Orgo is, in many ways, like learning a foreign language, in that the memorization early on is supposed to support and later be superseded by understanding the "

Orgo is, in many ways, like learning a foreign language, in that the memorization early on is supposed to support and later be superseded by understanding the "grammar" of how things fit together. I think the way orgo is often taught, or perceived, as being just about memorization is what can make it soul-crushing and not all that effective. The introductory orgo classes I took early in college were heavy on reaction mechanisms, molecular orbital theory, and intuition and light on memorizing bucket-loads of reactions, and it ended up giving me and my classmates a much better grasp of the material than students from other schools. Many of us ended up breezing through our university's graduate courses in organic chemistry while graduate students from other universities struggled painfully through the same courses. I suspect that it's part of the reason it was the top organic chemistry program in the world.