Organic

[Tipp]

How are your guys Organic Chemistry classes structured? What types of exams, degree of difficulty, etc. Just curious... I really like my class but I wanna make sure I am being prepared well

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[CielloStelatto]

My guess is that most people here have only taken the organic chemistry sequence once, and at one school... so you're not going to get a good response for the "degree of difficulty" question. Additionally, most courses probably follow the same general sequence of topics - pretty much following a textbook.

But, if what you're really worried about is whether you're being prepared well enough, see if you can get your hands on the ACS organic chem exam workbook - since lots of schools use that exam for the 2nd semester final.

 

[Tipp]

alright thanks. How are you liking your MD/PhD program?

 

[circulus vitios]

4 exams (65% total), quizzes (10%), online homework (5%), lab (20%).

Put the suicide hotline on speed dial because you'll want to kill yourself if you're like me. Organic is a bunch of stupid bull**** hand-waving explanations that make absolutely no sense. This class has taught me to hate like I've never hated before.

 

[Tipp]

4 exams (65% total), quizzes (10%), online homework (5%), lab (20%).

Put the suicide hotline on speed dial because you'll want to kill yourself if you're like me. Organic is a bunch of stupid bull**** hand-waving explanations that make absolutely no sense. This class has taught me to hate like I've never hated before.

lol i kinda like it. i guess my mind is just kinda geared towards this stuff

 

[Frazier]

lol i kinda like it. i guess my mind is just kinda geared towards this stuff

Mine sucks...

3 exams x 22% each
1 cumulative final x 34%


I wish hw was graded and lab is separate grade.

 

[Tappinfool66]

My professor is/was great. I only had him for Orgo I, then took a year off for family-related problems. I'll have him again for Orgo II this spring. He's definitely tougher than the other professors at my university, but it's so worth it. He's ALWAYS willing to help out if you don't understand something. He gave us exams on saturdays, which was good and bad. We got as much time as we needed to finish and he was always willing to let you take it during office hours if saturday didn't work.

Grading went like this:

Review Exam - 50 points
Homework - 50 points
3 Midterm Exams - 600 points (200 points each)
11 quizzes - 100 points (10 points each - drop lowest score)
Final Exam - 200 points

Lab was separate. Final grades are assigned based on 'natural breaks'.

 

[AGLAIA]

Portland State University Organic Chemistry website

This is a link to all the notes, exams, etc for the Ochem course at PSU. It links to several years of exams with answers which I always found helpful. Everyone who did well on these exams did really well on the standardized test.

 

[Isoprop]

typical lecture + lab: 3 exams + 1 final + weekly quizzes

The first few weeks is general chem review (electronic structure, acid base chem, kinetics, thermo).
Then comes substitution/elimination, alkene chemistry, alcohols, aromatics, carbonyls, carboxylic acids + derivatives, biochemistry.

Lab comes with a variety of techniques and spectroscopy.

It's more difficult than organic chemistry. It's a good mix of conceptual learning and rote memorization.

 

[s1lver]

Our prof doesn't teach. He just hands out worksheets and we form study groups in class and try to answer the questions as best as we can. Good thing that part of the class is only 10% of our total grade.

The rest are from quizzes every Fri and 4 unit exams + 1 cumulative final. Exams have a few multiple choice (mostly definition of terms) and the rest are problem solving + explanation. OChem as a 2nd Language makes the class cake.

Lab is the worst. The actual part where you do something takes 30 mins. and then you wait for the reaction/melting point/whatever for the next 3 and a half hours.

 

[wristbandMD]

My guess is that most people here have only taken the organic chemistry sequence once, and at one school... so you're not going to get a good response for the "degree of difficulty" question. Additionally, most courses probably follow the same general sequence of topics - pretty much following a textbook.

But, if what you're really worried about is whether you're being prepared well enough, see if you can get your hands on the ACS organic chem exam workbook - since lots of schools use that exam for the 2nd semester final.

So, most schools use this exam rather than a prof writing his own exam? That seems odd, but if it's true I am definitely interested in the workbook. Do you think that the workbook would be worthwhile even if the professor wrote his own exam?

 

[CougarMD]

So, most schools use this exam rather than a prof writing his own exam? That seems odd, but if it's true I am definitely interested in the workbook. Do you think that the workbook would be worthwhile even if the professor wrote his own exam?

The book is useful because you at least get to see the types of reactions that are really universally important.

I had to take this exam at the end of O-Chem too....I found it much easier than my prof's exams and I wish it had been worth more than it was. Blah.

IIRC it isn't too expensive...maybe 20 or 25 bucks

 

[wristbandMD]

The book is useful because you at least get to see the types of reactions that are really universally important.

I had to take this exam at the end of O-Chem too....I found it much easier than my prof's exams and I wish it had been worth more than it was. Blah.

IIRC it isn't too expensive...maybe 20 or 25 bucks

Awesome. I'll definitely invest in a workbook, then. So far I haven't been able to find anything on the ASC site. I did find this on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Preparing-your-examination-organic-chemistry/dp/0970804210

Does that look right?

I'm very glad I decided to wander into this thread. Thanks again for the advice Ciello and Cougar!

 

[CougarMD]

Yeah that looks like it! Try some other websites for used books; maybe you can get it even cheaper.

 

[orthomyxo]

Two cumulative 1 hour exams: 20% each
Four quizzes: 5% each
HW: 20%
Cumulative final: 30%

Grade replacement: If we score higher on the parts of the final corresponding to the two hour exams, the score will replace them (I am SO banking on this).

Our professor sucks really bad and then gets mad at us when the average is a 42%. I'm pretty sure he makes up his grading system as he goes along. Apparently he never passes anyone that gets less than a 40 average, which doesn't make any sense considering the class average on tests hovers around there. I guess most people are just going to fail.

 

[Electronegative]

So, most schools use this exam rather than a prof writing his own exam? That seems odd, but if it's true I am definitely interested in the workbook. Do you think that the workbook would be worthwhile even if the professor wrote his own exam?

It's not that they use it to make it easy on the professor, but more of a requirement for college chemistry departments to be certified by ACS. They also have standardized ACS final at the end of Gen Chem 2 and maybe biochem, not sure about this one.

 

[Electronegative]

3 Exams 100 points each, you get to drop lowest exam grade.
1 Final 200 points worth, can't drop this grade.
Lab is a separate class.

 

[Frazier]

3 Exams 100 points each, you get to drop lowest exam grade.
1 Final 200 points worth, can't drop this grade.
Lab is a separate class.

Dropping an exam grade
Final worth 50% of grade

 

[OMGitsME]

I am taking Orgo I also right now, and the grading is;
Exam 1 30%
Exam 2 30%
Final exam 40%

and we can substitute score on the final exam (as a percentage of points) for the lowest grade among the two midterm exams.

its quite rough i think, 2 exams and a final. We just had our second exam. We get our grades on monday