Orgo makes you smart

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harkkam

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Its funny, Im taking orgo right now and it's the most difficult thing I have ever studied so far in my life. There is so much material and so many rules and what not.

Even though its tough I've noticed that it has increased my intelligence. I read faster, I pick up other technical material much quicker.

I just notice my brain operating alot faster. I think all of those who hate orgo should just view it as kind of a mental workout that kind of trains your brain to work faster.

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Its funny, Im taking orgo right now and it's the most difficult thing I have ever studied so far in my life. There is so much material and so many rules and what not.

Even though its tough I've noticed that it has increased my intelligence. I read faster, I pick up other technical material much quicker.

I just notice my brain operating alot faster. I think all of those who hate orgo should just view it as kind of a mental workout that kind of trains your brain to work faster.

the more you are studying, the better your brain becomes.

That's kind of undergrad experience!! :laugh:
 
Wait till you take Biochemistry!!
 
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It's very interesting that you say this. A friend of mine just interviewed for the Rhodes and according to one of the selection committee members, the factors he thought were most important were 1) GPA, 2) Extracurriculars, and 3) Grade in organic chemistry.
 
Orgo makes you loose social life :D
 
Orgo rocks-lol
 
Wait till you take Biochemistry!!
haha no, biochem I=very easy,
biochem II=near impossible

key to success in Orgo: attend lectures and take notes, read the book, do ALL the problems at the end of the chapter, thumb through lecture notes, (look at old tests if you can), then go destroy the exam
 
Agree, biochem kicks your ass. That class taught me not to wait until the night before.
Biochem I=hardest class ever.
Biochem II= Hardest class ever, made chinese torture a pleasure.
 
Wait until you take Orgo II, that's a huge difference IMO. It's just pure memorization first and then understanding. It has lots of reactions.
Good luck.
 
Wait until you take Orgo II, that's a huge difference IMO. It's just pure memorization first and then understanding. It has lots of reactions.
Good luck.

I actually thought orgo II was alot easier than orgo I because it's pure reactions and the rules are very logical so there is nothing really counter intuitive about them.

Don't just memorize the reactants and products though.
Make sure to understand the mechanism and no question should stump you.

And yes, if you think orgo makes you smart, Biochem will make you a Genius
 
I agree with OP. Orgo pretty much changed my life. Helped me learn how to approach studying and it helped me with all my courses after that.
 
I actually thought orgo II was alot easier than orgo I because it's pure reactions and the rules are very logical so there is nothing really counter intuitive about them.

Don't just memorize the reactants and products though.
Make sure to understand the mechanism and no question should stump you.

And yes, if you think orgo makes you smart, Biochem will make you a Genius


To me, Org II was a million times harder.
 
i personally never found either subject hard at all. orgo was really natural for me... a lot of people spent a ton of time memorizing reactions instead of UNDERSTANDING how stuff works. if you understand the rules - you can figure out how it will react every time. piece of cake. to me, orgo and biochem go hand in hand... so biochem was a breeze for me....
 
i personally never found either subject hard at all. orgo was really natural for me... a lot of people spent a ton of time memorizing reactions instead of UNDERSTANDING how stuff works. if you understand the rules - you can figure out how it will react every time. piece of cake. to me, orgo and biochem go hand in hand... so biochem was a breeze for me....

did you ever get anything below an A on an exam? Just wondering..
 
did you ever get anything below an A on an exam? Just wondering..

not in orgo or biochem. i got A+s on all of those.

BUT...i got a B+ on one in exam in electricity and magnetism - physics II...

i cried. not joking. im so pathetic. LOL!
 
not in orgo or biochem. i got A+s on all of those.

BUT...i got a B+ on one in exam in electricity and magnetism - physics II...

i cried. not joking. im so pathetic. LOL!
==
 
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i personally never found either subject hard at all. orgo was really natural for me... a lot of people spent a ton of time memorizing reactions instead of UNDERSTANDING how stuff works. if you understand the rules - you can figure out how it will react every time. piece of cake. to me, orgo and biochem go hand in hand... so biochem was a breeze for me....

I feel the same way. I felt kinda bad for the chumps who tried memorizing the reactants and stuff straight up. The thing about organic chem is that it all works in exactly the same way: Nucleophile ------> Electrophile! Lather, rinse, repeat! Ochem II is a TON of carbonyl chemistry, and it all works the same way. You get the basic carbonyl chem mechanism down, and then apply that to all of the different situations, and you'll be golden! I remember thinking that Ochem was difficult when I was in it, but looking back, those were the good years, when things were easy. Sure it takes a lot of effort, but it's really not as bad as it seems. Good luck to everyone who is needs to take this series!

Biochem is almost entirely about organic chemistry, except that you study molecules that crawl. That's a bit of an overstatement, but if you understand the basic principles of Ochem, then biochem should be a breeze. At my school, biochem II was much more difficult. With biochem I i didn't study that much, and was average or slightly below on all of the exams and I ended up with a B. For biochem II, I worked my tail off, and was expecting a A- (hoping for an A!) and I got a B+. Go figure.
 
Was anyone else sad when Organic II was over? Today was my last day...I know I'm a nerd..but I'm a little disappointed. I guess there's always biochem. But with organic..it's like learning a new language. At the end, it's like..now what? lol I can't speak this language to any of my friends?!

I liked Ochem a lot, and Biochem is just Ochem material applied to the body. Biochem II was my favorite class ever. We studied alot of the vitamins, fatty acid metabolism, and even dabbled in some anti-cancer drug mechanisms. It was pretty wicked stuff!
 
Orgo really depends on your professor and his/her teaching style. I struggled in orgo and worked my butt off to get B's both semesters because our professor was incredibly difficult. I remember asking my TA in lab how he would do some of the test problems and he (a doctoral student) would tell us it was almost impossible to do some of the them without outside knowledge (ie. pKa values and such). In the long run i think it helped me out a lot because when i was studying for DAT the ochem section seemed elementary which helped me score a 29 in that section.
 
Ochem 1 not bad- OchemII horrible. After taking your Ochems life gets easier- For a while......
 
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