What makes ORGO lab so hard? How can I prepare/do well in it?

[yalla22]

I took organic chemistry three years ago, did very poorly in it, hated it and don't remember a thing about it. Now that I am applying I have to take the lab section next semester to fulfill the requirement and am pretty scared about the things I have heard. I am wondering what exactly makes the lab so hard? What are some key things people have found that help them do well? Any advice or anyone in my position that hated the lecture?

Thanks🙂

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[awk]

If you hated the lecture you will probably not like th lab either as they both try to teach the same things. At my school (UF) the lab was fairly simple, we just had to follow the directions from the lab manual. I think if you are very careful to follow instructions while performing your various labs you will do well....even without fully understanding the concepts. For pre-labs and quizzes you will need to be familiar with these concepts..but they are not as hard as orgo lecture. Just learn your pre labs and do your labs well and you will be fine.

 

[EBI831]

i agree with the above poster. but i'll add that orgo lab is considered hard b/c it uses the most equipment etc that you are probably unfamiliar with and each step builds upon the other and its time consuming. ie you'll do all the steps up to a distillation and if you're fraction boils off wrong b/c of impurities etc and u try to recrystallize it etc you might not get the right crystals and then you'll get a bad grade in the lab when you actually went through the right motions but got it wrong somewhere in the middle. of course you won't know that its impure until like 3hours into lab at the final step. also the assembly of all these distillation apparatus and recrystallization crap is obnoxious too. all in all, i personally knew i suck at labs so i went slowly and carefully and got lots of help from the TA. but what i found helped most was trying to do the lab before coming. ie do the prelab but also research the in-lab questions online and find what the right answer should be etc. you'd be amazed at how many of these labs are just modifications of one pre-existing template.

 

[Erina]

Organic Chemistry lab at my school may come across as hard but I think it's just the amount of work that we needed to do for it that made it seem hard. A pre-lab and post-lab assignment for all 10 experiments got annoying, along with 6 quizzes and a final exam.

However, if you are willing to put in the time and prepare for the experiments by doing the pre-lab assignments (if you have them) then it shouldn't be too bad. Just know what you're supposed to be doing when you get in there and if you don't understand something as you're preparing before lab, ask the TA. Asking questions is always a good thing.

Another thing I noticed was that some of the questions that they expected us to answer were a little over the top...in this case, try to come up with SOMETHING that showed you've been thinking about it and then ask a TA or instructor for help. A lot of times they're willing to help, especially if it looks like you've been trying. But in order to do this, you NEED to do things early and not put them off til the last minute.

Good luck! You'll get through it and it'll be over quickly!

 

[szhao]

i took an honors orgo lab which meant no quizes haha, but lab reports graded to hell.

 

[corbis11]

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[corbis11]

IR spectroscopy, proton NMR, 13C NMR, and mass spectroscopy made lab exams horrendous, especially when you had to learn it yourself

 

[awk]

Geez I forgot about the Spec exams...start studying those topics now!

 

[KaraKiz]

I did well in orgo I and II (I was a biochem major so i kind of had to). As far as equipment set up goes, I was always the slowest, but I read the manual before lab and really tried to understand why we were doing the experiement and how it was supposed to work (boring i know).

At our school, it seriously seemed like they TRICKED you in those labs! You can't answer some of those post-lab questions, they are written on a level years above your capabilities. I got crappy scores at first on my quizzes and write-ups, b/c I was reading, doing my hw, and doing everything the way you are supposed to. Still no luck. My grades got better when I went to my TA. She even admitted that the questions were too hard and "helped" us work through them, gave us ideas to work from. Sometimes she was so annoyed at the lab coordinator for writing stupid questions we couldnt answer that she gave us the answer.

So I say the TA (who has all of the answers) is your best bet for questions! Lecture is completely useless, IMHO. Seriously, some of those orgo labs are not designed for you to get an A in. Its just the game you have to play. I know it sucks. Good luck!!!

