GC study tips?

[Lily-VA]

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Hi, SDNers!
Sorry if this thread is redundant. My brain couldn't find any good key word for a search...

I am having so much trouble with General chemistry...as well as bio.
Would you like to share how you study these areas? Please be specific (just as much as you can 😀)

I am hitting the text book right now...and maybe sample problems from each chapters. It is painful....yikes!! 😴

Please...any opinions are welcomed!!
Thanks.

 

[dentaldentist]

Hi, SDNers!
Sorry if this thread is redundant. My brain couldn't find any good key word for a search...

I am having so much trouble with General chemistry...as well as bio.
Would you like to share how you study these areas? Please be specific (just as much as you can 😀)

I am hitting the text book right now...and maybe sample problems from each chapters. It is painful....yikes!! 😴

Please...any opinions are welcomed!!
Thanks.

Do you have any review books, or are you studying straight from old text books? I personally would focus more on DAT review books for gen chem. I felt the kaplan blue book does a good enough job for both gen chem and organic chemistry as long as you really learn all the material in the book. Working from a text book will give you more information than you need for the DAT in these two subjects. Biology is a different story. The kaplan book is not comprehensive enough to learn everything you need for biology. You could work from a text book for this section, but I would recommend either getting Cliff's AP bio or Schaum's outline of biology. Either of these will give you enough info to prepare for the bio section and are easier to get through than an entire textbook. Good luck.

Kaplan blue book
Cliff's AP biology
Schaum's outline of biology

 

[Lily-VA]

I was thinking maybe I was asking a stupid question.
Appreciate the links! Do have some of the books you mentioned. Maybe I constantly have to study~ 😀

 

[bigstix808]

although i agree about the text books being a little more than what is needed for the test...practicing the questions at the end of each chapter is a pretty solid way of making sure you know the key points of that chapter.

 

[TheWiredNerv]

although i agree about the text books being a little more than what is needed for the test...practicing the questions at the end of each chapter is a pretty solid way of making sure you know the key points of that chapter.

A word of caution about this approach: Some of the questions at the end of the chapter in most g chem books can be very challenging and are also designed to be done with a calculator. Some questions are waaayyyyy beyond the difficulty of the gchem section of the DAT. I'd say go to your gchem text if you are having trouble with a concept from Kaplan like orbitals.

 

[poc91nc]

It wouldn't hurt to select a few end of chapter problems that may require lots of calculation...and attempt to do those w/o a calculator. This gives you good practice w/ estimation.

I say this b/c of friend of mine took a DAT last year and said it was really heavy in calculations and you had to actually solve for the numerical answer. This consequently lead to a low score in that section.

Of course, some will say all you need to know is pv = nrt and you're set. Regardless, it's best to be well rounded...it may be extra work, but what would be worse? Getting a lower then expected score when you knew EXACTLY what you had to do to prevent it?

If you're rusty on fundamentals...get GENERAL CHEMISTRY by Charles E. Mortimer 6th edition. This is an excellent book...plain english and very well written. Another good thing about the book is that it was written before every tom dick and harry was using a calculator...so there are a lot of problems that you can do w/o a calculator.