How well did you guys do in your first quarter of OChem? For those of you who were unhappy with your grade, did you manage to turn it around next quarter? If so, how?
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What Was Your Grade in First Quarter of OChem?
- Thread starter metalgearHMN
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people are starting to get grades back now.
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B first semester because it was very spatially-oriented, with a huge emphasis on stereochemistry and offhand I'd say my spatial intelligence isn't the greatest. A second semester because it was much more "pathway" or temporally-oriented, with a huge emphasis on reaction mechanisms and patterns in reactivity between species.
If I could give any piece of advice about organic chemistry, it would be to try to always look for the constant underlying themes of acidity/basicity and nucleophilicity/electrophilicity. If you TRULY understand what these concepts mean and understand which side of these two sliding-scales the species you are dealing with fall on, then it becomes 95% logic and 5% learning random exceptions to logic.
If I could give any piece of advice about organic chemistry, it would be to try to always look for the constant underlying themes of acidity/basicity and nucleophilicity/electrophilicity. If you TRULY understand what these concepts mean and understand which side of these two sliding-scales the species you are dealing with fall on, then it becomes 95% logic and 5% learning random exceptions to logic.
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Orgo 1
4-cr Lecture and Lab = A
Orgo 2, which was hard and completely nonsensical (is "nonsensical a word"?).
3-cr lecture = A-
2-cr lab = B (but in my defense the highest grade was a B+)
4-cr Lecture and Lab = A
Orgo 2, which was hard and completely nonsensical (is "nonsensical a word"?).
3-cr lecture = A-
2-cr lab = B (but in my defense the highest grade was a B+)
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I got an A's in Organic I & II. For whatever reason, OChem just clicked for me and made sense. I love OChem. It was one of my favorite classes. I actually taught it in an adjunct course while I was still in undergrad.
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I got a C in the first one and then got an A in the second one...
Keys for success that I learned a lil late:
-literally work a ton of problems!
-be able to draw all the mechanisms
-I had a friend and we would go to cubicles in the library and study independently but could ask each other questions if we had them and neither of us wanted to be the first one to quit studying!
- make a master list of all reactions- they build on eachother
literally I thought I was studying bond angles in Orgo 1- my prof was horrible no practice problems, office hours, etc... I got lucky and had an amazing older prof who would spend lots of time with me in office hours if needed.
Keys for success that I learned a lil late:
-literally work a ton of problems!
-be able to draw all the mechanisms
-I had a friend and we would go to cubicles in the library and study independently but could ask each other questions if we had them and neither of us wanted to be the first one to quit studying!
- make a master list of all reactions- they build on eachother
literally I thought I was studying bond angles in Orgo 1- my prof was horrible no practice problems, office hours, etc... I got lucky and had an amazing older prof who would spend lots of time with me in office hours if needed.
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Orgo I: B+ (underestimated the difficulty of the class, failed 1st exam, spent the rest of the semester playing catch-up)
Orgo II: A
Orgo II: A
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I got A's. The key for me was a portable dry-erase board.
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B-, a.
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1st sem = A
2nd sem = A
Not gonna lie, I studied my ass off and outworked everyone in that class all year...
2nd sem = A
Not gonna lie, I studied my ass off and outworked everyone in that class all year...
A's in both semesters but a B in lab. Orgo just clicked for me I had a lot of fun learning it that I am currently a TA for it now.
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Somebody posed a good question earlier. Why are there so many OChem threads popping up lately?
since you didnt notice my answer the first time, it is because grades are coming out.
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3.3 the first quarter, 3.7 and 4.0 the following quarters. I had to work harder the second and third quarters of ochem, there was just so much memorization. Also, I wasted tons of paper doing mechanisms, so like someone posted above, a whiteboard would be useful. Saves money.
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My bad chief!
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Ochem is like any other subject. If you dont do well then just study harder. I dont think that anyone who spends a significant amount of time studying will not be able to understand the subject. I think that the amount of time you study will be directly correlated to your grades
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Ochem 1: A+
Ochem 2: A+
Orgo TA 2 semesters
MCAT BIO w/ 3 orgo passages: 10 (motherfuker)
umm my secret? read book ahead of class....did a buncha practice problems...then set the curve...chuuch
Ochem 2: A+
Orgo TA 2 semesters
MCAT BIO w/ 3 orgo passages: 10 (motherfuker)
umm my secret? read book ahead of class....did a buncha practice problems...then set the curve...chuuch
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Ochem 1: A
Ochem 2: A-
Ochem 3: B
Ochem Lab: A-
BS section on MCAT with 3 ochem passages before I had taken ochem 3 or ochem lab: 11
Even though it's not nearly as hard as its reputation would make you think, I really hated ochem. Mostly because of the extremely high pre-med gunner to non-pre-med gunner ratio.
Ochem 2: A-
Ochem 3: B
Ochem Lab: A-
BS section on MCAT with 3 ochem passages before I had taken ochem 3 or ochem lab: 11
Even though it's not nearly as hard as its reputation would make you think, I really hated ochem. Mostly because of the extremely high pre-med gunner to non-pre-med gunner ratio.
i got a C in orgo 1, so i decided to retake cuz i thougt i didnt learn anything, then i got a B+ 🙁 (i know it suxs), then a B+ again for orgo 2, i just took advance organic chemistry and i got an A.
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I got all A's in ochem. The secret for me was a good prof. who knew what he was doing. I was really scared of Ochem and Biochem but I turned out really liking them both.
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I got As both semesters. Key: sit in the front row and pay attention. Thats all.
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I know someone that literally FAILED the first quarter of ochem that now attends the University of Washington School of Medicine. SHE LITERALLY FAILED IT! I believe she did much better in later quarters and also retook the first one.
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We need to make this information public at the top of SDN pre-allo for everyone to see. I think it would put an end to the 4 million "oh noes I got a B- in Ochem, will adcoms frown upon me and reject me straight up???" threads.
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I got an A++ during my first semester of ochem
I improved the next semester by doing a bunch of practice problems and trying to understand the mechanisms instead of just memorizing them
...yeah, you heard correctly; I improved my A++
baller
I improved the next semester by doing a bunch of practice problems and trying to understand the mechanisms instead of just memorizing them
...yeah, you heard correctly; I improved my A++
baller
