Organic Chemistry Practice Problems From Your Own Lectures
Upload your orgo lectures or textbook chapters, press New material and pick Quiz.
- Problems on naming, functional groups, reagents, mechanisms and stereochemistry
- Reaction diagrams from your slides can appear inside the questions
- An explanation and the source for every answer
Where does most of a cell's ATP come from?
- AGlycolysis
- BThe electron transport chain
- CThe Calvin cycle
On this page
- How to make organic chemistry practice problems from your course
- Three sample problems from orgo lecture slides
- What the problems cover, and what they do not
- Before the midterm: a timed practice exam and a study guide
- Generated problems or a static problem set?
- What to look for in organic chemistry practice problems
How to make organic chemistry practice problems from your course
The quickest way to get organic chemistry practice problems that match your course is to build them from your own lectures. Upload your orgo slides or textbook chapters to a course in StudyPDF and make a quiz. You get problems on the topics you actually cover, each with the right answer, an explanation and the page it came from.
- Upload the slides, notes or chapter photos for the unit you are on.
- Press New material and pick Quiz. Choose the lectures, the number of questions and the difficulty.
- Tick the question types, for example multiple choice for naming and short answer for explaining a mechanism.
- Take it with instant feedback, then open the results screen to see your weakest concepts.
- Before the midterm, make a practice exam from the same chapters and take it timed.
You need a free account, no card.
Three sample problems from orgo lecture slides
Say your slides cover naming, oxidation and substitution. A quiz built from them could include problems like these. They were written for this page to show the format.
Problem 1, naming
- Question
- What is the IUPAC name of CH3CH2CH(CH3)CH2CH3?
- Choices
- A) 2-ethylbutane, B) 3-methylpentane, C) 2-methylpentane, D) hexane
- Answer
- B
- Explanation
- The longest chain has five carbons, so the parent is pentane. The methyl group sits on carbon 3 whichever end you count from.
Problem 2, reagents and products
- Question
- A primary alcohol is treated with PCC in dichloromethane. Which functional group forms?
- Choices
- A) carboxylic acid, B) aldehyde, C) ketone, D) ester
- Answer
- B
- Explanation
- PCC is a mild oxidant and the reaction runs without water, so it stops at the aldehyde. Chromic acid in water would carry on to the carboxylic acid.
Problem 3, mechanism and stereochemistry
- Question
- (R)-2-bromobutane reacts with sodium cyanide in DMSO by an SN2 pathway. Give the configuration of the product, 2-methylbutanenitrile.
- Model answer
- S. SN2 is a one-step backside attack, so the stereocenter inverts.
- Explanation
- Cyanide takes the top priority spot that bromine held, so the inversion shows up as a change of label from R to S. Short answers are self-graded, so you compare yours with the model answer.
Your own problems follow your professor's order, notation and reagents, and each one shows the lecture page it came from. When a slide holds a reaction scheme, that figure can appear right inside the question.
What the problems cover, and what they do not
The problems cover what words and figures from your material can carry: naming and functional groups, acid-base and resonance ideas, reagents and products, reaction types, mechanisms described in words (where the nucleophile attacks, which step is slow, why a carbocation rearranges) and stereochemistry concepts such as R and S, chirality and inversion.
There are limits. There is no drawing area, and nothing grades a structure or an arrow you draw. A question like draw the product becomes multiple choice or short answer, and you do the arrow pushing on paper. A generated quiz is also smaller than a large static problem bank, and it only covers topics your material covers.
Before the midterm: a timed practice exam and a study guide
A quiz gives feedback after every question. For exam conditions, make a practice exam from the same chapters: sections, an optional timer and no feedback until you submit, then a graded report with the result per section. Short answers are self-graded against a model answer.
From the same lectures you can also make an organic chemistry study guide, a cheat sheet for reagents or flashcards for reagents and products. Every answer feeds a mastery score per concept, so the second round can aim at whatever you keep missing, for example SN2 against E2.
Generated problems or a static problem set?
