Organic Chemistry is simply different than other classes you’ve taken. So, to succeed in Organic Chemistry, you’re going to need to do things differently. Your approach to the course needs to be different, and your habits throughout the course need to be different. On top of that, Organic Chemistry requires specific concepts and skills to solve various kinds of problems. For you to develop the approach, the habits, the concepts, and skills necessary to succeed in Organic Chemistry, you need time. And time is something that students just don’t have after they return to campus. Summer Orgo Prep helps you develop those things when you have time, BEFORE classes begin.

Summer Orgo Prep is made up of about 80 total Lessons, across 11 Modules. Each lesson takes students roughly 20-30 minutes to complete. Doing the math, you can see that completing all of Summer Orgo Prep will take most students between 30-40 hours of total time. I strongly recommend that you spend a couple hours a day, and if you do, you’ll complete the entire course in about 15-20 days. This is an investment you’ll be glad you made!

Before I answer the question directly, I’ll first say that the more of the prep course you complete, the more prepared you’ll be! But the short answer is no, you don’t have to complete the ENTIRE prep course in order to be ready for your actual Orgo course. I say that because you’ll make some of your biggest strides in the first three Modules. Module 1 works on your approach, mindset, and habits; Module 2 reviews some key concepts from General Chemistry, and shows you how they apply toward Orgo. And Module 3 takes you through resonance and curved arrow notation—what I firmly believe to be the most important concept and set of skills to set you up for mastering reactions down the road (check out my blog post here to see why). The remaining Modules are also very important, as they continue to teach you new key concepts and critical skills toward solving problems. That’s especially true for Modules 7, 8, and 9, so it really is in your best interest to get as much through those Modules as possible before classes begin.

Absolutely! That’s why you have 1-year access to Summer Orgo Prep! And it’s helpful in two ways. First, if you didn’t quite complete all of Summer Orgo Prep before your actual Orgo course begins, you should use the first several days of the new term to continue to complete as much as possible. Quite simply, the more of the prep course you complete, the more prepared you’ll be for the rest of your actual Orgo course. The second way Summer Orgo Prep will help after classes begin is as a resource when a specific topic that was covered in Summer Orgo Prep is being presented in your actual Orgo course. When that happens, take the time to look back over how that topic was covered in Summer Orgo Prep. You’ll navigate through that topic with more confidence in your actual course.

There are thousands…hundreds of thousands…millions of pages and videos about Organic Chemistry online. So, when you Google a particular topic, you’re bound to get a TON of hits. But there are lots of problems that come with that. First, a lot of those pages and videos are poor quality, and many of them have serious errors! Second, even if you find a page or a video that’s good quality and free from errors, it could present things at a level that’s completely wrong for you. Third, even if you find a good page or video that’s at the right level, it could present things with the assumption that you’ve already covered specific topics beforehand, which may not be the case. The bottom line: Being that you’re new to Organic Chemistry, you don’t have the means to be able to determine which pages and videos are good and helpful for you. Therefore, going down the rabbit hole of free online material could actually hurt you in the long run! Summer Orgo Prep is different. It’s put together by yours truly (Dr. J.), a professor of Orgo for 23+ years at Elon University, ranked #1 in the nation for teaching. All of the Lessons are designed to be at the right level, for students who have completed General Chemistry. And because of the way that the Lessons and Modules progress throughout the course, you can rest assured that for any new topics that are introduced, you will have already covered the material earlier in the course.

Summer Orgo Prep is designed to teach you concepts and develop skills, rather than cover content. Those concepts and skills are presented in the context of certain topics that are typically covered in the first one-third of a yearlong sequency of Orgo (first two-thirds of a semester). But in Summer Orgo Prep, we don’t go nearly to the same depth and breadth that you will in your actual Orgo course. Instead, I just teach you the key aspects of each concept, and I show you how to apply that concept toward solving some common types of problems. Having said that, though, what you learn in Summer Orgo Prep is not just limited to Orgo I. Everything you learn later in Organic Chemistry builds on material you learned earlier in the course. Therefore, the concepts and skills you learn in Summer Orgo Prep will apply to things throughout your entire year of Orgo!

Absolutely! I decided to call my prep course Summer Orgo Prep because the vast majority of students take Orgo I in the fall, in which case Summer Orgo Prep needs to be done in the summer. But at some schools, students can take Orgo I in the spring. If that’s you, then you certainly can…and should…use Summer Orgo Prep to prepare during winter break. The additional challenge that comes with that, however, is time. Instead of 3 months during the summer, you might only have 2-3 weeks for winter break. In a previous FAQ, I mentioned that finishing ALL of Summer Orgo Prep takes students roughly 30-40 hours of total time. Therefore, to complete the prep course in its entirety, you would just need to devote about 3-4 hours a day. You can do it!!

Definitely! In a previous FAQ, I explained that Summer Orgo Prep is not designed to cover Organic Chemistry content, but rather is designed to teach you concepts and skills for Orgo. Those concepts and skills are certainly used a lot in Orgo I, where so many things are new to you. But the way that Organic Chemistry works is that topics introduced later in the year depend on topics covered earlier. Therefore, all of the concepts and skills you learn from Summer Orgo Prep aren’t simply applied to content you learn early on, but rather continue to be applied to topics and problem-solving throughout your entire year of Orgo! As such, Summer Orgo Prep can really help you get ready for Orgo II!

If you’re retaking Orgo I, then Summer Orgo Prep could really help! That’s because, if you’re retaking Orgo I, then most likely you didn’t do well (or as well as you wanted) the first time you took the course. And there are two reasons why that might have happened. One is that you approached the course with the expectation of memorizing as much as possible. The other is that you didn’t have a strong enough mastery of key concepts and skills for problem-solving. Both of these things are what Summer Orgo Prep is all about: Shaping your approach and mindset for learning/understanding instead of memorizing, and developing Orgo-specific skills for solving problems. On top of that, having been through Orgo I already, you’ll have an even deeper appreciation for what Summer Orgo Prep does to develop these kinds of things, in which case Summer Orgo Prep can end up being even more effective for you.