Michigan CHEM 210: Structure and Reactivity I
CHEM 210 is Michigan's first organic chemistry course, unusual in that most students take it freshman year, straight after (or instead of) general chemistry. It covers structure, bonding, stereochemistry, and the foundational reaction mechanisms, and it's the most storied pre-med filter on campus.
Fennie is independent and not affiliated with University of Michigan. This is an unofficial study guide.
Build my CHEM 210 study planWhat makes it hard
Its reputation precedes it for a reason: the course demands a new way of thinking — arrow-pushing logic and 3D molecular reasoning — at freshman pace, with curved exams against a hall of pre-meds. Memorizing reactions without understanding mechanisms collapses by the second exam, and stereochemistry punishes anyone who can't rotate molecules mentally or on paper.
What you'll cover
- • Structure, bonding, and resonance
- • Acids and bases in organic chemistry
- • Stereochemistry and chirality
- • Substitution and elimination mechanisms
- • Addition reactions
- • Spectroscopy basics
The CHEM 210 study guide
How to study for Michigan CHEM 210, step by step.
- 1
Learn mechanisms as logic, never as flashcards alone
Every CHEM 210 mechanism is electrons moving for a reason. Push the arrows yourself for each reaction until you can predict products of combinations you haven't seen — that's the exam.
- 2
Build a model kit habit early
Stereochemistry rewards students who can see molecules in 3D. Use a model kit (allowed in many sections) or practiced wedge-dash drawing until mental rotation is reliable.
- 3
Do problems daily from week one
The course moves at freshman pace through material that rewards thousands of practice problems. Daily problem work is the only schedule that accumulates enough volume by exam time.
- 4
Work coursepack and past exam problems under time
Michigan's 210 exams have a known style — multi-step predict-the-product and mechanism questions. Timed practice on past materials is the closest rehearsal and the best calibration of your real readiness.
- 5
Make Fennie the daily system
Upload your CHEM 210 materials and Fennie builds a Daily Plan that enforces daily mechanism practice paced to each exam, generating quizzes and flashcards from your actual coursepack and notes. Free to start.
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How Fennie helps with CHEM 210
Fennie's Daily Plans enforce the one thing CHEM 210 actually requires — daily mechanism practice, paced to each curved exam, starting long before the first one. Chat through why a mechanism proceeds the way it does until the arrow-pushing logic clicks, and drill predict-the-product questions generated from your own materials.
FAQ
Why is CHEM 210 so hard at Michigan?
It's organic chemistry at freshman pace, curved against a motivated pre-med cohort, and it tests a thinking style — mechanisms and 3D reasoning — that high school chemistry never built. The students who do well treat it as a daily-practice course from week one, not an exam-week course.
Should I take CHEM 210 freshman year?
Michigan's curriculum is built around most students doing exactly that, and plenty succeed. If your chemistry placement is marginal or your first semester is already heavy, talk to an advisor about sequencing — starting 210 in a stable semester matters more than starting it early.
How do I study for CHEM 210 exams?
Mechanisms over memorization: push every arrow yourself, then do predict-the-product problems in volume, timed, from past exams and the coursepack. If you can explain why each step happens, novel exam questions become applications instead of surprises.
Pass CHEM 210 with a plan, not a cram
Upload your CHEM 210 materials and Fennie generates a Daily Plan paced to your deadline — plus chat, flashcards, and quizzes built from the actual course content.
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CHEM 130 — General Chemistry: Macroscopic Investigations and Reaction Principles
CHEM 130 is Michigan's general chemistry lecture course, the standard first chemistry class for pre-med, science, and engineering students. It covers stoichiometry, thermodynamics, equilibrium, acids and bases, and kinetics, usually taken alongside the CHEM 125/126 lab.
CHEM 215 — Structure and Reactivity II
CHEM 215 continues organic chemistry from CHEM 210, covering carbonyl chemistry, aromatic systems, and the synthesis-oriented reactions that dominate the second semester. It's the standard next step for pre-med and chemistry-track students, usually paired with the CHEM 216 lab.