Taking Orgo-2 four years later - dumb idea?

[letitgo]

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Hi all,

I thought I'd ask this in the non-trad forum since I've already graduated and I'm trying to complete my pre-reqs. All I have left to take is the second semester of Orgo, which I'm scheduled to start July 5th. I took Orgo-I four years ago as an undergrad, and I don't remember any of it. I'm starting to panic. Will I be doomed joining the class midway through? How should I prepare? I do have an old orgo textbook I could read - do you think this will be enough? I did well in Orgo-I, I just have a horrible memory. Thanks for any advice. 🙂

 

[remo]

I did it 10+ years after taking ochem 1 but I had to study like 4 hours a day for the first few weeks until I started to figure out what was going on. I got the A but it was probably the toughest class of my whole post-bac. There are alot of other people that have done it so if you can devote a lot of study time to the class then you should go for it. Keep in mind that some professors are harder than others. If you can get someone that just wants you to memorize reactions and nomenclature then it will be alot easier than if you have to do lots of mechanisms.

 

[letitgo]

Did you study during the class or before? This one's in the summer and it's just five weeks long...do you think I can still just study extremely hard the first week or so of the class to catch up? I'm also trying to study for the MCAT.

 

[remo]

Ochem over the summer and the MCAT? That's gonna be tough unless you can study full time. Do you have to work or anything? I guess it just depends on how much you remember from the first time around (I didn't remember anything). My suggestion would be to try and get the syllabus from the first part of the course. Go through and start doing problems until you get a feel for what you are doing. I basically gave myself a crash course this way and I eventually knew what I was doing.

 

[MiesVanDerMom]

i took them about 7 or 8 years apart. Personally, I wouldn't do o-chem over the summer. I tried to do it that way undergrad and ended up dropping it. It's a lot of memorization. And you've got MCAT studying too?? Honestly, me personally, I wouldn't do it. But, only you know you. I am stronger in the humanities and I knew I wanted to get an A in ochem 2 so I took it during the school year. As for remembering Ochem 1: I went and saw the professor early on and oh what a help it was! In one session with him, I felt pretty mucn caught up. OChem always was my favorite though 🙂 Best of luck to you! 👍

 

[njbmd]

Hi all,

I thought I'd ask this in the non-trad forum since I've already graduated and I'm trying to complete my pre-reqs. All I have left to take is the second semester of Orgo, which I'm scheduled to start July 5th. I took Orgo-I four years ago as an undergrad, and I don't remember any of it. I'm starting to panic. Will I be doomed joining the class midway through? How should I prepare? I do have an old orgo textbook I could read - do you think this will be enough? I did well in Orgo-I, I just have a horrible memory. Thanks for any advice. 🙂

Hi there,
Meet with the Organic chemistry professor and get a copy of the syllabus for the first semester of your organic chemistry class. Take some time now and review the basic topics (like reaction mechanisms, synthetic schemes etc) and see if you can get up to speed. If not, go back and audit the first semester before you do the second semester.

You can replace that fear with action and get what you need.

njbmd 🙂

 

[chopstick1]

after 8 years, that's tough! I did org2 right after and had a hard time, but then org was my worst subject. do you need org2 for your pre req? I took it but didn't use it on app. I did better and replaced it with biochem. can you take some upper level chem without having org 2? at my school we had quanatative methods, chem statistics, chem theories....just thoughts and options. good luck!

 

[Bubblehead-to-MD]

Hi there,
Meet with the Organic chemistry professor and get a copy of the syllabus for the first semester of your organic chemistry class. Take some time now and review the basic topics (like reaction mechanisms, synthetic schemes etc) and see if you can get up to speed. If not, go back and audit the first semester before you do the second semester.

You can replace that fear with action and get what you need.

njbmd 🙂

This is almost exactly what I did! I took Orgo I in the fall of 1997, and Orgo II in the summer of 2001. To prepare myself for the course, I obtained the syllabus, notes, homework problems, quizzes, and exams from the Orgo I class that would roll into my Orgo II class. I spent about two weeks hammering through the above materials, focusing on a deeper understanding of concepts, rather than memorization. By the time I started Orgo II, I was up to speed with my class, and did not have to play any catch up.


There was a lot of memorization associated with various mechanisms, so I enjoyed the fact that it was done over a rather short time period.

Unfortunately, I can't help you out with the fact that you are studying for the MCAT at the same time. If you insist on doing both, I would focus more on taking practice tests than covering material for the MCAT.

Good luck!

 

[montessori2md]

I just finished Ochem I in a summer session (a little over a month). I was a history major, my last science class was gen-chem, I think I took it in 1999. Honestly, I didn't think it was that bad. Obviously, it depends on you and your situation -I had been out of school for 5 years, and my first exam, I studied probably like 12 hours (over memorial day weekend), the middle two, WAY less (maybe 4-6 hours per exam) and the last one, maybe 6-8 hours.

I have a full time teaching position and a two year old. I fled the house to study. I used EK chemistry book to review basic junk like orbitals, molarity, etc.

I'd try it, up to the date where you don't get your tuition back -if it's too rough, then drop it. If the prof is decent, and you're ready to put in the time, go for it. I decided I wanted to do the prereqs last sept, and waiting a full year to try reentering the classroom was just annoying for me -I really wanted to test myself, to see if this was a total pipe dream or not.

 

[Truth74]

It really depends on where you're taking Orgo II, as well. Check out the chem department at the school. They may have online portions available that you can look at without actually being in the class.
There are also flashcards out there for guerilla studying. I e-mailed the TA's for the class the semester before I took it to find out how much the instructor skipped around in the book, or actually used it. I also found out what his averages were for exams (43% was a B for the second one! 😱 ). You can also check at the school library for reserve materials. That's where some instructors like to leave old exams.

Truth74

 

[letitgo]

Thank you all for your replies. I'm going to cram as much as I can before next week and see how it goes. Worst case scenario, I guess I can drop it. This is my last pre-req so I just want to get it done. At the moment I'm deciding whether to take it at Bryn Mawr or Loyola-Chicago (I'm in a state of locational limbo here). Anyone know anything about these schools?

 

[Hochries]

I'm in a similar situation now too! I'm taking some prereqs at UIC in chicago and plan to skip Orgo I, since i took it as an elective in undergrad. I'll hop right in to Orgo II this fall hopefully. That is only if there is space for me in the class, or else i'll have to wait until the spring! That would be a damn shame. Shouldn't non-tradds have priority in registration? Anyways, i am trying to arrange a meeting with the chem dept head to plead my case and to receive his suggestions.
Here's a question for the group, Is January through April enough time for MCAT study full time?

Hi all,

I thought I'd ask this in the non-trad forum since I've already graduated and I'm trying to complete my pre-reqs. All I have left to take is the second semester of Orgo, which I'm scheduled to start July 5th. I took Orgo-I four years ago as an undergrad, and I don't remember any of it. I'm starting to panic. Will I be doomed joining the class midway through? How should I prepare? I do have an old orgo textbook I could read - do you think this will be enough? I did well in Orgo-I, I just have a horrible memory. Thanks for any advice. 🙂