Tips on Surviving Organic Chem

[jg2021]

I have just finished my second semester of undergrad, hating gen chem all the way. I am more of a memorization person and the number of concepts frustrated me a bit. I'll be taking orgo, along with stats, microbio, genetics, and phys next year (split up over two semesters of course with a few gen eds thrown in). I have heard terrible things about orgo, but I am trying to go in with a mindset more on the positive side. Any advice on how to conquer orgo?

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[pug49]

I wrote my own study guides to help with memorization. Also for the midterms and finals I studied with a friend and we would cover the whiteboard / chalkboard with mechanisms when doing practice problems. Helps to drill down the mechanisms

 

[Oso]

I know you said you're not much of a concepts person, but I found orgo to be very heavy on concepts. You can make this a good or a bad thing. I remember plenty of students who really just tried to memorize things and look for patterns and stuff .. and they did not do too well. You NEED to understand the fundamental concepts. On my exams, at least, there were conceptual questions and weird problems that you could only solve if you actually applied those fundamental concepts (in addition to more straight forward problems). Luckily, once you get a good understanding the concepts, you'll see a lot of it kind of builds on itself. It's also nice to have a little less to memorize when you'll have other memorization heavy courses like microbio and genetics.

My advice to you: EMBRACE THE CONCEPTUAL THINGS -> prosper.

 

[LiFre]

I hated gen chem (my only B in college). Orgo is totally different so don't be afraid! It's kind of fun, like solving puzzles. I think it caters to people that just like to memorize too. Memorize the mechanisms and then practice applying them in as many situations as you can.

 

[IdkwhatIshouldput]

Orgo is honestly not that bad, (it was my first A- in college tho...). All you have to do is study a decent amount. What I found worked for me was 3x a week, 2-3hrs a piece. My ochem1 was much lower in studying which resulted in the A-. But long story short, you get what you put in.

 

[bananafish94]

I was an organic chemistry TA for a good while and have some tips.

The biggest mistake students make is trying to brute-force memorize their way through the class! It's very difficult to memorize your way to an A, and vastly preferable to understand the concepts. That being said:

Understand the concepts as you learn them. It's a very vertical class, meaning that you need the knowledge from the earlier parts to understand the later parts (e.g., if you don't understand charge stability, you won't understand nucleophiles and electrophiles or resonance, then you won't understand actual reactions). It's not the kind of class where the exams are completely separate topics and you can do poorly on one and then do really well on the next - they build on each other.

To understand the concepts, do as many practice problems as you possibly can. That's by far the best way to learn and to gauge how well you are understanding the material. You can find pretty much unlimited problems in the book(s) associated with the course, through whichever online system your school uses, and on the Internet.

Go to office hours early and often. Some of this stuff is really hard, and oftentimes it's best to have another person who understands it really well explain it to you. As a student, I rearranged my schedule so that I could go to the professor's office hours as much as possible, and as a TA the students who came to office hours were consistently high scorers.

When in doubt, the answer probably has something to do with resonance.

 

[bubba21]

I've tutored many students in organic chemistry, and these are my biggest tips:
1. Even though the beginning chapters may seem easy to memorize and get by, make sure you thoroughly understand them. Concepts like resonance, chirality, acid/base, etc. will be extremely important for the rest of the course.
2. Do not fall behind. The biggest issue I've seen is that students slack off during one chapter and never catch up.
3. Keep a running list of reactions including any particular notes about each reaction. If you learn the mechanism for a reaction, write it out on the list. Make note of any requirements for the reaction to proceed.
4. Finally and perhaps most importantly... Mechanisms can be very overwhelming. When trying to learn them, write them out several times. After each step, try to write down (or at least ask yourself in your head) why that step occurs.

Good luck! If I can do it, anybody can!

 

[GCS-15]

Buy the book: organic chemistry as a second language (by Klein)

 

[dr_kateb]

It’s not hard. Do practice problems. That’s it.

 

[Disciple of Sattar]

If most of your studying isn't practice problems, you're doing it wrong.

 

[lordolah]

Learn to recognize patterns. Certain reactions always happen the same way, it's just a matter of applying this pattern to slightly different scenarios. Don't rely on brute force memorization. Ask yourself "Why?" Why does this happen the way it does? Why is this configuration stable? Why is this one not? Understanding underlying reasons will increase retention and comprehension while reducing study time.

 

[deleted915153]

Buy the book: organic chemistry as a second language (by Klein)

^ this.

Got a high A in orgo 1 and have the second highest grade in Ochem 2 right now. Make sure you understand formal charges, acid base chemistry, resonance structures, nomenclature, and how functional groups react and you'll be at a great start. I would also look up the concepts on youtube after or before class before attempting homework problems. It also might help to ask the professor for practice problems, ours used to give us very similar ones that appeared on the exam.

