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O-Chem...what's so hard about it?

FleshLight

Diamond Member
Everytime I read a thread about college i always see someone say "O chem kicked my a$$" or something like that. Now keep in mind that i'm an ignorant senior in highschool but I did manage to get a 4 on AP chem. What's so hard about o chem?
 
depends on the professor.
For Orgo 1 i had a professor that specialized in Synthesis. On the final, the 50 point question was "You have ethylene. Now use all mechinisms you know of to create the Honey Bee Pheremone." And there was a diagram of the pheremone. Needless to say, i didnt get the full 50 points.

For Orgo 2: it was memorize 60 mechanisms, do some slight synthesis, know a lot about ring structures and how to handle chirality.

I never took Orgo 3 which was Nitrogenated complex ring structures and more.
 
i only took the first organic chemistry class (i was a EE major). the synthesis problems are similar in some ways to proofs in geometry or working with abstractions in programming. i didn't find it difficult. you just need to be able to see how to use building blocks to create what you are aiming for.
 
if its anything like bio-chem....

my brother got his ass kicked at UCLA by bio-chem it was his major. couldnt go to any graduate school after that, with such low bio-chem grades.
 
Organic is a TON of memorization. There are rules - but there aso so many exceptions to the rules that once your about 3/4 the semester in you can't be bothered to remember then anymore. What it turns into is reaction type X normally works on organic compounds Y, with {Z} expections.

The problem is {Z} is often HUGE (i.e. the reaction might effect certain alleyns, except those with 3-4 and 9+ carbons in the main chain. Why 3-4 and 9+? There is no real good reason.) Also stereochemistry for non-trivial compounds is incredibly nerve-wracking, and this is coming from someone who thinks geometrically.
 
P-Chem and O-Chem are annoying in different ways. P-Chem requires infinite patience, O-Chem requires a photographics memory. They both blow 🙁
 
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