ACS organic chem final

[TL294]

Hi all,
I am taking my organic chem final next week. Its national exam written by ACS. Just wonder have any of you taken it before. How hard is it?

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[Lonely Sol]

Hi all,
I am taking my organic chem final next week. Its national exam written by ACS. Just wonder have any of you taken it before. How hard is it?

I am organic TA, and it is not hard at all, it is whole lot easier than the regular test. Dont worry, you will be fine!

 

[jackbauer!]

Hi all,
I am taking my organic chem final next week. Its national exam written by ACS. Just wonder have any of you taken it before. How hard is it?

i took it a few years ago and i thought it was pretty easy. i scored a 57/70 (curved to an A) with minimal studying. there was a huge curve on the exam though, so i guess others didn't find the exam as easy

as the other guy said,i'd much rather take the ACS exam than a free response one.

best of luck, jb!

 

[andyjl]

i took it last year too, i don't think i did too well,..but it's mostly mechanisms

 

[gym.addict]

I took it last spring at the end of Organic II. Let me tell ya, I didn't see much organic II on there lol, more orgo I imo...it was easy sauce. Don't sweat it!

 

[postbac25]

The exam is not too bad- but you have to work really fast. If you have been studying out of the ACS book, you'll do fine. Be sure to think mechanistically and be really comfortable with your stereochem of the products. Best of luck!

 

[albodent]

You should get the ACS book and look over the practice problems in each section. With just a fast read you will pick up the little details and restrictions that each section had. Also, the answers are ridiculous, at least some of them. If you were awake in orgo class, you should easily be able to narrow it down to just two answers.

 

[lotexigeus]

yeah it's not too bad, i took it last semester after orgo I (curved), and have it again Monday for orgo II

 

[astein46]

I took o-chem at a community college and had to take the ACS to get 300 level credit for the class. We had to score above the 50th percentile to receive the credit. I didn't put much effort into it and I scored in the 64th percentile. If you are really looking to do well, get the ACS study guide and know the questions in and out. A lot of them showed up on my exam.

Anyone know if the ACS study guide is a decent orgo study guide for the DAT?

 

[TL294]

I studied the book for my final but I think it's too simple for DAT though. I mean 2 out of 4 possible choices are ridiculous and you can catch it right away. However, I will use it for practice along with other prep materials

 

[deleted113029]

i took it a few years ago and i thought it was pretty easy. i scored a 57/70 (curved to an A) with minimal studying. there was a huge curve on the exam though, so i guess others didn't find the exam as easy

as the other guy said,i'd much rather take the ACS exam than a free response one.

best of luck, jb!

i took it also and it was definitely a fair one...my score was a 67/70. (good score jb)

good luck!

 

[DailyDrivenTJ]

Good job on the 67. Did you take the DAT yet?

 

[PChemGrad]

Good job on the 67. Did you take the DAT yet?

I took it years ago, and I got the ACS book which helped. It is also a good source for studying O-Chem for the DAT, if only I would have looking it over the month before i took the test.

 

[sarah_bellum]

My percentile on the ACS was IDENTICAL to my percentile on the OChem portion of the DAT.

 

[DailyDrivenTJ]

My percentile on the ACS was IDENTICAL to my percentile on the OChem portion of the DAT.

I like what I am hearing.

 

[ElectraOnAzalea]

i'm taking it too, on wednesday! I havent even started studying. I'll probably just go over the reactions a few times tomorrow evening. If i don't know it now i never will, so might as well not stress!

 

[Ex_EE]

i'm taking it too, on wednesday! I havent even started studying. I'll probably just go over the reactions a few times tomorrow evening. If i don't know it now i never will, so might as well not stress!

That was how I approached it. I didn't study at all.

 

[Lonely Sol]

I just got done proctoring the org II final ACS exam, and i looked at it and it was a joke!!

I took it for fun, and got a 65 out of 70!
REALLY REALLY EASY!!

 

[astein46]

Is the average score on the DAT actually a 15? I guess what I'm asking is if you score in the 50th percentile is that actually about a 15 on the DAT? Just wondering where I would be with a score in the 64th percentile on the ACS. It was a pretty easy test considering I didn't put any effort into it. I didn't study at all except for what we had been going over in class already. I think I did ok.

 

[RozhonDDS]

For the ACS exam most teachers use a curve and grade it on the national average which is 50%, so if you get 32 out of 60 question correct than you end up with a ~100%

 

[DailyDrivenTJ]

64 percentile is 44 out of 70.

