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1 Organic Chemistry Study Tips The following are unedited suggestions are from students from past semesters of Chem 345 that routinely earn 80-90% on my exams. Everyone learns differently. Take a look through these and see which ones will work with your style. Going through every problem set is very helpful, but even more helpful is trying to come up with as many answers as possible for each problem that you do. It is also useful to draw out the mechanisms for every single problem. Yes, all of this is tedious and timeconsuming, but doing this makes mechanisms the easiest part on the exam. It also allows you to come up with alternate solutions when you forget the "normal" reactants for fill-in-the-box problems and synthesis. There have been several times when I've completely forgotten a reaction from lecture, but I've been able to work around that issue with other reactions. While you might annoy Matt and the TA's when you do ten steps for a fill-in-the-box problem, at least you're more likely to get credit. It's also important to take your alternate solutions and mechanisms to Matt's office hours. He is really great at explaining why something does/does not work and what will be acceptable for exams. Always take your graded exams to Matt if you don't understand why you got a problem wrong. Doing all of this not only helps you get more credit in class, but you'll actually end up understanding the material really well. The key for me is to do all the problem sets and every practice exam and look over my results and compare and correct with the answer key. I also go through the reaction sheet and use it to solidify my understanding of certain reactions and their mechanisms. To learn proactively during class I try to predict the products or the next step in a mechanism right before Matt writes it on the board or tells us about it, this helps me understand the chemistry instead of just memorizing it. Hope some of this helps! My exam advice: Before every exam I do all of the practice tests and try to do over half of them in time and without using any of my notes. Then I go through and correct my tests with pen and actually grade it to see how I would have done. I then go through the mistakes I made on each exam before I take the real test. Ochem has always been about immersion in the material. It involves practice and more practice. I go through the reaction list and draw the corresponding mechanisms to them, also I do the practice tests earlier in the week. Once I have completed all the problem sets, and practice tests I spend the weekend reviewing them and thinking of alternate ways to solve the problems. Also, I copy lecture notes later in the day after a lecture. Mainly though it comes down to repetition of doing the work and going it over and over to understand what reactions are used for and their mechanisms.

2 Ochem has always been about immersion in the material. It involves practice and more practice. I go through the reaction list and draw the corresponding mechanisms to them, also I do the practice tests earlier in the week. Once I have completed all the problem sets, and practice tests I spend the weekend reviewing them and thinking of alternate ways to solve the problems. Also, I copy lecture notes later in the day after a lecture. Mainly though it comes down to repetition of doing the work and going it over and over to understand what reactions are used for and their mechanisms. I try my best to do the problem sets as soon as possible after lecture (often the same day). Prior to the exam I write out all the mechanisms in a notebook and make sure I can write them all out by memory by repeating the mechanisms as many times as necessary. I also make notecards for the reactions with which I go through predicting the reactants, starting material, and products in turn. I find it helpful with these reactions to talk through to myself "what could I change about this reaction to make other products" this helps me distinguish between similar looking reactions. My study habits are as follows: -I actually do your problem sets when they are given out, and I grade them. -Come exam time, I make flash cards for the new reactions. However, I study all reactions from the beginning of the semester to make sure I still know them. -I take the first practice test, grade it, and see where I am weak. -Before taking the second practice exam, I read through my notes once, and go over my mechanism sheets once. I take the second exam and grade it. -I repeat this process until your spot checks, and I come in with a bunch of questions to clarify. -I save one practice exam for Sunday night and see how I do on it. (usually a lot better than the first). -Oh, and I go to office hours for any question, whether I missed 5 points on the exam or 15.

3 This is my preparation for each exam and how I approach studying using the material that you have provided for every exam. I split it up into a 4 day study program. Each day I have a different objective and I try to reach every objective before I end studying for the day. Day 1 - Look over all of the notes for that chapter and review the previous reactions. I look over all of the reactions of the list that you have provided and then I use note cards to solidify all of the reactants needed to reach the product and vise-versa. Day 2 - Attack the problem sets with my notes (if needed). I try to do the final 3 problem sets first, as they have all of the reactions for the test, and you have catered them to resemble test questions very well. After finishing those, I look over the reactions and try to have them memorized by then end of this day. Day 3 - I use this day to finish all of the problem sets with no reference to notes. I also begin the first test, and if I have enough time, I will do another test. I don't end this day without knowing all of the new reactions front and back. After this I review the reactions that were on the practice tests and from previous exams, and review the main mechanisms from previous material as well. Day 4 - I finish all of the tests and review all of the mechanisms and reactions from this section, as well as the main mechanisms and reactions that you have emphasized that were not covered in this section, but appeared on the tests. The biggest thing with this is make sure you start early. The memorization does take a while, but if you look at it a little each day (something as little as having the reaction list in your backpack and looking at it when you have 5 minutes makes a HUGE difference), it is much easier to remember, and feels like less of a burden. Also, you provide so much material, make it a point to use ALL of the material you provide. It works wonders. I think in order to do well you have to make sure you are learning what molecules do and how they interact instead of memorizing the reactions. I always make reaction flash cards but make sure that I understand the logic behind the flash cards before I put them onto the actual cards. It also helps to study with people who are at similar levels of understanding, that way you can bounce questions and ideas and off each other. Another student and I study together all the time and it's really helpful because we're usually able to talk through the problem or mechanism. The biggest thing that I've found that helps me study is to make sure to dedicate a long time to Organic chemistry. The problems sets can be very daunting if you do them just one at a time, I find. But if you can spend time, really put yourself in the mindset, and make sure you do everything on the problem sets, that I have found is immensely helpful. Key points: Do chemistry in long chunks Do everything on the problem set, and check your answers as you Practice exams are the best review

