Michelle N.

Organic chemistry is demanding because it asks you to visualize molecules in three dimensions, retain a large number of reactions, and apply concepts to unfamiliar problems, often all at once. Many students come to me feeling that the course is an endless list of reactions to memorize. In reality, most of it follows a small set of underlying principles, and once those principles are clear, the material becomes far more predictable. I hold a Ph.D. from UC San Diego and am a professor at a UM cam…