo to help you with the transition.


The beauty of electrons is that there a lot of models that predict how they behave. The way that organic chem is built is by connecting patterns to any mechanism that you can see. For instance, a 1,4 addition is completely rooted in the concept of conjugation. If you know the implications of conjugation and tautomerism, you could even draw the arrow-pushing mechanism before knowing what it is. Another example is that the Markovnikov Rule is settled on the stability of the carbocation that is formed in an addition reaction rather than saying that "the more substituted position is always the most stable." Another example is that If you have a strong base (including amines) or strong acid (including carboxylic acids), a proton transfer will occur first before anything else because it is so kinetically favorable. Overall, approach orgo from a logical perspective rather than a purely rote-memorization route.
 
The AAMC outline is a good place to start. It helped me narrow down what the AAMC feels to be important :)
 
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