4 What I have done to study for the tests is to do the problem sets each weekend, and the weekend before the test I rewrite my notes in a more summarized form with the mechanisms and any key points (in a similar format as the reaction pages on the problem sets). I also find it very helpful to work with a friend or two, that way if I have questions, they can help me, and if they have questions, I can try to help them and explaining it to them helps me learn better as well. I'd love to share my thoughts on my best study habits. I've found that constant review is the way to keep things fresh and really permanent in my memory, instead of cramming for the exam for 14 hours straight the night before the exam. Every night, even if it's just for 20 minutes, I read my notes from the week. Staying on top of my problem sets each weekend also helps when it comes exam time, that way I can focus on all the practice exams that weekend before our Monday exams. Another thing I've found is sleep. It's a lot more important to academic success than students may think. I found that I am about twice as productive and remember what I am studying better in the morning compared to late at night. It may seem necessary to study all night before the exam, but really you will end up much less alert and make careless errors on the exam that you might not if you were well rested. The evening after every lecture I do the problem set and review my notes. The next day I correct the problem set and go over any concepts or mechanisms I got wrong. The week before the exam I do one practice exam every day and correct it. I try to finish studying 24 hours before the exam and use that time to relax and reduce test anxiety. As a historically more visual learner, I use flashcards to remember the reactions with reactants on one side and then products on the other, and I review the culmination of flashcards as often as I can during the semester, even if it is not an exam week. Further, I simply learn from practice and a lot of it, so I make sure to complete all of the problem sets and practice exams to study for each exam, starting heavier review about a week before an exam. Also studying in a group or with a couple of people can help because if you run into something you don't understand, someone you're studying with might understand it, and it helps their studying by explaining a difficult concept to someone else. Thinking about the material more as how you will teach it to someone else, and not just regurgitate it for an exam has helped me immensely. Hope these couple of suggestions help! I guess I made note cards for all the reactions, I rewrite my notes every day, and I try to stay on top of the worksheets. Doing a practice test more than once doesn't hurt either. This is all on the syllabus, I think. ****************

5 Day 1: make flashcards of all the basic reactions that have been covered for the unit. Along with these, I always throw in the flashcards from past units to help review. For the past exam, I used the roadmap you supplied us with and copied the blank one onto a dry-erase posterboard from Walgreens in permanent marker.(they're $2, and they've helped me tremendously in both of your classes). That way I could fill it in over and over with a dry-erase marker, and after checking simply wipe it clean and start over Day 2: make sure that all the reactions are memorized, then start looking into understanding mechanisms. Because 345 is mostly acid/base, I focus a lot on things like why protonation/deprotonation is occurring and whether or not the step is reversible. Having the SN1/SN2/E1/E2 chart from 343 memorized also helps a lot. I'll always try to figure the mechanism out on a white board before checking it. Day 3: take the pre exam, see what errors I'm making and what reactions aren't clear to me, then look back at the mechanisms and reactions until I understand where I was making errors. Then take the first practice exam, and do the same. This is also where I start doing extra synthesis problems because that's how I differentiate between reactions I only have memorized and those that I truly understand. Day 4: take the other two practice exams, see what I'm making errors in and focus on those areas. This day I also look over practice exams of previous units and usually take on to refresh my memory on those reactions. Day of exam: Wake up in the morning, take the practice exam that I've done the most poorly on to make sure I now know what I was doing wrong. Then look over flashcards and lightly review until exam time. One of the biggest differences between the exams I scored well on and the couple that I haven't done well on is sleep. If I get enough sleep after each day of studying, I always feel like it sinks in a ton better. Also, ochem is a course that cramming will never work in. Studying needs to be spread out through multiple days. Also, practice exams need to be taken in the same conditions as the actual exam. There's a big difference between understanding an answer after peaking at it and being able to apply the material to get that answer on your own. Peaking tricks you into thinking that you've got it down better than you actually do. Personally, I have a white board with me at all times when I study and it allows me to think through problems better. It also helps you think about solving problems more openly because if one method doesn't work you can simply wipe the board clean and start over.

