<p>I’m asking this question here because my family members completed their educations in countries with different schedules and no-one in my school has ever tried it. My school doesn’t have the resources to even offer AP Chem, so this is quite a stretch. </p>
<p>I know that General Chem is usually 2 terms and Organic 2 terms for a total of 4 terms. I’m planning on going through Chemistry: The Quest for Insight by Atkins and Principles of Organic Chemistry by R.O.C. Norman. </p>
<p>Ideally, I would be finished with both of these books by MidMarch. Any guesses with regards to how much time this might take?</p>
<p>Thanks; all opinions are very much welcome !</p>
<p>Also (Should’ve included this in the initial message), but I’m learning this stuff for a competition that requires a solid understanding of organic chemistry (Canadian National Chem Olympiad).</p>
<p>Have you looked at some practice tests? Are you doing anything else besides studying chemistry? Also, I don’t even see that Norman book anywhere. There is one called Principles of Organic Synthesis by that author. But I agree with your first statement that this is quite a stretch. I used to teach a semester-long organic college course for non-majors, and even that had a lot crammed in. I might suggest a book for organic designed for a semester course, or maybe even a survey text that combines general and organic so you get the fundamentals. It is hard to imagine teaching yourself two years worth of chemistry in <3 months, but perhaps it can be done.</p>
<p>Given that that is a full year of college level chemistry, with organic chem being a 3x a week class and gen chem being 3-4 days a week…it’s a stretch. A huge one.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. I was really an idiot and also has some family issues along the way, so I kept putting off my start date. Damn you, underdeveloped prefrontal cortex!</p>
<p>I forgot to mention- I tried learning all of AP chem seriously about a week before the exam last year through the NCSMI (I think?) videos and might’ve hacked it had I not been taking the SAT the weekend before and a huge EC event right after. I have a good background in HS chem and really do enjoy the subject- I just find it difficult to keep myself on track without a class. </p>
<p>Anyways, what I’m getting is that it’ll be really tough. I thin Im going to try studying as much as I can by the end of my winter break and see where I’m at. If I can finish general chem in 1 month, O chem in 2 months (end of March), then I might be able to cram in practice tests and problems the two weeks before. There’s no practical, though likely practical questions so if I am lucky enough to get through, I can work on doing labs quickly and well.</p>
<p>I don’t think it is possible to really learn two semesters of organic chemistry in two months. Whether you can learn enough to get through your exam is a different question; I don’t know how prepared they expect you to be.</p>
<p>It depends on your background. I learned a year of chemistry in 3 weeks with no prior background, but that’s all I was doing and it was for a class. It really helps to have someone to answer questions; the biggest drawback of self-studying is if you don’t have someone to answer questions. </p>
<p>The other hard part to self-studying is being selective about what you learn. There’s a lot of extra stuff in gen. chem books.</p>
<p>The concepts are simple in orgo but it’s harder to cram because there are a lot of reactions. The first 5 or 6 chapters could probably be covered in a week because they lay the groundwork for the theory rather than having a lot of reactions.</p>
<p>collegealum, you make very valid points. I know many people who have advanced science degrees but I doubt that they would know orgo off the top of their head, regardless of how brilliant they are. </p>
<p>I was told (by this very brilliant guy I mentioned) that for general chem, you can mostly get along ok by understanding all the concepts well and that for organic- you need to more problem solving. He advised me to read through a general chem book and spend more time practicing organic. </p>
<p>Ahh well, I’m just going to try my best and see how this turns out.</p>
<p>The college GenChem classes by sons took were extremely calculation intensive and typically involved solving multi-step problems. If you are hoping to enter a competition, you will need to understand not just the concepts but also the subtleties inside out – these aren’t plug-and-chug problems like you get in high school math classes.</p>
<p>This seems backwards. Orgo seems like you could get by more by intuition and memorization (i.e., studying rather than doing problems) than gen. chem. </p>
<p>There are some people that don’t need to practice any calculations in fields that are calculation-intensive, but that’s rare. For instance, calculus came easy for me, but I wouldn’t have done well without doing the homework. It irons out the kinks in your thinking, kinks that you may not realize are there in your understanding without doing problems. However, I had a friend who would never do any homework in calc and aced all tests. People like that are rare and I wouldn’t suggest it as a strategy for you.</p>
<p>I also learned calculus in a similar way so I was somewhat befuddled by what he told me but he probably was speaking from his own unique experiences. @LoremIpsum, He might have also been using an easier Chem textbook. I think MIT uses Atkins for their general chem classes.
