Why Organic Chemistry Is So Hard?

Justin Dragna, PhD, posted an interesting commentary: organic chemistry is hard. His point was originally posted in Quora and later posted in Business Insider. One of his thesis was that organic chemistry requires both a logic and memorization. Studying biology requires plenty of memorization. Studying physics requires the use of logic.

Justin's point really hits close to me in a couple of ways. When I started college, my major was Molecular Cell Biology. When I took my first organic chemistry, I actually loved the logic and problem solving involved. Retrosynthetic analysis felt very natural to me. I started to recognize aldol synthons. I was capable of explaining concepts to my classmates. I started a mini lecture to my classmates. I felt so confident in the material that I became a chemistry tutor. When I realize I love chemistry more than biology, I switch to chemical biology. I wanted to have my studies include both biology and chemistry.

Organic chemistry resonates with me. There are only a couple of key concepts one needs to memorize. In fact, a very small portion of the periodic table needs to be memorized. The rest of the subject requires logic. I do not have great memorization ability, but I felt my logic ability was far superior.