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Organic Chemistry Tips and Tricks
Three Exam Tips
Last updated: January 23rd, 2024 |
No doubt you’ve got some important exams coming up. With that in mind, here’s three simple tactics you can use during exams.
1. Draw partial charges
If you get complete brain-lock during a question, try drawing out the partial charges. Ask yourself what the most electronegative atoms in the molecule are.
The most electronegative atoms (e.g. oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine) are generally going to have partial negative charges on them, while carbons that they’re bonded to will have partial positive charges. This will help in identifying potential nucleophiles and electrophiles. And since opposite charges attract, this can help you figure out where the any reactions might occur – a handy thing to know when you’re stuck.
2. Draw in hidden hydrogens and lone pairs.
Remember that we often – for reasons of laziness – won’t draw in the “hidden” hydrogens and lone pairs that are present on atoms. If a problem is giving you a hard time, draw them in. This especially goes for mechanism questions and synthesis questions, since you’ll really want to be able to see everything that’s going on. Sometimes just a little clue like you’ve lost (or gained) a hydrogen on a certain atom can be the crucial piece of information that moves you forward.
3. Number your carbons.
It’s hard enough to understand what reaction you’re looking at and how it might work. What really hurts is getting the answer right, but losing grades because you skipped drawing in an atom or two. If you number your carbons, you’ll greatly decrease the chances of making simple mistakes like this. Even after all these years, I still make little mistakes. The difference is that I know how easy they are to make that I’m 10 times more paranoid about making them than normal people are.
The other nice thing about this technique is that it’s a little brainless. You can do it – and it’s useful – while actively thinking about how to do the problem.
What are some of your best organic chemistry study tips? Share them in the comments below!
James
00 General Chemistry Review
01 Bonding, Structure, and Resonance
02 Acid Base Reactions
03 Alkanes and Nomenclature
04 Conformations and Cycloalkanes
05 A Primer On Organic Reactions
06 Free Radical Reactions
07 Stereochemistry and Chirality
08 Substitution Reactions
09 Elimination Reactions
10 Rearrangements
11 SN1/SN2/E1/E2 Decision
12 Alkene Reactions
13 Alkyne Reactions
14 Alcohols, Epoxides and Ethers
15 Organometallics
16 Spectroscopy
17 Dienes and MO Theory
18 Aromaticity
19 Reactions of Aromatic Molecules
20 Aldehydes and Ketones
21 Carboxylic Acid Derivatives
22 Enols and Enolates
23 Amines
24 Carbohydrates
25 Fun and Miscellaneous
26 Organic Chemistry Tips and Tricks
- Common Mistakes: Formal Charges Can Mislead
- Partial Charges Give Clues About Electron Flow
- Draw The Ugly Version First
- Organic Chemistry Study Tips: Learn the Trends
- The 8 Types of Arrows In Organic Chemistry, Explained
- Top 10 Skills To Master Before An Organic Chemistry 2 Final
- Common Mistakes with Carbonyls: Carboxylic Acids... Are Acids!
- Planning Organic Synthesis With "Reaction Maps"
- Alkene Addition Pattern #1: The "Carbocation Pathway"
- Alkene Addition Pattern #2: The "Three-Membered Ring" Pathway
- Alkene Addition Pattern #3: The "Concerted" Pathway
- Number Your Carbons!
- The 4 Major Classes of Reactions in Org 1
- How (and why) electrons flow
- Grossman's Rule
- Three Exam Tips
- A 3-Step Method For Thinking Through Synthesis Problems
- Putting It Together
- Putting Diels-Alder Products in Perspective
- The Ups and Downs of Cyclohexanes
- The Most Annoying Exceptions in Org 1 (Part 1)
- The Most Annoying Exceptions in Org 1 (Part 2)
- The Marriage May Be Bad, But the Divorce Still Costs Money
- 9 Nomenclature Conventions To Know
- Nucleophile attacks Electrophile
3. number your carbons – lifesaver, thank you. I would often skip drawing atoms for no reason.
Tips for rechecking stability order in a question (especially tautomerism and acidic character) and calculating number of optically isomers .please say sooner
.thanks