<p>You don’t need a background in quantum mechanics to study organic chem without memorization. I was a sophomore in college concurrently enrolled in Intro Physics when I took Organic Chemistry, and I didn’t memorize much at all. In fact, I think that if you try to memorize your way through organic chemistry, you are making life needlessly difficult for yourself and setting yourself up for failure (or, at least, working too much for success). It’s all a matter of seeing patterns and understanding why electrons go where they go; I don’t mean the precise quantum mechanics behind it, but rather asking questions like “is this element more electrophilic, or that one? Is this molecule more stable, or that one? Is this element more electronegative, or that one? Is this conformation more stable, or that one?” etc. I’m sure the quantum and statistical mechanics behind these behaviors would explain things more precisely, but you don’t need to know high-level physics to apply these basic concepts. I had zero background in those things, just like the rest of the students in my OChem class.</p>
<p>My organic chem professor always stressed that if we understood the principles from chapter 1 of our textbook, we’d do well in his class. His exams frequently presented us with reactions and problems we’d never seen before. I (and the other successful students in the class) didn’t have trouble with these because we hadn’t tried to memorize reactions, rather we had learned to apply the basic principles and periodic trends.</p>
<p>But I do agree that being a visual learner can help, particularly with manipulating molecules in your head.</p>
<p>By the way, I think Carey’s textbook is hands down the best textbook for organic chemistry.</p>