Study Tips for Organic Chemistry

[shihfoodie]

Hello everyone,
this is my first time posting in SDN. I have found some really helpful stuff on this website. I am currently a second-year student with a business management major and pre-med courses. As everyone knows, organic chemistry is one of the requirements for pre-med students. I haven't seen anything specifically on studying tips on organic chemistry knowing this is a very challenging course. I already have the book organic chemistry as a second language and have been practicing most days. It just seems so impossible with the time limit and responsibilities for a full-time student with a part-time job. I am starting to feel discouraging just second week into the quarter. Thank you in advance.

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[TheDataKing]

Practice problems are one of the best resources for orgo. You have organic chemistry as a second language and I primarily used that along with practice questions from my textbook and exams from previous years. You got this! It might take more time than some of your other classes but now is a great time to learn some time management skills

 

[Agentcross]

Get a giant whiteboard and draw everything. Draw it often. It helped me to see the mechanisms in a larger size and context when connected. I’m also a business major and have made it to an acceptance. You got this!

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

Read
the
****ing
textbook

Do every practice problem there is in the book. Once you run out, literally google for more practice problems. Many universities have past exams with answers, you can use those for practice problems as well.

 

[Cornfed101]

Read
the
****ing
textbook

Or don't read the textbook if your teacher doesn't test from it... mine only tested from his lecture slides so the book was a total waste of time. Basically, you need to figure out what your professor expects you to know.

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

Or don't read the textbook if your teacher doesn't test from it... mine only tested from his lecture slides so the book was a total waste of time. Basically, you need to figure out what your professor expects you to know.

I mean for me N=1, but going more into depth about what happens was pretty helpful, and reading the relevant section before the class kinda gave me a background to understand the lecture very well and get to focus on some of the more nuanaced stuff. At the very least, the problems in the textbooks are a valuable tool.

 

[Dr. Faust]

Go in and see your professor during office hours.

 

[shihfoodie]

Read
the
****ing
textbook

Do every practice problem there is in the book. Once you run out, literally google for more practice problems. Many universities have past exams with answers, you can use those for practice problems as well.

I hope it's not rude to ask this question, but do you have any past exams from yourself that I can use to practice?

 

[shihfoodie]

I mean for me N=1, but going more into depth about what happens was pretty helpful, and reading the relevant section before the class kinda gave me a background to understand the lecture very well and get to focus on some of the more nuanaced stuff. At the very least, the problems in the textbooks are a valuable tool.

Thank you very, I agreed with reading the textbook part. It has definitely helped me to understand the context of what the lecture is about. Do you remember how many hours have you devoted per day just for organic chemistry, so I can get an estimate of how many hours or how many problems should I be aiming for. Thanks!

 

[shihfoodie]

Get a giant whiteboard and draw everything. Draw it often. It helped me to see the mechanisms in a larger size and context when connected. I’m also a business major and have made it to an acceptance. You got this!

Thank you very much, I will definitely give this method a try.

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

Thank you very, I agreed with reading the textbook part. It has definitely helped me to understand the context of what the lecture is about. Do you remember how many hours have you devoted per day just for organic chemistry, so I can get an estimate of how many hours or how many problems should I be aiming for. Thanks!

Currently in orgo 2, but my hours were always pretty inconsistent since usually I focused on the immediate exams coming up. During peak studying time, week or two before the exam, I more or less spent all the time I had studying, just focusing on orgo. This past exam I spent about 6-7 days studying about 3-4 hours on weekdays and at least 8 during the weekend right before. But this doesn't include how much prep went into the class weekly during just the normal weeks, which was probably 1-2 hrs every day just making sure I stay on top of the homework, with probably less time spent during the weekends due to projects and all that fun stuff that I also had to do. In regards to past exams, I would straight up google MIT Organic Chemistry 2 exams, and there are often a lot of resources that pop up. Or even just "Diels Alder reaction problems". Obviously it won't mimick your school's exams at all, but practice is practice, and seeing these patterns helps quite a bit.

 

[Kamill]

Organic Chemistry is all about understanding the basic principles that guide the movements of electrons.

