Surviving Organic Chemistry

[PharmBoy90]

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I have to take Orgo I this Fall and Orgo II in the Spring. Any tips for getting at least a B? I'm really worried.

 

[armorking]

I have to take Orgo I this Fall and Orgo II in the Spring. Any tips for getting at least a B? I'm really worried.

In all honesty, find older students who have been through organic at your school. They will have the best idea of what it takes, how hard you will have to work (which will be as hard as you can if you want the grade), and they may have old notes you can look at to get a better idea. It never hurts to ask.

There will be many individuals who tell you this is the hardest course you will ever take. Take it with a grain of salt. That's what I did when I took it, tried to learn as much as I can (even though I was confused half the time), and did fairly well. Don't let a bad grade discourage you. I remember making 20s on quizzes (out of 100) and still ending up with an A in the course. Just work as hard as you can and that will overtake any fear. Good luck!

 

[dancingallday]

People will try to tell you that Organic chem will crush your soul and enslave your life, but don't let that scare you. I found that with diligent study it didn't take me that much more out of class time than any other science class. Same tips apply: try to get your hands on old tests for study purposes, make use of tutoring resources at your school, ask former students for help, etc.

 

[Twentytwelve2]

You can prepare by memorizing the chemical reactions and practice synthesizing compounds staring from a C-C bond. The majority of O chem was just synthesis for my class which involves u knowing the structure and the IUPAC naming aside from mechanism.

 

[user2012]

I have taken O chem last year. The best advice my professor told me was to practice as many problems as possible. However, I did only a few problems, and thought I would pass o-chem. The only way to survive o-chem is to practice as many problems as you can, and its not for surviving o-chem only. If you want to do well in any class, you should practice as many problems as possible. That's what I am doing from now.

 

[foreveros]

Just dont leave everythign to the last minute. Every day study little by little. Memorize everything and do not over look anything.

IF you are a not a person who is not good at memorizes things like me what i do is write everything over an over again. For orgo II i have written all the reactions by chapters over and over again when it came to the exam, if i forget anythign i would write out everything, it really helps try it out.

 

[Corpseman]

Don't memorize....understand the mechanisms.

 

[Pojman]

I got all A's in the organic chemistry series. All I did for the entire course was spend about 40% of the time reading the textbook, and reviewing class notes.

The other 60% of my study time was spent watching educational videos at this website:
http://www.freelance-teacher.com/videos.htm

That website is the best resource ever available for organic chemistry.

 

[Rockinacoustic]

Don't memorize....understand the mechanisms.

Yup. If you can push electrons around, you're golden.

 

[chrispharm]

I got all A's in the organic chemistry series. All I did for the entire course was spend about 40% of the time reading the textbook, and reviewing class notes.

The other 60% of my study time was spent watching educational videos at this website:
http://www.freelance-teacher.com/videos.htm

That website is the best resource ever available for organic chemistry.

This is exactly what i did, i would watch his videos on the topics before class and then would actually understand what my professor was talking about unlike everyone else.

In orgo 1 i got the book organic as a second language and read that before the topics in class, he makes it very easy to understand.

i didnt really study my class notes that much just specific mechanisms that he liked.

 

[pharmerbird]

I personally loved organic chemistry. It was one of my favorite courses. My key to success was UNDERSTANDING the mechanisms. Not memorizing.

Diels-Alder reactions were my favorites

 

[Twentytwelve2]

I personally loved organic chemistry. It was one of my favorite courses. My key to success was UNDERSTANDING the mechanisms. Not memorizing.

Diels-Alder reactions were my favorites

Unless your teacher provides the list of every chemical reaction (some do), you would still have to memorize all of them in order to do synthesis problems... Our teacher forced us to memorize all of them.

Mechanism is another story. You still need to know every mechanism for the test in addition to the reactions.

 

[Corpseman]

Unless your teacher provides the list of every chemical reaction (some do), you would still have to memorize all of them in order to do synthesis problems... Our teacher forced us to memorize all of them.

Mechanism is another story. You still need to know every mechanism for the test in addition to the reactions.

As long as you understand how the electrons move, you can do most without memorizing.

 

[seaswim]

As long as you understand how the electrons move, you can do most without memorizing.

Yes.

Avoid memorizing as much as possible. Keep up with learning reactions, don't cram. Many people like the freelance teacher but others find he goes way too slow.

 

[oliviaalta123]

I have to take Orgo I this Fall and Orgo II in the Spring. Any tips for getting at least a B? I'm really worried.

I took two semester of upper level organic for my pharmacy major. This class is NOT a joke. The first week I felt like I understood what was going on, then out of no where, I completely got lost one day during lecture. I got really good grades in other chemistry classes, all A's. I am very good at general chem, let me tell you, organic chem is nothing like it. Learning general chem did not help me very much with organic, besides knowing element names and some structures. You will need to read your text book. Unless you have an amazing teacher, everything will sound like another language. It is a manageable class and you will get a good grade if you read your chapters ahead of time before class. Also, bring your book or online text to class so you can follow along. Get a tutor. Do anything to help because that class is very hard. I ended up the first semester with a C+ then my second with a B+. You need to do well in lab also. Lab is easy, just make sure you get an A in lab so it can balance your grade.

