Orgo chemistry lab needed for mcat?

[ashlee0921]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Is it recommended to take orgo chem lab (both I and II) or can I learn from books? I'm applying to Canadian med schools so I don't have prerequisite courses. I can't seem to fit it in my schedule unless I drop a course I wanna take for personal interest. So I was wondering what you guys recommend. Thanks!

 

[Blakeb_212]

The lab is useful for pharmacology and if you plan to do any research. If you have taken the lectures you can probably learn a lot of this on your own, but if you haven't then I imagine it would be fairly difficult.

 

[kuzy]

Orgo lab topics are certainly covered on the MCAT (extraction, chromatography, TLC, NMR/IR, mass spec), but it's nothing that you can't learn yourself. However, biochemistry and biochem lab techniques (electrophoresis, recombination, PCR, etc.) are both extremely important for the new MCAT. If you are taking orgo now, then am I correct in assuming you haven't taken biochem yet? If so, you should probably consider holding off on the MCAT until you've done biochem.