What makes organic chemistry so hard?

Question

Next year I planned on taking organic chemistry to fufill my pre med requirements but from what I hear, the course is extremely difficult.

I was wondering what makes organic chemistry so hard? Is the material really that difficult or is it just an insane amount of memorization? Maybe a mixture of both?

And is there anything I can do to prepare for organic chemistry to make my life easier?

Thanks for the help :)!

Answer 1

Organic Chemistry is not so bad. Yes, I won't lie to you, the material can indeed be challenging at times and you will indeed suffer, everybody does. However, there are other times when it's not so bad because the rules for naming compounds are quite concrete and don't change too much.

If I can give you one piece of advice to take from all of these postings, remember this: pay attention to details! You will learn about 3 important reactions during your first semester of organic chemistry, addition, substitution and elimination. However, you must pay strict attention to details and what's being reacted! There are clues along the way that help you determine which type of reaction you will be looking for and so forth.

I personally really enjoyed the course and hope you will too. However, you do need to be an independent learner and take an interest in what you do and not just for "pre-med".

I hope that helps you out! Have fun with the course and use different study strategies!

Talk to you later!

Sincerely,

Andrew

Answer 2

Is Organic Chemistry Hard

Answer 3

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RE:
What makes organic chemistry so hard?
Next year I planned on taking organic chemistry to fufill my pre med requirements but from what I hear, the course is extremely difficult.

I was wondering what makes organic chemistry so hard? Is the material really that difficult or is it just an insane amount of memorization? Maybe a mixture...

Answer 4

There are a broad range of correct answers to this question. Before I go further, organic chemistry is difficult for some students. I do not wish to imply differently. Organic chemistry has two main areas, things that are static, nomenclature, conformations, configurations, spectra, etc., and things that are dynamic, reactions. You start with something and end up with something else. Reactions are the hardest aspect to conquer. For the static items, I learned if given enough practice, students would master those topics almost without my guidance.

This is a class for which thinking can improve performance. However, from answering student questions, I must also conclude that it is difficult because some professors simply make it difficult. Let me define the difference. Students that find organic chemistry easy are taught by professors that seek to explain completely and rationally all aspects of organic chemistry. As you learn, it is the principles that you will remember and are important in predicting an answer.

On the other side are isolated facts without meaning or significance. A student can try to memorize the facts in hopes that questions related to those facts might be recognized. Retrosynthesis is a current topic du jour. Students asking for help in finding reactions that can lead to a give product are often unable to predict the products of the same reactions if given the starting materials. That is, if a student could not write the products of a string of reactions working forward, then what likelihood exists for that student to work the problems backward? An analogy I like is that if you asked a student what two numbers multiplied together equals nine, the only practical way the student should be able to answer that question is if they first knew how to multiply and knew the numbers that gave nine as a product. As you might surmise, I am harsh in judging the teaching of those professors.

This was my experience. I preferred to use a book like Paula Bruice for organic chemistry as it was organized by mechanistic themes. I preferred that style. I wanted students to anticipate what might happen in a reaction because the reactions bear a similarity to others in the chapter. I found that by changing from a functional group based book to Paula Bruice, the percentile of my median student rose by five percentile points. I ended up writing mechanism worksheets that I have made into the book "The Language of Organic Chemistry; A Guide to Organic Chemistry Mechanisms"© at http://www.curvedarrowpress.com.

Using my book, I was able to raise my class average 20 percentile points on the ACS organic exam. I am currently editing the book for fall by adding more examples and trying to gain broader acceptance.

What is the difference? I found it counter to my teaching philosophy to introduce a reaction for which a mechanism is not relevant. It did two things, it implied that mechanisms in general are not relevant and it failed to extend a students ability to create a growing knowledge of reaction principles. A reaction mechanism is simply an attempt to explain how and why a reaction leads to a product. I am opposed to telling my class that an explanation is not important in a class meant to explain reactions.

Answer 5

Organic chemistry requires much memorization (like learning a new language). When I took organic I memorized reactions like crazy...and I failed the first exam. It wasn't until I learned that I had to work all of the examples and the end of section questions that I started to learn (and enjoy) organic chemistry. My organic prof used to give us exams that required us to outline a series of reactions to get to the desired end product starting from a list of available compounds. Simply memorizing all of the reactions available wasn't adequate.

Med school requires enormous amounts of memorization, so organic chem is a good course to do well in (not that you will use much organic chemistry in med school).

Answer 6

Organic chemistry is not that hard because they dont pay attention in class. All the materials are naming compound which is so easy thing to do because they give you many rules to name.

the reaction is so easy when you understand how it is really happening more than memorized the book .

you have to know what you are doing , my recommendation for you is not memorized thing. and please read the book before lecture and also stop hearing from somebody who says organic is hard cuz that makes you scared of organic chemistry .

organic chemistry is stuff you will study over and over every section or chapter
like alkane( single bond or hydrocarbon chain) , you have to name , and rxn
alkene ( double bond) , naming , rxn,.....
alkyne(triple bond), naming, rxn...

alcohol, how to make alcohol from alkane, alkene, alkyne, etc...

Ether, epoxide..........

the only hard part is enantisomer , meso compound , ... it is hard to figure out , but when you understand you dont have any matter with it.

IRM, NMR spectroscopy is easy , this is how to recognize the compound presented on you NMR or IRM graph.

Note: please dont memorized all reactions it is tons of reaction to carry with your allthe time, you better undertand how they make it not memorizing thing, you will be failed if you memorized cuz your instructor will not recommend you to do that, so all problems on your test will be different with your lectures ..

Key to study is not scared organic chemistry and if you have question plz bring it to your instructor.

the thing makes organic chemistry so hard cuz you memorized thing , what happened if you forgot reaction then you will be death.

Answer 7

Yes, it's the memory work that's hard. Unis try not to make you memorize too much, but rather, want you to understand the concepts. However, organic chemistry is one of those exceptions. Anyway, like all classes, just plan ahead, read ahead, and you'll be fine.

Answer 8

It is insane amount of memorization! The material isn't that difficult just don't wait to start studying because you quickly fall behind. I made cue cards to memorize the reactons but it is better if you know why certain reactions work the way they do. Ask your teacher to explain the things you don't understand it will help alot.
good luck

Answer 9

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