Hi guys,

So I've been hearing bad things about Dr. Harrison (skips slides, extremely hard tests) and I became really concerned with what the chem 2OA3 course is going to be like this summer.

From previous experience, does anyone have any advice on how to do well in this course? From what I've gathered, he skips slides so using the textbook is a must. Any other advice on where to focus studies to do well on midterms/ exams?

Thanks in advance!

stay on track with readings, take proper text notes, do many textbook questions, review tutorials prior to the test and exam and you'll be fine. Make sure you're strong with mechanisms for the final. Don't leave studying to the last few days before the test, if you're comfortable with everything just keep practising and you'll be fine. Help centre and tutorials are an immense help so use them! Honestly the text + tutorials are your key to doing well on this course, in the Fall 2013 final exam he snuck a part of a reaction that was talked about in tutorial and many people missed it and lost marks, so thats why review that stuff! Try to get a strong grasp of structure elucidation (NMR,IR etc.) because that can get you easy marks on tests (ask TAs if you need help). Hope that helps!

its a summer course. if you're not working 40+ hours a week, you have way more than enough time to keep up with the course. he isnt a bad prof imo anyways. tons of people do well in his courses.

Thanks guys! That really helped. I just started freaking out as many people were complaining that the course was extremely hard and midterms/ exams were "impossible".

Personally, I don't think he's a good teacher

1) I took it with him in the summer and he literally crammed chapter 9 (addition rxn to alkynes) in 2.5 hours of lecture, while he spent almost an entire month reviewing material from chem 1AA3. I wrote a letter to him explaining why this arrangement was ridiculous and he wrote back informing me that people need a good ground in CHEM 1AA3 before delving into more complicated orgo. Fine, but expect that he will rush some difficult concepts. Yes, he is notorious for skipping slides.
2) His exam was difficult, but I don't feel this is a valid qualm against the prof. The class average for us was 55% with about 20 students scoring above 80 on the final. It's hard but not impossible if you're detail-oriented, practice structure determination (NMR/IR stuff is very important) and reaction mechanisms really well.

Originally Posted by Chipmunk

Personally, I don't think he's a good teacher

1) I took it with him in the summer and he literally crammed chapter 9 (addition rxn to alkynes) in 2.5 hours of lecture, while he spent almost an entire month reviewing material from chem 1AA3. I wrote a letter to him explaining why this arrangement was ridiculous and he wrote back informing me that people need a good ground in CHEM 1AA3 before delving into more complicated orgo. Fine, but expect that he will rush some difficult concepts. Yes, he is notorious for skipping slides.
2) His exam was difficult, but I don't feel this is a valid qualm against the prof. The class average for us was 55% with about 20 students scoring above 80 on the final. It's hard but not impossible if you're detail-oriented, practice structure determination (NMR/IR stuff is very important) and reaction mechanisms really well.

Thank you Chipmunk! Do you know if there are any particular types of questions he likes to put on the exam? I guess I plan on focusing on textbook questions and previous exams for study material but do you know if theres any specific sources he likes to take questions from (tutorial material, as mentioned above)?

Originally Posted by coeurdepirate

Thank you Chipmunk! Do you know if there are any particular types of questions he likes to put on the exam? I guess I plan on focusing on textbook questions and previous exams for study material but do you know if theres any specific sources he likes to take questions from (tutorial material, as mentioned above)?

The hardest questions won't be from anywhere in particular. Just do as many problems that challenge you as possible.

He's not that bad, really. You just have to realize you're taking a real chemistry course now. Don't study for it like you would for a bio course. Thats actually the key distinction i noticed from people who thought orgo was hard (and harrison was bad), those coming from a bio/lifesci background. You can't just memorize things and expect to do well, you actually need to understand the material.

I approached it like i approach my math courses, you do the suggested problems, attend all lectures and tutorials and make sure you understand everything. Your professor does not teach you everything in lecture [well], you're expected to supplement your learning through labs, tutorials and homework.

