How to learn ochem??

[ziggy1104]

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So, as ive mentioned before, I am taking the dat in June and have bot taken ochem yet.

I ordered the college level chads videos. However, after reading a bunch of break downs, I'm beginning to notice most people said chads dat videos are all they needed.

What do you think? Should I bother with chads college video, and then move onto his dat ochem vids, or just jump straight into the dat vids. I really don't want to waste my time doing anything unecessary 🙂

Thank you!

 

[eddds]

Chads DAT ochem videos is all you need, probably more than what you need, so memorize all of the reactions he writes and know some of the major intermediates, rank acids/bases. If you have the DAT destroyer you can also look through those reactions, because it presents them as a synthesis type of format so you can really think through most of the reactions instead of having to memorize everything.

If you can think back to orgo in college, and understand how electrons move it will be so much easier than blindly memorizing it.

 

[Daneosaurus]

I'm not sure how you can just watch videos to learn ochem. Ochem isn't difficult in and of itself, but it does require a ton of studying. To be fair, I have neither purchased, nor watched, the Chad's video series (yet), and maybe he is some amazing teacher. But ochem took a lot of practice, and I think I'm pretty good at it.

 

[ziggy1104]

Ok, great. That's what I needed to know. I do have the dat destroyer and ochem Odyssey, so my plan was to go through chads dat vids, learn them like the back of my hand, then start dat destroyer ochem and Odyssey.

 

[Glimmer1991]

I think everyone who says Chad's DAT OC videos are sufficient have a background in organic chemistry--you are unique in that you have never taken the class. I would want as solid of a foundation as I could before jumping into the DAT-specific videos. He really just "jumps in" without giving much background knowledge of anything. You're taking a gamble. I can't imagine just diving into those videos without having taken organic chemistry first.

 

[MedDevil]

I ran into a couple questions on the OC section of the DAT that Chad didn't cover (but luckily DAT Destroyer and my college course did), so I recommend spending a good chunk of time learning and memorizing the ochem roadmaps in Destroyer in addition to Chad's videos.

 

[ziggy1104]

Hmmm...I do have destroyer. So the best thing might be to first complete chads college vids and then dat vids?

 

[Glimmer1991]

That would still be my suggestion, ziggy.

 

[ziggy1104]

Thanks Glimmer

 

[Dotoday]

Orgo is tough. You need to start from the beginning and understand concepts and know all the reagents. Organic chemistry as a second language is a good book to start. Khan acadamy is ok. Organic chemistry Odyssey has every concept explained well with problems and solutions. Follow it woth Crack Dat questions and DAT Destroyer. You do all of this and you will do very well in this section.

 

[Sharon914]

For me practice book is the best friend in studying. Organic chemistry as a second language helped me very much. Organic chemistry Odyssey has every chapter explained very well using questions and solutions. Schaums outlines can give you plenty of practice problems. Once you master all that you can use Dat Destroyer to test your knowledge.

 

[mightymoose02]

For me practice book is the best friend in studying. Organic chemistry as a second language helped me very much. Organic chemistry Odyssey has every chapter explained very well using questions and solutions. Schaums outlines can give you plenty of practice problems. Once you master all that you can use Dat Destroyer to test your knowledge.

I second this comment.

Organic Chemistry for 2nd language (1st and 2nd semester) did wonders for me for the DAT on top of Chad's Videos. I am pretty certain Odyssey will work for people too. If that's your weakest subject and you have time, I'd try both and get the best of both worlds. Not sure which one is cheaper though.

 

[steiner2]

I'm not sure how you can just watch videos to learn ochem. Ochem isn't difficult in and of itself, but it does require a ton of studying. To be fair, I have neither purchased, nor watched, the Chad's video series (yet), and maybe he is some amazing teacher. But ochem took a lot of practice, and I think I'm pretty good at it.

You are right. Chad's is a good refresher. But in the end, it's the practice that reinforces WHAT you learned AND that you actually LEARNED it. Chad is good b/c he explains it like a good science tutor who knows their stuff will explain it without giving you extraneous crap.

 

[ziggy1104]

Great, awesome replies. Thanks everyone! I have ordered organic chem odyssey, chads vids, and I have the textbook for the class taught on campus. Unfortunately, I have kind of run out of budget for DAT study materials. I do wish I had purchased organic as a 2nd language.

If I could get some opinions on whether you think my DAT materials are sufficient or if I should spring for organic as a 2nd lang as well that would be helpful. Like I said, I dont have much $ left and also still need Crack DAT PAT. However, if I get a bunch of people urging me to get it, I will definitely take that into consideration.

Thanks again everyone

 

[mightymoose02]

Great, awesome replies. Thanks everyone! I have ordered organic chem odyssey, chads vids, and I have the textbook for the class taught on campus. Unfortunately, I have kind of run out of budget for DAT study materials. I do wish I had purchased organic as a 2nd language.

