Problems with Organic Chem

[Ludacris]

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I am writing the MCAT this Saturday. I am getting constant 10+ in each section but sometimes a 9 in BS due to Organic Chemistry. I can't seem to get these questions right... 🙁 and they are pretty much the only ones I am not getting correct!

Should I go ahead and write on Saturday and pray for not a lot of Organic or postpone?

I am not applying until May 2008 because I'm taking Organic II this year... but I have been studying all summer and it will be a waste if I don't write now.

😕

 

[mrmilad]

.... You haven't taken Orgo 2 and you are complaining why its hard? If you aren't ready then I wouldn't recommend wasting one of your attempts. There will be 1 orgo passage atleast, so either you get lucky or you don't.

 

[RoadRunner17]

Why not take it and see how it goes? Then you can decide whether you would like to void it or not. If you take it, and you find that the Organic Chem topics that you see on there aren't out of your league, you might choose to keep the score. If you find it difficult in that you have no idea what's going on in some passages and have to randomly guess/leave questions blank, then by all means void it and call it a learning experience.

 

[jochi1543]

I took the MCAT w/o any orgo classes and pulled a 10 on BS, and I have to say that the Orgo passages were the EASY part of the exam. So, it's not really a requirement to do well - truth is, you're not likely to see more than 2 orgo passages. What study materials have you been using? EK Orgo helped me a LOT.

 

[Ludacris]

Thanks.

I'm using EK materials... I can usually make an educated guess on Orgo questions if the answer is not from the passage but questions asking what product is made from a certain reactant and reagent... I usually pick the wrong one 🙁...

I'm just going to try and drill as much Organic info in the next 2 days.

I took Orgo 2, 2 years ago but I need to retake it due to a bad mark the first time around (a D).

Why do you say Orgo was the easiest part of the exam? They weren't like the AAMC PT's?

 

[JesperIt]

Some people find organic chemistry to be easy and some to be hard. When I first took O-Chem as a freshmen, that **** scared me. I did not do so well. Years later when I took it, it was a breeze. Such a breeze that I became a teaching assistant and paid tutor for it. Funny how east coast calls it Orgo and west coast calls it O-Chem.

 

[Ludacris]

Well they have to put something hard in BS so everyone doesn't walk out with 13+'s...

Should I re-read the EK Organic chapters or just do flash cards??

 

[JesperIt]

you have to understand the underlining principles while reading it. things like molecular shape, geometry, bonding, basic reaction mechanism and so forth. the 1001 questions in organic chemistry does flow well with each chapter in the ek organic book. aftering doing many questions you should pick up on a pattern, like the aldehyde hydrogen on an h-nmr is always near 9.8 . flash cards will not help if you are only trying to memorize answers. if i say you have butyl acetate and you add excess 2-butanol in acid, do you know what the product outcome is? what about ethyl acetate in NaOH?

 

[dhowe2909]

so it's supposed to be 25% orgo and 75% bio. Secondly, substitution and elimination reactions are frequently tested which is orgo I material. THe only thing I can suggest learning from orgo II is structure determination. Learn how to do proton and carbon NMR and know the IR peaks for alcohol (3200-3600 broad) and carbonyl (1700 sharp). IR and NMR are most important, then chromatography, distillation, etc. There are to many orgo II reactions to learn them if the test is sat. I think you can easily pull a ten if you have orgo I down, get structure ID down, and do okay on bio. good luck!

 

[chad5871]

There was only 1 orgo passage and a few discretes on my August 14th version. It felt more like 90% bio, 10% orgo.

 

[Ludacris]

There was only 1 orgo passage and a few discretes on my August 14th version. It felt more like 90% bio, 10% orgo.

I sure hope mine is like that! 👍

 

[Ludacris]

so it's supposed to be 25% orgo and 75% bio. Secondly, substitution and elimination reactions are frequently tested which is orgo I material. THe only thing I can suggest learning from orgo II is structure determination. Learn how to do proton and carbon NMR and know the IR peaks for alcohol (3200-3600 broad) and carbonyl (1700 sharp). IR and NMR are most important, then chromatography, distillation, etc. There are to many orgo II reactions to learn them if the test is sat. I think you can easily pull a ten if you have orgo I down, get structure ID down, and do okay on bio. good luck!

Will do!... I have most of that down already... it's all those pesky reactions, which is another story. Thanks.

 

[Ludacris]

you have to understand the underlining principles while reading it. things like molecular shape, geometry, bonding, basic reaction mechanism and so forth. the 1001 questions in organic chemistry does flow well with each chapter in the ek organic book. aftering doing many questions you should pick up on a pattern, like the aldehyde hydrogen on an h-nmr is always near 9.8 . flash cards will not help if you are only trying to memorize answers. if i say you have butyl acetate and you add excess 2-butanol in acid, do you know what the product outcome is? what about ethyl acetate in NaOH?

That's true... I'll just study reactions up till the test.