In any event, I like to derive equations and think things through so I’ll just stick to my way. Plus, practice problems are good for helping you retain ideas.</p>
<p>ecouter11, here’s how I’d recommend that you spread your time around: start organic first. If you are planning to compete in the Chem Olympiad, you probably have some general knowledge of types of organic compounds–e.g., alcohols, carboxylic acids, esters, ethers, amino acids, nitriles, etc.? If so, try out a process-oriented approach to transformations of one type of compound into another–e.g, suppose that I want to convert an X to a Y? What reactions will do that? Then, as you are going through the book, classify the reactions according to the transformations they accomplish, and group them in your mind that way. Take some care with molecules that have multiple functional groups–can you reversibly block one, to carry out a transformation on another? Some knowledge of the pKa’s of various compounds is useful, too. Major “named” reactions are worth putting in your active memory. Your ability to handle this in the time available will depend a lot on the strength of your memory. One other item: an organic chemist of my acquaintance advises students to “think like a molecule.” This might be a useful perspective to take.</p>
<p>In terms of general chemistry, in my opinion, if you’ve had a good introductory chem course, then you will have sufficient background to handle all of the stoichiometry/gas laws/reaction kinetics questions you are likely to encounter. Where you might want to spend your time: electrochemistry, thermodynamics, quick review of the kinetic theory of gases, including relative rates of effusion.</p>
<p>There is some theoretical framework that is necessary to establish before you can start memorizing reactions. Sn1, Sn2 rxns., the push of electrons by electronegative/electropositive atoms and how that affects reactivity. These are things not taught in gen. chem. Other than that, this is good advice.</p>
<p>collegealum314’s advice is good, and it will give you the “think like a molecule” view of the reactions. My suggestions were somewhat more operational. I haven’t seen the Canadian Chem Olympiad questions, so can’t say what they are looking for.</p>
<p>Chemistry major from eons ago here. Took Honors Chemistry at a top U back when. By now you may have noticed that every class you take builds on material you have been exposed to since elementary school days. Each time you study material more of it sticks with you. General chemistry covers all fields of chemistry and there is a lot of problem solving- we had blue book essay exam questions where the process of solving the problem was as important as the final answer. Faulty logic lost points. I also remember deriving the formula for pH on a medical school Biochemistry exam when I couldn’t recall it. </p>
<p>You need to be systematic. Be sure you understand the fundamentals and WHY things work. btw- trying to “learn” chemistry to be competitive on a single exam seems like you are looking for prestige and something to look good on your record, not for the sake of knowing the material because you need or love it. My hope is that those who truly love chemistry outscore you in the competition.</p>
<p>I’m assuming you’ve already looked at the past twelve years’ worth of Chemistry Olympiad exams online. If you haven’t, then start there. [Chemistry</a> Olympiad Exams](<a href=“American Chemical Society”>American Chemical Society)</p>
<p>I don’t recommend using Chemical Principles: The Quest for Insight to prepare for this unless you’re already strong in quantum chem and thermodynamics. Atkins and Jones take a different approach from most textbooks by starting with fundamental theory and using that to explain concepts. Students who struggle with the math and physics of the theory never gain a working knowledge of the chemistry.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the advice. I really appreciate it! I’ve heard good things about Atkins which is why I decided to go with it. I do like math/quant chem/physics so hopefully it’ll be okay. My friends in Uni have some other books so I can ask to borrow from them if it doesn’t work out.</p>
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<p>With all due respect, sir- you don’t really know a lot about me or my life. I love Chemistry. My school is in a different country and is dirt poor, due to some reason or the other. We don’t even have proper labs, let alone lab equipment. I took our grade 12 chem, aced it and was bored and wanted to write AP Chem. I put off studying until the last moment but found that I really liked it and wanted to write it this year. Then, I found about this exam and decided that if I’m learning the material for AP Chem, why not just continue and try my hand at the exam too? I’ll be learning similar things, just on a different timeline. Some people like challenges for the sake of them.</p>
and no-one in my school has ever tried it. My school doesn’t have the resources to even offer AP Chem, so this is quite a stretch. </p>
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