The official I HATE ORGANIC CHEM Thread

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pbehzad

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Well i just finished my first organic test, and I fu*king blew it. I mean its not even funny how hard my damn school makes science tests. Its like they dont want the premeds to be doctors. If i get an 80 on the test ill be the happiest person in the world. if i studied for any other classes the way i studied for organic, i would have a god*am 4.0. i dont care! its like they want to discourage you from being a premed by the way they make their test. i know im just gettin some steam off, so everyone else probably has similar hatreds towards organic, so please post how you hate organic too!

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Don't hate...participate!

The thing w/ O.Chem is that you don't study for it the way you would for other classes. I know it's easy to say, but don't be discouraged. Everyone does not do well on the first ochem test. Just hit the books again and PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. You and your molecular model kit (if you have one) should be joined at the hip. Soon, you'll find out that it's just a puzzle game. Heck, you might (I use that term loosely) even like it. Good luck...we all know you can do it. We all crossed that road before.
 
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hey, i grew to LOVE ochem. I actualy got a 54 on my first test, and thought i was doomed but you get used to naming and how things work and it gets really easy> i mean alot of stuff to know but once you understand stuff it is all the same. Just study hard, i did well in hte class despite a 54 start. I got a 97 on the final to get the grade i wanted. youll be fine
 
I love organic! It was such an easy class. And physics was a joke. I don't understand why people complain. Maybe you should just study harder.
 
Keep at it...I KNOW how you feel!!! :( I'm taking O-chem and Physics this semester PLUS working PLUS taking care of a child, PLUS...(need I go on?!:eek: ) We ALL have so much to deal with!!I didn't like gen chem that much...to much math. I am actually enjoying (cringe) O-chem! I am intrigued by the way things work, not by taking the flippin' square root of the the sum of the x and y components squared!! Yada-yada-yada!!! So abstract!!
Fortunately, I did well on my first Ochem test and just took my first physics test today and felt VERY good after I left!! The thing I'm doing differently this semester is reading the chapter BEFORE class and doing end of chapter problems...PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!! That's really the only thing you can do to learn the stuff...RRREEEPPPIIITTTIIITTTIIIOOONNN!!!!
Good luck!!! :love:
 
Originally posted by SunnyS81
I love organic! It was such an easy class. And physics was a joke. I don't understand why people complain. Maybe you should just study harder.

I hope you are being sarcastic... cuz otherwise what you said is pretty f*cking rude and uncalled for.
 
I'm not going to agree with the Organic Chemistry hate. I don't mind it.

HOWEVER!

I dislike the lab with a passion. :mad: I have absolutely no clue what's going on in there, furthermore, we're just playing around with a bunch of glassware, pouring one solution into another, timing it, evaporating it, etc etc. Am I learning ANYTHING?

Ok, I mix these two and there's a reaction. They change colors. OMG I'm excited!!!!! :rolleyes:

Not.

I like theoretical chemistry. I like learning the concepts and knowing how and why they work. I could care less about turning a liquid into a wet solid and evaporating the wetness.

So I waste 3 hours a week that I could DEFINITELY spend more constructively, accomplishing NOTHING, learning close to NOTHING, all for 1 credit hour!

Joy!!! :clap:

Argh. +pissed+

If I ever teach chemistry(I'm being turned off that notion lately) I would so run labs where we blow **** up. Things like that. I need a little excitement. And everything would most assuredly coincide with what was being taught in the class(unless it was me blowing things up for entertainment). :cool:

We have fire extinguishers, why not use them?

And that's my rant. :laugh:
 
call me a dork, but I really like o chem. I think if you go into it with this pre-conceived notion that it's next to impossible...well, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. I already knew it wasn't half as bad as people say, so I went in all relaxed, and I'm still relaxed about it.
Please don't put yourself into a pressure cooker.
 
Originally posted by SunnyS81
I love organic! It was such an easy class. And physics was a joke. I don't understand why people complain. Maybe you should just study harder.

Such typical words from a techy. us emoryites try to have lives. tech students are in the library 24 hrs a day (and im not talkin about the club across the street) so they can try to keep their hope scholarship. ;)
 
Originally posted by Pawnym
I'm not going to agree with the Organic Chemistry hate. I don't mind it.

