study advice question

[JRock310]

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so i have always considered myself to be decent at organic chemistry. i did well in it first semester (with a lot of hard work) but it comes a LOT easier to me than let's say, physical sciences (ie, physics, which im terrible at).

up until this past exam, i have felt pretty comfortable with the material.

all of a sudden...when we have learned about enolates, carboxylic acids/derivatives, ketones/aldehydes/derivatives, etc. i have been having a really tough time with it. i will study, feel somewhat confident, and then when i see actual problems/questions, i cant apply my studying to the test questions. that actually just happened to me today. i especially have a tough time with synthesis.

i think a lot of it has to do with the fact that i took organic I first semester here at my school and had a TERRIBLE time with the professor. he was horrible, he hadnt taught in 15 years, and that was very apparent. this semester, i am taking it at a different school that is MUCH more difficult but the teacher is awesome and i feel like im learning a lot (or trying to). the only problem is they were 3 chapters ahead of us, so over winter break i had to basically attempt to teach myself the chapters i had missed.

i guess my question is...what do you/have you done to study organic? things that work/dont work? currently i just go through my notes and the "Organic Chemistry as a Second Language" books (which are pretty helpful). I barely crack open the textbook because it's really dry.

our final exam is coming up, and it's the standardized final from the American Chemical Society. i have the study guide and have been going through it and doing problems/reading material i feel shaky with, but im just getting frustrated with this recent material.

any advice would be very appreciated. thank you. 🙂

 

[Appless]

Well for me I had this big white board in my room and i just went over rxns over and over drawing those arrow diagrams, thinking what different reagents did to the reaction/what could make the reaction act different then under normal conditions. I also found it helpful to work the rxn backward (i think its called retrosynthesis)? If you could make a reaction work backward i forward at least for me i found no matter what the teacher asked i was ready. Also I would try to make up my own problems so to speak with differnt reagents to try to make the same reaction.

Not sure if you already did this but at least for me this worked well. good luck🙂. Ketones/aldehydes and carboxycylic acids/ their derivatives all have similar rxn patters too. Carbonyl chemistry all follows a similar pattern! Thinking of that also helped me.

 

[phospho]

so i have always considered myself to be decent at organic chemistry. i did well in it first semester (with a lot of hard work) but it comes a LOT easier to me than let's say, physical sciences (ie, physics, which im terrible at).

up until this past exam, i have felt pretty comfortable with the material.

all of a sudden...when we have learned about enolates, carboxylic acids/derivatives, ketones/aldehydes/derivatives, etc. i have been having a really tough time with it. i will study, feel somewhat confident, and then when i see actual problems/questions, i cant apply my studying to the test questions. that actually just happened to me today. i especially have a tough time with synthesis.

i think a lot of it has to do with the fact that i took organic I first semester here at my school and had a TERRIBLE time with the professor. he was horrible, he hadnt taught in 15 years, and that was very apparent. this semester, i am taking it at a different school that is MUCH more difficult but the teacher is awesome and i feel like im learning a lot (or trying to). the only problem is they were 3 chapters ahead of us, so over winter break i had to basically attempt to teach myself the chapters i had missed.

i guess my question is...what do you/have you done to study organic? things that work/dont work? currently i just go through my notes and the "Organic Chemistry as a Second Language" books (which are pretty helpful). I barely crack open the textbook because it's really dry.

our final exam is coming up, and it's the standardized final from the American Chemical Society. i have the study guide and have been going through it and doing problems/reading material i feel shaky with, but im just getting frustrated with this recent material.

any advice would be very appreciated. thank you. 🙂

You sound like me - did well in ochem in the beginning, then started doing horrible. For me, it turned out my problem was not doing enough homework problems. In the beginning of ochem (i.e. 3/4 of ochem 1), you can get by without focusing too much on the problems, and just "read" the book.

However, when you're done with nomenclature and the basics, you start with synthesis, retrosynthesis, etc, and you need to focus less on "reading" and more on actually getting down and dirty with the homework questions (i.e. working more with your hands than with your head - if that makes any sense). That might also explain your hate for physics, since it is all compromised of topics that you can't do well in unless you do the homework questions.

When I say homework questions, I mean doing as many as you need until you can do the chemistry from the back of your head. Also, the ochem as a 2nd language book is a great book.

best of luck to you!

 

[0Complications]

Ochem can be very difficult. Without knowing the specific types of problems you're having it can be difficult to make specific suggestions.

For the students I tutor in Ochem I try to get them intimately familiar with the periodic table and how atoms behave, because once you put them together you will be able to predict reactivity based on characteristics of each individual atom, either makeing the molecule mroe or less stable. It's important to understand where electron densities reside and the fundamentals of what characteristics define good leaving groups, strong/weak acids and bases, and general trends. When you understand the basics you then have to turn your noggin on and think through the problem. You should be able to solve any organic problem given 2 of 3 componets (reactants, reagents, and products). Each contribute to the reaction in some way, sometime they contribute by merely not impeding one another, other times each plays an integral step in the reaction, you should know the distinctions and what makes them different.

Realistically though, if you only have a week left of class this approach probably won't work well for you, becuase it takes some time to develop your chemistry intuition. Right now you should be using your TEXTBOOK (ochem as a 2nd language is great, but not in this kind of pinch) and going over class notes and reactions you are expected to know. If it's just the ACS guide then focus on that, and write down any reaction you are unfamiliar with and learn it. You should start with reactivity orders, ways in which you can make certain componds and the basic reactions. I hate to say it, because I can't stand this word... It doesn't agree with me very well at all, but right now you need to memorize those reactions. Also, for the ACS spend some time on laboratory techniques. Those are gravy points and for some reason a lot of people miss them.

Best of luck. Next time ask earlier. 😉

 

[Mattabet]

i cant apply my studying to the test questions. that actually just happened to me today. i especially have a tough time with synthesis.

Syntheses are tough because it's easy to get overwhelmed and lose your sense of direction... if that makes any sense. You've got your start point, your end point, and a load of blank space in between. I think the best advice here is to remember that there are a finite number of tools at your disposal, i.e. the reactions that you've been taught.

The worst O-chem prof. I had just threw reactions and mechanisms out willy nilly, as they occured to him. The best prof. I had set out at the beginning and would say something like, these are amides, there are eleven (or however many) reactions of amides you'll be responsible for. Here is the first...

They were equally good at actually explaining how the reaction worked, but O-chem is much easier to wrap your mind around if you can look at it in terms of discrete reactions that follow overarching principles.

My advice on syntheses would be to go through your notes and maybe rewrite a comprehensive list (if time allows) of the reactions at your disposal. A lot of them you'll know already. If you learn the ones you don't know then synthesis is just a matter of fitting those pieces together on the test.