Start of the semester post: OChem + Lab tips

Hey y’all, former OChem lab TA and OChem nerd/enthusiast here. As we start the spring term, I know there will be a quite a few of you who will be taking OChem and/or OChem lab now or during the upcoming school year. As a former lab TA, I’ve seen so many folks struggle with OChem, which makes me sad, so I want to offer some tips as someone who also overcame a pretty steep learning curve and really enjoyed the class in the end, even though it was hard. (FYI, you might have seen me post a shorter version of this before as a comment in this subreddit, full disclosure.)

1. Go to class. Seriously, GO TO CLASS. If your professor’s explanations aren’t working for you, sit in on a different professor’s lecture. They won’t be offended - in fact, in my experience, they really appreciate your motivation to learn the subject well. This principle applies to office hours as well.
2. Read the textbook - but don’t obsess over it. I’m honestly not a fan of the textbook used in our OChem sequence; I personally preferred Maitland Jones’ (yes, I read the NYT article, and I REALLY want to stay out of that controversy right now, but the textbook was pretty solid) and Smith’s textbooks to be a lot clearer imo. At any rate, I focused on lectures more but used the textbook to give myself background and context (and to to practice problems). A lot of folks also like Organic Chemistry As A Second Language.
3. Purchase a stereochemistry kit. It’s really helpful to learn to think spatially. Even a secondhand one will do.
4. Problem sets: DO THEM. Every day. Keep up with them. Do them without looking at notes as best as you can. As you check the answer key and make mistakes (you will make a lot of them!), ask yourself questions to clear up the holes in your logic. Office hours will help with this a lot. If you’re in OChem lab concurrently, use those resources and office hours as well! Dr. Callam and Dr. Paul are super helpful for both lecture and lab content irrespective of whom you have for the lecture sequence.
5. Logic: You CANNOT memorize your way through OChem, contrary to what some sites/folks say (other than knowing what reagents do what reaction types). Active learning is key. When in lecture/doing problems/checking answers, keep asking yourself the “why” questions. Why is this a more “pushable” pair of electrons than the other options? Where do the electrons hang out in the molecule? What do the formal charges tell you about where electrons hang out? Where can I find open sites to react with based on that? It’s a very different style of thinking from Gen Chem.
   1. In particular: Get REALLY good at making resonance forms and ranking how much they contribute to the overall structure of molecules. Get good at recognizing which forms are really good, which forms are all right, which forms are okay/legit but could be better, and which forms are hot garbage/really don’t contribute much to structure or reactivity. Practice problems and discussions with profs/TAs are key.
   2. In particular: Also get really good at acid-base chemistry and the principles behind it. They explain a lot (with some modifications) about basic nucleophile-electrophile reactions. Don’t just memorize - understand it too! Again, tons of practice problems and discussions with profs/TAs are key. It is so important to master this before you start talking about reactions. Especially understand the relationships in the “Lucky 13” table that Dr. Callam has in the lab manual. Once you understand this “Lucky 13,” ranking-style questions/picking the correct nucleophile/electrophile for a reaction gets a lot easier.
6. Practice exams: Do them in an exam-style setting, timed. Do NOT look at the answer key as you go - that is the #1 way to cheat yourself into thinking you understand something when you don’t. Again, ask yourself all the “why” questions!
7. Synthesis/Retrosynthesis: Reaction flowcharts are probably the best to see the relationships between the reactions you learned in an effective way. I’m personally more of a fan of this
8. Lab reports: Start early and make use of head TA office hours. Talk to your lab TA and the head TA to see what the expectations are. You can’t “pre-check” your lab reports before submitting, but you can ask specific questions to guide your understanding of the questions/ideas.
9. Office hours: go to them. Even if you don’t have questions, listen in on other questions. Golden hints and concepts can be dropped during these!

Good luck! OChem can be hard - but hopefully these tips will make it easier.

Drop any questions below or feel free to PM me!