 

[univscience]

at my school they grade purity of products.

 

[KeyLime]

I had to take organic lab from 7pm-10pm two nights a week because I was working full-time from 9-5. I do not recommend this. Mixing dangerous substances at 9:30pm after working all day is not good for your safety or your grade 🙂 My best advice is to take the lab at a normal time of day.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

I took organic lab 9 years after finishing organic 2. (I'm a non-trad refusing to repeat courses). The secret to success? There is no secret.

It's a mechanical class and not very intellectual. This class simply tests your ability to do busy work and memorize useless information. The good news is that means all you have to do is put in enough time -- it has nothing to do with intelligence and only with dedication. At least that's how my organic lab went.

Now if that sounds too difficult figure out who the fraternity brothers are in your class and make friends with them -- those guys always have copies of last years labs and exams. Hey, don't judge me.

 

[45408]

at my school they grade purity of products.

we only had that for analytical chemistry.

I thought organic lab was pretty easy.

 

[crimsonkid85]

I took organic lab 9 years after finishing organic 2. (I'm a non-trad refusing to repeat courses). The secret to success? There is no secret.

It's a mechanical class and not very intellectual. This class simply tests your ability to do busy work and memorize useless information. The good news is that means all you have to do is put in enough time -- it has nothing to do with intelligence and only with dedication. At least that's how my organic lab went.

Now if that sounds too difficult figure out who the fraternity brothers are in your class and make friends with them -- those guys always have copies of last years labs and exams. Hey, don't judge me.

doing organic chemistry lab is like doing any experiment in any field. some people can reproduce procedures and products as described by other people (or in this case, the lab manual), and others just can't. you can have two people following the same procedure that should yield a product in 85% yield, and one person can get it to 83%, and aonther person only 50%. just because you're just not gifted that way doesn't mean lab is 'busy work' and 'non-intellectual.' there is a tremendous amount of thought that went into originally designing and setting up glassware, and certainly there is an immense amount of intellectual wealth in a well-designed retrosynthetic analysis.

 

[Captain Fantastic]

doing organic chemistry lab is like doing any experiment in any field. some people can reproduce procedures and products as described by other people (or in this case, the lab manual), and others just can't. you can have two people following the same procedure that should yield a product in 85% yield, and one person can get it to 83%, and aonther person only 50%. just because you're just not gifted that way doesn't mean lab is 'busy work' and 'non-intellectual.' there is a tremendous amount of thought that went into originally designing and setting up glassware, and certainly there is an immense amount of intellectual wealth in a well-designed retrosynthetic analysis.

I'm not saying organic chemistry experiments can't be intellectual. I'm only saying my organic lab class was mechanical. Not once in my organic lab was I asked to design the experiment. The procedures were spelled out in discrete steps. I was asked to measure 15mL of this, 2.00g of that, pack a silica gel column for chromatography, reflux for 45 minutes, run an IR, etc. The things I learned in organic lab were skills -- mechanical abilities.

My lab final had questions like, "Draw and label a fractional distillation set-up." and "X and Y under go an E1 reaction, draw and label the major and minor products." and "Draw the mechanism for lab 8: The synthesis of diphenylacetylene from trans-stilbene." These were all things that were given to us in the course. We didn't have to synthesize any information. Never once was I asked to apply what I'd learned to a new situation, I was just to memorize it and spit it back out on the exam. And I'm sorry, but the specific mechanism for diphenylacetylene to trans-stilbene is the definition of useless information.

I admit I have a complete disdain for laboratory class work and standing around for an hour while something refluxes was excrutiating. Now if it's my experiment that's a different story...