 

[JADpharm28]

Anyone have any good books to supplement the class that are not text books? ChrisPharm said Organic as a second language...anything else good out there for Orgo I and/or Orgo II?

 

[Corpseman]

Anyone have any good books to supplement the class that are not text books? ChrisPharm said Organic as a second language...anything else good out there for Orgo I and/or Orgo II?

Orgo I/II as a second language (2 separate books) are both amazing.

 

[luongo321]

If you want to get a bit of a head start, I highly recommend khanacademy.org. Has an entire section of youtube vids on Organic Chemistry.

My #1 tip to do well in o-chem: Get a small whiteboard so you can practice mechanisms and synthesis q's. It's a real pain when you are writing in pen or pencil on paper and want to erase a step, especially when you are first starting. You will want to practice a bit more with a pen/pencil once you get more comfortable though so you can simulate an actual test. When I first started writing with a pen, it felt like all of my steps were written in stone and it started getting really messy when I wanted to erase a step. A whiteboard is highly recommended. I remember when I saw my friend using a whiteboard and I was so surprised when he would just erase all of it and not care about his answer. I used to just write everything down on paper so i could see how I did thing later on. I started to realize that I needed to gain more confidence in myself that I would be able to do these problems without having to look back at previous q's. (does that make sense?)

If it has some extra electrons, it might want to share it with more positive stuff. 🙂

Most of the questions on tests at my school were either:
-Mechanism questions:
-synthesis questions. gives starting ingredients and final product- list the ingredients to get to that step (Need to memorize basic reactions so you can just combine them altogether to get the desired product)
-Ranking acidity/basicity, etc.
-Practice mechanism q's so you get used to electron pushing. It may seem a little tough on the test, but these q's will be derived from the simple mechanisms that you learned in class (just combined). Electron arrow pushing should be practiced until it becomes automatic.
-Know that SN1/SN2 E1/E2 stuff

Thing to work on before o-chem:
- lewis dot structures- know these inside out
-always draw chemical species with valence electrons if possible. I remember when I first started o-chem and I had no idea what I was doing. I would see water H-O-H and i'd be like, ''how does it interact with anything?'' Throw those 4 electron dots on the O when you draw it out. Small stuff like that.
- Make sure you have a solid understanding of orbitals. When you see something double or triple bonded, know that that bond might be able to donate/share electrons with another species.
-get comfortable with looking at chemical species with C's just written as connecting lines.
Eg. CH3 - CH2- CH3 also can be written like this (ok, not as much of an angle) --> \/
- know how many bonds that common species can form. Carbon can usually bond to 4 others
-know chirality inside out as well
___________________

Most of the understanding with O-chem comes down to having a very good grasp of acidity and basicity, Electrophiles/Nucleophiles. Know the electronegativity trends.

They might show you 4 similar species and ask you to rank them in terms of acidity. This is when you will need to know how functional groups affect acidty/basicity, knowing hyperconjugation inside-out, inductive effects, etc, how double, triple bonds affect these properties, etc.

I took this course a few years ago so I just tried to come up with a few things off the top of my head. All I know is that I think a lot of people struggle a bit o-chem because they dont have some very small basics down (like lewis dot structures) and electron pushing that slows them down.

The other thing is that you need to stay calm on tests. I think some kids are so used to just memorizing things for tests that it trips them up a bit when they have to think a bit on the test to do problems. Stay relaxed and build self-confidence by practicing questions. Dont get frustrated on tests because you dont see the exact same thing that you studied for.

Understand the main concepts first. Dont get consumed with the tiniest details. Stay caught up and make sure you really understand why each step is happening in the mechanisms that you are taught.

 

[Kwiz]

Orgo is easy if you put time into it. Mechanisms, concepts, etc. that's where you emphasize all of your time. Try that and you won't have to bother with a B, you'll get an A no prob in orgo 1. Orgo two is a little different, but you should get at least a B in it if you can put time in it.

 

[FLaCoPHaRm]

I surrounded myself with students that were better at orgo. I made a group and studied with them 2-3 days before the test and on my own in between. I also used freelanceteacher.com that man's youtube videos are just great for orgo (and physics too).

 

[usechopstix]

Practice over and over again!! There are so many rules you have to learn, by doing the problems, you'll be exposed to all question types that might be asked on a test. People get intimidated by orgo because they see all the huge hydrocarbon groups and freak out but once you actually know what's going on, it's actually either really simple or a series of simple steps 😀

 

[sde780]

I studied hard. It's the first class I actually sat myself down and studied hard for, and it paid off. I got A's in both Organic Chemistry classes here.

If you put forth the effort, you will get the grade you earned.