Organic II & Biochem?

[starfruit138]

Long story short, I was pre-med, then switched to pre-PA, and now I'm back to pre-med, so my timeline has been bumped up quite a bit.

I need to take the MCAT at the latest in May of 2017. I will be taking Org I & II this year. I know that I also need to learn biochem for the MCAT, but I'm not sure how to go about taking the class in time.

How bad of an idea is it to take Biochem and Org II together second semester? I would have to get special permission, but I think I could. Alternatively, is self-studying biochem for the MCAT a good option?

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[Lawpy]

I would prioritize biochemistry over organic chemistry II if possible. Biochemistry = essential to do well on the MCAT, and organic chemistry has been heavily deemphasized in the exam (mostly topics covered in ochem I + few stuff that can be visited in Khan Academy videos + other resources).

 

[TomBombadil14]

You will be quite disadvantaged for the MCAT if you do not take a biochem class.

How have your grades been the last few semesters? All/mostly all As? Will you be allowed to take biochem before taking orgo II? If grades are medium and you can take biochem 1st, I would take biochem only and wait on orgo II. I took biochem 5 years after orgo II, so I had to basically teach myself small parts of orgo II over again. It was quite manageable though.

If you've been getting all As or close to it - I would take both at the same maybe. Remember that studying for the MCAT during a difficult semester is going to add to the pain.

Good luck!

 

[aldol16]

If you feel comfortable with organic chemistry (and I'm not talking about the simple assigning stereoisomers, SN2, etc. we teach in first semester Orgo) and can understand where electrons go in a reaction, then taking Orgo II and biochemistry together should not be a problem. You only need to know some limited carbonyl chemistry for biochemistry and most of these mechanisms are intuitive if you understand chemistry. If you don't, you still might be able to get by via memorization. The reason biochemistry and Orgo II can be taken concurrently is because nature found a good way to make bonds (carbonyls) and built up a whole infrastructure around that and now that's all it does. Though Diels-Alder is a great way to make C-C bonds, there is no known Diels-Alderase in nature - nature prefers Aldols.