Originally Posted by adaptation

He's not that bad, really. You just have to realize you're taking a real chemistry course now. Don't study for it like you would for a bio course. Thats actually the key distinction i noticed from people who thought orgo was hard (and harrison was bad), those coming from a bio/lifesci background. You can't just memorize things and expect to do well, you actually need to understand the material.

I approached it like i approach my math courses, you do the suggested problems, attend all lectures and tutorials and make sure you understand everything. Your professor does not teach you everything in lecture [well], you're expected to supplement your learning through labs, tutorials and homework.

Yea people who memorized the material were the ones that were unhappy after, obviously there was some stuff to memorize but the main concepts had to be understood in ways that could applied in situations you weren't familiar with.

I disagree with some of the posters above. Although Chem 2OA3 had less memorization, but chem 2OB3 definitely required a lot of memorization. First of all, understanding is very important but you have to memorize what reagents are used in order to apply your understanding. Sure, you might know that a nucleophile attacks a compound, but you have to memorize what the nucleophile is and which particular nucleophile is used in what situation. I do think Harrison's exams are too hard though. Some of his questions are almost impossible to answer even with complete understanding of the material he taught.

Hey,

Just finished this year doing orgo 20a3 and 20b3 with Harrison this year. Harrison is such a great professor, and pretty funny. Most people overlook his jokes, but they're pretty funny if your a chem geek haha

Orgo 2a03 was definitely more of challenge than 20b3 since it was introducing many new concepts not found in first year chem. 20b3 was more interesting, but was heavy on memorization because of all the different reactions and reagents.

Both courses were good in general. I managed to pull double digits in both courses, but it definitely requires more work than your average course. Best way to prepare would be to just keep up with readings and PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. If you can manage those questions and think, orgo wont be too bad

Are the recommended textbook questions/tutorial qs/past tests enough to attain a 11/12? Also, are all testable contents just from what is on his lecture slides (like Chem 1a03/1aa3)? People make it sound like he puts these impossible questions on concepts that he never covered?

Originally Posted by daftypatty

Are the recommended textbook questions/tutorial qs/past tests enough to attain a 11/12? Also, are all testable contents just from what is on his lecture slides (like Chem 1a03/1aa3)? People make it sound like he puts these impossible questions on concepts that he never covered?

20A3 was much more difficult, 20b3 was a breeze mainly due to the dropping 1 test.

11/12 in 20B3 is very easy to achieve, 20A3 a bit harder due to everything being novel. The concepts were all covered, but the way he tests things involve you thinking a lot and sometimes incorporating multiple concepts. Practice is key as was mentioned before.

Originally Posted by MichaelScott

Hey,

Just finished this year doing orgo 20a3 and 20b3 with Harrison this year. Harrison is such a great professor, and pretty funny. Most people overlook his jokes, but they're pretty funny if your a chem geek haha

Orgo 2a03 was definitely more of challenge than 20b3 since it was introducing many new concepts not found in first year chem. 20b3 was more interesting, but was heavy on memorization because of all the different reactions and reagents.

Both courses were good in general. I managed to pull double digits in both courses, but it definitely requires more work than your average course. Best way to prepare would be to just keep up with readings and PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. If you can manage those questions and think, orgo wont be too bad

Hey Michael,

Thanks for the help. Yeah, so far I've been focusing on readings and taking my own chapter notes which I find are much more detailed than Dr. Harrisons lectures. I was planning on going through all the textbook questions before the exam. Just out of curiosity, what did you find was the best way to practice (as in tutorials, textbook questions etc.)? Did you find that any one resource was most helpful?

Thank you!

Originally Posted by daftypatty

Are the recommended textbook questions/tutorial qs/past tests enough to attain a 11/12? Also, are all testable contents just from what is on his lecture slides (like Chem 1a03/1aa3)? People make it sound like he puts these impossible questions on concepts that he never covered?

Yeah, I've heard a lot of the same things. I'm not really sure what to believe though because I've heard both sides. Some people say that his tests are impossible but others say that readings are super helpful and just doing practice questions as well is enough to do well in the course. To answer your question I don't think that just relying on lecture notes will be good enough to understand all the content (a lot of people have said that he skips slides and content during his lecture and from comparing his lectures to chapter readings I've done I find this to be true).