[Arturo]

Hello everyone,,
I'm a biology undergraduate who took an alternative course route that did not require me to take organic chemistry. However, the subject matter still sounds fascinating to me yet the overarching hatred of the class made me avoid it. This question has already kind of been asked, but none of the answers sufficiently explained what organic chemistry really IS in a scientific light or what makes it so universally challenging. Assume I have an undergraduate level of scientific literacy..

[spirochete]

After helping undergraduates for many years, I think there are several reasons:

1) To really understand it, you have to remember material that is taught in the first half of the course. The material is inherently cumulative. This is difficult if you are used to classes where each exam is testing an isolated set of topics. In some courses, this early material is taught poorly, or not emphasized enough (e.g. skeletal structures, acid/base chemistry, resonance, etc). Understanding this early material does require a certain amount of independent thought on the student's part, which can be different from other classes where one is simply expected to regurgitate facts.

2) The material is much more visually based than other courses. If you are better at remembering everything as a series of words, it can be difficult to change this mindset. When students are first learning the material, it's extremely difficult to remember all the words associated with each process, but remembering all the words is not actually necessary for exams. Professors may use all the proper terminology when teaching, and fail to emphasize important points as a result. Again, some responsibility also falls on the student to attempt some independent analysis.

3) The organization of many textbooks is less than ideal. The material is sometimes presented as a list of random facts, instead of taught as a cohesive whole. If too many separate topics are brought up too soon, it can be difficult to learn patterns and build up intuition. Textbooks should avoid bringing up poorly explained experimental results whenever possible.

[hypervalent_iodine]

In addition to the excellent points by spirochete, I would also add that organic chemistry initially has a very steep learning curve. There is a lot of specific jargon and a lot of concepts that don't always make intuitive sense at the beginning, but once you have a firm grasp on this it tends to get much easier to learn. IMO, it's very similar to learning a new and very foreign language.

[hollytara]

Spirochete and Hypervalent_iodine make good points. 

But here is why there is overarching hatred of the class:  In many biology and pre-professional course sequences, Organic Chemistry is a make or break class - a weed-out class.  So it generates a lot of stress. 

Students think "I will never use this as a..." doctor or chiropractor or .  But the diagnostic skills used in understanding organic chemistry are related to the skills needed to excel at these professions, so it has a natural use as a weed-out class. 

So a lot of the physicians you meet (the ones that made it) tell you they loved Organic Chemistry!  They may be lying. 

[Babcock_Hall]

Because it is so cumulative, it is important for students to keep current on a daily/weekly basis.  It is even worse if a student misses a lecture, because then the next lecture will sound like gibberish.  Cramming the night before is not as a effective strategy as doing work in between each lecture.

[spirochete]

Students think "I will never use this as a..." doctor or chiropractor or .  But the diagnostic skills used in understanding organic chemistry are related to the skills needed to excel at these professions, so it has a natural use as a weed-out class. 

So a lot of the physicians you meet (the ones that made it) tell you they loved Organic Chemistry!  They may be lying.

I've heard this many times before, and thought it myself at times. Sometimes I wonder if this is only an argument for making pre-med biology/biochemistry/physiology classes more difficult. Reasoning within organic chemistry is inextricably linked to a visual process of identifying patterns within pictures, specifically skeletal structures. This skill seems to be innate in some individuals, and others have a mental block that takes substantial effort to overcome. I want my physicians to be good problem solvers, but I don't really care if they can spot an aldol product in one second, etc. Sometimes I feel like an IQ test would be more effective than 2 semester of organic chemistry.