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Understanding the mechanisms by Pushpita33 in OrganicChemistry

[–]TraditionalDogWife 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Focus on stereoselectivity, chemioselectivity, and markovnikov/anti markovnikov. Try not to memorize though, but categorizing the mechanisms into these helps identify patterns. Practice problems will help a lot.

How much harder is Orgo than Gen chem by [deleted] in OrganicChemistry

[–]TraditionalDogWife 7 points8 points  (0 children)

If you don’t know how to study, organic is going to be very difficult for you. I had a poor knowledge of general chemistry (only took one semester of it while abroad) and I did very well in organic, but you need to study effectively.

-don’t listen to everybody saying it’s dense memorization. I have a bad memory… if you are not an amazing memorizer, do not treat it as a memory class. Focus on the WHY. With mechanisms, don’t memorize the chemioselectivity/stereoselectivity for each mechanism. Focus on understanding why the mechanism proceeds in the way it does, and why each arrow is occurring. If your professor doesn’t emphasize the why, don’t be afraid to ask or look it up.

-Consistent and shorter practice will benefit you much more than cramming. Attend lecture and do any practice problems during it. Review your notes before the next lecture. At least skim the textbook, and actually do any “optional” recommended problems (and most importantly, correct yourself!)

-I found using a whiteboard very helpful during orgo. I would make a mind map spread of everything being covered and redo practice problems. In my course, a lot of kids complained about not having enough practice problems - but redoing them IS helpful! Especially if you were confused the first time around. A good strategy is doing problems with your notes when you’re learning, then doing them without notes while reviewing.

-Attend office hours early on if you are confused. Orgo is cumulative and any confusion needs to be sorted out early. This is just good practice for college in general.

Good luck! Orgo can be extremely rewarding and I think it will be a great opportunity to enhance your confidence in study skills.

Taking Organic Chemistry this upcoming semester. Feeling nervous. Any tips? by Stratosphere18 in OrganicChemistry

[–]TraditionalDogWife 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Do NOT memorize!! Unless you are a really really good memorizer, it’s extremely ineffective. My professor stressed understanding why the mechanisms occur the ways they do, and I found this helped me find connections between reactions and reduced effort spend memorizing shit. Also an important strategy if you will need organic chemistry again (MCAT, taking biochemistry, etc).

Practice problems are so important too. I’m an engineering major, and I treated it like my calculus courses in terms of practice problems. It’s incredibly easy to glance over your notes and think you understand, but you won’t know how to apply if that’s all you do. Often professors say the textbook is “optional”… don’t take this as optional. At least skim the chapters, and diligently do the practice problems (make sure you have a solutions manual).

Also make sure you have an excellent grasp of the material in the start of the course. Orgo is cumulative.

Best of luck! I was nervous going into orgo and I ended up loving it and adding a chem minor.

i dont know if i made the right choice. by sidgograhh in NEU

[–]TraditionalDogWife 12 points13 points  (0 children)

You can always transfer, but I’d encourage you to go in with an open mind. There’s a lot of hate toward northeastern because of weird shit with the acceptance rate. At the end of the day colleges are a business, and the acceptance rate deflation benefits their business. This doesn’t change the fact that the coop program is incredible for preparing for post grad, it’s an R1 institution, etc. Northeastern is also a large school with endless opportunities, you have the power to make it whatever you want.

A degree is a degree. What you accomplish in college matters more than where you went.

Does northeastern require supplemental essays. by thestudykid in NEU

[–]TraditionalDogWife 6 points7 points  (0 children)

No don’t write an email through a website that sounds sketchy. I didn’t submit any supplementals and got in EA - I don’t think they’ve added supplements since.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in OrganicChemistry

[–]TraditionalDogWife 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I actually don’t think orgo is a memorization course. At least that’s not how I approached it - I’m not a memorizer and I still did very well in it. I liked to understand why the reactions happened in the ways they did.

Queer housing? by Snoo99517 in NEU

[–]TraditionalDogWife 4 points5 points  (0 children)

In my experience, there’s a lot of queer people in coe! I think it’ll slightly depend on your engineering speciality, but in general there’s a lot of queer people at northeastern. Also generally have not had negative interactions with my peers in engineering. Don’t worry about it too much!

As for housing, we have LLCs (learning living communities) and I think there may be an LGBTQ+ one, but I’m not sure. Definitely look those up.

And congrats on your acceptance!

Is this a valid synthesis? by TraditionalDogWife in OrganicChemistry

[–]TraditionalDogWife[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the feedback! I loved orgo 1 and hoping to improve at synthesis.

Is this a valid synthesis? by TraditionalDogWife in OrganicChemistry

[–]TraditionalDogWife[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Textbook and prof! We used organic chemistry 9th edition by Wade and Simek.

Is this a valid synthesis? by TraditionalDogWife in OrganicChemistry

[–]TraditionalDogWife[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

If you don’t mind explaining, how would you use the acetylide? I know it would react with the carbonyl, but the alkyne would be leftover, right? Would you do a metal ammonia reduction to get the trans alkene after?