If I could get some opinions on whether you think my DAT materials are sufficient or if I should spring for organic as a 2nd lang as well that would be helpful. Like I said, I dont have much $ left and also still need Crack DAT PAT. However, if I get a bunch of people urging me to get it, I will definitely take that into consideration.

Thanks again everyone

It's only one section. If you have Odyssey + Chad's Videos, you are good to go as far as the materials. Rest is depended on your study methods/work ethic. On top of that, the practice you get from practice tests like DAT QVAULT and DAT BootCamp counts too. Hopefully, you have DAT Destroyer too. So like I said, that's already a lot if you have most of those.

As for Crack DAT PAT, make sure you read some threads and breakdowns on that program. Some of the PAT sections are not representative of the real deal and after awhile, it probably gets way easier. Make sure to supplement that with harder PAT practice once you get to a certain level.

Good LUCK!

I'm not sure how you can just watch videos to learn ochem. Ochem isn't difficult in and of itself, but it does require a ton of studying. To be fair, I have neither purchased, nor watched, the Chad's video series (yet), and maybe he is some amazing teacher. But ochem took a lot of practice, and I think I'm pretty good at it.

I agree with this guy. My weakest subject was Organic Chemistry and when I initially went through Chad's videos, I still didn't really understand much because I didn't have the basics. After going through the 2nd language book, I got enough basics down and then Chad's Videos made more sense. Basics first!

 

[ziggy1104]

OK. I think for now i'll stick with what I have and see how it goes. I'll start with the textbook I have, then organic chem odyssey, then chads vids. Thanks everyone 🙂

 

[youngy]

Take my words with a grain of salt because everyone's opinion is different.

If you have strong ochem background or even just a good background, you will probably be okay with chad's videos alone because he breaks it down for you.

But you can never be sure that DAT won't throw you odd reactions that are not covered in limited number of videos that he has.
So, if you haven't even taken the ochem class yet, my advice is to either wait until you at least take the first part of it, or just sit in one of the classes and expose yourself to the material.

Not all the materials from the lectures will be in DAT, but that doesn't mean you will get away with just watching Chad's alone.

 

[youngy]

I ran into a couple questions on the OC section of the DAT that Chad didn't cover (but luckily DAT Destroyer and my college course did), so I recommend spending a good chunk of time learning and memorizing the ochem roadmaps in Destroyer in addition to Chad's videos.

+1 if you are going to gamble taking the DAt with out orgo 1 or 2, I'd at least try to familiarize myself with Destroyer's roadmap because that thang is pretty comprehensive. However, you might wonder how in the hell such reactions result in such products, but DAt tests for mostly products of the reaction (most if not all), not intermediates.

Good luck, but I highly want to advise you to do at least online course or thoroughly study powerpoints you can find on the internet.

 

[LizLemongrab]

What I would recommend is to start by checking the ADA's pdf file of what topics will potentially be represented on the test. Figure out which chapters in your textbook are relevant based on that. After you've got your chapters marked, learn each reaction in the appropriate chapters, do practice problems for each chapter (you don't have to do ALL of them) and make sure you have an answer key that goes with your textbook so you can check yourself. If you like suffering, you can teach yourself a year of ochem in about 8-12 weeks if you are willing to do 1-3 chapters a week, depending on how fast you want to go and what your self-discipline is like. The real thing is that at the end you should really be able to recognize reagents and know both the reaction and what your product will look like down to syn/anti, mark/anti, e/z, R/S. The only things I honestly used for this were my college textbook and assigned problems from files I saved when I took the actual class. I got a 22 on ochem.

 

[ziggy1104]

Good plan Liz, I have just been going through the chapters in my campus's orgo 1 and 2 class, but looking at the ADA file will shave of a bunch of time. Thanks

 

[Dotoday]

Organic chemistry as a second language is Awesome. However, not enough. It is designed to be a suplement to the book, not its replacement. Going through "Organic chemistry as a second language" will prepare you to understand other textbooks. Then try to go through Destroyer, Odysey and ACS examination. You will learn all the concepts you need from those books.

 

[ziggy1104]

Yeah, that's what I've been doing except I'm also throwing some chads in as well. I have about 4 months total to study (but I'm also taking 4 classes + 2 labs and have s 7 month old) even do, I'm pretty confident that with my study materials and study plan ( that I developed from you wonderful sdn'rs) I should do ok (I hope!) Thanks guys!!

 

[ziggy1104]

Sorry about spelling! Typing from phone!

 

[KCA32]

Took the DAT with no background in O chem(FYI im just an average student). Used Chads, Kaplan, and DAT achiever to prep. I started studying about a month or so out for Ochem(wrote out all of the Kaplan section and watched chads videos a week before the test) and scored a 20 for the section. I know that's not a great score by SDN standards but I was ok with it. I would say if you really want to do well you should watch chads videos 2 or 3 times through while taking notes. Just my two cents.

 

[ziggy1104]

That's awesome !! Posts like this give me hope!