Has anyone used Kaplans Organic Edge to study for DAT?

[eric275]

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Has anyone used Kaplan's Organic Edge to study for the DAT? If so do you feel that it is a good review of material or should I use something else?

 

[briansle]

Yea, I tried to use it. My mom made me get it and it was no help whatsoever. It is a real big rip off cause it doesn't go into detail at all. All they do is lightly explain general stuff like SN1/SN2 E1/E2 without actually giving examples. I suggest you just take your real O-Chem class first before taking the DAT. Do not use this "organic edge" to prep for the DAT.

 

[BiOGoly]

Don't buy it...a complete waste of time and money. If you have the kaplan blue book the organic section in it is basically identical to Organic Edge...just without some useless filler material kaplan pulled together. They came out with a new Organic Edge a few months ago, I think it includes some extras like reaction cards so maybe it's better, but I doubt it.

Honestly, there is only one "real" way to review for the organic section if you're looking for a superior score and that's to study the textbook...set aside a couple of weeks and go thru a chapter a day...focus on the concepts and use questions from kaplan and other materials to hone your study. The DAT only covers like 15 chapters and in sparing detail, so this is totally doable. Remember, there is no substitute for knowing your ****!

 

[honestpredent]

It's a ripoff. 75% of it is the O-chem section that is present in the big Kaplan blue book. They just added some filler to sell it. It's marketing ploy by Kaplan to make more money.

It's a waste of time to try and understand O-chem now. The only way you can really learn organic chemistry is to repeat the classes. And you don't need to learn organic chemistry to do well on the DAT. Just memorize the reactions really well. Know every aspect to them and do a ton of practice problems.

 

[trypmo]

I'm finding OrgoCards helpful. They're larger than 3x5 cards and have lots of info on each, but if you're reviewing it and not learning it for the first time, they're a great study tool. One reaction per card, cross-references, chapter-like structure so you can break study down into manageable sections, and an explanation/illustrations of the mechanism for EVERY reaction.

There are a few very minor errors, but if you're studying them you'll immediately see where they are.

a link to them at amazon here.

 

[eric275]

I am in the process of finshing my organic sequence now so was just looking for a good overall review book for material on the DAT. From all of the negative feedback about Kaplan's Organic Edge I guess I'll use something else.

Some other post on this website have said that EK 1001 is a good review tool so maybe I'll try that along with just reviewing my textbook.

Thanks for the feedback all. 👍

 

[combinator]

I am in the process of finshing my organic sequence now so was just looking for a good overall review book for material on the DAT. From all of the negative feedback about Kaplan's Organic Edge I guess I'll use something else.

Some other post on this website have said that EK 1001 is a good review tool so maybe I'll try that along with just reviewing my textbook.

Thanks for the feedback all. 👍

👍 you do that and you will ace ochem on the real deal

 

[Calculus1]

I would advise against the textbook. That is not that effective in terms of time management. Use Kaplan's book because it has all you need to know and is focused very well on the exact material for the test. I never opened my old textbook once and used only the Kaplan materials. If it's been a while since you've seen much organic, I would recommend going to your textbook only to elaborate on a concept if you have to, but I wouldn't use it for much more than that. The textbook can get you too sidetracked. JMHO

 

[honestpredent]

I would advise against the textbook. That is not that effective in terms of time management. Use Kaplan's book because it has all you need to know and is focused very well on the exact material for the test. I never opened my old textbook once and used only the Kaplan materials. If it's been a while since you've seen much organic, I would recommend going to your textbook only to elaborate on a concept if you have to, but I wouldn't use it for much more than that. The textbook can get you too sidetracked. JMHO

I agree. Textbooks are a waste of your time unless you are willing to spend a year reviewing for the DAT. If you are like most test takers here and you only have 1-3 months to review, a textbook is just a waste of your time.

 

[wimmcs]

I agree. Textbooks are a waste of your time unless you are willing to spend a year reviewing for the DAT. If you are like most test takers here and you only have 1-3 months to review, a textbook is just a waste of your time.

My plans to study ochem: kaplan book and ek book... should be sufficient information from all that I've read over the last few months. Thanks to all who reply!!