 

[lilnoelle]

My orgo labs were pretty easy, usually you spent a period of time setting up your equipment, a short period prepping the expirament, and then a long time waiting for the experiment to finish. Our lab questions were also relatively easy.
I remember disliking lab, but finding that funny a couple of years later when I was doing it as a job.... at this particular lab we were told that well trained monkeys could do our job, all the techs were important for was the interpretation....
in other words, it just takes some practice. Be really careful when setting up the instruments and when prepping your sample and you should be fine. If that requires (or the school has prelab questions) time before the lab, then do it.
I don't think our lab even had an exam, though our the lab work was testable in class (no one took the lab and lecture separate).
I guess we did have a final. We had to identify a substance given to us.

 

[Merissa87]

at my school they grade purity of products.

Yeah mine too. Orgo lab is not hard at all, you just need to learn to master the skills to make sure that you have a high yield of products. This website www.chemhelper.com helped me alot in understanding the techniques. Make sure and throughly read your lab manual before class also and you should be fine...

 

[airshad8]

Thought Orgo lab was really easy. It was much easier than lecture. I have to say..it does help to know what you are doing, and having background on the stuff. For instance when doing MPs, knowing physical properties beforehand will help you waste less time. In my opinion orgo lab wasn't hard...just took a long time if you didn't know what you were doing, and messing up was a commonality.

 

[PhantomfanMD]

I took organic chemistry three years ago, did very poorly in it, hated it and don't remember a thing about it. Now that I am applying I have to take the lab section next semester to fulfill the requirement and am pretty scared about the things I have heard. I am wondering what exactly makes the lab so hard? What are some key things people have found that help them do well? Any advice or anyone in my position that hated the lecture?

Thanks🙂

For me, I just read the experiment a few times, went into the lab and got it done. It really wasn't that hard. The hardest part was answering the postlab questions correctly. Attend your TA's office hours if you struggle with the reports. You do have to understand what you're doing though to answer the questions. I must also say that it was quite a time consuming lab at my school. It seemed most of the lab was just waiting for some kind of reaction to take place or waiting for enough sample to be formed from a distillation or whatever it may be.

 

[Innuendo]

I took organic chemistry three years ago, did very poorly in it, hated it and don't remember a thing about it. Now that I am applying I have to take the lab section next semester to fulfill the requirement and am pretty scared about the things I have heard. I am wondering what exactly makes the lab so hard? What are some key things people have found that help them do well? Any advice or anyone in my position that hated the lecture?

Thanks🙂

I really liked Organic Chemistry, and lab was a lot of fun. Sure there were some mishaps, but if you are anxious and want to be well prepared for your lab then I'd suggest you do the following:
1) Get familiar with lab equipment and reagents once again before you start lab. Go to these web pages (really helpful):
(a)http://orgchem.colorado.edu/hndbksupport/ochemlabtech.html
(b)http://orgchem.colorado.edu/equipment/equipment.html
(c)http://courses.chem.psu.edu/Chem38/reactions/reactions.html
(d)www.teachmetuition.co.uk/Chemistry/Organic/key_reagents_in_organic.htm
2) Go over reaction mechanisms and how to write them correctly. As a suggestion, you can borrow/buy Organic Chemistry I (and II) as a Second Language by Klein.
3) Also go over an organic textbook casually; I love this textbook: Organic Chemistry by Jonathan Clayden
4) Go over the lab manual that you'll be using, and become familiar with techniques in website (a) above.
🙂

 

[sTriVe2sTitCh]

ochem lab isnt really that hard. things you should do are read the book, do your prelab questions, and GO TO LECTURE. at least at my school, lecture was key; basically all the prelab answers were discretely presented in lecture. if you read all of the related materials and highlight prior to going to lab, it should be a breeze once you get there, granted you understood everything you read. what was great about my TA was that he graded on explanations of yield, not on yield itself. i.e. in caffeine isolation from tea, product could have been lost to not fully squeezing out the teabag liquid after boiling, through improper filtration (clogging), opening the sublimation apparatus prematurely, etc.
anyways, just be prepared, its really not that difficult. good luck!