 

[IdkwhatIshouldput]

Oh I forgot to mention... At my school homework was not graded (idk how it works for you)... This led people to believe they shouldn't do the problems. Don't be that guy/girl. If you don't do problems you're going to get wrecked.

 

[chemdoctor]

PRACTICE!!

 

[fishyscent]

First off, ignore 90% of the negative comments on the Internet. People absolutely love making this class into something insurmountable and scary.

DO NOT PSYCHE YOURSELF OUT.

It’s just another class in college. You are prepared whether you believe it or not.

Take it seriously, READ/PRACTICE the chapters diligently on your own, and move on with your life.

There’s no magic sauce and you don’t need one anyways. I remember being in the exact same headspace you’re in right now.

You will be 100% successful and fine.

 

[IsleyOfTheNorth]

Basically what @bubba21 said, although I'd emphasis:

1.a. Learn the beginning chapters (resonance, chirality, R/S, E/Z, trans/cis, etc.) so well you could do them in your sleep. This will help tremendously later.
1.b. The same goes for SN1, SN2, E1, and E2. Etch the chart (primary, secondary, strong base/nucleophile, etc.) into your brain permanently.
2. As @bubba21 said, don't fall behind. Be ahead if possible. The lecture should be review and not the first time you've seen the material.
3. Make GOOD flashcards for reactions. Use words instead of pictures. This forces you to both describe what is happening and to visualize it when you review the flashcards. If you can't visualize it, make a second set of flashcards specifically for that - "Nitrile - picture, Carboxyl group - picture, etc."
4. Mechanisms look complicated but they're really just applied knowledge. If you're studying hard, you should see patterns pretty early that repeat through Orgo 1 and 2. Mechanisms should be the easiest "gimme" as they're just memorization and you can pretty much just figure them out "on the go" if you have to.

Finally, don't underestimate Orgo. It's likely to be the toughest course you've taken so far by a good margin. Having said that, it's not uncrackable, just don't treat it like the other classes you've had so far.

I found Organic as a Second Language kind of useless if you're already using the main Klein book. Also: Do all the problems throughout the chapter - especially synthesis problems.

 

[deleted866694]

I was an orgo TA for several years. I'd echo a lot of the great advice above, e.g. do practice problems, focus on concepts. I'd also add:

- take the time to build 3D models if you can't visualize what's going on, especially with ringed molecules (I like this kind of kit: Amazon product)

- be flexible in your thinking when you're doing synthesis problems—the retrosynthetic process is your friend

- pretty much every step of the mechanism should make sense, even protonations and deprotonations

 

[Bloxorz]

Orgo has a lot of concepts, but you can get by in the class by memorizing compounds, reactions, and reagents. You will need a base level conceptual understanding to draw reaction mechanisms, but the bulk of the rest can be memorized.

Sent from my BLN-L24 using SDN mobile

 

[Jimmer14]

Honestly, problems after problems are the most important by far I believe. If you can do as many problems as you can and understand the answers that is so key for acing orgo.

 

[Papabless21]

When you practice, try to write out mechanisms as often as you can, even if the problem is not mechanism-specific. For example, if you have a synthesis problem, and don't know all of the reactions that well, write out the whole mechanism to help you memorize that reaction. If you know mechanisms well, you are less likely to trip up. This will help you practice concepts concerning resonance, formal charges, chirality, etc. If you can do mechanisms well, the rest is much easier.

Also, take it from a 2-year orgo tutor who aced orgo 1 and 2, one thing that I've seen that makes a ton of students trip up on orgo is their mentality. If you go in thinking that it will be the hardest class you ever take, and that it's information that you don't really need to know for med school, you're likely to have a harder time than if you were to have a more positive outlook.

tl;dr: do mechanisms as often as you can. Don't underestimate orgo, but don't stress out about it excessively. Premeds tend to hype things up to be harder than they truly are.

 

[PedsAttending]

I loved Organic Chemistry. Keep in mind that if you want to work with human bodies, it starts with organic molecules. You need to understand Organic Chemistry to understand Biochemistry. You need to understand Biochemistry to understand Molecular Biology. You need to understand Molecular Biology to understand Cell Biology. You need to understand all of these things to truly understand physiology and pharmacology.

I agree with others here: focus on the concepts. There will be some memorization, but mostly just focus on the concepts.

As we approached the end of our final Organic Chemistry course, the professor drew the active site of the enzyme trypsin and then walked us through the specific set of mechanisms that drove the proteolytic reaction it catalyzes. The lecture drew on concepts we'd learned throughout the entire course. I sat there riveted to the lecture, absolutely enthralled at this synthesis of prior concepts...and when it was done, I understood how an enzyme works. I was awestruck.

I turned to my friend sitting next to me, a fellow nerd, and said: "Wow. That was amazing." He could only agree.

Just go into it with curiosity and a willingness to learn and I think you'll do fine.