organic chemistry
"One analogy that works for me is that learning organic chemistry is like learning to play the piano. (Okay, so I'm a pianist, shoot me.) You do not sit down in front of the keyboard the evening before the recital and attempt to learn the A minor 2-Part Invention by Bach. In order to play at all, you need to practice every day in the preceeding weeks and months (and years)."
"From a few simple rules come an ocean of complexity."
The writer thinks not.
"Learning organic chemistry is like learning a new language. It can only be done gradually. Read the following guidelines and try to follow them. They will give you an added edge on the road to success. "
"And it goes even further. When I said organic chemistry was artistic, I didn't mean just the subject itself, but also the process of learning organic chemistry. What do I mean by that? Well, let's just say, learning organic chemistry is like practicing piano (it's amazing how many times I've found myself making this analogy during my study of organic chemistry). It takes regular practice, often repetitive and seemingly tedious, to really nail down a concept."
" Organic chemistry is like initiation for pre-meds: occasionally entertaining, but inevitably painful and unavoidable. So if you are unsure about being pre-med, do yourself a favor and decide before taking "orgo." Otherwise, when you later switch to Economics, it will count as an elective. "
"Organic chemistry is like the art of baking. You can approach it from an angle where all you have to do is mix the ingredients in a bowl and get a cake, or you can take a ground-up approach. If you're treating it as a memorisation excercise, you'll have a hard time."
Maybe, maybe not.
"To learn to write, one must learn about all of the grammatical pieces and what purpose they serve (i.e. nouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions etc...)."
And for both, you have to practice to get really good.
"Organic chemistry is like gardening: There's a large body of factual knowledge to be acquired, but mastering that knowledge doesn't make you great. There's also that puzzling intangible thing known as a "green thumb"--some folks have it, some don't. "
"Say you want to get into medical school, but organic chemistry is like a fog that descends upon your brain, so thick you feel like you are swimming through oil-infested gulf water. Instead of quitting that molecular biology and biochemistry major in favor of environmental sociology, figure out how a carbon and a hydrogen fit together. That's more than 1 % of orgo. That's like 90%. The aggregation of small advances from that basic knowledge, done systematically and regularly, will get you through."
"The premed curriculum is fairly standard. Required are chemistry, physics, calculus, biology, vertebrate anatomy or some variation and my all-time favorite, organic chemistry. Organic chemistry is like a yearlong colonoscopy with no sedation or facilitative lubricants."
METAMIA is a free database of analogy and metaphor. Anyone can contribute or search. The subject matter can be anything. Science is popular, but poetry is encouraged. The goal is to integrate our fluid muses with the stark literalism of a relational database. Metamia is like a girdle for your muses, a cognitive girdle.