Is Orgo 2OA3 like first year chem where they won't test you on textbook material that isn't in the notes? I just want to make sure that studying form the notes is sufficient.

Thanks!

I took 2OA3+2OB3 last summer, didn't open the textbook once, or do any of the textbook questions... I didn't open the textbook or do the questions in 1A03/1AA3 chem, either, and did really well in all 4 of the courses. But last year there was a different textbook and different instructor, so what I'm saying may not be completely valid, yet I highly doubt they will test you on stuff not covered in lecture notes. Make sure you do Sapling, any and all past tests / assignments you come across, and practice a lot. If you do get some of the past tests, copy and paste some of the questions into google, and you will find tons more practice from other universities, because for some reason they tend to recycle MCQ questions from somewhere. Anyways, that's all I did for orgo and I was prepared. But make sure you learn and understand everything. The memorization will come subconsciously that way. If the new textbook has good questions, then by all means do those for practice. I just generally don't see instructors using textbook questions on tests, so I look for practice midterms/exams online. I can pretty much guarantee you that you're going to have to 'fill in the reagent' and 'fill in the product' and 'synthesize X from Y in as little steps as possible' and 'draw the mechanism'. You can even make up your own questions... Use a synthesis chart to help you too! That's the one thing I would make sure to have memorized before the exam. Good luck.

^Awesome. Thanks so much !

So our midterm was yesterday, and like many others I was pressed for time. I was also underprepared because I didn't expect summer school to go at such fast a pace. For those who have taken it before, does the exam tend to harder or similar to the midterm? My exam will likely be weighted at 70% !

The class average for the exam probably won't be much higher than it was for the midterm, but with that being said, there were plenty of people who got 60s on the midterm and still ended up with with a great exam mark. Don't be discouraged, hopefully a bad mark motivates you.. You really need to buckle down and make sure you have a solid understanding of the first half of the term. Look at your test and study that crap so hard that you think you're an absolute moron for getting any of it wrong. Then you'll be in better shape . Also, practicing is the only way that you won't be 'pressed for time', especially on the exam, when you'll have to come up with a way to synthesize stuff, recall entire mechanisms, etc. It's actually gets kind of fun when you design problems yourself and quiz your friends... I always make a 'list of tricky things to remember' of questions that stumped me, and I use them to design the hardest questions possible that I can imagine. If you can imagine questions and how to solve them in your head then you're beyond ready haha. Though it probably takes someone who really likes orgo to enjoy studying like that..

midterm last summer was pretty easy compared to this summers. i found our mc very difficult. it is landrys first time teaching so i can see why the testing style is different compared to old tests. practice questions did not help at all for this midterm and i dont plan on doing many more from now on. better to just read and understand things very precisely imo.

Originally Posted by yoni

The class average for the exam probably won't be much higher than it was for the midterm, but with that being said, there were plenty of people who got 60s on the midterm and still ended up with with a great exam mark. Don't be discouraged, hopefully a bad mark motivates you.. You really need to buckle down and make sure you have a solid understanding of the first half of the term. Look at your test and study that crap so hard that you think you're an absolute moron for getting any of it wrong. Then you'll be in better shape . Also, practicing is the only way that you won't be 'pressed for time', especially on the exam, when you'll have to come up with a way to synthesize stuff, recall entire mechanisms, etc. It's actually gets kind of fun when you design problems yourself and quiz your friends... I always make a 'list of tricky things to remember' of questions that stumped me, and I use them to design the hardest questions possible that I can imagine. If you can imagine questions and how to solve them in your head then you're beyond ready haha. Though it probably takes someone who really likes orgo to enjoy studying like that..

Thank you! Your posts are always so detailed and helpful .

I'm debating whether to stick it out (because I absolutely love the subject) or to drop it (in case I don't get an A+).

You can still get A+. even if you did well on the midterm, you would still need almost the same on the final to get a 12. and if you got 0 on the midterm, you could just do as well as you would have even if you did well on the midterm...lol.

Originally Posted by Aeria

Thank you! Your posts are always so detailed and helpful .

I'm debating whether to stick it out (because I absolutely love the subject) or to drop it (in case I don't get an A+).

If you love the subject, then don't drop it. It's really not the end of the world if you get a 10 or 11 instead of a 12...or even if you get lower than that. If you genuinely enjoy it, and you're already halfway done, it's a waste of time and money to drop. It's not like you're at risk of failing if you complete the course and would drop to avoid a failure on your transcript...but to drop something you really enjoy because an 11 isn't good enough?

Originally Posted by Aeria

I'm debating whether to stick it out (because I absolutely love the subject) or to drop it (in case I don't get an A+).

Lol I guess I should've dropped like 70% of my courses in university by your logic. Tons of people would kill for an 11.. or a 10... or a 9.. in Orgo

So, I did really well in University Orgo.

I did 20A3 last summer (2011) with Terri (She's gone now) and she was a great prof as well as fair tester. I had Capretta last semester (Winter 2012) and I stick to my rule about orgo:

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT.

I've been reading some of the posts here, and by not opening up the textbook to do practice problems, you're doing yourself a disservice. I did every single practice problem in the textbook (well almost all of them) and walked out of every midterm/exam with a positive feeling.

Orgo can be regarded as the hardest second year course, but it turns out with the right amount of practice, it could be the easiest 12. I generally enjoy organic chem, so honestly, stick with it.

But, the reason why the exam is worth so much is due to the difficulty of the exam. You're going to find alot of application based questions. But anyways, good luck!

Julian

^ehh its landrys first time teaching and the test i thought was completely different from every other test that i saw before...it was all about understanding the theory since the mc was all theory and the short answer wasnt similar to any textbook questions imo.

But if you understand how to do the practice question, you get a good grasp on the theory as well? But I do understand where you're coming from, that does sound a lot harder since most of my 2OA3 questions were similar to past midterms .

I'm sure you're not the only person with this problem, just cross your fingers, and hope for the best .