A static problem set is written once for every course. It is good for volume and for practicing structures by hand, and many are free. But its order, notation and reagents may differ from your professor's, and you decide what to practice yourself.
Problems built from your lectures follow your syllabus and show the page they came from, so a wrong answer sends you straight to the slide. The two work well together: a drawing-heavy problem set for arrow pushing, and a quiz from your own slides for the concepts your exams test.
What to look for in organic chemistry practice problems
Problems should come from your course, not a generic bank. Professors differ in the order they teach mechanisms and in the notation they use. StudyPDF splits your lectures into concepts and writes each problem from the passage it came from, so the problems follow your syllabus.
Explanations matter more than answers. In organic chemistry the reason is the point. Every problem shows why the answer is right and where to read more in your material. Got one wrong? Ask Bo, the tutor in your course, why. He knows which question you mean.
Mix the question types. Multiple choice checks recognition, multi-select asks for every correct reagent or product, matching pairs reagents with reaction types, and short answer makes you explain a step in your own words and compare it with a model answer.
Track concepts, not just scores. Every answer feeds a mastery score per concept, and the results screen lists the weakest first. Ask Bo what to practice next and the quiz form opens with those concepts already picked.
How to make organic chemistry practice problems in 4 steps
From your orgo lectures to problems with answers:
- 1
Upload your orgo material
Add lecture slides, notes, a textbook chapter or photos of a page to a course. Free takes up to 3 files per upload.
- 2
Press New material and pick Quiz
Choose the lectures or topics you want, for example alkenes or substitution and elimination, then set the number of questions and the difficulty.
- 3
Pick the question types
Multiple choice and multi-select suit naming and reagents, matching pairs reagents with reaction types, short answer asks you to explain a mechanism in words. Use the free-text field for anything else, for example only stereochemistry.
- 4
Check your answers, then take a timed exam
Get instant feedback with an explanation and the source for every question.
What you get with it
Practice problems that follow your course instead of a generic bank.
- Problems written from your own lectures and chapters, not a generic problem bank
- Six question types, including matching and short answer
- A mastery score per concept on the results screen, weakest first
- Pick the chapters, the number of questions and the difficulty
Quiz yourself on your own material.
Upload one lecture or chapter and answer your first questions.
Questions and answers
How do you practice organic chemistry?
By working problems, not rereading. Do problems on the chapter you are on every day, redraw mechanisms from a blank page and test yourself on naming, reagents and stereochemistry. StudyPDF builds those problems from your own lectures, with an explanation for every answer.
Can AI make organic chemistry practice problems?
Yes, for what words can carry: naming, functional groups, reagents and products, reaction types, mechanisms described in words and stereochemistry concepts. StudyPDF builds them from your slides and chapters, so they follow your course. It does not give you a drawing area or grade a structure you draw.
Can I get an organic chemistry study guide from the same material?
Yes. Press New material and pick Study guide for an overview, key concepts, self-check questions and takeaways, with citations to your lectures. A cheat sheet fits reagents, and flashcards fit reagents and their products.
5 more questions
What is the hardest topic in organic chemistry?
It depends on your course, and no problem source can say it for you. Many students name mechanisms and choosing between SN1, SN2, E1 and E2, because several ideas meet there. The results screen lists your weakest concepts first, so you see which topic is hardest for you.
Can I draw my answers or get a structure graded?
No. You answer by choosing, matching, filling in or writing, and short answers are self-graded against a model answer. Do the arrow pushing on paper and compare it with the explanation and the slide it points to.
Are the organic chemistry practice problems free?
Free to start. You need a free account, no card. Free gives you about 4 materials a week and Pro about 35.
Can I print the problems with an answer key?
Yes. Download the quiz as a PDF, either with the solutions or as a blank worksheet with the answer key on its own page. On Pro and up you can also download it as Word and edit it.
Does it work for the MCAT organic chemistry section?
It makes problems from whatever prep material you upload, such as your own organic chemistry chapters or notes. It does not contain official MCAT questions.