It is important to read some material, but it is much more effective to use video resources to help you see the electronic movement. I would try to find some videos on Youtube and google -- there are so many resources out there now. Also as many people have mentioned, practice really matters when you are dealing with organic chemistry -- this is because it is your first exposure to the subject and you constantly have to practice to learn it. I find a lot of students just memorizing everything -- mechanisms and reactions. Granted, some memorization is needed for some reaction conditions, but understanding the logic behind is very crucial

*I just look through Youtube and this guy is pretty good:



A few principles to follow when you are studying
-> Acid-Base is always the fastest reaction.
-> Dipole in compounds guide the nucleophilic/electrophilic behaviors.
-> It is good to learn some pKas. It is a good idea to memorize this: Acid-Base III. The pKa Table and What Information It Tells You
**Refer to the Evans pKa table (Evans pka tables - Chem432 Advanced Organic Synthesis - UVic - StuDocu) for a more comprehensive list. You don't need to memorize this, but you can look through the list and see the logic behind the pKas.

 

[IsleyOfTheNorth]

You definitely want to understand the why and not just memorize the reactions. You should be able to look at a reaction that you've never seen before and guess with some certainty what will happen based on how functional groups behave. Study it for retention as you'll see this all again in Orgo 2, Biochem, and of course the MCAT.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

We had blue book essay exams in my organic exams, so decades behing the curve here. I would recommend doing synthesis problems from the end product and work back to the beginning. Worked very well for me.

 

[deleted994889]

Organic Chemistry is all about understanding the basic principles that guide the movements of electrons.

It is important to read some material, but it is much more effective to use video resources to help you see the electronic movement. I would try to find some videos on Youtube and google -- there are so many resources out there now. Also as many people have mentioned, practice really matters when you are dealing with organic chemistry -- this is because it is your first exposure to the subject and you constantly have to practice to learn it. I find a lot of students just memorizing everything -- mechanisms and reactions. Granted, some memorization is needed for some reaction conditions, but understanding the logic behind is very crucial

*I just look through Youtube and this guy is pretty good:



A few principles to follow when you are studying
-> Acid-Base is always the fastest reaction.
-> Dipole in compounds guide the nucleophilic/electrophilic behaviors.
-> It is good to learn some pKas. It is a good idea to memorize this: Acid-Base III. The pKa Table and What Information It Tells You
**Refer to the Evans pKa table (Evans pka tables - Chem432 Advanced Organic Synthesis - UVic - StuDocu) for a more comprehensive list. You don't need to memorize this, but you can look through the list and see the logic behind the pKas.

Former business major here who did well in ochem series/ACS. This is great advice. Understand the patterns (type of reactants, conditions, solvents/catalysts, etc) along with lots of Youtube and you'll make your studying much more efficient. Rote memorization will make your life so miserable.

 

[chemphysicsinstructor]

Organic Chemistry is all about understanding the basic principles that guide the movements of electrons.

It is important to read some material, but it is much more effective to use video resources to help you see the electronic movement. I would try to find some videos on Youtube and google -- there are so many resources out there now. Also as many people have mentioned, practice really matters when you are dealing with organic chemistry -- this is because it is your first exposure to the subject and you constantly have to practice to learn it. I find a lot of students just memorizing everything -- mechanisms and reactions. Granted, some memorization is needed for some reaction conditions, but understanding the logic behind is very crucial

*I just look through Youtube and this guy is pretty good:



A few principles to follow when you are studying
-> Acid-Base is always the fastest reaction.
-> Dipole in compounds guide the nucleophilic/electrophilic behaviors.
-> It is good to learn some pKas. It is a good idea to memorize this: Acid-Base III. The pKa Table and What Information It Tells You
**Refer to the Evans pKa table (Evans pka tables - Chem432 Advanced Organic Synthesis - UVic - StuDocu) for a more comprehensive list. You don't need to memorize this, but you can look through the list and see the logic behind the pKas.

I recommend JG's YouTube videos (like the one above) to my students. I also recommend to do as many practice problems as possible.