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I've heard of some examinations having only one passage.
Is it usually this way? How indepth/advanced in the o chem usually?
Is it usually this way? How indepth/advanced in the o chem usually?
Ugh. Then why does Kaplan put so much on their exams!
Stupid Kaplan for trying to prepare me
Ugh. Then why does Kaplan put so much on their exams!
Stupid Kaplan for trying to prepare me
my point is, learning physical organic is important, learning basic nomenclature is important, learning basic reactivity patterns is important, but learning reaction names will rarely help you on an mcat.
see, the thing is, content-wise, there's almost no ochem on the mcat. there might be up to three passages, but you don't really have to know very much to be able to answer them correctly, it can all be done with basic ochem I info. for example, they would expect you to know how to determine chirality of something, but they really never ask questions about named reactions other than Sn1 and Sn2, and then really basic things like saponification. while they may technically be able to ask you something about more complicated reactions like the wolf-kishner reduction and such, they usually tell you about it in the passage so you don't usually have to know it yourself, you just need to be able to understand what the passage is talking about.
my point is, learning physical organic is important, learning basic nomenclature is important, learning basic reactivity patterns is important, but learning reaction names will rarely help you on an mcat.
see, the thing is, content-wise, there's almost no ochem on the mcat. there might be up to three passages, but you don't really have to know very much to be able to answer them correctly, it can all be done with basic ochem I info. for example, they would expect you to know how to determine chirality of something, but they really never ask questions about named reactions other than Sn1 and Sn2, and then really basic things like saponification. while they may technically be able to ask you something about more complicated reactions like the wolf-kishner reduction and such, they usually tell you about it in the passage so you don't usually have to know it yourself, you just need to be able to understand what the passage is talking about.
my point is, learning physical organic is important, learning basic nomenclature is important, learning basic reactivity patterns is important, but learning reaction names will rarely help you on an mcat.
Based on other's reports of how much organic was covered on their actual exams I would normally agree with you. However, on my exam, (September 2007) this was not the case. Maybe I got a fluke exam (with a DEMON verbal section to boot), but my exam was orgo heavy. We had 4 orgo passages and at least 6 orgo discretes that I can remember. My knowledge of organic saved my butt on that exam...and I did have to know some specific reactions and such.
Just learn what is in your review books...Try and learn as much of it as you possibly can. Focus on the logic of the orgo before the memorization, but you really should be ready for anything...God knows that I'm DAMN sure glad that I was. I think that its safe to say that my exam was a 'curveball'.
What source did u use for Ochem? I have Kaplan and they dont explain anything. they just present bunch of rxns with no mechanism, and thats why its hard to memorize
What source did u use for Ochem? I have Kaplan and they dont explain anything. they just present bunch of rxns with no mechanism, and thats why its hard to memorize
I hope some of you are still subscribed to this thread or that my question bumps its visibility: About how much do you need to know from OCem 2 to be well prepared for the MCAT? Does anyone think I could get away with just taking the first OCem and studying anything else on my own throughout July, bumping my MCAT to early August, late July? Or maybe that's an insignificant difference...statistically speaking, I know it is. lol
I ask because my 2012 application timeline was screwed by my job, forcing me to take OCem 1 this June and OCem 2 this July, with an August 23rd MCAT (at least Im getting published for it, though). Thankfully, since Im applying to MD/PhDs, it isn't as important to have such an early app as it is for the regular MD programs; but it sure helps to expedite the decision. And I wanna know where Im going earlier than later.
Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks.
I took the MCAT last year and there was definitely less than Kaplan's tests. From what I hear, there was a recent change that dropped the total to about 15% of the BioSci section. That doesn't really change that much though, because you need to be able to take those questions confidently.
Enough to make you feel terrible if you don't know it when it comes up.
I mean, seriously...
What are you going to tell yourself if you skipped something that prep materials exist for, when it shows up on the exam?
There's enough random stuff on the test that you can't predict that you should know what you can.
I wish it was at least 50% organic in comparison to biology!!!!! I don't know about the rest of you, but I am far more likely to get a correct answer in ochm then bio.
nucleophilic substitution > endocrine system
amen to that
I've heard of some examinations having only one passage.
Is it usually this way? How indepth/advanced in the o chem usually?