#detandcaffeine

~October 23, 7/100 days of productivity~

I’ve had a good productive day! Worked on my last essay and studied a ton for chem. Plus a little late night relaxing bujo planning.

i was really bad in organic chem in high school and gave up that entirely but the weightage in college is so great so i cant do that!! initially i took really long to understand the reactions but with practice i improved a lot that even my teacher noticed !! with this, im sure all of you struggling with this chunky topic will manage better too!!

pre-studying: 

⋆ have a positive mindset !! tell yourself organic chemistry isn’t hard !! you can do it with practice!

⋆ always remember to work in parts not cram before an exam, dedicating time for every functional group.

⋆ if u have a syllabus document like a level’s always make sure to check what you are required to know first !!

tip 1. do mindmaps first

its always useful to have a mindmap for each functional group, including the below:

⋆ reactions it undergoes / name ( colour coding for different reaction type ! )

⋆ reagent and conditions required ( also to compare across functional groups as they might undergo same reaction type but different conditions eg. both alkenes and carboxylic acids undergo reduction but-alkene: H2, Ni catalyst, heatR-COOH: LiAlH4, dry ether )

⋆ equations of reactions + mechanism ( note which are reversible, ⇌ and irreversible, → )

⋆ observations ( color changes are very important for distinguishing test eg. if oxidation occurs w acidified kmno4, purple mno4^2- ions will be decolourised to mn^2+ ions )

tip 2. practice, review, practice !

practicing helps you to check your understanding of the concepts and how well you know your reagents ! take extra notes if your explanations for why the reaction occur in a specific way etc

hopefully you’ve learnt some tips to do better in organic chemistry !! its a easy topic if you put enough time and effort !! if u take a levels too or want to to delve in deeper into certain functional groups just drop me an ask !

universi-tea challenge day three - what’s in my bag

This varies from day to day but a few things are constants. I usually always have some means of digital note taking with me, I laid out my new iPad Pro (it’s the 10.5″ one) with the Apple Pencil here but I used my laptop for the entirety of last year. 

Also very important is my water bottle, it has a capacity of 1l and I love it. It’s one of those 24 h cold bottles and it’s honestly a lifesaver. 

My pencil case, although I almost never use it these days, but it’s good for signing the attendance sheets or quickly highlighting something in my law codes. 

My wallet, because I never leave the house without my wallet pretty much. An essential because of my debit card, public transport, coffee, snacks, etc.

My Beats Solo Wireless headphones. Not only for the commute, but sometimes you just need to tone out the people around you.

And last but not least, my Anker power bank. If you have a three year old iPhone like I do you, you’re likely to know that the battery gives out on you about after two years and it’s nice to know I have a backup in case. I obviously use the lightning cable with it (I can fully recommend the Amazon Basics cables btw!). 

28/100 days of productivity