HOWEVER!

I dislike the lab with a passion. :mad: I have absolutely no clue what's going on in there, furthermore, we're just playing around with a bunch of glassware, pouring one solution into another, timing it, evaporating it, etc etc. Am I learning ANYTHING?

Ok, I mix these two and there's a reaction. They change colors. OMG I'm excited!!!!! :rolleyes:

Not.

I like theoretical chemistry. I like learning the concepts and knowing how and why they work. I could care less about turning a liquid into a wet solid and evaporating the wetness.

So I waste 3 hours a week that I could DEFINITELY spend more constructively, accomplishing NOTHING, learning close to NOTHING, all for 1 credit hour!

Joy!!! :clap:

Argh. +pissed+

If I ever teach chemistry(I'm being turned off that notion lately) I would so run labs where we blow **** up. Things like that. I need a little excitement. And everything would most assuredly coincide with what was being taught in the class(unless it was me blowing things up for entertainment). :cool:

We have fire extinguishers, why not use them?

And that's my rant. :laugh:

LOL. that is the cutest rant I have heard!! Stay with it guys; I know it's tough. It wasn't easy on me either. In fact, I was told ahead of time that I would flunk it because I had barely passed Gen Chem and Biology (read: 2.0). Orgo is not some hard subject others make it out to be; it's more like a puzzle that you need to crack. You absolutely need to see trends in reactions; see trends in why certain groups behave the way they to.

One thing that helped me is doing each and every problem in the book and then going to the solutions manual and seeing how they did it. EVERY PROBLEM. It does take up a lot of time but when you actually do WELL in that class, it's an awesome feeling.

About Orgo lab--that can just bite my *you know what.*

I think all of you guys need a big {{{{HUG}}}. :)
 
Not sure whether I love it or hate it yet...its definately a challenge. I tend to love any class I can GET A GOOD GRADE IN!
 
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I honestly love organic chemistry; it's my favorite science class. Half the reason I love science is that it challenges me to think in a way that no other subjects do and Orgo is the epitomy of that. I studied a few hours a day for Orgo last semester and several hours every weekend and ended up with an A- (after the cruve-lol). Still, I understand the way it works, so it's not frustrating to me. I'm in Orgo 2 right now and I don't like my new prof, but I still like the material. So many of my classmates psych themselves out b/c they're so convinced they can't do it; I think that's stupid...just give it a try. It's really no harder than other chemistry classes....it's just different.
 
Originally posted by pbehzad
its like they want to discourage you from being a premed by the way they make their test.

Heh. That's exactly what they're TRYING to do, isn't it? Organic is THE "weed-out" class! My little university started out with about a hundred pre-meds (at least) and now we're left with eight.

Don't let organic get to you too much. The key to doing well is what Tweetie said: work on lots and LOTS of problems, and then when you think you understand everything, practice even MORE. Just hang in there. If you're really committed, then you'll make it through even the toughest weed-out class.

Organic lab, on the other hand, you should HATE with every fiber of your being. Ours were NEVER less than four hours in length, they NEVER worked, and no one EVER understood what was going on. And Biochem at my school is more of the same! They have labs that last from 1 until 6 or 7, and they usually have to come back later in the night or early the next morning to take care of something that didn't go right. I have a friend who's taking the class now, and he also had to memorize the structures for all twenty amino acids. Does that make sense? Aren't they in EVERY SINGLE biology and chemistry book ever written?

:) I hope I didn't completely put my foot in my mouth, since I know I'll have to take biochem in med school. But I can't believe it's as silly as the biochem we're subjected to here. If this is a typical biochem class, then I can't understand how there are so many biochem majors around here. :)
 
i have yet to take orgo, so ill take all that into consideration..
 
Originally posted by Cerberus
save yourself the trouble of taking it and just put a bullet in your head:laugh:

then ill never make it to med school.
 
i heard there's these little models you can buy and some teachers let you use them on the tests..
 
Originally posted by Pawnym
I'm not going to agree with the Organic Chemistry hate. I don't mind it.

HOWEVER!

I dislike the lab with a passion. :mad: I have absolutely no clue what's going on in there, furthermore, we're just playing around with a bunch of glassware, pouring one solution into another, timing it, evaporating it, etc etc. Am I learning ANYTHING?

