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/sci/ - Science & Math

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2369937 No.2369937 [Reply] [Original]

I am beginning organic chemistry tomorrow and I am really worried about how I will preform in the class.

Is there anything any of you did on the side to assist in making organic chemistry much easier to understand? The only thing I have done is by some self help books for the subject, but I fear that will not be enough.

>> No.2369957

It's not as hard as they may say. The mechanisms are not too difficult and, most of the time, when you learn one mechanism you learn all the others.
The only advice I can give you is to do all the exercises you can.

>> No.2369969

selfbump

>> No.2369990

You may have gone over reaction mechanisms in kinetics but other than that it's an art of its own. There's some memorizing but overall the stuff isn't hard to understand.

>> No.2370004

>>2369990
>>2369957
Is there anyway to help aid in the understanding of ochem? I mean to supplement it with the hours of studying and what not.

>> No.2370039

>>2369957
This, but expect to spend a lot of time practicing if you want to memorize all the mechanisms and synthesis pathways. Flashcards are key for on-the-go studying.

>> No.2370056

>>2370004
I don't know your background but I'm pretty sure you've done harder stuff than organic 101. Get another book if you feel yours sucks. There's software for visualizing 3D structures, some people have trouble picturing those. Ar actual balls and sticks and whatnot.

>> No.2370063

>>2370004
What exactly do you mean by "understanding"? Unless you want to learn quantum mechanics, you pretty much will have to go with "I trust what the professors and books tell me"...

>> No.2370071

Phys chem = understanding
Analytical = good practice/applications
Inorganic = understanding/rote/take-my-word-for-it
Organic = rote/take-my-word-for-it

>> No.2370080

I hate organic, I can understand it fine but I can't remember any of the specific mechanisms. For that reason it's gay.

>> No.2370095

I was pretty bad at organic chemistry, I hated it.

But if you're really motivated for it, the best way to succeed is, imo, one hour every evening.

>> No.2370112

>>2370071
Well, that's slightly unfair since you do do some syntheses in organic chemistry labs to confirm things that you're told.

At the research level, my understanding is that organic chemistry is primarily driven by a bag of tricks heavily informed by experiment, rather than theory. However, this is no less valid as a way for finding truth than starting from first principles, and indeed is more efficient (at least until we can build quantum computers).