National average is 39 out of 70. My school has average of 47 out of 70 which is a 72% as far as grade goes.

 

[deleted113029]

I just got done proctoring the org II final ACS exam, and i looked at it and it was a joke!!

I took it for fun, and got a 65 out of 70!
REALLY REALLY EASY!!

you are an orgo TA. so...

 

[tncekm]

Just go over the ACS book at least once before you take the ACS and you'll be fine if you did well throughout the rest of the year. There will be things your class didn't cover in the exam, so its good to see them before you hit the exam.

I didn't have much time to study for orgo and since my grade was solid, I put my efforts mostly elsewhere and got in the 92nd percentile. I basically went over practice problems in the ACS book and that was it.

Of the info my class covered, the questions were pretty easy. It was the stuff my teacher didn't hit on that got me. But, some of it was still super easy. Like, making polymer's and stuff like that.

Don't let the questions intimidate you. Normally there is a very easy answer behind most of the questions.

 

[tncekm]

64 percentile is 44 out of 70.

National average is 39 out of 70. My school has average of 47 out of 70 which is a 72% as far as grade goes.

Percentiles are different than percents (44/70 = 64% but not necessarily 64th percentile). 64th percentile means 64% of the people got that score or lower. 64% means you got 44/70 questions right.

For the 2007 ACS the 50th percentile was 43/70.

 

[CCR]

All I know is I got a 54/70 on the ACS final- but I only got an 18 on the DAT in the Orgo section.

 

[DailyDrivenTJ]

Percentiles are different than percents (44/70 = 64% but not necessarily 64th percentile). 64th percentile means 64% of the people got that score or lower. 64% means you got 44/70 questions right.

For the 2007 ACS the 50th percentile was 43/70.

I knew that. No need to explain.

44/70=62.86% Not 64%. I would not round 62.86 to 64 and confuse myself with percent and percentile. I am not that dumb.

I was looking at the conversion chart my professor uses. I ended up scoring 62 out 70 which was 97 percentile according to his chart a couple of weeks ago. I wish I knew this much material back in March when I took the DAT.

 

[Mstoothlady2012]

wow you all are smart! i got 45 on the ACS...i dont know out of what... i just assumed that its out of 100. I had B until the ACS final & my grade dropped to a C....uhh I hated that final.

Well, i guess i didnt do well because most of the ACS was org I ...and i am good @ org II... i like mechanisms but i hated the conceptual part (org I ).

good luck!

 

[pmoney]

The other orgo class in our school had to take it. I wouldn't worry too much. Its a pain to study for, but I have heard it isn't thaat bad and there will probably be an insane curve in your class unless your prof has been specifically prepping you for the exam.

 

[tncekm]

44/70=62.86% Not 64%. I would not round 62.86 to 64 and confuse myself with percent and percentile. I am not that dumb.

My bad, sorry I should have actually calculated out 44/70. And, don't take the comment personally. PLENTY of people don't know the difference between a percentile and a percent. (Glad you do, BTW).

But, I'm still pretty sure that 44 isn't 44th percentile since 43 was the 50th

BTW, do you have a link to the ACS stats breakdown? Based off of your numbers, I'd have a different score than what my professor told me (It'd increase my percentile ranking a bit). I don't really care, just curious.

 

[kfried]

I thought the ACS organic final was a heck of a lot easier than the one for general chemistry! I studied the ACS study guide cover to cover and I think I got around 63/70, which was 99th percentile (our percentile is what counted as our test grade). On the DAT I got a little lower, 95.9 percentile with a 24, but that was a couple years ago.

 

[Bickly Darlington]

you are an orgo TA. so...

Brilliant

 

[Faefly]

I don't think it was as easy as people saying. You have to be really fast to finish all the questions.
It was not hard, but it was not easy, and like I said you have to be real fast to finish it.
If you are not good in Orgo, then it's hard
If you are good in Orgo, then it's somewhat Ok, but
you need to be very fast.
If you are super good in Orgo, yeah it might be easy.

It is similar to the ACS study guide

 

[Bickly Darlington]

If you are super good in Orgo, yeah it might be easy.

Yeah, if you're an Orgo II TA you'd better be able to score in the 99th percentile. In fact, if you're an Orgo II TA and can't nail a perfect score you probably aren't too sharp.