DAT: Org Chem Section

[Tabstar]

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Do I need to take Organic Chem II before taking the DAT, or is taking Organic I sufficient to do well and cover the scope of that portion of the test. Would appreciate your feedback...

 

[vishal_k32801]

I believe you should unless you know organic chem very well.
Even if you have a good teacher, undesrtanding and remembering
organic chem is tough for everyone. I would highly recommend
at least one course in Organic chem before you take DAT.
All the best friend!

 

[Tabstar]

No it's not that but I just want to receive my DAT scores and send in an application early...around May/June of the application cycle. I will have just completed Org II in the Spring semester but also wanted to take a few weeks to study...and maybe take a Kaplan course...

 

[mcataz]

The answer to this has been posted several time in the archives. Not that I don't mind answering it but I discovered that I can get a lot of my questions answered in the archives. Try the archives first before you post. You might be suprised by your results. Also, post this in the DAT room since that's what its purpose is for.

But the answer to your question is no. You don't have to take O-chem II to do well on the DAT. To be honest, 90% of the O-chem material for the DAT seems to come from O-chem I. There are just some general reactions for the O-chem II section. You will be in good shape. Best of luck

 

[ncalcate]

I think Organic II is very much needed to do well on the DAT. My wife is taking the DAT after only one semester of Organic, and half of the questions are on unfamiliar topics.

Important topics like aromaticity, Electrophilic Aromatic Substition, carbonyl chemistry, amines, and carboxylic acid derivatives are on the DAT but were not in Organic I (at least not where she took the class). If the above topics do not sound remotely familiar to you, then I suggest you pick up a review book and start learning these. On a recent Kaplan practice test that I looked at, I would say that close to 15 of the 30 questions were based on Organic II knowledge.

Just my opinion.

 

[hockeydentist]

If you get annoyed everytime someone posts an old question, best thing to do is not post your thoughts. Seems to me that Mcatz gives off a negative vibe everytime he or she post. anybody else picking up on this negativity vibe
From the wise words of "mouth" JERK ALERT

 

[Tabstar]

Yes, I did not appreciate Mcataz's patronizing response. Remember, Mcataz, you do not HAVE to respond to any questions you don't want to. Also, from the variety of responses I have read, the answer is obviously not as clear cut as you would like to believe... Anyhow thanks for the tip on the DAT forum...I shall be checking that out for further clarification...😎

 

[PERFECT3434]

Tobstar,

i personally believe that if you took org I and did well, and you take the Kaplan course you should be more than OK. since you are now taking org II, not only that Kaplan will help you a lot with your DAT, chances are you'll also do well in your actual class.

with the Kaplan material and after a thourough studying, almost everyone should score in the upper 90%.

hope this helps and good luck!

 

[Barry20]

Tabstar,

I took the DAT with having only taken Ochem I. I got a 25 on the Ochem part on the DAT. I, unlike many, enjoyed my Ochem class. I felt like I understood it well and got an A in the class. If you did well in Ochem I and felt comfortable then you will have few problems on the DAT. I just reviewed the stuff in the Kaplan book and that gave me plenty of background on what is required with regards to Ochem II. I am so glad that I did it all this way because now I am in my Ochem II class and it's all a review so far of what I studied to take the DAT. Anyway, it worked out well for me and I think you will have the same experience. Good luck

 

[PERFECT3434]

great score nicolas. i totally agree with you on this. once again, org I will be enough as long as you did well.

for the DAT, you aren't forced to knowing the mechanism of things (although it will help to know). many of the org questions are similar and once you learn how to do a few, you will be ok.

i also think that if you enjoy a class, chances are high that you'll do good. unfortunately, i many are scared of this class and everyone takes the course expecting to have a bad semester.

the thing is, org chem is not all that bad. if you are determined to doing well and you are a good student, trust me there is nothing hard about it.

 

[ShawnOne]

I had the same experience as NicolasPorter. I only had Ohem I before taking the DAT and scored a 25 on that section. I did VERY well in o-chem I and though the 2nd semester stuff was straight forward. If you self study, its very possible. Like Nicolas said, it also making my second semester a breeze.

Originally posted by NicolasPorter
Tabstar,

I took the DAT with having only taken Ochem I. I got a 25 on the Ochem part on the DAT. I, unlike many, enjoyed my Ochem class. I felt like I understood it well and got an A in the class. If you did well in Ochem I and felt comfortable then you will have few problems on the DAT. I just reviewed the stuff in the Kaplan book and that gave me plenty of background on what is required with regards to Ochem II. I am so glad that I did it all this way because now I am in my Ochem II class and it's all a review so far of what I studied to take the DAT. Anyway, it worked out well for me and I think you will have the same experience. Good luck

 

[mcataz]

Originally posted by hockeydentist
If you get annoyed everytime someone posts an old question, best thing to do is not post your thoughts. Seems to me that Mcatz gives off a negative vibe everytime he or she post. anybody else picking up on this negativity vibe
From the wise words of "mouth" JERK ALERT

Fellas, try giving someone the benefit of the doubt. I wasn't being patronizing at all. Rather I was trying to help the guy out. I didn't know about the search function either when I first started posting. And I realized that a lot of my basic questions could be answered from that. i was just pointing that out. And let's stop to think about the situation. If I wanted to be a jerk, would I have bothered to answer his question? Would I have written: "Best of Luck and You will be in good shape." Seriously, you need to stop and think before you assume someone has bad intentions.

 

[zazzookode]

O-chem I will do the trick. Most of the conceptual questions come from part I. Part II involves mainly reactions from which you can memorize.

To hockedentist:

All Mcataz did was suggest for him to check out the archives first, which is the proper advice. There are so many questions on here that keep getting rehashed. It seems like so many people want to be spoon fed information. Try doing a little research on your own. If you went to the DAT forum, there is already a thread on this topic. And who are you to call out MCATAZ. Did you know he has several posts on here? He has offerred thorough answers on several occassions. He even said he didn't mind answering the question. I guess that statement just flew by you in your attempt to bash another poster. Sorry, but I didn't get any negative vibes from his post. I did get a negative vibe from you.

 

[hockeydentist]

hey Zaazzoodork

get a life 😛

 

[ItsGavinC]

I also did very well on Ochem, but I had both semesters. I think I would have done the same with only the one semester however.

And, Organic was my favorite subject in college. It really fit well with my conceptual nature (I was an English major).

 

[zazzookode]

Originally posted by hockeydentist
hey Zaazzoodork

get a life 😛

yawn