I will do for you what AI and Google cannot do for you: I will teach you how to excel on organic chemistry exams and homework.
Organic chemistry can derail your GPA very quickly if your approach to the class is suboptimal. If you get off to a poor start, you may find yourself unable to recover and even needing to drop the course and try again next time (or maybe even rethink your career path). If you dig yourself into a hole early, you make everything more difficult for a recovery.
Lots of straight-A students have ended up in this situation, and it wasn't because they weren't studying or trying. The main reason students do poorly in organic chemistry is the approach necessary for doing well is different from what works for other classes, and the student doesn't figure this out (and often never figures it out) until a lot of potentially irreversible damage has been done.
If you think AI and Google are all you need for success because “there’s nothing AI can’t do, I use it for all my classes”, you are playing with fire. Here’s 3 reasons why this approach is a recipe for disaster:
1. A lot of organic chemistry information you'll get from these resources is incorrect, and there's a good chance you won't recognize it is incorrect.
2. AI and Google won't teach you how to think critically and develop the skills you need for organic chemistry success. It may give you an answer, but it isn't likely you're learning how to handle that type of problem the next time you see it because all you're doing is copying an answer. What makes organic chemistry different from science classes you've taken before is organic chemistry puts an emphasis on developing critical thinking and diagnostic skills, so copying answers off the internet isn't helping you to develop those skills.
3. Probably the most important reality of all: when it is just you on your own taking an exam, and you need to rely on skills you were supposed to have developed, you won't have technology to lean on for help. You'll be using whatever skills you have, so if you are discovering you don't have what you need while you're taking your exam . . . well, I think you know how that ends.
You will benefit from my 20+ years of experience and love of organic chemistry tutoring.
We're going to kick some organic chemistry ass together!
Hi, I'm Eddie the OChem Tutor. This is my full-time livelihood, and I have been helping students excel in organic chemistry since 2004. What I will do for you is LIGHT YEARS BEYOND what a peer-tutor can do for you. After over 20 years of tutoring and coaching (including 10 years of teaching organic chemistry for the Princeton Review, training and certifying Princeton Review instructors to teach organic chemistry, and being on the teaching staff at Harvard University), I have developed a lot of skills and know-how that make me high value and highly skilled for you. I have helped hundreds of students from schools all over go from zero to hero, and I can help you do the same.
Every semester/quarter and summer, I work with students who come in expecting this class to be the worst, but most discover they can get high grades in organic chemistry once they learn and understand how to apply a small handful of repeating pillar principles that govern almost every problem we have to solve. I teach students how to figure out and solve problems logically with these principles and concepts, and often to their surprise, students find the class becomes a manageable exercise in critical thinking.
BUT . . .
There's a high probability that emphasizing and teaching the pillar principles needed to solve problems with ease will not happen in your course. More likely than not, it takes someone like me to help you get this piece, and my ability to do this is why I've had so much success with students over the years and why I have been able to last as long as I have in this role.
With me in your corner, your organic chemistry experience will be easier.
With over 20 years of experience tutoring and teaching organic chemistry full-time, I will be able to answer your questions more efficiently and authoritatively than most. I will be showing you how the principles of the new material connect to that of the old material, and helping you to recognize and apply these repeating principles and concepts. I will definitely be showing you a much more comprehensive understanding than what you will get from class or from internet searches for help.
You will still need to work with intention (I'm not a magic wand), but I will show you how to work smarter, not harder and unproductively in this class.
If you come aboard early enough (early = important), you will find the hardest part is the beginning; the class will actually become easier as you see how the material and concepts we learn at the front-end of the course allow us to solve almost everything that follows.
The angry masses of students who are not seeing this are the ones complaining "it's all memorization" and a weed-out class as their grades (and possibly their futures) go down the drain.
I worked with Eddie twice a week during my semester of organic chemistry at Harvard. It was the best decision I made. Everyone knows. Organic Chemistry is hard and scary. But with Eddie's guidance, I excelled and completed the class with a solid understanding of the basics of OChem. There was no memorization involved. Just a true understanding of the subject. Like playing a musical instrument or learning to speak another language. I took the MCAT a few months later and didn't feel that I had to spend much time reviewing because of the OChem judgment and reasoning that Eddie helped me to achieve.
Eddie is more than a tutor. He is a coach. With that in mind, know that to truly excel in OChem, the student has to put in their own time and dedication. He's not there to do your homework for you. Eddie was there along the way, cheering me on, and explaining things to me in a way I could relate to. OChem was truly my favorite pre-med subject I took, and it was thanks to Eddie.
If you are looking to actually learn Ochem and excel in your course, learn from Eddie and trust and do everything he says. Put in the time and work. I started from week 1 with him and stayed afloat the whole time. Do not wait until you drown. Start on top and stay on top. It is possible with Eddie 🙂
Ana L.
Harvard Extension Student
(Written in a card)
Eddie,
Just wanted to thank you for the past semester. Ever since our first meeting I felt I was in capable and knowledgeable hands, and your help and encouragement paid off A LOT. I realize without a lot of studying on my part I wouldn’t have been successful, but you supplied me with the tools I needed to make it happen – and for that I am very appreciative.
I look forward to working with you more this coming semester.
Your friend,
Brian
Brian V.
Harvard Extension Student
Perhaps my greatest benefit to you: extraordinary (and authentic) accessibility
Being able to answer questions correctly is what I would consider the bare minimum for someone in my role. (And I can assure you there’s plenty of tutors out there who cannot do this part effectively.) What really makes me stand out from the crowd is how much I pour myself into the cause and how accessible I will be in between our actual sessions together.
You will quickly see that I do so much more than just pop up on your screen during our Zoom sessions to do my thing. I will also be available between sessions for answering quick questions and for looking over work you'd like me to check over, then returning it with written feedback. I'm always just a text message away.
I am available throughout the day and evening, and I can meet with you on weekends if availability allows.
If you value the importance of working with somebody who really cares about their craft and the well-being of their students beyond a means of just making ends meet, someone who is going to be there in your times of need and not flaking out when you're sending out your S.O.S. and you need help quickly, then I am the coach for you. I will exceed your expectations.
Please click here to read more about my greatest benefit to you. I have a lot to say about this.
Let's lift each other up.
Organic chemistry does not have to suck big-time. We can have some fun doing this together, and we can lift each other up. If we're going old school, I like to think of you being Rocky and me being Apollo Creed in Rocky III when we train you to take on Clubber Lang. The way Rocky and Apollo were in that movie . . . I'd love for us to complete the course feeling like we did that together!
Future you and me celebrating YOU CRUSHING OCHEM!!
Don't wait for a crisis, avoid the "Wrath of the Red Ink" on your exams! There's no doubt that the ideal situation is we get you started EARLY in the process (even before your class begins!), not wait for you to become a flaming dumpster fire.
I can turn you into an exam-shredding beast! And maybe - just maybe - you'll end up enjoying the organic chemistry experience!
If someone were to tell me six weeks ago that Summer Ochem at Harvard will be my best learning experience I would not have believed it given the amount of material to learn and the short amount of time to learn them in. But now this is my unequivocal best learning experience ever. Thank you for teaching me the ins and outs of Ochem and giving me this cherished human experience.
I feel so fortunate to have found you as a mentor/guide/tutor for this challenging course. The fact you work so hard means I’m actually working with someone whose service is OChem centric and nothing else. I couldn’t have asked for a better environment to learn OChem in, and most importantly, going through it with your support.
Thank you, Eddie. Your biggest fan.
Xibin Wu
Harvard University Summer Student