collins' orgo review sufficient?

[harmonidrum]

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Seeing that organic chem comprises 40% of the chemistry section of the exam, I am a bit surprised to see only 13 pages of review in the Collins packet. I'm wondering if anyone that has taken the exam has seen orgo material that goes beyond this on the actual test.
Thanks!

 

[hye345]

Seeing that organic chem comprises 40% of the chemistry section of the exam, I am a bit surprised to see only 13 pages of review in the Collins packet. I'm wondering if anyone that has taken the exam has seen orgo material that goes beyond this on the actual test.
Thanks!

I haven't taken the exam yet either, but I would think not. The orgo chem section of my Kaplan PCAT prep book is only 14 pages, I'm sure as hell not depending on that 😀

 

[harmonidrum]

yeah kaplan is a complete joke for orgo.

 

[gotgame740]

yeah kaplan is a complete joke for orgo.

agreed. i turned the page, and i was like WTF

 

[armorking]

I've been harping this to people but seriously buy the practice exam for the PCAT: http://tpc-etesting.com/pcatopt/

The truth is many of these study guides' organic section review is pathetic. Seeing the actual exam and what type of questions will be asked is the key. When I took the PCAT, I only had Kaplan's study guide under my belt and when I took the chem section, I was like what is going on? Definitely had stuff I was not expecting but I do have an M.S. in organic chemistry so I managed to do well.

Ultimately, what I'm trying to say is that if I didn't have an ochem background, I was really screwed. So my best advice is to keep looking at problems. You will have a gauge of what you really need to review in regard to ochem and old notes will probably be more than enough to prepare you all. Good luck!

 

[chemguy79]

I've been harping this to people but seriously buy the practice exam for the PCAT: http://tpc-etesting.com/pcatopt/

The truth is many of these study guides' organic section review is pathetic. Seeing the actual exam and what type of questions will be asked is the key. When I took the PCAT, I only had Kaplan's study guide under my belt and when I took the chem section, I was like what is going on? Definitely had stuff I was not expecting but I do have an M.S. in organic chemistry so I managed to do well.

Ultimately, what I'm trying to say is that if I didn't have an ochem background, I was really screwed. So my best advice is to keep looking at problems. You will have a gauge of what you really need to review in regard to ochem and old notes will probably be more than enough to prepare you all. Good luck!

Completely agree with this post! I'm a bit biased because I went to graduate school in Chemistry, taught 3 semesters of Organic Chemistry lab/recitation, so the material on the PCAT was a cakewalk and I scored a 499 in the Chemistry section.

The key thing is to know the reactions from Organic 1. They're very straight forward and honestly, you shouldn't have passed Organic 1 without knowing these backwards and forwards.

Nomenclature and functional groups were a big deal as well. There are tons of great websites out there to use if you do your hunting on the internet.

The main reason why I quoted the above post is that you REALLY should buy those practice exams. They are BALLS ON ACCURATE (tm My Cousin Vinnie) with respect to the types of questions. When I studied for the PCAT, I took one of the exams, saw the types of problems that I missed and studied said concept cold. I truly believe that doing that with these practice exams and with Dr. Collins' material were the right thing to do.

 

[enabler]

A bit off topic, but I personally have never heard organic chem referred to as orgo. Is this super common and I just haven't noticed? Regional maybe? The word sounds funny in my head.

 

[armorking]

Completely agree with this post! I'm a bit biased because I went to graduate school in Chemistry, taught 3 semesters of Organic Chemistry lab/recitation, so the material on the PCAT was a cakewalk and I scored a 499 in the Chemistry section.

The key thing is to know the reactions from Organic 1. They're very straight forward and honestly, you shouldn't have passed Organic 1 without knowing these backwards and forwards.

Nomenclature and functional groups were a big deal as well. There are tons of great websites out there to use if you do your hunting on the internet.

The main reason why I quoted the above post is that you REALLY should buy those practice exams. They are BALLS ON ACCURATE (tm My Cousin Vinnie) with respect to the types of questions. When I studied for the PCAT, I took one of the exams, saw the types of problems that I missed and studied said concept cold. I truly believe that doing that with these practice exams and with Dr. Collins' material were the right thing to do.

499?!?! Danggggggg!!! Yeah that put me to shame (haha). Where did you go for grad school?

 

[harmonidrum]

ok, I now understand what all the hype is about with dr. collins.. his practice problems help very much for organic!

 

[chemguy79]

499?!?! Danggggggg!!! Yeah that put me to shame (haha). Where did you go for grad school?

I went to grad school at UNCW. It's a very good "directional" school in North Carolina because I wanted a Master's in Chemistry, at the beach, in order to overcome my undergraduate GPA. I probably shouldn't mention my 499 on the Quantitative section as well, *shifts eyes*. 🙂 I have more classroom experience than most people taking the PCAT, so it made things much easier.

 

[spp16]

Hello
can someone tell me where i would be able to purchase collin's study guide?? I plan on taking my PCAT in September..

 

[Jabberwocky12]

Hello
can someone tell me where i would be able to purchase collin's study guide?? I plan on taking my PCAT in September..

http://tinyurl.com/3oubcbj

 

[Timbo]

I dont have Collins, but i took the pcat last january and i remember a couple questions involving ochem 2. One was about a carbonyl compound reaction or something. Anyone think it's worth it to study ochem 2? On one hand if you do, it's a lot of reactions to memorize. On the other hand, the types of questions involving ochem are fast to answer because they usually don't require any calculations.