Anyone taken Inorganic Chem ? Is it useful ? for the MCAT ?

[OrganicMLover]

I am considering taking Inorganic Chem ( not general chem ) in the fall. Anyone out there taken it ? What does it cover ? Is it useful for the MCAT ?

I am considering taking it because my school does not do a good job teaching Gen Chem and I think it will teach me some of the same topics covered in Gen Chem to a deeper level. I would apprecaite your input ! Thanks !

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[ms. a]

I am considering taking Inorganic Chem ( not general chem ) in the fall. Anyone out there taken it ? What does it cover ? Is it useful for the MCAT ?

I am considering taking it because my school does not do a good job teaching Gen Chem and I think it will teach me some of the same topics covered in Gen Chem to a deeper level. I would apprecaite your input ! Thanks !

Um, at my school, inorganic chem WAS general chem. I thought it was the same thing everywhere. Our only options for the first 2 semesters of chem were Inorganic I and II (chem 101 and 102 in the syllabus).

 

[KiwiFruit]

I am considering taking Inorganic Chem ( not general chem ) in the fall. Anyone out there taken it ? What does it cover ? Is it useful for the MCAT ?

I am considering taking it because my school does not do a good job teaching Gen Chem and I think it will teach me some of the same topics covered in Gen Chem to a deeper level. I would apprecaite your input ! Thanks !

I took Gen chem (100 level, year long class) freshman year but I definitely think taking inorganic chem (300 level, quarter long class) my junior helped me brush up on chemistry and helped on the MCAT. It helped with molecular orbitals and all that good stuff. I don't think you really need it...I took the class to get a minor in chemistry, but I know tons of people who took the MCAT without it and did just fine. But it did help me approach some problems in a different way...I still think my PS score on the MCAT would've stayed the same, even if I didn't take it. Good luck with your decision. The course I took was mainly regarding metallic stuff, covered some acid/base, molecular orbital theory, you get really good at drawing orbital diagrams and with electron configurations...but I'm not it's worth taking a class you don't need.

 

[Darth Asclepius]

Inorganic chem is a senior level chem class. It's not common practice to call general chem inorganic chem (although it for the most part is, but my general chem class did a little organic too). It would be useful on the MCAT, but you'd probably be better off reviewing your general chem if that is the only reason you are taking the class. Your school should have a site with class descriptions that could tell you exactly what is taught in your inorganic class.

 

[Dorise04]

My school has inorganic I but not inorganic II.
........ The school's that I am interested in all want 1 year on inorganic 🙁 .......but it will be a while for I can even think of MD schools 🙂

Um, at my school, inorganic chem WAS general chem. I thought it was the same thing everywhere. Our only options for the first 2 semesters of chem were Inorganic I and II (chem 101 and 102 in the syllabus).

 

[Darth Asclepius]

The school's that I am interested in all want 1 year on inorganic

They probably mean general chem (101 and 102). I would imagine your school's inorganic I is an upper-level course.

 

[getunconcsious]

Um, at my school, inorganic chem WAS general chem. I thought it was the same thing everywhere. Our only options for the first 2 semesters of chem were Inorganic I and II (chem 101 and 102 in the syllabus).

Where did you go? Here at Univ. of Houston, Fundamentals of Chemistry I & II is totally different from Inorganic Chemistry I and II.

To the OP, I don't think any additional classes will be that useful just for the MCAT.

 

[TicAL]

I took Inorganic Chem as well as the MCAT this year. Inorganic does serve as a refresher course for some general chemistry concepts, and it did help with understanding orbitals, hybridization, coordination complexes, etc. It also goes a lot more in depth than is necessary, and is definately not needed for the MCAT. If you already have a good understanding of basic general chemistry concepts you're probably better off studying the chemistry on your own than taking the class.

 

[nick661806]

At the university of Maryland, College Park we have general 1 & 2 and inorganic 1 & 2 as seperate classes. Inorganic is 300 or 400 level and from what I have herd is not useful at all for the MCAT.

 

[gbiz]

I took Inorganic I (CHM 320), and Inorganic II (CHM 520) before taking the MCAT. Inorganic I helped a lot; you dont need it to do well on the MCAT, in fact you dont need it all for the MCAT, but it sure does help. You learn all the trends, etc... it just makes the gen chem stuff easier. Inorganic II was not pertinent at all to the MCAT.

 

[mercaptovizadeh]

You do not need to take this class to do well on the MCAT.

