Organic Chemistry in a Nut Shell | Tips and Advice

Organic Chemistry (OC) for most, if not all, students is a challenging endeavor that is strenuous and exhausting. This is because OC is a different animal comparing to General Chemistry, where the former is based on logical reasoning and inference of general principles and diagrams, and the latter entirely on calculations. Consequently, OC is an uphill battle; however, there are ways to alleviate this problem: with friends and with different perspectives. In this post, I will give some tips that are necessary to understand OC to an exceptional level.

Tip 1: Look at the Subject from a different angle

Since OC is reasoning-based, so understanding intermolecular forces (and general charge dipoles and induction) and resonance structures are one of, if not, the most important factors to consider in OC. This is because reactions occur in accordance with the Laws of Thermodynamics with Gibbs Free Energy via reactive sites. If the previous statement seems like a jumble, don't worry. Review general principles of Enthalpy, Entropy, and their relation to Gibbs Free Energy (∆G = ∆H – T∆S).

Typically, reactions will form more stable compounds via resonance and/or induction, so studying/solidifying your understanding of bonding, periodicity, energetics, kinetics, and equilibria, will be your best bet to excel in Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry. Using these topics will allow you to look at reaction mechanisms and resonance in a different light to solve problems more efficiently and with a greater understanding.

Tip 2: Use Models or Online Programs (Some may or may not need this)

A major focus in OC is cyclohexane structures, which is tangentially important in biochemistry with sugars–but that is a discussion for another time. For quite a bit of time in OC 1, you will spend it on Newman projections and Chair conformers. If you do not recognize these terms, that is fine; you can use the resources on the website to help you in this area.

To understand these projections and conformers, using physical toys/models can help to comprehend the complexity with the diagrams you will be required to draw and analyze in the courses. You can buy a cheap Organic Chemistry Model Set on Amazon, and/or apply for a 1-year license on Marvin Sketch, so you can draw molecules with ease on your laptop/computer. The latter is what I use currently for more complex topics that arise in Organic Chemistry 2, namely Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, but the program is very versatile.

Tip 3: Repetition Legitimizes

This tip is quite obvious, but cannot be stated more often: DO PRACTICE PROBLEMS. Learn from your mistakes and corrections, and understand patterns. A major part of OC is synthesis, which basically means making a product that is tangentially related to a starting reactant. Consequently, you will be required to provide a potential reaction pathway to get your desired product. So, analyzing mistakes and recognizing patterns will be to your aid. You can get practice problems on free pdfs of various OC textbooks like Klein 4th Edition, and Tim Soderberg's Organic Chemistry with a Biological Emphasis.

Tip 4: Start Early, Be Consistent, and DO NOT BURN OUT

My final tip/advice for OC is to start early and not get burnt out. It is admittedly a difficult course, for which I started self-studying a biochemistry (BC) oriented OC Textbook (Tim Soderberg, cited above) during my senior-year of High School due to warnings from my IBDP Chemistry and Biology teachers. Prepping early allows you to recognize and understand concepts at a faster and greater level than beginning to learn the content while the semester already started..

Spend at maximum 3 hours a day (recommended to start at 30 minutes a day) studying OC and BC. This will allow you to start a process of memorization called Active Recall, which is basically the sum of short-term and long-term memorization. If you continue this consistently over a long period of time, you will excel in the subject, and other related subjects.

Concluding Remarks

From these four tips, you should be able to excel in OC and BC at a phenomenal level, especially with the notes I will provide on the site, as well as tutoring services. If you would like to contact me for questions or any services, you can get my information on the contact and book online pages.