[rxstudy]

Hi guys,

This is my first time posting so please forgive me if I don't follow the forum rules completely.

I am a second year at Ohio State (notorious for its difficult organic chemistry) and currently on the homestretch of organic chemistry two. Last semester, I took organic chemistry one with one of the "hardest o chem professors" and managed to get a B- in the class (with the curve). He was "difficult," but I found his class much more structured with practice problems and lecture overall.

This semester has been a little different and I have a professor who is in his second year teaching. He is really passionate, but sometimes very hard to follow. My TA isn't has helpful this semester and I am struggling to even pass the class this semester. Neither are as responsive as my first professor/TA. I have gotten busy this semester, but I've had trouble knowing what to do in my free time studying. He doesn't have problem sets and I can't follow the textbook too well. I have the David Klein "O Chem as a Second Language" book but I have found it far too simple in comparison.

I have a little over a week to spend studying on organic chemistry two and just wanted to know what are your suggestions to study the reactions and reagents (sometimes he uses reagents that aren't in the textbook and I fail to even recognize what reaction he's trying to make us do). And how to take this a step further so I can prepare for whatever random reaction he has planned. Also tips for retro synthesis/synthesis in general.

Thanks for reading this and I hope to hear from you guys soon!

[orgo814]

The way I studied for organic chemistry (back in the day) was by doing as many practice problems as I possibly could. Practice is what makes perfect in a class like organic chem... it allows you to become confident enough to work through problems independently, which you’ll need to be able to do for exams. I know that some people used to make index cards for each reagent or reaction but most of these students still did poorly- the problem with this method is it mostly leads to students just memorizing without understanding and they do not acquire the confidence to approach problems independently on exams. If your teacher doesn’t have a list of suggested problems on the syllabus, you could ask him/her or just do problems at random at the end of each chapter. A lot of times the books come with a solutions manual so you can check your answers. Hope this helps and good luck!