How do you study organic?

[jetjesse]

I'm a non-traditional student that has been out of the loop for a while. The idea of studying organic again is very intimidating. Is there anybody out there that has successfully prepared for this subject after being "cold" on the it for a while? What were your respective scores? What are the best preparation materials and techniques?

By the way, this is one heck of a forum! I love it!

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[rsweeney]

Repetition, repetition, and more repetition. Nothing is more beneficial than doing questions. The two best sources for you to have are Kaplan and Exam Kracker's 1001 Organic Chemistry Questions-----> www.examkrackers.com

If you feel you really must relearn the material, and Kaplan nor any other study guide works, go to the nearest school book store, or book store in general, and look for an inexpensive lesson book-----Schaum's Outline for example or Solomon's (from what I have heard this is a great book). Nonetheless, everyone on SDN will agree that Kaplan and Exam Krackers are the way to go.

 

[critterbug]

I must agree about the 1001 examcrackers. I am on question 900 in the General Chemistry and have worked quite a bit of problems on the OCHEM examkrackers 1001 questions. I think the general chemsitry has some problems that you can obviosly skip, but for the most part, theyare relevant to the DAT and give you a firm grasp on the concept. SO far the Organic questions are GREAT. I recommend them both, but the OCHEM 1001 is a must have.

 

[jetjesse]

Thanks for the great advice!
By the way, are you guys memorizing the reactions or studying the mechanisms, too. How important are the mechanisms on the DAT.

Also, I'm a little confused on what makes a good nucleophile in SN2 vs. SN1. I saw a post in the MCAT forum on this and it confused me even more. Is there an organic guru out there?

 

[Balki]

There are certain mechanism that seem to appear over and over on DATs.

Markovnikof --- AntiMarkovnikof
Radical= this will include the 3 stages, make sure you understand which is what
Additions to carbonyl groups and additions to benzene ring. Even though there is not much about the resonance of aromatics.

Now about Sn1 versus Sn2
For a Sn2 you need a good nucleophile that is not a good base. This is to avoid E2. However, often a good nucleophile is a good base so E2 and Sn2 compete.

Sn1 or (salvolisis) is optimized by polar protic solvents and nucleophiles must be bulky. This is because in Sn2 remember the nucleophile must actually go close to a molecule and form a tetrahedral intermediate. In Sn1 this is not required. So here is the summary:

Sn1
substituted substrate. Bulky nuclephiles and Protic polar solvents

Sn2
unsubstituted substrate, Good nucleophile that is not a good base. Polar Aprotic solvents.
Just a quick note when you see H+ that most likely means an Sn1 or E1 mechanism.

I hope this helps. The mechanism i mentioned might seem hard to memorize. but you know them then you don't have to memorize the reactions.
Good luck.

 

[rsweeney]

To add to that:

You will generally be stuck trying to decide between Sn2 and E2
when you have a secondary alkyl halide. In this case, if the reagent is an anion (CH3O-) then E2 wins. Even if the reagent is as such (picture these two over the arrow: ----- {CH3O-, CH3CH2OH}----------> ) E2 still wins. Whenever there is an anion, E2 wins. The key is that E2 = stronger base needed.

If it is not an anion then Sn2 wins (CH3OH) with a secondary alkyl halide.


You can tell that E1, and not Sn1, will occur when an acid is over the arrow (H+ or H2SO4). In contrast, Sn1 will occur with a bulky substrate and a polar protic solvent, as Balki stated, and bada bing you get a racemic mixture with solvolysis (Sn1).

 

[jetjesse]

That really helps. I think I'm straight on the matter.

By the way, has anybody used OrgoCards by Barrons? They are note cards with all the reactions and mechanisms designed originally for the MCAT. I was wondering if they had too much information for the DAT.

Does anybody know how the MCAT and the DAT organic sections compare?

Thanks again!

 

[Dentaldreams]

I went ahead and ordered the Orgo Exam Krackers, and got it a few days ago..im at about number 400...but I was noticing it seemed A LOT easier then the kaplan orgo subject tests...
for those of you who have taken the DAT and used exam krackers orgo..did you find that the questiong in krackers were of the same difficulty as those on the exam?

thank you for all the help !

-N

 

[rsweeney]

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for those of you who have taken the DAT and used exam krackers orgo..did you find that the questiong in krackers were of the same difficulty as those on the exam?
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ABSOLUTELY---Exam Krackers is right on!

 

[jetjesse]

I don't know how good examkrackers 1001 for organic reflects the questions found on the DAT, but I jumped on the bandwagon and ordered it today. I also ordered the chemistry version. I've read the Kaplan book twice, but the organic section just once. I will be rereading and memorizing reactions over the weekend just in time to use examkrackers next week. Hopefully, it will help.

By the way, does anybody have an opinion about U. of Connecticut? How hard is it to get into U. of Colorado if you aren't in a WICHE state?
Thanks.

 

[ItsGavinC]

As far as organic goes, my number 1 study tip was this: look for the BY-PRODUCT that is made. Ignore the organic portion of the reaction and notice what else is made in the reaction.

I'll let you mull that over a little bit.

Using that as my guide, I learned that organic was my favorite subject in school. I got As in all my organic classes, and scored very well in the organic section on the DAT without studying a single hour.