Molecular Kit for Ochem

[tik-tik-clock]

Should I buy it? Worth spending the $$$ ???

Those who got A+'s in Ochem, was it useful to enforce your slightly vague visualization of molecules?

Thanks

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[blingblah]

depends on the profs take on teaching the class. I am a teaching assistant for orgo and the prof in the spring doesnt care much about 3D rotations while the prof in the fall certainly does. Its not gonna help ya much for the mcats but if you are gonna buy it, share it with someone else and split the costs. You are gonna use it for a portion of O chem neways. Good luck!

 

[DianaLynne]

I loved my molecular kits! In fact, I think sometimes about buying more because there aren't enough atoms to build really cool molecules. I built an estrogen molecule once, and I barely had enough.

Seriously though, I found them very helpful. Chirality can be a tough concept to wrap your mind around and having 3D models helped me a lot. It also helped me seeing rotations, steric hindrance, all sorts of stuff.

It was worth it to me and I've kept them. In fact, still use 'em. I built an isocitrate molecule to study how it interacts with its enzyme in the TCA cycle.

 

[UCLAstudent]

It depends. I'm an artist, so my kit wasn't terribly useful for o-chem because I am pretty good at visualizing how molecules rotate in my head. But, the kit is loads of fun to play with!

 

[logos]

It depends. I didnt use mine much because it was easier and faster for me to close my eyes and visualize the molecule and its stereochemistry (3D shape changes). Others in my class could not do it in their head as easily and found the kit more time efficient.

 

[UCLAstudent]

Haha, logos, we posted very similar things at very similar times!

 

[Brain]

I never used mine so it was a big waste of $. There were really only a few lectures where it might come in handy. Toothpicks and marshmellows will work just fine if you need a visual aid, it'll be less money and you'll have a snack when you're done.

 

[45408]

Didn't need one.

 

[oudoc08]

I bought one. Waste of money unless you have an extremely difficult time seeing 3D structures in your head.

 

[Centrum]

A ridiculous waste of money.

 

[brucecat]

absolutely.. complete waste of money.

 

[HumptyDumpty]

I bought one and never used it, but in retrospect I wish I had. I think it really helps to visualize things. It may be easy to visualize in your head at first, but I think w/ more complex molecules the kit becomes more and more useful. So I suggest you get one... and use it!

 

[bewitched1081]

i never used it. brand new. i'm not quite sure where it is. maybe someone will give you his/her kit.

 

[tacrum43]

After I got a not so great grade in my second quarter of O-Chem, I bought one for my last quarter and ended up never using it. $40 down the drain.

 

[Ross434]

I never used mine so it was a big waste of $. There were really only a few lectures where it might come in handy. Toothpicks and marshmellows will work just fine if you need a visual aid, it'll be less money and you'll have a snack when you're done.

You eat toothpicks?!?!?

 

[ShyRem]

I used mine extensively (as did almost everyone in class). If you look, however, you will probably find one online that's a lot less expensive. I think it depends on the prof on how much you'll use it.

I have also used mine in P-chem, and now for my math senior seminar - I'm tearing apart the point groups and irreducible representations of molecules to see how they predict IR spectra. The hard part of the talk is that I'm giving it to the math faculty and they know NOTHING about chemistry. I only have 20 minutes for the whole thing, so I'm going to hand out models of molecules to help them do the 3D visualization. Most math classes only go through 2D symmetry, and the 3D is a bit harder to grasp unless the molecule is VERY simple. So I actually went and bought another two kits for my talk.

 

[Arginine]

You can find one for super cheap on ebay!
http://search.ebay.com/molecular-model-kits_W0QQsojsZ1QQfromZR40

 

[patzan]

Worthless. That is all.

 

[stoleyerscrubz]

I got one for about $15 and used it once. I think it is a good idea to have it just in case.

 

[DMBFan61]

i'd say hold off on it. if you get to a point where you really need it (i didn't, and neither did anyone i knew) im sure you can find someone who will let you use theirs.

 

[OSUdoc08]

Should I buy it? Worth spending the $$$ ???

Those who got A+'s in Ochem, was it useful to enforce your slightly vague visualization of molecules?

Thanks

waste of money

don't buy it

noone ever uses those

 

[kapnut]

get the kit and use it, build as many structures as you can. the kit really helps you understand and appreciate the structures, plus you will need the kit in other advanced chem courses.

 

[Tinker Creek]

It really helped me understand axial and equatorial hydrogens, cis-trans better with the model, but that's just me. It was hard trying to trace a chair from the bulky contraption, but then I got used to it. It's also more fun than reading from the text book.
At any rate, the model set isn't going anywhere, if you think you'll be needing it later, just go buy one.

 

[Sancho]

what is it $20?
you can't really go wrong either way.
just take this advice: when folks start dropping upwards of $1000 on opthalmoscopes and the like during the first couple of years of med- don't believe the hype- you seriously don't need all that top of the line crap that you will never want to cart around with you on the wards. But the O-chem toys, eh, those are fine.

 

[Tinker Creek]

what is it $20?
QUOTE]
seriously, it's not much, just go buy one.