Organic Chemistry is famous for being the ‘weed-out’ class at universities. Horror stories are thrown around all the time. The reality is that it is a regular class with a different type of material to learn. It only takes more effort than a comparable-level science course because moving electrons and atoms around is a new concept and ‘feeling’.
For understanding Organic Chemistry I recommend Organic Chemistry as a Second Language by David Klein. It was with me every time I studied Organic Chemistry I and helped make sense of the new ideas and techniques necessary to complete Organic Chemistry problems. $30 is a reasonable price for the book considering a tutor could charge $20 for one hour.
Organic Chemistry is different. The best approach I have found is to utilize good In-Class Techniques, SRS cards, and practice problems. This is the class where I realized the benefits of removing oneself from the competition loop and avoiding complaining. It would be helpful to read both of those articles before practicing the information found in this one. Also check out the basic class models for a better understanding of making cards.
To solve and understand Organic Chemistry thoroughly, it is necessary to memorize the information. Fortunately with SRS this is fast and easy. While it is necessary to ‘understand’ Organic Chemistry, it is impossible to reason through problems without having many other reactions and information memorized. This makes SRS a perfect tool to learn Organic Chemistry with.
As another note, the program I use for all of these drawings and for making SRS cards is called ChemSketch. It is free and easy to use. Instructions on how to use it for SRS purposes is found in the article Organic Chemistry: Using ChemSketch to Make Molecule Drawings.
Basic Reactions
The basic reaction cards will be the most common. They are simple and effective. Simply make the full reaction and place it in the “Back” slot on the card. Occlude the part of the reaction that you want to memorize and place that picture in the “Front”. This is usually the reagent or product. Sometimes it is good to make two cards, one with the reagent occluded and one with the product occluded.
Front: 
Back: 
Front:
Back: 
Practice problems are a great source of example reactions! I found it is useful to just keep it to one reaction per card. To do long synthesis problems it is important to just know the smaller reactions that they list.
Basic Facts
Organic Chemistry does have some basic facts to memorize. Most of these deal with SN1/SN2, E1/E2 material – and some stereochemistry. Remember to stick to one fact per card.
Front: SN2 prefers […] solvents
Back: SN2 prefers protic solvents
Front: […amount] substituted alkenes are more stable
Back: More substituted alkenes are more stable
Front: Ground-state Nitrogen has […#] bonds
Back: Ground-state Nitrogen has 3 bonds
Reaction with Detail
To memorize the name of a reaction simply include it below the picture of the reaction.
Front: 
[…]
Back: 
Hydroboration
Reaction Mechanisms
Reaction mechanisms are doable in the SRS. I believe they are best learned by using the SRS in conjunction with writing the information out and never making mistakes. Cards can be made for each step of long reaction mechanisms. Here is a simple example:
Front: 
Back: 
These models will make it through most of Organic Chemistry. For more specific topics check out the articles on Stereochemistry and IR/NMR Readings.