Do NOT Memorise

JEE, NEET and CUET exams

There are nearly 50 Name reactions, 15 distinguishing tests, 20 reaction mechanisms, much more.

A brute-force memorization to learn organic, for these exams is not a preferable way of getting good score. Yet, these exams cannot be cracked without a basic dose of memorisation.

On the other hand, “Don’t Memorize! Learn the concepts!” is a commonly heard piece of contemporary study advice, usually followed by dire warnings that flashcard-wielding memorizing zombies will eventually meet a terrible fate.

• "Do not just memorize reagents (you will forget them as they have no context to you or the compound given in the question of it. Don’t try to memorize…. that is a certain recipe for failure. You’d be better of making data reagent lists/uses/ etc. for yourself and learn more than buying some prefabricated things at a premium and which don’t help."
• "Don’t Memorize. The number one reason people find organic difficult is they try to memorize everything. This course is not about memorization. You can’t memorize hundreds of reactions, and you certainly can’t memorize Stereochemistry. Treat organic like a math course; work lots of problems and learn the process. Put the pencil to paper and draw out those mechanisms. Odds are, there will be problems you’ve never seen on exams, so you’re much better off learning the processes."

To be fair, while both of these articles explicitly say, “don’t memorize”, if you read between the lines, you might be able to interpret both of these pieces of advice as saying, “don’t just memorize”, “don’t memorize everything“, or “success will require more than just memorization.”

it’s easy to forgive students if they interpret, “DON’T MEMORIZE!” as, “don’t memorize – EVER”. And that’s why when I hear, “don’t memorize!”, I feel a duty to correct and clarify.

"Don’t memorize” is kind of a misnomer. The sentiment is more “know everything well enough that it becomes instinct, and you can improvise.” The biggest difference that I’ve found between Physical Chemistry and Organic Chemistry is that the former is much more formulaic (i.e. solve problem X this way; solve problem Y this way; etc.) The latter is like Legos where you learn about pieces and how they connect (i.e. how to make a primary alcohol, how to halogenate a compound, etc.), but it’s ultimately up to you to figure out how to make what you want.

For the longest time you may be confused/angry every time your professor tells you to learn not memorize, but eventually you see patterns (some of which are the gamblers fallacy) and you can reason your way through most any mechanism though it may take a Brazilian tries.

"Don’t memorize” means, “don’t rote memorize a lot of reaction mechanisms without looking for patterns".

“Don’t memorize” means that if you memorize just one example of a reaction, that doesn’t mean you know it. You have to be prepared to recognize what other examples of that reaction might look like.

A Couple Of Caveats

There are few usable lists and collection of reagents or situations which you are required to apply to particular concepts. Such lists/collections have to be just memorised.

This advice makes the assumption that you’ll be tested on deep knowledge. If you’re tested in a shallow way, you’re in luck. Then memorization turns out to be a fine strategy for doing well in exams.

Some reactions are presented “as is”, with very little mechanistic discussion. For example, oxidation of aromatic side chains by KMnO₄. Or reduction of dithianes to alkanes by Raney Nickel.