6 I have a process I do for each exam that is a bit tedious, but has worked for me nonetheless; so I figured I'd let you know: 1) I make notecards of each reaction and on one side leave the product blank, and on the other side leave the reactant blank 2) I also make notecards of each mechanism. I then try to write each mechanism without looking at the notecards a couple of times over that week. 3) Starting at least a week before each exam, I study these notecards every day at least once. 4) I also go through both my notes and the TAs notes at least once or twice during that week. 5) I don once practice exam monday, tuesday, and wednesday leading up to the exam. 6) I also read your notes you post on learn@uw about each type of reaction and the reaction lists for each exam multiple times. 7) Lastly, I think your office hours are important for asking questions and just getting practice from other people's questions. ************* I just like to draw out all the reactions and their mechanisms and do the practice exams, I have never done the problem sets but they're probably really good practice too. The problems I get wrong, I go back and draw the mechanism a few more times and move on to the next test, and so on. Studying with someone else is always nice because the odds are the one of you will understand or remember a certain tricky step in a mechanism. Knowing the mechanisms is the best thing you can do because you can derive everything from there. As far as NMR goes, if you know the few basic ruels it just comes down to a little cleverness and a lot of guess and check. Reviewing reactions from 343 is never a bad idea either. **************

7 As far as studying tips go, this is my ritual: I get a pack of half-page note cards, and what I do is I go through all of your lecture notes by topic putting a mechanism on each card (or just grouping up general information by topic, so that it is organized okay). After I use your lecture notes, I go through my notebook and my own notes and add things to the already made note cards. This puts me through the notes at least twice. After that I start the problem sets (I know you recommend to do them after lecture, but I find it more helpful to go through my notes rather thoroughly before starting them... but that may just work for me). This gives me a sense of how well I know the information. Then I take my note cards, and re-write the ones that are still a little iffy back into my notebook... I usually only look at the starting material and reagent, and then do my best to write the mechanism on my own. And then once I do that, I check to see if it's correct, and if not... I make changes in red. This way when I go back to review, I can clearly see where I went wrong in red and that helps me prevent making the same mistakes in the future. ************ The best study tips I can give are to make notecards with the mechanisms the same day they are taught, and then use those not just to look at, but as a guide for re-writing each mechanism over and over and over again. The same goes for anything else we learn. Just rewrite it every day. I would also suggest that people spend time looking at the information we cover in class, analyzing patterns in the material and trying to see how it all fits together. Finally, and this seems obvious to me, but 1) you can't study with distractions around and 2) cramming will not work. A teacher once told me that in order to improve a test score by 10%, you have to double the amount of time you spend preparing for an exam. Basically, people need to think about the test the day the material is taught, not the day before an exam is given. ************ Synthesis is the way I learn how everything works. I make the molecule showing the mechanisms along the way. The only thing is that you need to make very different molecules that cover all of the topics which could be hard for some people. ************

8 First, I read the assigned textbook sections each night before class and takes notes. Second, I do the problem sets the night they are handed out. I try to go back and redo the problems sets the weekend before the exam for more practice. I also go back over the lecture notes in the evenings. This way I can further digest the day's material. Third, the review sessions the day before the exams are very helpful. I would strongly encourage people to attend the sessions on the subjects they are least confident in. I noticed that not all the sessions are very full, so perhaps some students are neglecting to go because they are too early or they don't think it helps. GO TO THE REVIEW SESSIONS! I also think it is a good way to judge the level of difficulty of problems that will be on the exam, based the syntheses/mechanisms that are presented at the reviews. Fourth, I complete the practice exam that will be reviewed at the Wednesday night review session beforehand. I find it's helpful to hear how you or other students reason their way through the problems. Even if I have gotten the exam mostly correct, I find the review session is a nice alternative way to study without staring at my notes. I have also learned that this is not a subject that you can study for the night before the exam. I begin studying the weekend beforehand, even though we have not covered all the necessary material. But, at least I can commit the first half of the material to good memory. Start studying early and often. Fifth, I make a "cheat-sheet" of all the reactions and mechanisms that will be covered on the exam. That way, I don't have to page through all my notes, but can refer to just a few pages of material while studying. Lastly, I'd like to say that when I took my first semester of organic chemistry I struggled on the first exam. I realized I needed to spend a few hours a night working problems and going back over lecture notes. I now spend probably upwards of 4-5 hours each night reading the textbook and working problems and rewriting mechanisms. It can be difficult and tedious, but it has helped me greatly in finding success in organic chemistry. Then I go through and do all your practice exams... from there I hopefully know the information well enough to do okay, and from there you can certainly see what you still need work on, if anything. ************

9 Honestly, the best advice I can give is get a tutor; It is worth the money. If someone can't or doesn't want to get a tutor do the problem sets. Following your advice and my tutor's I make sure that problem set is complete before I fall asleep. If there is a problem I can't solve, I at least try it and then immediately the following day go to my TA or office hours and figure out how to do it. That would be my other piece of advice, timing. This class is so much in so little time during the summer that making sure things are done when they are fresh in your brain and being proactive about finding answers to things you don't understand as quick as you can so you can move on to the next thing has really, really helped me. The last thing I would recommend, sort of an odd recommendation but it's a tool I have used is teaching yourself. I like to use a whiteboard and literally "teach myself" how to do a mechanism. Figuring out how I would teach something helps me understand it that much better. I don't know if any of that advice will be helpful for people, but it has really helped me. *****************