Ok, I mix these two and there's a reaction. They change colors. OMG I'm excited!!!!! :rolleyes:

Not.

I like theoretical chemistry. I like learning the concepts and knowing how and why they work. I could care less about turning a liquid into a wet solid and evaporating the wetness.

So I waste 3 hours a week that I could DEFINITELY spend more constructively, accomplishing NOTHING, learning close to NOTHING, all for 1 credit hour!

Joy!!! :clap:

Argh. +pissed+

If I ever teach chemistry(I'm being turned off that notion lately) I would so run labs where we blow **** up. Things like that. I need a little excitement. And everything would most assuredly coincide with what was being taught in the class(unless it was me blowing things up for entertainment). :cool:

We have fire extinguishers, why not use them?

And that's my rant. :laugh:

Four hours here. Still just as worthless.
 
sorry guys, but I love O-chem! I even tutored it, but I hate PHYSICS with a passion! One thing that I have noticed is that most people either like o-chem and hate physics or the other way around. The way I feel about it is that at least with o-chem you can use it as background knowledge for biochem and other medicine courses, but physics....do we even need it for anything? so what if the ball leaves at 25m/s at a 30 degree angle? Am I going to try to figure that out when me patient has arthritis for throwing that ball? hell no! sorry for those who love physics, but I can't stand it, yet believe it or not, I did better in physics than in my bio courses, weird huh? anyways guys, best of luck with o-chem, it's not as bad as people make it seem. late
 
Originally posted by agent
i heard there's these little models you can buy and some teachers let you use them on the tests..

there is nothing quite like sitting in the room for the first Ochem test - the sound of EVERY student randomly pop-pop-popping the models for each question ...
 
Originally posted by Dr. Don
One thing that I have noticed is that most people either like o-chem and hate physics or the other way around.

I love the sciences...no matter what form it is in. Physics is so cool because it explains everything around you, and O chem (I admit I have an MS degree in O Chem) is fun. Lab isn't bad either because you can actually see and experience what you're learning in the books.
 
Originally posted by dpark74
I love the sciences...no matter what form it is in. Physics is so cool because it explains everything around you, and O chem (I admit I have an MS degree in O Chem) is fun. Lab isn't bad either because you can actually see and experience what you're learning in the books.

My poor boy youve been brainwashed. There's no helping this one ;)
 
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how can one hate organic?

it's such a beautiful science.
 
now someone tell me what cmpd is that?
 
If you hate organic now, wait till med school. I've been dreaming of my care-free undergrad days. Although the material is so much more interesting and amazing, the tests are unbelievably hard. And you can study your ass off, know the material very well, but still do poorly because phrasing of the questions is hard PLUS your tests/quizzes are timed. I mean, I'm passing fine and dandy, but it's kind of like this--Can I get an A in at least ONE of my classes (and not the stupid small group courses either, I mean a real class). And curve? What is that because it's been so long since I had a class that curved that I forgot what it means. I'm not complaining, I'm just telling you how it is. So enjoy undergrad while you can guys. :)
 
Despite the title of this thread, it seems to have attracted mainly people who love o-chem. Well, sign me up on the list of people who hate it. I went into it with a good attitude ("it can't be that bad"), but quickly got discouraged. I worked my ass off the first term and only got a B, and I just couldn't maintain that level of effort all year with physics and the labs for those classes. So now I have 2 C's for the last two terms of o-chem and my pretty pretty GPA is all tarnished (still a 3.75, but I went into the year with a 3.88!). I don't know if what people say is true, maybe I just psyched myself out. But I honestly feel like my difficulty came from the sheer amount of material we had to cover in a short time- when we had tests that covered fewer chapters, I would generally do very well, but those tests were few and far between in o-chem. Most of them covered so much, that even though I felt like I understood the homework while I was doing it when I took the tests I just felt like I couldn't keep it all straight and I'd get confused and make mistakes. From what I understand this is also one of the major difficulties people face in med school though (I've heard it likened to drinking water out of a fire hose), so I guess I'd better get used to it. It's strange, the other classes that pre-meds at my school seem to find challenging (bio and physics) were both classes that I got all A's in without excessive effort. I guess the moral of the story is that "difficult class" is a relative term and something that seems easy to some will be a real bitch for others. I'm probably going to re-take one or both terms of o-chem to make up for those nasty C's, maybe it'll be easier the second time around. Good luck to all those in o-chem now.
 
