organic chem - how much to memorize?

[DOC1987]

there's a lot of organic chem reactions in the kaplan book, but on the topicals etc they only seem to ask about basic SN/E understandinng. does anyone know if it helps to memorize all of the reactions they describe in the book? (Wittig, Hoffman, etc)

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[dovebar]

there's a lot of organic chem reactions in the kaplan book, but on the topicals etc they only seem to ask about basic SN/E understandinng. does anyone know if it helps to memorize all of the reactions they describe in the book? (Wittig, Hoffman, etc)

Better safe than sorry...I didn't memorize any Ochem for the April exam. It was filled with Ochem and I got a 6. I was scoring 8-9 on my practice tests. So guess what I'm doing now?

 

[DOC1987]

I heard there was only one orgo passage on this april's mcat though.. was it just really specific?

 

[shantster]

Know the functional groups and how they react with each other. There's no reason to waste time and energy memorizing every single reaction since the MCAT throws at you mechanisms you've never seen before and asks you questions about them. The functional groups are the key.

 

[abcxyz0123]

for people who are using EK: are you guys ignoring sections 2-6 through 2-11 in EK organic chemistry? That is alkene section, and it has every reaction that has to do with alkenes, along with some other stuff, like electron withdrawing groups and donating groups.

just curious

 

[shantster]

for people who are using EK: are you guys ignoring sections 2-6 through 2-11 in EK organic chemistry? That is alkene section, and it has every reaction that has to do with alkenes, along with some other stuff, like electron withdrawing groups and donating groups.

just curious

I read through it and learned my withdrawing/donating groups. I feel that might not have been something that I needed to do after taking the MCAT, but if there was a question on there such as: "which of the following is the strongest acid?", it's nice to know which groups are withdrawing or donating so that you can figure out which conjugate base would be the most stable.

 

[TMP-SMX]

I read through it and learned my withdrawing/donating groups. I feel that might not have been something that I needed to do after taking the MCAT, but if there was a question on there such as: "which of the following is the strongest acid?", it's nice to know which groups are withdrawing or donating so that you can figure out which conjugate base would be the most stable.

Yes. You should know about withdrawing/releasing effects. Especially carboxylic acids and things like that. You will have to know "which is the most acidic" and likely "which is the best leaving group."

So acid/base strength is important along with stability. (Of course that is the entire conceptual framework of organic chemistry. If you didn't understand it while taking the class it won't be easy understanding it for the MCAT.)

 

[Erina]

I heard there was only one orgo passage on this april's mcat though.. was it just really specific?

i had two passages and a few discretes and i didn't think they were bad...honestly, just two passages on major topics in ochem II. there are a lot of different forms, but i tended to hear people say they also had two passages.

 

[TMP-SMX]

i had two passages and a few discretes and i didn't think they were bad...honestly, just two passages on major topics in ochem II. there are a lot of different forms, but i tended to hear people say they also had two passages.

I had very little orgo on my test. But whatever. You never know.

 

[dovebar]

I heard there was only one orgo passage on this april's mcat though.. was it just really specific?

There was at least three on my version and like I said I just studied the basics for orgo...sn1/sn2, eliminations, acidity, and other conceptual things. None of the detailed stuff that was in my TPR review book. I regret that now, since it was only a couple hundred pages of stuff. But, I''m working my butt off this time.