O'Chem on PCAT -what is it worth?

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CardaRx

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I plan to take the PCAT in October. I have never taken O'Chem, ever.
O'Chem is not offered in the summer at my school, and I have other classes that I have to take 5 days a week to complete my pre-reqs by next spring.

However, if I don't take the PCAT in October I throw away any chance on applying to some of the schools that may require the PCAT to apply. :(

I plan to self study for O'Chem, using the MCAT Exam Cracker --- SO......
What are my chances at the PCAT, while self studying for O'Chem?
How much of O'Chem is really on the PCAT? Or how much of O'Chem do I need to know to survive?
Do you recommend any other books I should pick up?

Please help
-totally freaking out---:scared:

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How are you going to work in 4 orgo classes (including labs) before applying to school and not have another chance to take the PCAT? I would definitely wait until you've taken orgo if at all possible.
 
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It is part of the Chemistry section. Generally the October PCAT sees less Organic than the January PCAT.


I would completely disregard this statement. Perhaps Sparda took both an October and January PCAT and had this experience with the test, but to make that leap of logic saying that taking the test in one month versus another will result in more or less organic material seems ridiculous to me. I know you are just trying to help Sparda...I don't mean to tear you down:).

You can check out the posts under the PCAT section for many more posts on this topic, CardaRx.
 
It is possible to score well in the chem section of the PCAT without taking OChem first. If you are really good in general chemistry, I say go for it and take it this June or August. Still, your chances of scoring better are greatly enhanced if you know some OChem especially the first half which you could probably get someone to tutor you or you can study on your own.

As mentioned in the PCAT forum before, the OChem stuff you definitely need to know are functional groups, nomenclature, SN1, SN2, E1 and E2 reactions.

GL
 
How are you going to work in 4 orgo classes (including labs) before applying to school and not have another chance to take the PCAT? I would definitely wait until you've taken orgo if at all possible.

I would like to enter into '09. At my school 1 year of O'Chem is 3 quarters here, so by spring, we will be done.
Since most application deadline are mostly in Nov and a some thru Feb, if I have a decent PCAT score, I would still like a chance to apply to the schools that may require them. Otherwise the next date is in January 09.
 
The o'chem portion looked fairly remedial to me - then again I just completed a year of the class. It is definitely possible to self-learn the necessary amount to succeed on this portion over summer.
 
I would check out the PCAT forum. There are many questions like this. I myself will be taking Orgo I this fall and I will take the PCAT in August and October. I plan on studying using Organic Chemistry study aids. Yes, we are at a disadvantage, but I've heard that if you know the basics, then you should be ok. I've read other members who took the PCAT before or while taking Orgo and they did fine.
 
You can try to obtain the textbook and course syllabus from your school's organic course and focus on learning just enough to do the problems from the text. The organic section is large enough where one shouldn't neglect the section thinking that it's easy enough to get by on gen chem information.
 
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