EK Orgo book enough?

[mytoechondriac]

I'm concerned that my EK Orgo book isn't good enough for the MCAT because it is so thin. I mean, half of the book is useless flashcards in the back, and when you take those away, the content isn't very much. So far, I'm scoring 10's on my AAMC practice test bio section but I'm worried the EK Orgo just won't cut it. But I'm scared to read my college Orgo textbook because EK says 'further study with other books or supplementing your study with other books will hinder and hurt your score.' Their books for the oher section are pretty good, so I want to believe them. What do you guys think?? Anybody been screwed by trusting EK Orgo??

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[MossPoh]

If you have had organic I and II with lab then the EK is probably enough. I didn't have organic II before taking it the first time and I found it a little vague. EK stuff is big on using intuition and not getting bogged down with details. I wouldn't freak out too much about it. It seems thin because it is standalone, but in reality, it is probably not much different than the kaplan books I have...better pictures. If you are confused by the way that EK describes something then screw their suggestion, go look it up and figure it out. Most of the organic IS fairly easy on the test. I got blitzed with organic II stuff on my mcat that I wasn't prepared for, but it wasn't ridiculous by any means. I just had never studied it outside of skimming some stuff.

 

[mytoechondriac]

thanks. I do understand everything in the EK orgo book, but they cut so much stuff out-- for example, they say know only the aldehyde shift at 9.5ppm for the NMR. Such blatant chucking so much of the material is what worried me.

 

[mysticblue08]

I used the EK Orgo book for guiding me about what topics I needed to know.. if there was a topic they didn't cover enough (and I knew that I needed to know more about it to really understand) then I looked it up in my orgo textbook or even google searched it. Just know all the reactions they have in there and most importantly know those lab techniques (hnmr, mass spec, ir, etc etc)! You are bound to have one or two questions on either one of those lab techniques. Know how to apply those techniques cause the EK Orgo book seems a bit lacking in that.. just be able to do some questions on those techniques and you're set..I used kaplan's questions and ek orgo 1001.

 

[Cumberland_Doc]

I've had OCHEM I&II and I still found EK to me more vague than I would have liked. It's been a while since OCHEM I so I needed to brush up on stereochemistry, and the EK book does an adequate job. I use Kaplan along with EK to learn OCHEM

 

[tncekm]

I thought EK was sufficient, with one excpetion. It doesn't go into enough detail about amphoteric molecules and how that relates to titrations and the henderson hasselbach equation, and they need to do a better job reviewing IUPAC naming conventions.

 

[MossPoh]

Eh. I don't think the naming conventions or anything are that big of a deal. It is hard for us to shake all of that organic we've had, but the fact is that the MCAT really is the basic stuff. You can get most of the organic questions right by process of elimination. If you understand what each functional group tends to do and have a basic understanding of the reactions, then you will probably get 90% of the organic questions right. I don't think I have ever encountered a "name that molecule" question. If I did, it was super easy and I forgot it. Keep in mind, I am saying I haven't encountered that much in the 14 or so practice mcats spanned across 4 different companies. (Gold standard, Kaplan, EK and AAMC) The vast majority of the answers are given in the passage and it is just getting by the lingo. I will say that understanding lab techniques is usually money for 2 or 3 questions. They seem to have a real stiffy for IR and Fractional distillation. Oddly enough, my organic lecture AND lab rarely use IR...no idea why they like it so much. People really freak out over the organic section. I hadn't had organic II and was getting 35s and 36s on the practice exams. My biggest problem during the real thing was that I flipped out and had a panic attack, thereby running out of time. I'm not particularly smart, so I know most anyone can do well on those parts.

 

[NigerianBull87]

I have already completed the EK Orgo book and did relatively very quickly early on in my studies and am going to repeat once more before the big dance. I have the Kaplan review book and after glancing through it, it appears that it is a bit more refined than EK. Many individuals on the site say that it is a bit excessive, but more is always better in my novice experience thus far. I would suggest another review book to supplement it. I too have taken Orgo I & II and although EK is good, maybe it is not enough. Kaplan looks really good, I have PR review notes too, but am leaning towards using Kaplan to further review Orgo when I cross that bridge.

Good Luck peeps.

 

[nityking]

I found EK book to be quite brief in content and not useful for thorough orgo review. No matter how you did in college orgo class, then there's no need for anything extra other than going over Kaplan's Organic review in their BS book. Most of orgo is pretty basic on the practice tests I've been taking except for 1/2 questions that require some critical thinking and deep understanding of fundamental topics.

 

[hopefuldoc87]

i just took it on june 13th and i thought EK orgo and EK 1001 questions in orgo were sufficient...but then again there were so few questions on orgo that all the time i spent studying orgo i shouldve spent studying genetics.

i agree with the other poster...know the lab techniques and your bound to get a few questions right on orgo...but the material in EK was sufficient for me

 

[IvyLeagueThug]

i just took it on june 13th and i thought EK orgo and EK 1001 questions in orgo were sufficient...but then again there were so few questions on orgo that all the time i spent studying orgo i shouldve spent studying genetics.

i agree with the other poster...know the lab techniques and your bound to get a few questions right on orgo...but the material in EK was sufficient for me

I couldn't have said it better myself. I also took June 13--there were 6-7 orgo questions tops, and nothing at all was past what is in the EK book.

The bio, on the other hand, was way over the top.

 

[NigerianBull87]

I just finished the 1001 Orgo book today for the first time in its entirety and found it to be pretty easy, bear in mind I have taken Orgo I and II as well. Therefore, I would look for a source that has passage based problems because all the organic problems from EK were discrete. I am going on to Kaplan for Orgo later on next week after I finish all my Biology studying and better update you on how it is.

 

[Atlas80]

These days there is not much orgo on the MCAT, what little there is EK seems sufficient for.