Organic Chemistry help?

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I am really, really struggling with O-chem currently. I am doing fine in the lab because we work in groups and to some extent things make sense.

However, I am currently at Hunter College where there is 1 (yes only 1) O-chem professor and he is outrageously terrible (34 pages on ratemyprofessor attesting to how bad he is, that bad). I am basically trying to teach myself from 3 textbooks and a lecture series on Youtube but I just looked over a review exam he provided and despite studying for hours and hours, I feel like I understand absolutely nothing.

Has anyone gone through this? Do you have any tips, resources or advice? I am dying here.

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Specializes in EMT-P.

What part of o-chem are you doing right now that is troubling you?

Nomenclature?

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.

I don't really know how to help you if you've studied diligently out of three different textbooks and yet "understand absolutely nothing."

If you could pose some specific issues, you might be able to find some help here.

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Specializes in EMT-P.

In other words, there is no magic elixir to getting through this class. You take it one chapter at a time, along the way you seek help to comprehend and get through to the next progressive building block, chapter. Each chapter builds on concepts from the previous chapter, so best thing is to not get behind the 8 ball.

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I would suggest you get with a tutor to help you. Go to the school and see if you can get free help through the learning center or if you have to, hire a tutor. If a tutor can help you get through the class, the expense will be worth it. If you get a good grade, the expense will be more than worth it.

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We went from chapters 1 and 2 in the textbook to chapter 7 (skipping around). The 'sample' test is all about conformations, orbital hybridization, nomenclature, radicals. This is the first test of the semester. It doesn't seem very progressive but rather haphazard and so, yes, despite using 3 textbooks at this point (one from my first Chem class in which I received an A because it was taught well and the information was tested in a progressive manner, one from this semester and one from a friend), I am indeed lost. I am having a very, very hard time visualizing structures, I do not understand even the elementary bits regarding nomenclature and as far as orbital hybridization goes, after watching a rather riveting lecture on it twice (taught by a good professor, video series found on Youtube) I still cannot seem to grasp it.

Our textbook has many questions but no answer key. I have tried slogging through practice exams and questions online and I get 80% of questions I try wrong or just can't seem to grasp how to approach a solution to them despite having all this information at my disposal and despite studying the most I have for any science class thus far.

I was going to answer the initial question with 'everything' but seeing the other responses I elaborated a bit more. Maybe this is beyond me. I don't want to be defeatist because this isn't how I approach things. I am a fairly good student in fact. However, this course has me completely deadlocked right now. I was thinking if there were people who did well here, perhaps they could share how they did well. Were there specific sites that helped things click? Did they find a way to visualize that helped? Did they learn some method or connect things to some analogous way of learning that made things 'click'? You know, that sort of thing.

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Have you considered dropping the class, taking it elsewhere, and transferring the course back to your school? That is what I would do, if possible. If I remember right, the instructor of the online course at Ocean County College in NJ is an RN who does a very good job teaching the course. You should check her course out: http://www.ocean.edu. Worth it to get away from disorganization and out in left field instruction.

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We went from chapters 1 and 2 in the textbook to chapter 7 (skipping around). The 'sample' test is all about conformations, orbital hybridization, nomenclature, radicals. This is the first test of the semester. It doesn't seem very progressive but rather haphazard and so, yes, despite using 3 textbooks at this point (one from my first Chem class in which I received an A because it was taught well and the information was tested in a progressive manner, one from this semester and one from a friend), I am indeed lost. I am having a very, very hard time visualizing structures, I do not understand even the elementary bits regarding nomenclature and as far as orbital hybridization goes, after watching a rather riveting lecture on it twice (taught by a good professor, video series found on Youtube) I still cannot seem to grasp it.

Our textbook has many questions but no answer key. I have tried slogging through practice exams and questions online and I get 80% of questions I try wrong or just can't seem to grasp how to approach a solution to them despite having all this information at my disposal and despite studying the most I have for any science class thus far.

