Organic Chemistry over the Summer

[spiff711]

Hey guys,

I have a quick question.
I signed up to take Organic over the summer trying to get in all the pre-reqs for a 2+4 Pharm-D program. I would really like to do well in this class and was wondering is there anything I should review or any good study habits or methods I can use to ace this class. I'm currently enrolled in Gen. Chem II and taking a good amount of hours, so I don't have too much time to study for a class I'm not currently enrolled in.

I checked out ratemyprofessor.com and my professor seems like a real treat... so that has got me pretty worried. Any study strategies that worked well for you in Organic Chem?

Thanks for the time, I really appreciate it.

 

[chemisttree]

Read the chapter the prof is covering before you go to class. Sit up front.
Flashcards are your friend.

 

[scorpion990]

Taking organic chemistry over the summer is generally a bad idea... You can do well in it, but you probably won't learn much... Organic chemistry takes a while to get used to...

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[icosane]

I took a 6 week ochem II summer course. I found ochem I a lot easier, but then again I took that during a normal semester. The course gets a bad rap but its not really that hard. To do well just do a lot of problems. If you study everything in lecture and read the text but wait until a few days before the test to start doing problems you'll struggle. The hard thing in Ochem I is predicting what type of reaction is going to take place (sn1,sn2,e1,e2). Memorize a little table that gives general guidelines for what type of reaction will go down, understand why, and know all the exceptions. Even after this your bound to make mistakes because there are so many things to consider for each reaction. Get a separate notebook for homework problems and write what you did wrong in the margin. Keep track of what problems you got wrong and try them again a few days later to see if you learned from your mistakes.