<p>Org. Chem is a PITA so I've heard, so does anyone have any suggestions to ace the class. Obviously the more time you put in the better the grade, but what did you guys do?</p>
<p>I know reading the txtbook and doing the chapter problems, practice midterms, etc. help, but anything beyond that?</p>
<p>Try not to fall behind. It’s kind of like math in that you can learn the concept overnight, but if you don’t practice it enough you can’t apply it to the test. I would rather do a few hours a week than try to study 10hrs/day the week of a midterm.</p>
<p>Learn the fundamentals as well as you can - the first half of 140a or so - because those concepts show up again and again throughout the year. Really understand WHY something happens and don’t just memorize and think “well, it’s a reaction in the book.” </p>
<p>Find a way to make studying for it fun. I liked to work out problems on a whiteboard and I used colored marshmallows and toothpicks for a model kit, so I could eat the Carbons after xD ochem can be fun! It’s all in the attitude.</p>
<p>cool, thanks.
should i buy the AS lecture notes too? or is it not really necessary?</p>
<p>And would it just be better to buy archive notes, so it’s easier to follow the class? That’s something I’m not too sure about (archive vs subscription)</p>
<p>Grab a couple hundred sheets of scrap paper (the recycling bins next to campus printers are a good place to start) and start copying reaction mechanisms over and over. It sounds like memorization, but after drawing the same kinds of transformations over and over, you’ll develop a good sense for what’s right and what’s not.</p>
<p>Like momosky said, it’s going to be very important to understand why things happen as opposed to just memorizing that they do. Memorizing will technically get you by but understanding them will aid you much more greatly in actually remembering and applying the material. </p>
<p>It’s kind of funny actually when people complain about things being “a lot of memorization”. And not just in this class but in others too. Every subject is going to require you to memorize things. There’s no job that requires a college education where every time you’re asked to do something you go read the answer out of a book because you don’t remember it (unless you think of one, let me know). Also, if the things you learned in some classes had zero application of their concepts other than the need to memorize them, those classes wouldn’t be around for long. As far as I see it, students have these options. They can either memorize the material and understand it, memorize the material and not understand it, understand the material but never study, or play Skyrim all day. This wasn’t directed towards you spatel23, but when astrina said “It sounds like memorization” it just made me think of it. Not that she’s complaining about things being too much memorization, you know what I mean.</p>
<p>Doing the o-chem reaction mechanisms (drawing errors to show electron shifts/attacks/resonance) might be a good idea. Typically it might not be entirely helpful for some professors (Ternansky), but some actually test you on writing them out! The most important skill developed out of writing the mechanisms is deciphering the sites of reactivity (where the electrons are!) within a given set of compounds, and therefor being able to predict what will generally happen in an ochem reaction. Though is far, far ahead of your 140A game.</p>
<p>As mentioned, 140A is the time to buckle down and master the fundamentals of organic chemistry. Someone who says o chem is all memorization probably got a B or just never tried to look deeper behind the problems. It’s quite a bit, but it’s as much info as a typical bio class. I did a LOT of practice problems. I really liked the Volhardt book and getting use to it helps. I would do the majority of problems, even ones that weren’t required. I would then note problems that just plain didn’t make sense to me and ask friends/TAs/profs. about it. </p>
<p>It would be nice to tie in your understanding of ochem with your previous courses with gchem, but sometimes you’ll just have to treat this as an enitrely different animal. Plus you probably didn’t learn enough in those courses anyways . Accept that you won’t be able to ace this class like a math/genchem/physics/other lower div without putting in at least some hours (3-5 per week is good). Here’s why, there are a lot of questions that force you to provide an answer that your intuition may just not be able to provide (close but no cigar type of thing). Just practice until you feel confident that you know the material and have memorized the ample amount of info to ace the test.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, wikipedia helps sometimes because it can read off a lot of specific reactions. Sometimes finding online sources of practice problems/tutorials can give you a different angle. Don’t have any specific ones at the moment.</p>
Is Orgo at UCSD easier over the summer than during the year? I know it’s a faster pace which is concerning.
@pepper121 I haven’t taken any summer courses, but the general sentiment is that they’re equally difficult. The faster pace makes it a challenge, but you also have more time to dedicate to the class since you’re not burdened with other courses or activities.