Need advice on OCHEM in the DAT

[lostbutfound]

Hello!

So I'm gonna start to officially start studying for the DAT after this weekend, and I am very worried about the organic chemistry section on the DAT.
I did fine in biology and gen chem classes, but I didn't do so well in organic chemistry in school.
I honestly got through organic chemistry by simply memorizing (I know, I shouldn't have) because my professor didn't really teach (she did powerpoints the whole year) and she wanted us to learn by reading the book she wrote herself, which didn't help me much since I am an interactive learner.
I have heard people watching Chad's videos for organic chemistry?
Do you guys think I will be able to do well on the orgo section of the DAT just by studying DAT books and watching Chad's videos?
Also, where are these Chad's videos? are they on youtube?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Roy Williams]

Chad's videos are on coursesaver.com (I think it's 50ish bucks). Once you watch those videos and take notes and do the quizzes, go through all of Destroyer orgo at least twice, while intermittently taking practice tests with either Bootcamp or Genius to assess how you're doing. If you can do those things well then you should be good to go!

 

[Charles_Darwin]

^ I agree with ImSirius! Chads videos from coursesaver are amazing. Back in my Orgo I & II days, I never understood anything. I just spent nights memorizing reactions and mechanisms without knowing what they actually meant. I watched chad's ONCE and everything clicked so fast. I then went through destroyer, bootcamp, and genius and understood it all very well thanks to Chad. I haven't taken my DAT yet (3 days 😱) but I hit a 26 OC and GC on my last bootcamp practice, 100% thanks to chad's

 

[lostbutfound]

Chad's videos are on coursesaver.com (I think it's 50ish bucks). Once you watch those videos and take notes and do the quizzes, go through all of Destroyer orgo at least twice, while intermittently taking practice tests with either Bootcamp or Genius to assess how you're doing. If you can do those things well then you should be good to go!

Thank you SO MUCH. You just made me feel so much better 🙂 I will definitely take your advice and study that way!

 

[lostbutfound]

^ I agree with ImSirius! Chads videos from coursesaver are amazing. Back in my Orgo I & II days, I never understood anything. I just spent nights memorizing reactions and mechanisms without knowing what they actually meant. I watched chad's ONCE and everything clicked so fast. I then went through destroyer, bootcamp, and genius and understood it all very well thanks to Chad. I haven't taken my DAT yet (3 days 😱) but I hit a 26 OC and GC on my last bootcamp practice, 100% thanks to chad's

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who got through OCHEM just by memorizing! Thank you and you really gave me hope! I wish you the best of luck, I'm sure you will do great!!!!!

 

[RaeLT]

I felt the same way when I started studying for the DAT! I passed my Ochem class by a lot of memorization and didnt really understand the concepts behind it (B+ in Pt 1 & C in Pt 2)

On the DAT I ended up with a 20! Lol literally 2 weeks before the DAT I was panicking because I started doing Destroyer problems and they were so hard! Just don't be discouraged!

So here is what I did and what I wish I did:
1) concepts are so important! (Literally on the test there were more conceptual problems than actual reactions.) Plus if you understand the "why/how" of essential reactions you can predict products for most of the reactions! I would suggest Chad's videos and quizzes for this. Just watch and take notes on both. I literally reviewed the quizzes twice while marking down things I still didn't understand.

2) practice problems are key! Ochem is like math! And the more you do them, the more you'll get the hand of it! I went through DAT Destroyer and almost decided to stop and just focus on chad's quizzes... DO NOT GET DISCOURAGED! I honestly wish I started destroyer early on and didn't wait til the last 2 weeks to actually complete and review the content! I would say, complete Destoyer and go over your answers! I completed it once(not knowing most of it) then went over it 2x (once by annotating and another by making a list of concepts and reactions I just couldn't remember!)** I WISH I reviewed destroyer 2 more times or something before my test!

3) The must know reactions on DAT Destroyer, really are a "must know" lol. 5 days before the test I rewrote those reactions every other day! Getting progressively faster. Then 2 days before the test I just had alist of reactions I already knew! (Also 2 days before the test I just wrote down on a separate sheet of paper reactions I was shaky on)

4) watch YouTube videos on confusing reactions and lab techniques and put the speed on 1.5 or 2.0 times faster! I suggest Leah4Sci and Professor Dave Explains! (Honestly the speed helps with retention of info and saves time!)

5) Assess what you learned and take Bootcamp Practice Tests. ( Lol actually I got a 13 on my first Ochem diagnostic test! Also I haven't taken Ochem in 2.5years...) AFTER Chad's videos and DAT Destroyer my score shot up to 20-21 and I ended up getting a 20 on the actual test!

6) Don't over stress! 🙂 you got this!

 

[LuckBloodandSweat]

Lol Rae we have almost identical grades in orgo 1/orgo 2 xD. I wasn't that great at orgo in school either I still got a 20 somehow lol. If you watch all of chad's and get 90%+ on quizzes and understand him that's 19-20 already. Then you can try to get even higher by practicing more and really knowing what to do 🙂