[Friedferrous]

I have taken organic 1 and 2 and received a B and C, respectively. I am considering applying to grad school for medicinal chemistry but feel that I suck at organic chemistry. My question is as follows- how do you get great at organic chemistry via self study? I currently work in a lab ( synthesis) and I do decent work but I feel that my organic knowledge could always be better. Should I take time off to read up on the field before applying to graduate programs?

Any advice is appreciated!

[Raphael]

Go back to the fundamentals of why things work the way they do. I was able to increase my organic chemistry ability a great deal by just reading parts of this book https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Reasonable-Organic-Reaction-Mechanisms/dp/0387954686

There are other books out there like this one. I can't say this one is the best or worst since I haven't looked at the others, but I think this book has a lot to offer.

[Vidya]

I have taken organic 1 and 2 and received a B and C, respectively. I am considering applying to grad school for medicinal chemistry but feel that I suck at organic chemistry. My question is as follows- how do you get great at organic chemistry via self study? I currently work in a lab ( synthesis) and I do decent work but I feel that my organic knowledge could always be better. Should I take time off to read up on the field before applying to graduate programs?

Any advice is appreciated!

Hi
My advise is pick up some simple book like organic chemistry by  Klein or John Mcmurry  or wade which has many solved and unsolved problems in it.Just read it and solve all problems(solved and unsolved).Take help of the forums for difficult problems and fight with every structure. Now select a next level book like Solomon or Bruice which I felt will give you exposure for slightly different kind of problems.Just practice problems to learn it or understand it in better way.

[Dan]

Lots of practice is the key. With lots of examples, you start to see the patterns and the more you do, the easier it gets to predict reactivity.