I guess I wrote this in response to a post below regarding good ways to study organic chemistry. I guess different people have different ways, and different methods that they use depending upon their level of interest in the subject, whether they are just studying to pass exams, or whether they are studying to get a broad knowledge of organic chemistry. I'd say for starters that there are two ways to study academically,...both ways work,..but one of them is impractical.
At the end of the day, in academia, passing exams is all that counts. You may know your subject,. but you won't be an organic chemist unless you pass your exams.
The two ways are:
1) Make the Bricks to Build the Wall
This method is what I would call the linear thinker's method. It's very rigourous and essentially what you do is you study a subject page by page (e.g. percicyclic reactions), memorising, re-writing, and understanding all the concepts and not moving on to the next page or reaction until you fully understand the last. The mindset here is basically a case of "I won't move on until I have perfected the part I am working on because I am a perfectionist and don't want to lose any marks". This is a great way to be an amazing theoretician. Of course,. once you have finished re-writing your lecture notes to perfection with your special pen and special chemistry rulers, you have about 3 days left to do a shitload of past papers before the exam. So, in a panic, you put pen to paper and start writing and solving problems, and realise that you're learning more doing this and referring to your notes when you need to, than by doing things in such a perfectionist manner. The result is that you don't perform in your exams to your full potential because you simply haven't spent enough time trying to solve problems creatively and logically.
2) Forget the Bricks,..just Build the Bloody Wall and the Bricks will take care of themselves.
Erm,. not much to this really. All you do is you start working on problems and force yourself to do this to a strict timetable. If you need to, you refer to your lecture notes or textbook where required. Work lots and lots of problems and you'll be a much better organic chemist. The theory and understanding will take care of itself. Don't give yourself the limitation of saying "Oh, I can't attempt the problem until I understand what I am doing". That may seem illogical to some,..but it's not.
I'm sure there will be lots of perfectionists out there that totally disregard this advice.
I learned the hard way too.
Del.
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Topic: How to be Good at Organic Chemistry (Read 7683 times)