1.

Course Preparation
I dont really have one overarching strategy, and I wouldnt say that my strategy is
the most elegant or efficient, but I would say that I am getting there. Especially in the
beginning, in was more of siege tactics than anything.
My one bad habit (! with classes is getting ahead of the class pace, sometimes
learning all of the sub"ect during a semester brea#. $o, #nowing about the reputation
that organic chemistry had, I decided to run into the burning building, for lac# of
better words, and tac#le it head on rather than fear it. I guess you could say that my
first step was to get into the right mindset.
%e&t, I started early, before the semester started. 'his way, I was able to stay about
()* chapters ahead of the lecture. +hat I would do is pre)read the chapter to #now
what was going on, then read it again slowly and doing all of the problems. If there
was a word or concept I didnt #now, I would not move forward until I understood and
mastered it. I s#etched out "ust about every mechanism and molecule I could find. I
have noteboo#s full of molecules and mechanisms. 'his was a serious time
investment.
$o anyway, I probably spent about ,-).- hours on each chapter, depending on the
difficulty. / lot of this was time well spent, although some of it was wasted since later
on in lecture the teacher would emphasis certain parts while s#ipping others, want us
to #now about certain reactions0mechanisms but not even mention others. /lthough
my approach was not efficient, I did reach a level pretty close to mastery on those
concepts once I stepped into lecture. 'his allowed me to fully understand everything
the teacher was tal#ing about, and to as# relevant 1uestions.
2. Exam Preparation
/bout a wee# or two before an e&am, I would ta#e the list of suggested boo#
problems that our teacher gave us and would rewor# those problems for the
relevant chapters. 2eep in mind that I had already done these problems, but by this
point it was sometimes 3)( wee#s previously. /ny problems I had trouble with would
go onto a list and I would #eep rewor#ing them until they got eliminated from the list.
'he boo# 4rganic 5hemistry as a $econd 6anguage was a 789E help, especially
for I: and %M:. I only s#immed the te&tboo# chapters on these sub"ects, as this
boo# was more pointed and relevant.
3. Organizing Notes and Reactions
/ day or two after lectures, I would compile all of my notes. 5oncepts would do into
an outline form +ord document. :eactions go into my reaction noteboo#. 7ere is a
description of my reaction noteboo#;
( sections;
,. / chronological list of reactions with starting material, conditions, and
products. /ny reactions whose mechanisms were discussed in class have a <
.. / list of mechanisms
3. / list of reactions organi=ed by common starting product, i.e. :eactions
starting with /l#enes, starting with >rimary :)47, $econdary :)47, Epo&ides,
4&idi=ing >rimary :)47, etc
(. / list of reactions organi=ed by common ending product (retro! i.e. :eactions
ending with /l#enes, >rimary :)47, /l#anes, etc
'he reactions in lists ,,3,( are all cross inde&ed. ?or e&ample, hydroboration might
be listed as @.A in each list. 'his ma#es it easy to identify errors, omissions, demo
molecules that could be improved. Most of the molecules were ones given in lecture.
$ome of them used prototype molecules. I did this if I wanted to demonstrate a
particular stereochemistry concept, or showing how different reagents lead to
different products with the same molecule, etc.
My main study of reactions was with lists 3B(. I have found that identifying reactants
and products is usually pretty easy if you #now one or the other and the conditions,
but remembering all of the conditions can be a challenge, so that is what I focused
on.
4. Learning Reactions
+hat I would do this these lists is get a piece of paper, cover up all of the conditions,
and see how many I could write out on the paper. /ny that I missed would get an C
ne&t to them. I would #eep going through the lists, repeating "ust the incorrect ones,
until all of the Cs were gone. 'hen I would go through each group again. If I could do
them all perfectly, that group got a tic# mar#. 'hen, wait a while, come bac# to it. If I
could still do the group perfectly again, another tic# mar#. 4nce I got to * tic# mar#s
for each group, remembering all of the reactions was no sweat.
Me and a friend of mine traded synthesis problems for a while. I found that I learned
a lot "ust by writing them and seeing all of the different ways I could move functional
groups in . steps, 3 steps, etc.
'his reaction noteboo# has been an awesome help, but unfortunately it wasnt until I
was 1uite a way into 4rganic , that I figured it out. Detter late than neverE
5. Keeping rac! o" #ista!es
/nother thing I did was I #ept a list of every mista#e I did on every e&am. 'his
included conceptual, technical, and cognitive mista#es. ?or e&ample, I did horrible
on my first e&am, considering the amount of time I invested in it. I wasnt lac#ing in
the first two categories, but I made a lot of cognitive mista#es. I was a little too
overconfident, so much so that I didnt notice a lot of mista#es I made even though I
chec#ed my wor# a few times. /lso, since I wasnt used to how organic tests were
formatted, that threw me off a little bit. I made some really dumb mista#es.
