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CHEM 330: Advanced Organic Chemistry

Posted on July 12, 2021 by Kenny Lin | Leave a comment

A chance to further advance your 2nd year organic chemistry knowledge. CHEM 330 is a one of the hardest courses I’ve taken at UBC; however the nuanced content also made this an interesting organic chemistry course.

format of the course

There are lots of assessments in this course relative to your standard university course. When I took it, there were weekly problem sheets along with two huge problem sets that were all worth a substantial portion of your mark (they were quite challenging as well). Lectures were taught in a smaller lecture hall via chalk and blackboard. This means that you definitely couldn’t miss lecture as the notes would otherwise not be available online. There was also a midterm and final exam both composed of fill in the products/reagents, synthesis, and mechanism type questions. You also needed to memorize random trivia like the pKa of different organic compounds and certain bond energies.

The content was basically an extension of CHEM 213, in terms of looking at the reactions in more detail. A concept that I really enjoyed was the stereochemical control of nucleophilic addition to a carbonyl and how the stereochemistry of the alpha carbon could dictate how the nucleophile would attack the carbonyl carbon. In CHEM 213, this fact would have likely been glossed over, but in CHEM 330 we studied in-depth the mechanism behind this phenomenon.

gpa 🙂 or 🙁

This course is a massive GPA dropper and it is unclear whether there was scaling. I spent two courses worth of time studying for this course, as not only do you have to memorize a ton of reactions, you also have to learn how to use them together when faced with a synthesis problem or draw on your understanding of these reactions when confronted with a mechanism problem. I managed to get the 3rd highest midterm mark; however, this was around 91-93 which is appallingly low when the same mark in most courses wouldn’t be noteworthy of a top 3. For some reason, the professor let everyone know what the top 10 marks were, and these marks ranged all the way down to high 70s. The average for this course in 2019W was 72. The distribution is quite variable as this was a small class of 60.

CHEM 330 grade distribution. Credits: ubcgrades.com

verdict: to take or not to take

While I don’t regret taking this course it’s definitely not something I would want to take again. In a way, this course helped me discover that organic chemistry wasn’t for me. If you’re super interested in organic chemistry, this course will truly test the extent of your interest.

CHEM 203: Introduction to Organic Chemistry

Posted on January 4, 2021 by Kenny Lin | Leave a comment

Most Science students have heard about the dreaded CHEM 233, but did you know that Chemistry/Biochemistry majors actually aren’t allowed to take that course? Meet CHEM 203, the introductory organic chemistry course that is much more difficult and intensive compared to CHEM 233. However, if you’re really interested in organic chemistry, this course will build solid fundamentals for you to utilize in advanced courses.

FORMAT OF THE COURSE

The format of the course is fairly standard for a typical organic chemistry class. There are live lectures where the professor goes over the details of a reaction and its mechanisms. One really needs to brush up on CHEM 123 knowledge as you’ll be swamped with numerous reactions that need to be memorized on as early as the second week. There are also no slides, as this would be hard to do with a drawing-intensive course such as organic chemistry. The professor writes real-time notes as he talks over reactions, which makes for very organized and structured note-taking.

Along with a lecture portion, there is also a lab portion worth 25% of your entire grade. Surprisingly, these labs had less of a workload than the first year labs. However, instead of labs once every two weeks, you have labs once a week. Unlike the first year labs, there are no unreasonable 10 minute quizzes! In fact, you won’t even have to write any lab reports! The workload consists of pre-lab work, the lab, and post-lab work (which is just filling in a report sheet). Pre-lab and post-lab work usually took me 2 hours a week to accomplish, mostly because I get distracted easily. Unfortunately, your technique mark is largely dependent on your TA. Personally, I had a really bad experience with my TA where it got to the point that I would dread every lab and be too afraid to ask questions (as he would take off marks for any questions he deemed “dumb”). This being said, the lab instructor for this course is very considerate, and would give back marks that were not supposed to be lost (interestingly everyone who had my TA was scaled up in the end…).

GPA 🙂 OR 🙁

This course will tank your GPA unless you have a strong interest in the subject material. There were basically no “free marks” in the course (eg. clickers, participation) as the marks were distributed between two midterms, the lab, and the final exam. All of the examinations were difficult, with averages hovering at mid to high 60s. The final exam average is unknown, but I remember not being able to finish the exam because of length and difficulty. The course was definitely scaled up in the end as I ended up with an A+, despite not being able to finish. The course average for my year ended up being 68.

Credits: ubcgrades.com

verdict? to take or not to take

If you’re not passionate about organic chemistry and you’re not planning on taking any organic chemistry classes in the future I would opt to take the easier CHEM 233 course. If you’re planning on taking more organic chemistry in the future, I 100% recommend taking this course. Even though it is much harder than CHEM 233, you will gain much more solid fundamentals and this will benefit you as your academic career progresses.