Organic Chemistry as a Second Language: Second Semester Topics

I am an older non-traditional student launching myself through a second degree - Cell Biology and Biotechnology. I have heard so much negative press about Organic Chemistry that I was petrified. Turns out I love Organic Chemistry! I found Dr. Klein's "Organic Chemistry as a Second Language, First Semester Topics", 3rd edition, before I started orgo in the Fall. It has been a life saver - 94 on my mid-term - and I only ran into trouble when I discovered that the first semester topics we were covering were not all in that book!I went ahead and pre-ordered the "Organic Chemistry as a Second Language, Second Semester Topics"! Glad I sat down and looked at it! All the topics I was missing in the first book are actually in this one. So, my school simply has topics arranged differently than these books do! (We're jumping around in a textbook.) May be the case for you as well! It is well worth the cost to buy both of them BEFORE you start orgo. I was through many chapters before class even started and I found that it was a great help to know where we were going and to have a background in the material before class even started! Dr. Klein's explanations are simple and progress logically, as do the problems. Fortunately, I ordered the second semester topics before the final exam for first semster. I will be able to take some holiday time and review all my first semester topics, (including the ones I thought were missing)in Dr. Klein's books.Do yourself a huge favor! Get a head start by letting Dr. Klein help you by using these two small books! I would love it if these were the text books for our class! Thank you, Dr. Klein!!!

This book (as well as the 1st semester book) was a lifesaver. Not enough time to read an entire book chapter before class? Read this book. Having trouble with a specific concept and want more specific details to help you understand? Read this book. Want extra practice problems? Read this book.If you thought first semester was easy, that's because it is. The second semester takes so much more hard work than the first. This book gives you very detailed rules and methods of doing mechanisms and beyond. And trust me, there will be MANY mechanisms. SO MANY. This book will be crucial in your success, especially if you're not naturally good with chemistry.This book just has everything you need to succeed in the class, just add diligence. I didn't start using it right away, but I wish I did! I was missing out, for sure. If your textbook isn't helpful, turn to this. I'm not sure I can express any further how helpful and useful this book is for an organic chemistry student. When I go to tutor orgo I will definitely have this book on hand as a reference.

This book saved my semester. Organic chemistry is hard and requires a lot of memorization. This book alone will not be enough to guarantee you an A. Instead, it tells you how to study for organic chemistry. I really liked it because it has many exercises with the answer key in the back. It tells you how to tackled the exercises, in contrast to your regular textbook, which explains the theory. I recommend you to use this book along with your textbook, since your textbook tells you the theory (as well as chapters not covered in this book), and, after reading, do exercises with this book to reinforce your understanding. This book tells you the tricks to remember how to tackle each problem, instead of telling you to memorize all possible reactions. A true life saver. I also recommend you buying the "First semester topics" edition of this book, since you will need to refresh your memory about some reactions, such as synthesizing alcohols, which are not explained in this book.

I absolutely love this book-- it's helpful, clear, and a wonderful support for my textbook and other study guides. Whenever I encounter a new topic in class I like to check this book for suggestions. The first book made arrows and mechanisms so clear to me that I use them on my own to learn everything else.The reason, and I mean the only reason, that I'm giving this four stars is that there is absolutely nothing about radical reaction mechanisms in this book. It was a grave disappointment, as the topic is particularly complex and could certainly use as much support as possible.

This is a must-have supplemental book for Orgo 2. I relied heavily on the First Semester edition of this book for Orgo 1, and this book helped me just the same. It doesn't quite fully replace your textbooks, but it is infinitely easier to understand. Orgo textbooks are notorious for being filled with extraneous information and not having concepts explained in the clearest manner. This book is written very concisely (as evinced by how thin it is!) and pulls no punches. Be sure, reader, that the author speaks your language and writes a lot less formally than a textbook.There are numerous practice problems in this book after every single topic. You read a section, do the practice problems, go on to the next section, do more practice problems, and then the chapter eventually finishes. This stepwise approach REALLY drills the material into you.This book does not cover every possible mechanism or topic in Orgo 2 - I would say it covered over 95% of the material from my class. Since your professor most likely teaches from a certain textbook, it's important to reference the textbook for the few excluded topics and, of course, for extra practice problems.Bottom line: this book is indispensable for any student of organic chemistry. It truly demystifies what can be a dense, intimidating class, better than any other supplemental text I've ever seen for the topic.