WordPress shows the blogger what search terms lead the searcher to your blog. One of the searches that lead a reader to this blog was “How to pass organic chemistry”. Here is my answer-
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Lamentations on Chemistry 
That’s actually bad advice. You should have said
[1] MEMORIZE MEMORIZE MEMORIZE MEMORIZE…WROTE MEMORIZE
[goto 1]
If you just want to pass organic chem than memorization is o.k. but if you have to do it anyway better to study, understand and actually be able to use it. I TA an orgo course in germany, the students that memorize and don’t understand get into big trouble later on… You want to memorize become a lawyer or a med student, no need to think there just memorize…
my 0.02€
Nice. Organic Chem was the first class that I realized (upon failing the first exam) I needed to actually study to pass. I remember many a nights spending 4-5+ hours sitting in the library working problems/reading/studying. It pays off though, I aced my last exam and the final to salvage a C+ in the first semester.
Hilarity. My favorite is getting tacos at 1am. Mmm…
I came out fine in organic, which either means that I was brilliant (probably not the case) or my professor didn’t push me hard enough. I’d say the course difficulty depends on the professor. Hopefully, you’ll get the one that actually teaches you to apply what you learned rather than outsmarting you on the exam to seemingly pat his/her ego on the back. One of the profs in my dept. would teach basic, low-level concepts then rape his students on an exam in an attempt to “apply what they learned.” My BS detector immediately went off when he asked them to propose a forward synthesis of diclofenac on a final. He never understood why his class averages were hovering around a 40%.
That said, a tenured, full professor once told me, “You can test ’em on anything you want, just as long as you let ’em know what you’re going to cover.” He pushes his students pretty hard, and the class averages work out to low B, high C each semester.
For me the key was “do all the problems”. I spent about a solid week doing all the problems in the back of Solomons when I took second-year organic. Doing so helped boost my marks in that class from a low B to an A (Canadian grading system). Reading is fine but practice makes perfect.
Strangely enough, though organic was always what came “least naturally” to me, it’s what I ended up studying (mostly) in grad school and what I got a PhD in. So there’s still hope!
1) Use the LCAO approximation for structure, electronics, and reactivity. MO theory is the anti-Pyrex. Woodward-Hoffmann after you are competent.
2) Organic chemistry is displacement, elimination; oxidation, reduction; condensation. Free radical stuff to decorate, photochemistry later.
3) Know your 1,3-shifts! Resonance and tautomerization – but we’re back to (1).
4) Synthesis is retrosynthesis starting with product – by the synthon aproach and functional group equivalencies. You cannot memorize synthesis, you must understand it. Know your reagents, then try palladium. Many people cannot embrace the flask. No biggie – get the Hell out of organic.
5) There are hugely thick compendia on organic transformations. Own some. Six months in the lab will save you an afternoon at the bookshelf.
6) UMPOLUNG! If it doesn’t work by any book, try it the opposite way. Synthesis is witch’s work (two steps to bullvalene, no reagents).
7) Know what you know . CR_4 is chiral
8) As is CS_4.
9) Syntheis is life. Everything else is waiting.
10) Embrace serendipity and the occasional typo.
And remember, a week in the lab saves an afternoon in the library.
I see the organic field as a total scam. You guys don’t understand anything. You just mix stuff, get a result then bullshit as to why it happened.Then you brainwash and brow-beat the students because they can’t understand a series of nonsense facts you couldn’t predict based on the rules you’re teaching!
Chemistry is more akin to a large painting, with pathways and nooks and crannies. Learning is nothing more than stepping backward till you see ‘the big picture’ the instructor wants you to see.
What are theory’s worth when they can’t predict anything?
Gunther-
I did just what you have said to pass my organic chemistry in high school! I really think that’s the only way for someone who is not a genius at chemistry since birth
Oh, Gunther. Come on now. It’s not that bad. Chemistry is very abstract. And, you can’t have concrete certainty in an area where the models don’t take into all account all of the variables. Perhaps your experience is negative because of a poor instructor or old-testament style grading of exams.
In “All the President’s Men”, Deep Throat said “follow the money”.
In organic chem, “follow the electrons”
All I had to do to pass my Organic Chemistry was to look real sexy and available to the lady who gave us the class…. got a D though but it beats learning all the carbon chains and whatnots
Are ya braggin’ or complainin’?
Haha! 🙂
Organic was easy for me because I went to an easy school. It actually made me become a chemistry major which was a big mistake because I blame the chemical industry for the mess our planet has become. If you could go back in time and shoot all alchemists and chemists, things would not be so bad today. From over population to product that never ever disappear. Thanks assholes!
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Hi Leroy! Next time you have a toothache, an infection, or a tumor, don’t use a drug to treat it. Take your ox cart down to the witch doctor’s hut and barter a shrunken head for a chicken or a pig to sacrifice.