Organic Chemistry Exam Tips
1. When going through the material, study straight from the lecture notes. I don't encourage making study notes to condense down the material since I felt there was very little I could actually "summarize". One common problem that comes up is that people oversimplify the reactions and when it comes to the actual exam, they don't realize that certain reactions can proceed in several different ways. This is advice that Dr. Lee gave me.
2. Make sure you understand why the reaction proceeds the way it does e.g. positive charge attracts nucleophile.
3. Practice by writing out the reactions and running through the different possibilities for each type of reaction whether its reactions with primary, secondary or tertiary X etc. or attacks from the top or bottom.
4. Past exams are a great learning tool. Don't be discouraged if you don't do well on the past exams. Make sure to clear up any conceptual problems and learn from your mistakes.
5. Once you have gone through everything, I would suggest drawing some flow diagrams and comparison charts to make connections between reactions.
2. Make sure you understand why the reaction proceeds the way it does e.g. positive charge attracts nucleophile.
3. Practice by writing out the reactions and running through the different possibilities for each type of reaction whether its reactions with primary, secondary or tertiary X etc. or attacks from the top or bottom.
4. Past exams are a great learning tool. Don't be discouraged if you don't do well on the past exams. Make sure to clear up any conceptual problems and learn from your mistakes.
5. Once you have gone through everything, I would suggest drawing some flow diagrams and comparison charts to make connections between reactions.