One Semester of Orgo?

[TreeofRoses]

Hey everyone,

I'm very sorry ahead of time if this question may have been asked before but my question is:

Is one semester of Organic Chemistry sufficient to do well on the OAT?

I'm registering for courses next semester and I don't have much room for ochem II so I'm hoping that I won't need to take it because my top schools don't require a second semester of ochem.

But I really want to know if the OAT will cover one semester of OChem or is it a whole year's worth of OChem material.

Thanks soo much in advance to anyone who replies! I will greatly appreciate any advice regarding this!

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[futureusaeyedoc]

The OAT is primarily based on the first semester of organic chemistry. The only thing that might be on the OAT that isn't in first semester is NMR, which is a second semester lab analysis. I only took one semester of organic chem and ended up doing alright. If you are aiming for a ridiculously high score though, of course 2 semesters would be ideal. I was just aiming for somewhere above 300 on that subsection Plus, a lot of schools don't place as much emphasis on the ochem subsection scores as other sections (I heard this from a couple of different admissions people).

 

[pawsandpotatoes]

I only had one semester of ochem (mine did include NMR) and it was my lowest score. I would say at least half of my questions on the OAT were ochem II related. Maybe I just got really unlucky... I do agree with futureusaeyedoc that a lot of schools don't place a lot of emphasis on ochem. I don't think two semesters is needed, just make sure your other science sections are strong.

 

[futureusaeyedoc]

I only had one semester of ochem (mine did include NMR) and it was my lowest score. I would say at least half of my questions on the OAT were ochem II related. Maybe I just got really unlucky... I do agree with futureusaeyedoc that a lot of schools don't place a lot of emphasis on ochem. I don't think two semesters is needed, just make sure your other science sections are strong.

Oh wow, over half for you! I guess I got really lucky (as if anything is ever lucky in o-chem ) . I remember going through the section, knowing that I should know how to answer it based on the first semester, but just plain ol' not remembering. That is interesting that schools only require one semester for the most part, even though some people have more emphasis on second semester during the OAT.