The basic topics covered in my upper-level inorganic chem class:

1.) Periodic trends
2.) Crystal structures
3.) VSEPR
4.) Molecular Orbital theory
5.) Group theory (symmetry)
6.) Spectroscopy and paramagnetism
7.) Acid-Base theory
8.) Coordination complexes (the transition metals)
9.) Systematic chemistry of the elements (hydrogen, the alkalis, alkalines, halogens, chalcogens, semimetals, metalloids, transition metals, lanthanides, actinides, and noble gases).
10.) Organometallic compounds and catalysis.

As periodic trends and a bit of VSEPR are all you will need for the MCAT, this class is not worth taking; just study the required topics. The acid-base theory was not calculation-oriented, but rather phenomena-oriented.

 

[Medikit]

No, inorganic will probably help you with one question maximum. At my school a class called Quantitative Analysis which is essentially Analytical Chemistry seems to cover most of the mcat ps information in detail as well as the corrections that you don't need to know.

 

[45408]

for the MCAT physical sciences section, you don't need ANYTHING beyond a semester of algebra-based physics and a semester of general chemistry. I did great on the PS with just those two. If you've been out of school for a while, and you did already take those four courses, it would be good to brush up on the material (possibly with some upper-level courses), but not for the first time into the MCAT.

 

[AStudent]

At MSU I'm taking advanced inorganic for chemistry majors (CEM 411), and it's pretty much worthless. It covers things like:

Point Groups
Symmetry Operations
Irreducible Representation
Molecular Orbital Diagrams
Some quantum mechanics (shrodinger eq.)
Advanced named of compounds
(Mer/Fac)(delta/lambda)(mu)
High Spin/Low Spin
Inert/Labile

You will use NONE of these on the MCAT.

but we did learn you can have sp^2.7 and sp3d5 hybridization on atoms. 🙄

 

[Sparky Man]

At MSU I'm taking advanced inorganic for chemistry majors (CEM 411), and it's pretty much worthless. It covers things like:

Point Groups
Symmetry Operations
Irreducible Representation
Molecular Orbital Diagrams
Some quantum mechanics (shrodinger eq.)
Advanced named of compounds
(Mer/Fac)(delta/lambda)(mu)
High Spin/Low Spin
Inert/Labile

You will use NONE of these on the MCAT.

but we did learn you can have sp^2.7 and sp3d5 hybridization on atoms. 🙄

I thought point groups, symmetry operations, etc. were soooo cool and interesting. Lucky that stuff's not on the mcat, they'd probably come up with one hell of a molecule to bend the mind...

 

[2badr]

this was a topic about 2(?) months ago. My university offers 1 year of "General" Inorganic Chemisty, 1 year of Organic for the Biology major.

Since I have the first semester of General Chemistry from another college, it will be interesting to see if they accept the first semester of General Chemistry and let me continue with "General" Inorganic Chemistry II.

By the way, why all the diff between the colleges for Chemistry? On the websites for the medical schools I plan to attend, they require 1 year of General Chemistry. There is no mention of inorganic Chemistry. So now, I have one more worry about the pre-reqs for med school. 🙄 😳

If I have to take General Chemistry I and II, Inorganic Chemistry I and II, Organic Chemistry I and II, I should just major in Chemistry instead of Biology!

 

[Will Ferrell]

I am considering taking Inorganic Chem ( not general chem ) in the fall. Anyone out there taken it ? What does it cover ? Is it useful for the MCAT ?

I am considering taking it because my school does not do a good job teaching Gen Chem and I think it will teach me some of the same topics covered in Gen Chem to a deeper level. I would apprecaite your input ! Thanks !

Def. take it if you're a chemistry major. You need that for your degree to be accredited by the ACS.

 

[ShyRem]

You get symmetries and point groups in Pchem, too. 🙂 - but not very in depth (we got to it just at the end so I did my math seminar presentation on the group theory behind the point groups and symmetries and using the group theory to predict IR spectra).

 

[QofQuimica]

I took one semester of inorganic because it was a pre-requisite for bioinorganic chem, which I really wanted to take. Bioinorganic was one of the best classes I've ever taken, well-worth suffering through a semester of point groups. 😛 It mostly covers how the metals are used in the body, which is good stuff for a pre-med. So I'd say if you're interested in majoring in chemistry or taking bioinorganic, then you should take the inorganic, but if you're just looking for prep for the MCAT, no need to take it.

 

[Freakingout]

I took one semester of inorganic because it was a pre-requisite for bioinorganic chem, which I really wanted to take. Bioinorganic was one of the best classes I've ever taken, well-worth suffering through a semester of point groups. 😛 It mostly covers how the metals are used in the body, which is good stuff for a pre-med. So I'd say if you're interested in majoring in chemistry or taking bioinorganic, then you should take the inorganic, but if you're just looking for prep for the MCAT, no need to take it.

That sounds like an awesome class, you are lucky