<p>I would suggest just follow prof’s requirement and just work very hard. There is no time whatsoever for any type of additional material covering in this class. In fact, my D had to stop doing her other homeworks while preparing for Orgo exams, then just catch up. There is not much one can do to get good grade in Orgo besides studying hard.</p>
<p>eh some people in my orgo class finish psets within an hour of getting them…don’t know how they do it personally</p>
<p>do med schools care if you take organic during the summer? at your own school or another?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Not particularly. I mean, yea, there’s a difference between Orgo at HYPS and your average state school, but other than that not really.</p>
<p>^ I vaguely remember that some private schools (Is it Northwest?) do not allow their students to take some of the “important” science classes elsewhere. Some other schools ask students to get permissions from the school before taking the classes. Still others may ask the students to take a test at the home institute before they grant you the credits. But I think there are VERY FEW these kinds of schools.</p>
<p>Of course, the medical school will still accept the class taken elsewhere, so it may only affect you if you are a science major and is unwilling to take other substitute science class at your home institute (e.g., to meet your major or graduation requirement.)</p>
<p>BTW, there are no lack of students at HYPS who decide to take a few of their prereqs at other institute, typically at a local state college near their home during summer. Some may think it is a good strategy, but others think they just “chicken out.” I do not know adcom’s stance on this.</p>
<p>There was an article awhile ago in San Jose Mercury News talking about the fact that there are more Stanford students than University of Santa Clara students who are taking the science classes at University of Santa Clara during summer. It may be also because there are tons of premeds at Stanford but there are very few premeds at University of Santa Clara. If too many students are doing this, I think sooner or later these high profiled schools will start to crack down on this like Northwest, as it really affect the reputation of the schools when they get such a negative publicity.</p>
<p>Barron’s THE EASY WAY series has a great prep book on organic chemistry. I am self studying organic chemistry, and although it will never be a substitute for a textbook, it is a great book for explaining the fundamentals in a more simple and shorter manner.</p>
<p>My advice is to relax and do not study outside of classes / MCAT. In addition, Orgo is 25% of Bio section on MCAT, it is 75% Bio. Work hard in class, get your “A” and study semihard for MCAT Orgo, focusing on other material more.</p>
<p>^Study extremely hard for all.</p>
<p>I think the best thing to do is to just KEEP ON IT. When my friends got overwhelmed with orgo, it was because they let it get the best of them or simply fell behind and had trouble catching up. Some quick thoughts:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Go to class. Do not skip it. If you must skip class, have a VERY good reason. Wanting to sleep late is not a good reason. Being a little hungover is not a good reason. Nor is having a cold, provided you can get up and function even if you are a little tired. Chances are spending about an hour and a half (class time + transit time + getting ready) are not going to negatively impact your health that much. Good reasons = literally cannot get out of bed, unexpected family emergency, etc. If that happens (and I’m quite sorry if it does, because that’s hard to deal with!), find a way to get notes and summaries etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Get to know your professor. Contrary to popular belief, your professor does NOT want you to fail this class. Chances are, he or she is a pretty good teacher and likes teaching–otherwise, would not dedicate his/her life to it. Furthermore, if it’s a big class, your individual grade is of little importance to him/her. If you get to know your professor, it will be easier for you to ask for help and more likely that he or she will help you out in terms of grades; ie, if you’re close to a grade cutoff, you’re more likely to be rounded up. </p></li>
<li><p>Make this class an academic priority. Study for it most days. This doesn’t mean you have to be totally immersing yourself in organic chemistry and not doing anything else. It might mean going over reaction mechanisms for 20 minutes between classes and working on problems for about an hour later that evening. The 20 minutes might replace time you would have spent reading the paper or checking Facebook. The hour in the evening isn’t that crazy considering a good rule of thumb is to spend 2h outside of class for every 1h in class, especially for a class like organic chemistry.</p></li>
<li><p>Make at least 2 friends in your class. Bonus points if they’re about as academically motivated/smart as you, because then it will be more likely that the group of you will perform similarly (and thus not be overly competitive, just helpful). Sit by these friends if they don’t distract you. Study with them or work on problems with them. Having someone to work with will make studying so much more manageable–I’m not joking when I say that I met my 4 closest college friends at a study group for honors organic chemistry! Taking study breaks is much more fun too. </p></li>
<li><p>Don’t be afraid to ask for help. You (or your kid) are probably a very smart person. You probably excelled in high school and maybe even skated through classes. College probably won’t be like that, and that’s OK. It’s fun to be challenged and you’ll eventually come to like classes that make you think and work–the easy ones are usually boring. It’s hard to come to terms with not being the top of the class or having to work hard for a class you weren’t expecting to work hard for. This is where knowing professors, TAs (if applicable), and classmates helps. Let them help you, and in return be ready to help them too. </p></li>
<li><p>Remember that this is just ONE class. It absolutely WILL NOT define the rest of your life or the rest of your career or your GPA. In the same vein, one test is ONE TEST. It probably will not define your grade for the class and probably will not change your professor’s overall opinion of you. If the course as a whole goes whatever you deem to be poorly, or you don’t do as well as you’d hoped on a test, use it as a learning experience to figure out how to tackle academic challenges better in the future. </p></li>
<li><p>Don’t even worry about the MCAT yet–you’ll have spring semester of junior year to do nothing but prepare and study for it! Plus, if you’re keeping on top of orgo, you probably won’t think MCAT orgo is that bad anyway. It’s not a very big portion of it at all, and it’s becoming less and less as the test evolves. </p></li>
<li><p>Above all, like the others have said, find a way to enjoy yourself. I know earlier points on this list suggest taking this class very seriously and staying very diligent about it. If you do those things, don’t hesitate to reward yourself. You’ve studied 4 days in a row and don’t have a quiz for another week? Take the night off and go party with your friends. You’ve been studying all afternoon and don’t think you’re really getting much more out of it? Take an extended study break and go out to dinner with your friends. You’d rather go home for the weekend (depending on where you’re located) than oversee the study group? Go for it (maybe bring some flash cards with you?). The point here is that your sanity and wellbeing is very important, and your overall experience with this class (and college in general!) should be positive. If you need to do something to ensure that happens, go for it. Just make sure you return to your routines of studying and going to class as soon as possible.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Chances are, you’re going to do just fine. If you get a B in organic chem, so what? Your GPA won’t suffer irreversibly. You might come out of it feeling like a veteran (my friends from honors orgo affectionately call ourselves veterans of the 2170h class of 09), but in the end–you did it! Let me be one of the first to offer you a hearty future “congratulations.”</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>PS: Many of the things in that list apply to college classes in general, and aren’t specific to organic chem, in case you were curious.</p>