Originally posted by FLY
now someone tell me what cmpd is that?

9-hydroxyfluorene. (although, the Blue atoms should be black, but I understand that the Background was already that color.) FYI: black-carbon, white-hydrogen, red-oxygen, blue-nitrogen, yellow-sulfur

Any more questions?
 
Originally posted by dpark74
9-hydroxyfluorene. (although, the Blue atoms should be black, but I understand that the Background was already that color.) FYI: black-carbon, white-hydrogen, red-oxygen, blue-nitrogen, yellow-sulfur

Any more questions?

i'll know who to ask when i have problem with my homework :)
 
well just to give all you guys with C's on the orgo a little hope. my health professions advisor told me that she attended a conference once, and there were many doctors present who were directors of their respective departments. the doctor who was organizing the event asked, "ok, now who in here got C's in orgo?" all of the directors raised their hands. the moral of the story?: don't let one or two grades of one course let you down. if you think about it in a big picture, that C in orgo is just a speck in your path towards medicine.
 
Ok well i got my test back today, and i didnt do as bad as i thought on the organic chem test. the test was hard as hell, but fortunately i got a little better than i expected. who knows maybe after all organic chem can actually be fun!;)
 
Congrats on your test! :clap:

If there's room for one more o-chem rant... I'm taking Orgo II now because 1 of my 12 schools won't accept a semester of biochem. I did well in orgo and biochem when i took them... but that was two years ago! And this professor is terrible - Ben Stein from Ferris Bueller's Day Off would be a huge improvement! Our first exam is wednesday, and I'm sure I'm gonna fail it because I've already missed class 3 times for interivews (on top of this Very Boring Man deciding that "topics" aren't really necessary for his lectures.)

So here's the thing - I'm thinking of dropping it for this semester. If I end up not liking the only school that requires it, and I'm in somewhere I like better, then why bother? But if i really want to go to that school, I can take it next semester after I graduate, hopefully when Mr. I-Need-To-Clear-My-Throat-Every-30-Seconds isn't teaching it.

All of you out there who love organic, more power to ya. For everyone else - good luck!
 
i wouldnt drop unless you dont think you can get a A or B..

all those W's show up on your transcript I hear.
 
I agree...to he** with both orgo and physics
 
I must be sort of geeky but organic chemistry is the best class I've ever taken so far in my undergrad career. It's not hard like every says that it is...just got to go to class..do your homework. I studied like 5-10 minutes a day for that class. I scored an 88 on my first exam. Blah...Physics & calculus can go somewhere though.

Cya
 
Organic chemistry isn't "like" any other class you've ever taken and the way you study for it must be different. It's really a giant puzzle and each lecture you get just another little peice of the puzzle. The key (I think) is not to memorize anything but instead to understand the "whys". Set time aside everyday to study a bit, do problems everyday so that you recognize how to approach them when you see them on a test. O-chem isn't impossible, but it does require constant attention to detail.

As for the labs.......the purpose isn't to "make" the compound or anything else during the first part anyway. The purpose is to introduce you to various techniques in organic laboratories. Things such as distillation, crystallization, etc. I wouldn't worry too much about the particular compound or yeild, but I would worry about learning the technique involved.

Personally I kinda like organic....enough that I applied to grad school in organic chemistry! I just finished my first term of advanced organic and still enjoy it.
 
I think a lot of it has to do with the prof. The prof I had was awesome, and I loved o-chem I & II so much I took o-chem III just for kicks. (I was the only non chem major in the class).

I can see how some profs could make it a nightmare, though. Throwing endless reactions at you without ever really explaining *why* things happen... that could be he11.

-Naphtali
 
organic is for wusses. Take two semesters of physical chemistry with lab, and THEN come back and complain :p
 
Originally posted by DW
organic is for wusses. Take two semesters of physical chemistry with lab, and THEN come back and complain :p


Haha. Just take Physical Chemistry LAB (not even the lecture), and then try and come back and complain about orgo.
 
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