'here was one mista#e I remember where the 1uestion as#ed to outline the free
radical addition of 7Dr to an al#ene. I figured that I would be a hot shot and detail the
mechanism, even though that wasnt as#ed for. /lso, I wasnt entirely sure how much
detail was re1uired when it said outline, so I decided to play it safe and prove that I
#new what I was tal#ing about. +ell, I detailed everything, e&cept that I forgot to
draw out the starting al#eneEEEEE 'his definitely went on the list. 'he moral of the story
was to learn from every mista#e. /lso, there were a few stereochemistry concepts
(particularly meso! that I still wasnt 1uite strong enough on, so I had to figure those
out, 1uic#ly.
$. %ina& 'ords o" (d)ice
/nother piece of advice is to not get behind and to try to understand everything as it
is presented. If something loo#s foreign, it must be made familiar immediately. 6oo#
stuff up, do e&tra practice problems. I have done probably thousands of problemsF
way too many than I would even li#e to thin# of.
I feel li#e I am a little more efficient now. +hen I go into class, I have still read all of
the chapter and have done most of the practice problems, or at least the
recommended ones. $ometimes, if I dont do all of the problems in a chapter, I will
do ones that are similar to the recommended ones, since they have appeared on
tests. I dont try to memori=e every reactions before lecture, since I dont #now
which ones the teacher will want us to #now. Memori=ing all of them would "ust be
wasted time.
/lso, I always consider homewor# to be free points in every class that I ta#e. 'here
is so much time and so many resources available that getting anything else than
close to ,--G is almost illogical to me.
let me first say that a ma"or part of the studying and learning in this class for me is
the composition of my review noteboo#. 'his is a 3)ring binder that I fill with notes
from the chapters in the boo#. 'he pages consist of careful and neat notes on what
was said in the boo#, complete with full arrow pushing mechanism, important notes
and e&planations, and everything else I found important to the readings. +hat I also
do is mar# :E/66H important words or phrases or parts of pictures (such as pi)
electrons to help in determining aromaticity for e&ample!. I also use a highlighter to
mar# the arrows in the mechanisms. +hen I fill the front and bac# of a loose)leaf
paper, it goes in my binder after the last one, creating a chronological in)depth
outline of the class material. /nyway, I say that you dont want to read ahead to
much because you might be going to specific or to broad at times. 'here are some
topics in the boo# that are e&plained to a different degree than how my professors
have e&plained them. $ometimes a mechanism will be shown in the boo# that the
instructor later said in lecture that we didnt need to #now. 4ther times he showed us
a mechanism that wasnt e&plained at all in the boo# (this was the case for
hydroboration of al#ynes for me!. 'o account for this and achieve the best review
notes possible. I read the te&t boo# with my notes from lecture ad"acent and
constantly cross reference while im writing my review noteboo#. It may seem
tedious but youll than# yourself in the end because, for one thing, you have
everything you need to #now for the e&ams in one place (which is important for me!,
and because the processes of cross referencing allows you to actually absorb the
material without you really even #nowing itE
'his leads to one aspect of my general strategy; #eep up with the assigned reading,
even get ahead if you can. :eading ahead in the chapter in preparation for lecture
was really helpful. In the periods of time between each e&am (.)3 wee#s!, I would
generally go through each chapter on my own around 3 times. 'he first time would
be a relatively superficial run)through, the second time I would go through and do the
chapter problems, and the third time I would go through and do reaction
mechanisms. ?or an overall study strategy, I would summari=e it this way; :ead
ahead, compile sheets of reactions and their mechanisms, focus on pattern
recognition over blind memori=ation, and try to get interested in the sub"ect material.
+e were e&pected to do all the problems in the assigned chapter every wee# (I,--
problems!, and we were given reaction sheets to #eep up on. Each reaction sheet
was either :eaction of (functional group! or $ynthesis of (functional group!. 4n
the sheet was drawn general reactions, reaction names, specific e&amples of the
reaction including all reactants and products, mechanism of the reaction, and side)
notes or comments. I have a pretty thic# stac# of reaction sheets now, since there
are two for every functional group. 5ompleting reaction sheets fully and on time was
#ey for me, and was probably one reason why I en"oyed and e&celled at
retrosynthesis, predict)the)product, and roadmap problems so much. /long with
the reaction sheets, we were given a .)3 page problem set for each chapter. I would
estimate that I spent around ,*).- hours per wee# on organic chemistry (including
reading, homewor# problems, wor#sheets, pre)labs, and lab reports!.
ynnenu
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