[Loael]

Would teaching my organic chemistry be very difficult? I managed to teach myself Chem I in high school without any trouble so I could go straight to AP Chem, but obviously organic is much more complex than Chem I. I have an organic book already that my friend gave to me for free(Organic Chemistry(7th edition) by Francis Carey). The only reason I have this though is for simply preparing myself for the Olympiad test. I'm really looking forward to studying chemistry at a Uni next year, so how should I approach this?

So the main question is: Would teaching myself organic chemistry be difficult, and should I do it by using the book my friend gave me? And if I can do this, what are the main points I should teach myself? I ask this question because I know some books go way out of context in some of the content they teach.

[Borek]

If you are focused enough it is definitely doable. But I would suggest discussing things with others - perhaps in our organic chemistry forum - just to make sure you are not deluding yourself into thinking you understand something.

[Big-Daddy]

I would recommend you focus on learning mechanisms generally - in other words, write all parts of the molecule that do not react directly in the mechanism as "R1", "R2", "R3", etc. This will help you keep it general - you will be able to apply the reaction and understanding you have learnt to any molecule. The purpose of learning mechanisms rather than reactions themselves is so that you can apply the mechanism to any case. For example, it is far better in my opinion to learn the addition of E-Nu to a C=C double bond (where Nu is the more electronegative segment and E is the less electronegative segment) than to learn what happens when this is HCl - because then you'd realize that HCl could indeed be a long organic chain that ends in Cl and in principle the same thing happens! (The C-Cl bond breaks and you get a + charge on the C, bonding to the less substituted carbon, and a - charge on the Cl which bonds to the more substituted C. This comes from learning the mechanism and Markovnikov's Rule which accompanies it). So basically, make sure you learn general cases of the mechanisms rather than rote-learning what happens when propene reacts with HCl.

[orgopete]

I nearly agree with B.D. here, but not with the generalizations. Doing so can over generalize and lead to a notion of exceptions. I think he rules of chemistry and physics are more immutable, and what may seem an exception is due to more subtle changes that may be occurring. One must be careful to realize that some classic examples are narrow in scope. I much prefer to learn how some reactions are typical and to begin to adjust to how structural or electronic changes may affect its reactivity.

To the original poster, you may take a look at my book, A Guide to Organic Chemistry Mechanisms. I had a high school student learning reactions on his own.  He was a Project SEED student. He would ask questions later in the day.

[antimatter101]

You should also try rewording the statements in your own words, or copy down some into a notebook.
I have had experience.