CHEM71 — Organic Chemistry II

Second semester Organic Chemistry essentially gives more of the same topics and ideas presented in the first, except memorization is required this time around which came at the expense of employing pure logic and reasoning skills.  I was able to make it through the first semester without having to resort to memorization and regurgitation, but there were a few chemical reactions in the second semester that were nearly indistinguishable from one another and so I had to simply commit it all to memory and hope for the best on test day.  The whole “memorization” approach to learning is completely useless:  when something is truly understood you give it a name and call it good–no memorization required. Everything is dumped almost immediately following the completion of a class because the information is meaningless and the brain doesn’t keep things around that it doesn’t need anymore. This is a good thing.

Still a very enjoyable and challenging class, but it was a little less engaging when compared to the first semester.

Exams

– Forthcoming