How much Orgo has been on recent MCAT's?

Boost your MCAT score by 12 points or more.
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Y

yanks26dmb

Full Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Nov 7, 2008
Messages
1,940
Reaction score
976
Members don't see this ad.
Taking the test on Saturday. Trying to figure out how much time to spend doing a final ochem review this week. For those that have taken the test recently, how much ochem has been on it?
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
yanks26dmb said:
Taking the test on Saturday. Trying to figure out how much time to spend doing a final ochem review this week. For those that have taken the test recently, how much ochem has been on it?
Click to expand...

A very low amount I'd say 15-20%. the mcat is trending away from organic chemistry. Most of the biosci section is physiology, genetics, biochem and mcb type material. You might get a passage or a few questions in different passages or some odd ball discretes that'll really mess with your head. It's really disappointing imo. I probably would have gotten a 12 or a 13 in biosci if it was 50:50 like I expected.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
mrh125 said:
A very low amount I'd say 15-20%. the mcat is trending away from organic chemistry. Most of the biosci section is physiology, genetics, biochem and mcb type material. You might get a passage or a few questions in different passages or some odd ball discretes that'll really mess with your head. It's really disappointing imo. I probably would have gotten a 12 or a 13 in biosci if it was 50:50 like I expected.
Click to expand...

Good to hear. My physiology and anatomy is air tight. Genetics, as long as it's not complex, I'm pretty solid. Biochem, I never took this class...should I do a crash course over the next week?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I think I had 2 discrete questions on organic and that's it. Although every test is different, for the one I took I think you'd have been far better served by getting in the basics of biochem than reviewing organic.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
yanks26dmb said:
Good to hear. My physiology and anatomy is air tight. Genetics, as long as it's not complex, I'm pretty solid. Biochem, I never took this class...should I do a crash course over the next week?
Click to expand...

Genetics - you should be fine then.

Biochem: it's only some basics and most of it can be taken care of by putting them on flashcards.
Some of it you should have covered in ochem:
Know your amino acids :how to calculate pKas, the properties of different amino acids like hydrophobic ones (be able to categorize the AA and know their basic structures), special ones like glycline and proline, be able to group them. maybe learn about different reactions such as what protecting groups such as CBZ or DCC may do* (The berkeley review has them in it but i'm not sure if it's worth your time honestly).
Know your simple sugars: how to convert between fischer projections and haworths, identifying D and L sugars, R or S config, alpha or beta, converting between alpha and beta/D or L, and reducing and non reducing sugars as well as some simple reactions like what HIO4 does sugars, what cu2+ does, HNO3 does, kiliani fischer synthesis. knowing the difference between a few basic sugars like being able to identify glucose, sucrose, cellulose, and celliobiose wouldn't hurt (put them on flashcards).

Other stuff that's biochem related that you should know:
Know the basics of glycolysis, the krebs cycle, ETC. number of FADH2, NADH, and ATP produced in each process. where each takes place (cytosol, mitochondrial matrix, and inner mitochondrial matrix) and the basic descriptions of the processes (are they catabolic or anabolic? reductive or oxidative? what are the reactants and products? dont memorize the entire processes just get an understanding of how they work). Know about the difference between aerobic and non-aerobic metabolism. The ethanol and lactate cycles are good to know as well.
Also knowing about some misc tests that are applicable to biochem molecules such as thin layer chromatography helps.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
For me 1 passage and a few discretes.

But another recent MCAT had 3 passages I've heard.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I've been told over and over again that knowing AA structure wasn't needed...so is it? I don't want to do that if I don't have to. Already made flashcards for their groupings though.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ciestar said:
I've been told over and over again that knowing AA structure wasn't needed...so is it? I don't want to do that if I don't have to. Already made flashcards for their groupings though.
Click to expand...

Structure and detailed characteristics are low yield, but they do appear once in a while.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ciestar said:
I've been told over and over again that knowing AA structure wasn't needed...so is it? I don't want to do that if I don't have to. Already made flashcards for their groupings though.
Click to expand...

do it anyway is the best tip i can give you. it cant hurt you and it's not that bad to do.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I took the MCAT without taking Orgo, just self taught a few concepts: naming of compounds and common pre/suffixes, IR spectra (really just carbonyl and alcohol), NMR plots, Sn1 vs Sn2....those few skills got me through almost all the questions. The few questions I didn't know could usually have at least 1-2 answers knocked down with what I knew.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
In my opinion knowing SN1/2, E1/2, Grignards, Addition Rxn's, Mass Spec/NMR, Stereochemistry, Resonance, and Alcohol/Ketone/Aldehyde Rxn's will be enough for MCAT...at least these days..
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Varies from test to test. I was lucky in that my test had 1 orgo passage (that was extremely simple) and a few discretes.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
surfguy84 said:
In my opinion knowing SN1/2, E1/2, Grignards, Addition Rxn's, Mass Spec/NMR, Stereochemistry, Resonance, and Alcohol/Ketone/Aldehyde Rxn's will be enough for MCAT...at least these days..
Click to expand...

i know all of these pretty cold. so you think it wouldnt be worth any more of my time to do more orgo review?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Mine had one pretty straight forward orgo passage, one unrealistically specific orgo passage that was not doable based on my current level of knowledge (something straight out of an orgo II class), and a few manageable discretes. It's really hit or miss, but if I had it to do over again (which I might have to) I wouldn't cut corners on orgo.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Although I agree it's not going to be the majority but it will be there.. I would spend a few days brushing up on SN1/SN2/E1/E1 .. acid base, resonance, EWG/EDG with just those basics you can really figure out any problem.. also TBR does a great job of the common reactions on the BS mcat page so knowing those would be important imo... I had a passage that was either you know that reaction or you're screwed kind of a deal so.. it got really awk. 🙂
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

I
how much is c/p valued?
Replies
5
Views
2K
ilikeapples24
I
VasuRulez
How much should I be studying for the MCAT daily?
Replies
3
Views
587
ecobio
ecobio
Anonymouse2100
Advice on MCAT Dilemma
Replies
1
Views
1K
stew_md
S
P
MCAT on june 27th too late
Replies
0
Views
709
premed2341
P
N
  • Question Question
Advice on MCAT Scheduling/Timing
Replies
5
Views
2K
hommefatale
hommefatale
Top