Chem 2OA3 / 2OG3: Organic Chemistry I

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Dr. Harrison (Fall, 2020)

Textbook: Required, Helpful

Methods of Evaluation: Tests, Exams, Lab Reports

Dr. Adronov (2016)

Being scared of this course will make you do worse, practice a little everyday, get to the fundamentals, use the textbook its really good. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.

Dr. Capretta (2018)

If you need this course as part of your program and know that you don’t excel in chem, get a tutor from the get go to help you out! Better safe than sorry Dr. Capretta 2018

Dr. Harrison

USE THE TEXTBOOK! It is honestly a lifesaver. My lectures were scheduled for 8:30, so I often watched the podcast, but I didn’t feel like the lectures were helpful.

Do past questions. Make sure you understand the concept behind the reactions when doing the questions so you can apply them to a different questions. If you do enough questions you start seeing the patterns and it makes life easier.

Dr. Adronov

With Adronov, you don’t need the textbook for anything except practice questions. If anything, ALWAYS attend class. This isn’t a class to skip…luckily he’s such a good professor that you won’t want to skip. He makes organic chemistry make sense, with organized lecture notes and good pace. I couldn’t recommend this class more; it builds a great basis for your understanding of organic chemistry. Be warned though: he tests you on everything. Go into his midterms and exam having at least looked over everything in class; you can prioritize, but if you look at something and say “eh, that won’t be on this midterm,” maybe it won’t….but it could end up on an assignment or the exam. Overall, he’s an amazingly nice person and professor; the chemistry department doesn’t deserve him. Definitely not an easy course in any right (his tests are comprehensive yet fair), but a course that he sets you up to do well in from the very start.

Dr. Harrison (Fall, 2018)

The many grading schemes work in your favour to calculate your best mark, but come time for the final exam you’ll be wishing you took those midterms more seriously. The better you do on those midterms, the more it helps! Do EVERY SINGLE practice problem, the textbook is a REALLY good resource and breaks things down really well! It’s a beast of a course but have a game plan and hopefully you’ll pull through.

Dr. Chibba (Fall, 2022)

I am proud to say I finished this course in one piece despite the reputation orgo has – which means you can too. Going into it, there are many people with different thoughts on orgo, but for this course I can say that Dr. Chibba was a wonderful professor who made learning organic chemistry fun. The tests and exams were very fair where what you learned in lectures and review sessions are reflected on the assessments. Only thing is make sure you time manage on the actual test because they tend to be quite long so make sure you work efficient. Don’t miss class – just go. Be persistent and PRACTICE. Wiley plus and homework questions actually help – who would’ve thought. The labs are also mark boosters and fun! But genuinely, put in the time each day to really understand and practice and you can do it.

Textbook: Not Required, It was helpful