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organic chem, when to take it?

 
Old 04-19-2009 at 12:07 AM   #1
pandachi
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organic chem, when to take it?
I need to take organic chem, but I'm not sure when I should take it. Should I take it during the summer? or during normal school year?
Old 04-19-2009 at 12:55 AM   #2
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Orgo takes quite a bit of focus. If you think the course may fall a tad on the wayside during the school year, you should take it during the summer and give it all your attention. I've also heard that during the summer, since there is a limited amount of time, they don't cover as many chapters as they do during the regular school year.

Another thing to consider, if you're taking it at MAC, are you comfortable with a 3-hour straight organic chemistry lecture 2 times a week plus another 3-hour lab?

Either way, orgo was strangely interesting/enjoyable in its own way, so don't let the horror stories discourage you! As always, it just needs some extra love and attention, but you'll do fine if you give it the time it deserves.

Good luck!
Old 04-19-2009 at 02:16 AM   #3
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Just curious, are the "horror stories" of intense and large memorization of reactions true?
Old 04-19-2009 at 12:06 PM   #4
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Yes. It's death.

Im thinking since its a first year science course theyre still trying to weed everyone out.. but yeah...

check out the course review section for more info
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Old 04-19-2009 at 12:13 PM   #5
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Organic chem is a 2nd year course

But if you're talking about the organic chemistry portion of chem 1AA3, just think of the pathways you have to memorize to get from group to group, times about 2 or 3.

Memorization is key, but you're going to find some connections. I suggest buying an "Organic Chemistry for dummies" book or something to that effect, which certainly helped me figure out the basic concepts beyond the ridiculous jargon that they expect us to learn.

The horror stories aren't completely unfounded, but generally, since people expect it to be such a horrendous course, that sort of sets the tone for the entire course, then they simply just give up half way because they've had the constant mindset of "yeah this is f*ing hard, i'll give up now so I can tell other people how difficult it is". Not always the case!

You just have to keep up. It's an intense course in that it always needs your attention a lot moreso than other courses, so you're probably better off in the summer, especially if you have a lot of difficult prereq courses during the year (being in science and all).

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Old 04-19-2009 at 12:15 PM   #6
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ah i see - we just call 1aa3 orgo... i guess cause thats the only part we can think of relating it to materials engineering (polymers)

ugh it was so bad
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Old 04-19-2009 at 09:28 PM   #7
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hmm but... why the text is not clear?
Quote:
Originally Posted by myoozik View Post
Organic chem is a 2nd year course

But if you're talking about the organic chemistry portion of chem 1AA3, just think of the pathways you have to memorize to get from group to group, times about 2 or 3.

Memorization is key, but you're going to find some connections. I suggest buying an "Organic Chemistry for dummies" book or something to that effect, which certainly helped me figure out the basic concepts beyond the ridiculous jargon that they expect us to learn.

The horror stories aren't completely unfounded, but generally, since people expect it to be such a horrendous course, that sort of sets the tone for the entire course, then they simply just give up half way because they've had the constant mindset of "yeah this is f*ing hard, i'll give up now so I can tell other people how difficult it is". Not always the case!

You just have to keep up. It's an intense course in that it always needs your attention a lot moreso than other courses, so you're probably better off in the summer, especially if you have a lot of difficult prereq courses during the year (being in science and all).
Old 04-19-2009 at 10:34 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sinthusized View Post
hmm but... why the text is not clear?

The textbook was clear in its explanation of things, but I think that it always helps to have some supplementary information so you're getting different explanations and ways to solutions for a final end product.

This is probably why profs stress so much that you come to class AND read the textbook -- so that you can easily grasp the material with 2 pathways as opposed to strict verbatim from the text. An additional source of teaching will only help you in the long run (unless they're all conflicting, in which case that would be a problem). Be creative! I'm the biggest googler around and many concepts have stuck in my brain only after having seen a fresh perspective on the internet and not my half-assed personal written in-class notes. You'd be surprised at how many YouTube videos there are explaining a whole host of organic chemistry topics. It's all in good fun, I guess (fun-ducational, if you will).

I need to dumb everything down for myself so I can see the bigger picture. This probably reveals how nuts and bolts my brain is but ultimately, the fact that the course required quite a bit of memorization meant that I needed to understand the stuff beyond regurgitation and weird (and inappropriate) mnemonics.
Old 04-19-2009 at 11:03 PM   #9
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If you want a fresh perspective from someone, well, I just wrote the exam yesterday. Myoozik is right though, for those that understand it, it can be very enjoyable. There is a, for lack of a better word, "funness" about it. My poor performance in it is my fault. I started to struggled, but didn't get any help, because I didn't like the course. Like all things in life, your experience is what you make it.


But, basically, if you read in the news soon that a body was found in the Hamilton harbour, help my parents identify my body.
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Last edited by webzn : 04-19-2009 at 11:13 PM.
Old 04-19-2009 at 11:36 PM   #10
Saleha
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is it a really bad idea to take 2OA3 in the first term of the summer and then leave taking 2OB3 till winter (term2) of the school year?
I am travelling at the end of June so cannot take any term2 courses in the summer. But my school year is looking to possibly be quite heavy.
Advice? would the gap be too much? or would a bit of winter holiday review be sufficient?
Old 04-20-2009 at 11:57 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Saleha View Post
is it a really bad idea to take 2OA3 in the first term of the summer and then leave taking 2OB3 till winter (term2) of the school year?
I am travelling at the end of June so cannot take any term2 courses in the summer. But my school year is looking to possibly be quite heavy.
Advice? would the gap be too much? or would a bit of winter holiday review be sufficient?
Again, it all depends on YOU. If you feel that you will be able to retain the information over the break, then go for it. There are a lot of things to remember, and skills to retain.

You can also do review classes for 2OA3 around december to reprepare yourself for 20b3.
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Old 04-20-2009 at 08:38 PM   #12
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Imo, I wouldn't take it during the summer. You need time to be able to actively absorb the information instead of cramming 3 chapters into one 3 hour lecture. This is from experience, and I ended up doing rather poorly. When you take orgo in the regular term, sure there are other courses to handle but you have more time (lengthwise) to absorb the information between classes which I think is essential.

Quote:
is it a really bad idea to take 2OA3 in the first term of the summer and then leave taking 2OB3 till winter (term2) of the school year?
I am travelling at the end of June so cannot take any term2 courses in the summer. But my school year is looking to possibly be quite heavy.
Advice? would the gap be too much? or would a bit of winter holiday review be sufficient?
I took 2OA3 in the summer and 2OB3 in the reular term and I did really well. You should be fine. I did awful in the first but did wonderfully during second orgo and I didn't review over the break =p.

2OA3
- lots of reactions to know, but if you understand why they're happening it makes it a lot easier to comprehend. Everything comes down to nucleophile, electrophile, leaving groups and variations of them + lab techniques.


2OB3:
- a few main concepts that you really need to learn, but otherwise, you can bullshit your way through the rest. It's NOT about memorizing, but rather do you understand what you're doing and are your steps feasible?

Quote:
Orgo takes quite a bit of focus. If you think the course may fall a tad on the wayside during the school year, you should take it during the summer and give it all your attention. I've also heard that during the summer, since there is a limited amount of time, they don't cover as many chapters as they do during the regular school year.
We actually covered more in summer than the 07/08 2OA3 orgo class during the fall- Sup, Chapter 16. Maybe that's why 2OB3 was so easy.

Last edited by Lij : 04-20-2009 at 08:52 PM.

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