 

[sxr71]

I agree. Textbooks are a waste of your time unless you are willing to spend a year reviewing for the DAT. If you are like most test takers here and you only have 1-3 months to review, a textbook is just a waste of your time.

Yeah, I think that the Kaplan Blue Book by itself can take you whatever score you desire in the sciences. Start with a diagnostic practice test and then use the Blue Book. If you still need more explanation or more material to fill in gaps in material then consult other study guides. I think it should be handled just like a problem in tech support, start with the basic guides and escalate the situation with other guides only if you really need them. Knowing where you stand is the best way to know what you need and in most cases the Kaplan Blue Book is all you will need.

I sometimes get caught up in buying everything available for a test or a problem, and succumb to the "throwing money at the problem" mentality. It usually hurts you to do that because you get sidetracked as already mentioned here. I've said this before and I'll say it again because it is important, knowing where you currently stand at any given time is essential for you to focus your energy where you need to get the results you want.

With Ochem, I really do think that it helps to understand reactions if you can, but I do agree that it is too late start understanding it if you didn't understand it in class. I suppose that it easy for those who understand the reactions and mechanisms to say it shouldn't be too hard to understand E1, E2, SN1, SN2, Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution reactions, and basic carbonyl chemistry (which I believe is the basis for half the Ochem you learn in college), but it is truly hard. I remember how hard it was to shift from memorizing the reactions to truly understanding the reactions, and that's why I agree that now is not the time try to understand the reactions. It is better to just find and memorize the basic trends. If you find that you are gaining a true understanding of the reactions during the process, then don't hinder that process.

 

[honestpredent]

I sometimes get caught up in buying everything available for a test or a problem, and succumb to the "throwing money at the problem" mentality. It usually hurts you to do that because you get sidetracked as already mentioned here. I've said this before and I'll say it again because it is important, knowing where you currently stand at any given time is essential for you to focus your energy where you need to get the results you want

.

This thread is getting better and better. These are the mistakes we all made prior to studying. It's easy to get caught up in buying every resource that is available. You think the more resources you own, the better you will do on the DAT. In hindsight, that is worst thing you can do. It allows you to procrastinate because you have subconciously increased your burden. The more books you own, the more work you have to do to go through them all. What ends up happening is you don't even start to study since your task at hand seems so unreasonable and unbearable. My advice is get rid of most of those textbooks. It's a psychological boost to get rid of extra review books and textbooks. You have less on your plate to worry about. It makes the task seem more approachable. Reading one big Kaplan book is a lot easier than reading 5 other books. Keep it simple. Stick with one book.

With Ochem, I really do think that it helps to understand reactions if you can, but I do agree that it is too late start understanding it if you didn't understand it in class. I suppose that it easy for those who understand the reactions and mechanisms to say it shouldn't be too hard to understand E1, E2, SN1, SN2, Electrophilic Aromatic Substitution reactions, and basic carbonyl chemistry (which I believe is the basis for half the Ochem you learn in college), but it is truly hard. I remember how hard it was to shift from memorizing the reactions to truly understanding the reactions, and that's why I agree that now is not the time try to understand the reactions. It is better to just find and memorize the basic trends. If you find that you are gaining a true understanding of the reactions during the process, then don't hinder that process.

I agree. Understanding and memorizing will always be better than just memorizing alone. But if you had to pick one or the other, memorizing is way better especially for the DAT. It's a timed test that asks you questions in a straightforward manner with only 4 answer choices. You couldn't ask for a better test designed for the memorizer. Understanding the subject matter is a luxury most people can't afford. It takes 2 semesters to realistically understand how all the reactions work.

For some of you this will be a difficult task. You must fight the urge to want to understand something. Have faith in memorizing the material. It will be an uncomfortable feeling at first but you will adapt to this new style of studying and you will realize how quickly you wil be able to spout information in quick manner. For o-chem, I would make a list of all the reactions on some sheets of notebook paper and memorize those. I believe there are close to 29 reactions?

Remember that most of the questions will only require you memorize the information. There will be some difficult questions that will require you know in-depth principles but those questions are few and won't be needed to score a 20+ in O-chem. You can rock O-chem fairly easily with some memorization. The people that understand and memorize everything in o-chem usually score 24+. The people that just memorize o-chem still usually score in the 18-23 range so you don't really need to understand everything about o-chem to succeed in this section.