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Organic Chemistry


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I didn't think O-chem was "hard" at least not for me. It required a lot of time and work, but it wasn't hard by any means. The problem I noticed from most of my fellow students was their attitude. Instead of embracing the challenge and working to master it, they spent their time in anger and frustration, complaining about how unfair it was.

 

"Success or failure is caused more by mental attitude than by mental capacity." - Walter Scott

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This was already kind of addressed here, but I would love to hear more...

 

Does ANY of what you learn in Orgo end up benefitting you in PA school?

For those of you who are already in (or out) of PA school... which (if any) of your pre-reqs do you think really helped lay the foundation for you to do well in your coursework at PA school?

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It will be good for expanding your scientific thought processes and prepare you for the MASSIVE workload coming in PA school .. but after a semester of PA school I am pretty confident the answer is...Nope. You won't use a single bit of it. It's a weed out course

 

 

Barring A&P, I would say Microbiology would be one of the more useful pre-reqs. Also, stats was useful for EBM. Really, my HCE (EMT, Cardio tech) are WAY more helpful than any of of the pre req courses. And nothing can prepare you for the information vomit fest that is coming. Think 23 hours of grad science classes. weeeee.

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Here is my experience with chemistry. General chemistry knowledge is very important in order to do well in organic chemistry courses. Otherwise, like someone said its memorization/regurgitation. But I don't see how it is possible to memorize thousands of reactions.

Here is what you need to succeed:

Know general chemistry well, a lot of old material will hit you in a back.

Dont fall behind. There is a lot of practice required to master resonance, acid base, stereochemistry, nucleophilic substitution/elimination.

If you master all the material from organic 1, then second part is a lot easier and much more fun!!!

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This was already kind of addressed here, but I would love to hear more...

 

Does ANY of what you learn in Orgo end up benefitting you in PA school?

 

Nope but it did help in biochem, which has been helpful in PA school.

 

For those of you who are already in (or out) of PA school... which (if any) of your pre-reqs do you think really helped lay the foundation for you to do well in your coursework at PA school?

 

Helpful pre-reqs were A&P and micro. Other than pre-reqs, my CLS classes(hema, clin chem, clin micro, coag, etc.) have been amazingly helpful in PA school.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Do you have any idea of who the professor is or how his tests are like? I have took A&P I, A&P II, Chem I, Chem II, Org Chem I, Org Chem II, Biochem I, and Biochem II.

Chem I and Chem II were the HARDEST CLASSES EVER for me (math is not my easiest subject lol). I don't necessarily think they helped at all during Organic.

I took Org Chem I & Org Chem II over the summer - got a B and an A, I didn't love it, I hated it. The labs were SO long (2 labs per day= 6-7 hrs everyday lol)

so I focused on concept of the reactions (like previous poster - SN1 and SN2). But that can be risky, especially if you have to start drawing molecules out.

I don't want to say it is memorization, it isn't, especially in Organic II. Organic I was more RULES/BASIC reactions.

The RULES of organic are memorization. For the reaction part, you have to understand the concept, apply it to different situations/reactions, and know how crazy the molecule looks coming out.

Since it was a summer course, I remember the biggest mistake I made was spending time reading the book the professor assigned instead of spending time working out different problems. I got the "Organic Chemistry Workbook for Dummies" and the "86 Tricks to Ace Organic Chemistry" and worked out those problems and took note of anything different that happens with the reactions. Sadly these workbooks didn't help me for General Chemistry tho haha

 

I think if you have only 1 lab/1 science class, you are fine with 18 hours, it won't be easy (because the lab is time consuming, I suggest do the labs right after class)

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Organic chem does not prepare you for PA school but it is an incredibly fun class which will force you into good study habits that you can use in PA school. Plus why wouldn't you want to know that stuff? I suggest people STOP listening to what others say about this or that class and form your own conclusions. Nothing I "heard" about this or that class in undergrad became true. In PA school listening to other people just freaks you out which you don't have time to do. Stop it now :D

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