[C3046] Intensive Organic Chemistry for First Years II

This was my absolute favorite class freshman year (I'm a sophomore). If you get in to this class, take it take it take it. I have a bunch of friends who got in but took gen chem and regret it now.

First semester: Yes, Breslow teaches very quickly. Yes, he does tend to skip chapters he doesn't care about and tell you to read them at home. But he is really an amazing teacher. He is very clearly excited about what he's teaching, loves to make jokes (which often catch you off guard), and always takes the opportunity to tell you about real-world applications. I brought my English-major sister to sit in on the class when she came to visit me, and even she was entertained all class. He is honestly one of the smartest people I have ever ever met. I don't think I ever looked at the clock ever all semester. His tests are hard, and are sometimes about applying what you've learned to things you've never seen before, but the curve is extremely generous. He said at the beginning of the semester that in order to not discourage students from taking the class, he tried to give them what they would have gotten had they taken gen chem (A or B range, and frankly, if you're in this class, a B is still pretty damn impressive).

Second semester: Leighton is a really good teacher. After Breslow, his lectures definitely seem slow, but his drawings seem like the most beautiful things you've ever seen. He also manages to teach this semester WITHOUT A BOOK, which, thinking back on it now, is pretty amazing. He's just that good at explaining things. And what's really nice is that, because the class is so small (in what other organic class can the teacher learn your name??), you can ask questions, to which he is very responsive.. The tests are definitely hard, but again the curve is generous. I have heard of people getting C's in this class, but the majority of the kids my semester got in the A range.

Note: From seeing my friends take organic now, the book Breslow and Leighton use is SO MUCH BETTER than the one used in regular orgo classes. It's extremely readable and explains things with really funny cartoons sometimes. It was worth reading first semester just to see resonance get compared to rhinos and dragons and unicorns. No kidding. I get my old one out to explain things all the time.

Warning: Bio is a HUGE LETDOWN after this class.

Beware--this class is full of premeds, overachieving engineers, and future chem majors. And it's at 9am. It's especially useful for premeds and chem majors, since it saves you a full year of gen chem, but some background in orgo is definitely helpful. Mostly, people don't realize that for synthesis questions, you have to ask yourself "what can I make with X and Y," "how do I make this kind of molecule," "what do I add to X to get Y," etc.--it's NOT just memorizing X+Y=Z.

Breslow teaches the first semester. He's totally brilliant (google him for some fun facts, as well as amusing pictures of him when he was young), but should NOT teach undergrads. Don't bother showing up to class--I went to every class, wrote everything down, tried my best to stay awake, and should have slept in every morning and just done everything out of the book. Luckily, Michelle Hall was the TA our year and she is FANTASTIC. I have no idea how any of us would have passed without her. Also note that while the midterms are all fair material out of the book, the final is INSANELY hard--he wants you to "apply your knowledge" to stuff you haven't seen or something, but it's totally impossible. In my class, about a third of the class ended up with some kind of an A.

If you can make it through first semester, James Leighton is totally awesome. He's super organized, draws large, clear molecules/mechanisms on the board (Breslow drew lots of tiny scribbly drawings--it's a nice change!), and is dynamic/engaging enough to keep almost everyone awake. Class attendance is absolutely necessary, since he lectures from his own notes and covers things not in the book (the book is still helpful for review and practice problems, though). Our TA was not very helpful, but it didn't matter since Leighton is such a badass. Exams are definitely mechanism-heavy (unlike Breslow's), but mostly fair. At least you know what's coming, since he posts practice tests. The final is pretty hard, but not as crazy as Breslow's. 2/3 of our class got some kind of A.