BR Orgo!!

[shahboi]

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It is unreal!!! There is soo much information in one chapter.. and hearing stories that at present the real MCAT is going away from Orgo should I even bother? I have EK Orgo.. should I switch to that? Also, how useful is it to know mechanisms????

Thanks just frustrated with soo much content in BR ORgo at the moment

Advice???

 

[BilalL]

What exactly are you referring to? The orgo covers like half a semester of an Ochem course.

You should know SN1/2 E1/E2 really well. NMR and IR are important, stereochemistry is basic as well.

They should become simple if you read through the TBR passages. Its all basic stuff, thats important for Biology and gen chem.

An ochem course is much much more intense than anything the TBR books cover.

 

[kkentm]

never used BR but i just finished my notes on EK orgo. I found it very concise so it might be more useful in your situation

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

It is unreal!!! There is soo much information in one chapter.. and hearing stories that at present the real MCAT is going away from Orgo should I even bother?

It all depends on which stories you read. Go through the various official MCAT threads for each date and you'll see that sometimes there is hardly any organic chemistry and the little that is there is really easy. Other tests you'll read about test takers getting a test with about half organic chemistry, some of which is really difficult. The point is that you won't know what YOUR MCAT is going to be like until you sit down to take it. You can either (1) be prepared for anything or (2) be prepared for what you think it might be based on selected feedback and be willing to void it and repeat the exam until it fits what you expect.

Thanks just frustrated with soo much content in BR ORgo at the moment Advice???

There are a few things that should help:

• Focus on the passages--that's where you really do your learning

• The BR Organic books, like all BR books, try to mix other subjects in because that's what the MCAT has a tendency to do. In the orgo books you'll find some physics examples (Hooke's law for instance), some physiology examples (prostiglandin response for instance), some biochemistry examples (sugar linkages for instance), some general chemistry examples (acid-base chemistry for instance), some cell biology examples (membrane fluidity for instance), and some genetics examples (blood types for instance). Relish the exposure knowing that you are reviewing the big picture.

• Lengthy tables in the books are there to emphasize seeing the trends, not for memorization. BR does not advocate memorization and instead promotes the idea of thinking your way through questions.

• Much of the reading portion involves sample questions and explanations where test skills are discussed. Not all of the text section is dedicated to organic chemistry material.

• It's better to have three or four examples of a reaction class than zero or one. If you know something well, then you don't need to read it. But for topics you don't know well, wouldn't you rather have multiple examples to get it down?

 

[Ebattilana100]

I know what your talking about, I'm going through the nitrogen containing compounds and its crazy..

 

[shahboi]

Well when I meant content- yes the content is good however, I just get bombarded with all the reaction mechanisms that are shown. Do I need to know those?

For the MCAT would they ask me what catalyst or addition of specific base/acids that I should know?