<p>My 1000th post.</p>
<p>I took orgo 1 in the fall and am now in orgo 2.
Why is orgo here so miserable? No answers to the coursepack, difficult exams, and horrible exam averages. And not a single real professor or instructor is teaching orgo 2 this semester... all taught by "research fellows"....</p>
<p>If you’re in a study group my ask your leader if they have old exams and keys. Apparently there’s some resource for them they have access to. Atleast they did for Orgo 1 in fall.</p>
<p>The exams are supposed to be difficult. Without difficult exams, the A students and the A+ students sort of lump together score-wise. There is a wide range of ability amongst the students so this is necessary. Not everyone is supposed to get an A… only if you deserve it.</p>
<p>To add to that, this is a state school. Whereas the orgo exams at very, very highly regarded universities (e.g. MIT) are not easy, they are not as difficult either. This is because theoretically everyone there is highly qualified–so they aren’t trying to ruin anyone’s life. At Michigan, however, you have a mix of both highly qualified and unqualified students. To ‘weed’ these students out, and therefore make sure that people that get A’s in orgo at Michigan are considered competitive (they have to perform well during grad school/med school) and well-respected after their undergraduate education, the exams must be made difficult. In this way, students that get A+s in orgo at Michigan are basically guaranteed to be of a similar quality of students from the most elite universities in the country.</p>
<p>The coursepack has no answers because you are supposed to think about the process of the problems instead of trying to understand the answer. If there are disputes among your friends about what is the correct answer, each will have to explain and back up their own answer. In this way, everyone gains a better understanding of the subject. On top of that, during a test, you don’t have an answer key. Besides, the answers to the coursepack are easily available to students… you just have to know where to look.</p>
<p>The exam averages are horrible because probably 90% of the class is premed (maybe more). What does this mean? It means that many people with neither interest nor talent in the subject have signed up for the class. On top of that, some don’t put the time in. Therefore, they do poorly. Just imagine what would happen if they made diffEQ a premed requirement.</p>
<p>Furthermore, I don’t see why having a ‘research professor’ instead of a ‘real professor’ teach orgo is considered a bad thing. Research professors teach classes everywhere. It should be considered an advantage because they have lots of specialized knowledge in the subject. I don’t really see the difference between a ‘research professor’ and a ‘real professor’… both teach, and both do research as far as I’ve noticed. Finally, your statement sounds like it is using improper logic. I don’t care what the person’s certification is like as long as they can teach.</p>
<p>And if you think your exams are difficult, just be thankful you didn’t take Gottfried’s exams last year. THOSE were some tricky exams (but not unreasonable… at least, in my opinion, not unreasonable enough to warrant the 42% average 
)</p>
<p>“I don’t really see the difference between a ‘research professor’ and a ‘real professor’… both teach, and both do research as far as I’ve noticed.”</p>
<p>Ha…even though both technically “teach,” the researcher specializes in research, and sometimes lacks those teaching qualifications. I’ve had a research professor and they were terrible compared to the real professor of the same subject. I don’t doubt the intelligence of researchers at UM, but some of them just don’t know how to teach effectively.</p>
<p>Ok, fair point. I agree with you about that statement in general. After thinking about it, I have experienced that as well.</p>
<p>However, I’ve heard that Kiste (a new orgo teacher) is pretty good from numerous friends, so I will disagree in this specific case.</p>
<p>the thing is that they are not research professors. they are basically post-docs teaching orgo 2 this year.
and the 1st exam mean was a 54%… that’s too low, especially for the 1st exam.</p>
<p>Haha, i went on a tour on friday and we walked in an orgo class. There were so many kids in there and it looked like half were sleeping… You could barely hear the professor at the back of the lecture hall</p>
<p>lol. half the kids were definitely not sleeping. what time did you walk into the lecture?</p>
<p>I’ve even heard about orgo chem’s difficulty when I was a freshman in highschool. It’s because this one kid told me not to take AP Chem “because you don’t want to take orgo as a freshman (in college).”</p>
<p>my advice… take ap chem so you don’t have to take gen. chem. lab. (chem 125)</p>
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<p>You could of 'course just not take Orgo.</p>
<p>if i remember correctly the first exam concepts from ocrgo 2 were not bad compared to carbonyls and sugars. just protonating/deprotonating right? what made that exam difficult this time around?</p>
<p>I just spoke with a friend of mine last night. He got an 88. So I guess it is possible to do well on an orgo exam.</p>
<p>My tour guide said he got an A in the class, so its not impossible</p>
<p>i got an A in orgo 1 and an A- in orgo 2. A in both the labs.</p>
<p>orgo really isnt as big of a deal as people make it.</p>
<p>I’m not exactly taking but I’m an honors math major. I know a lot of kids from my hall taking orgo and I have done organic chem as a high school student. It’s difficulty is really overrated at this particular university and is not as hard as people claim it is. Agreed that it is challenging, but someone who loves science and in particular chemistry will look to enjoy Orgo rather than say something derogatory about it. One should view classes such as these as learning steps rather than just “working for a grade”, for that is not what learning actually is. Study Orgo with an intention of learning the beauty behind the wonderful science then you will truly love it, to say that “I can’t get a good grade” or “I just can’t take this ****” (which I have heard people say). Look at what you can do to better LEARN this subject rather than just complaining.</p>
<p>Orgo is very feasible, but I don’t like how answers for the coursepack are not freely provided.</p>