I was going to answer the initial question with 'everything' but seeing the other responses I elaborated a bit more. Maybe this is beyond me. I don't want to be defeatist because this isn't how I approach things. I am a fairly good student in fact. However, this course has me completely deadlocked right now. I was thinking if there were people who did well here, perhaps they could share how they did well. Were there specific sites that helped things click? Did they find a way to visualize that helped? Did they learn some method or connect things to some analogous way of learning that made things 'click'? You know, that sort of thing.

That material seems to be a review of General Chemistry topics? Maybe you could go back over your Gen Chem notes? When did you take your Gen Chem....did you do well then?

I only ask because if it's been a while, then maybe it might be better to retake Gen Chem before trying O chem again?

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.

I did very well in organic chemistry.

I didn't use websites at all. I used my textbook and a book of problems that had an answer key. I also used a model set so that I could build the molecules and look at them.

I started at the beginning of each chapter and worked through each one page by page making sure that I understood what was written in each subsection before proceeding on to the next one. I would regularly stop and - from memory - write out quick summaries of what I'd just read. If I struggled, I would read it again. I read each chapter 3 times - Once pretty quickly, once in depth, and then finally focusing on the more complicated areas. If I couldn't look at the section titles and summarize them then I'd read them again. I continued to skim several more times before the test.

This method led me to score in the 99th percentile on the American Chemical Society standardized final for o-chem. I applied this same method to biochemistry, analytical chemistry, molecular biology, anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, and pathophysiology... and received an A in each class. It's a lot of work but it works - good teacher, bad teacher... or no teacher.

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That material seems to be a review of General Chemistry topics? Maybe you could go back over your Gen Chem notes? When did you take your Gen Chem....did you do well then?

I only ask because if it's been a while, then maybe it might be better to retake Gen Chem before trying O chem again?

I actually explained that I received an A in Gen Chem which I took not even 2 semester ago. I did very well. It was taught in a progressive manner and I had a good grasp on it. What I explained was on this first test is not a 'review' of Gen Chem topics. We never learned nomenclature, conformations or orbital hybridization in Gen Chem. Did you? Maybe that's where I went wrong.

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I did very well in organic chemistry.

I didn't use websites at all. I used my textbook and a book of problems that had an answer key. I also used a model set so that I could build the molecules and look at them.

I started at the beginning of each chapter and worked through each one page by page making sure that I understood what was written in each subsection before proceeding on to the next one. I would regularly stop and - from memory - write out quick summaries of what I'd just read. If I struggled, I would read it again. I read each chapter 3 times - Once pretty quickly, once in depth, and then finally focusing on the more complicated areas. If I couldn't look at the section titles and summarize them then I'd read them again. I continued to skim several more times before the test.

This method led me to score in the 99th percentile on the American Chemical Society standardized final for o-chem. I applied this same method to biochemistry, analytical chemistry, molecular biology, anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, and pathophysiology... and received an A in each class. It's a lot of work but it works - good teacher, bad teacher... or no teacher.

Hm. Perhaps I just need to read things over more? What I have been doing is first going through my current semester's text which is a bit dense very slowly. I take notes. Then I go through my other textbook to compare what I have taken notes on and see if there is a clearer explanation. I still feel like I am falling short though. Perhaps I need to really hone in on the complicated topics and grind it out? Actually I like the suggestion of trying to write things from memory. I haven't tried that yet. I tend to take notes while reading and things just don't seem to sink in. A lot of my issues seem to be visualization. Thanks!

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I actually explained that I received an A in Gen Chem which I took not even 2 semester ago. I did very well. It was taught in a progressive manner and I had a good grasp on it. What I explained was on this first test is not a 'review' of Gen Chem topics. We never learned nomenclature, conformations or orbital hybridization in Gen Chem. Did you? Maybe that's where I went wrong.

Sorry I missed that info in your post. Yes, I covered all that information in my year of Gen Chem.

Oh and I'm lousy at visualizing as well. I did a lot of drawing and used model kits to help make it more concrete.

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