Starting Organic Chemistry at College

[euchem]

Hey all, have just got all my material for my 3 preferred colleges and am just finishing up some of the questionnaires they have given enrolling students, but does anyone else get or has got the daunting feeling about is this the right route the right subject or even college. it feels like everything was fine until i got these material packages and questionnaires. Has anyone else experienced this before?

[hypervalent_iodine]

Try not to be too put off. Organic chemistry has quite a steep learning curve to it, and it can look impressively daunting when you're starting out. Persevere. It does get easier.

[Genecks]

I hated OCHEM. It brought about me an extreme, deep dissatisfaction for modern education. Actually, a lot of stuff I learned after getting my degree has persuaded me to think that modern education (at least mostly as I experienced it) is very, VERY bad. I got no real good things to say about that there OCHEM.

 

However, OCHEM...

 

1. Curved

2. Lot's of memorization

3. See my blog entry on IR Spectra

4. Hit them flashcards

5. #4 again, and again, and again, and they should be in your back pocket, and again.... *slams head on table over and over again -- not really, but you get it*

 

I mean, curved, right? Why is it curved? Oh, duhhhh I dunnoooo, maybe it's because the instructor is a total #$@%ing ditz and doesn't understand what he or she is doing and let's some philosophical interpretation of statistics help him/her out. F'in sophist.

 

I think I argued with iodine (above poster) about some of this stuff before. There are conflicting views on how OCHEM is handled. I found the second semester to be twice as difficult as the first (so I recall arguing once).

 

Do more analyses on OCHEM forgetting with a forgetting curve to see how much has been "lost," and make the course way more relaxed. It's mindless the way I at least experienced it. The course seems to be jacked up because of the AMA and admissions restrictions. I think the barrier to entry is too high.

"try" to simplify certain groups (or branches of chemicals) to -R when making mechanism flashcards (discovered this myself(). Simplifies tons of crap.

 

http://blogs.scienceforums.net/genecks/2013/06/08/how-to-read-an-ir-spectrum/

Edited December 13, 2016 by Genecks

[CharonY]

If your main strategy is just memorization it would explain why it feels harder rather than easier after a while. Memorization gets you through quicker. Understanding gets you through easier.

[StringJunky]

If your main strategy is just memorization it would explain why it feels harder rather than easier after a while. Memorization gets you through quicker. Understanding gets you through easier.

Yes. Knowing something is not the same as understanding it. A good grasp of the principles gets you further... and it's more satisfying.

[hypervalent_iodine]

If your main strategy is just memorization it would explain why it feels harder rather than easier after a while. Memorization gets you through quicker. Understanding gets you through easier.

This was my exact point when I had this discussion previously with Genecks. There is a logic behind all the curly arrows, and while there is a degree of 'you just have to know it' when getting through the foundations of o chem (as with any subject), the reactions and mechanistic stuff really shouldn't need to be rote learned for the most part. Indeed, you're going to find yourself in a world of hurt if that's the approach you choose to take with it.

 

Edit: I believe this was the discussion. http://www.scienceforums.net/topic/54900-question-about-structure-of-carbonyl