shortcut to study for CHEM??

[synthesizer]

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i have done a practice PCAT, and i'm good on everything except the chemistry....

i honestly left the whole section blank because i could not remember a thing!

do you guys have any recommendations on a study guide for the PCAT chemistry?? i've got a kaplan prep book, but the chemistry section is almost 200 pages long... i feel it goes into way too much detail

 

[diastole]

I don't remember the Kaplan's being overly detailed for chemistry. I think you have to know a lot of the material covered. In fact, their treatment of organic is inadequate. You could maybe try Chemistry for Dummies or something like that but if you take the shortcuts, your score will suffer.

 

[synthesizer]

I don't remember the Kaplan's being overly detailed for chemistry. I think you have to know a lot of the material covered. In fact, their treatment of organic is inadequate. You could maybe try Chemistry for Dummies or something like that but if you take the shortcuts, your score will suffer.

good point. do you have any recommendations on where to obtain some good organic review?

 

[diastole]

I took it right after the first semester of organic so that was fresh in my mind. I used a Schaum's General, Organic, and Biochemistry guide to learn the second semester material and it worked just fine. The PCAT is mostly nomenclature, a few general reactions and knowing things like which is the most polar molecule or what molecule has the highest boiling point for the organic chemistry part.

 

[kordjames]

Other than the OC part, is the Kaplan combined with class notes/text good for the rest of the Chemistry parts?

 

[diastole]

Other than the OC part, is the Kaplan combined with class notes/text good for the rest of the Chemistry parts?

I think so. I used a combination of Kaplan's and my text to study. I studied for the most part without even having a pencil. I would just look at a problem and mentally go through the steps to solve it. It worked reasonably well for me because most of the PCAT is conceptual. You do have to solve some problems but, at least on my exam, there weren't that many and the math was mostly easy. You would have to double this value or halve that value, for example. I didn't want to get bogged down on wasting a lot of time doing the math part of the chemistry problems that was way more detailed than anything you would see on the real exam.

I recommend taking a practice PCAT online and then seeing what you need to focus on. I thought that it was a pretty good representation of the real thing.

 

[kordjames]

I think so. I used a combination of Kaplan's and my text to study. I studied for the most part without even having a pencil. I would just look at a problem and mentally go through the steps to solve it. It worked reasonably well for me because most of the PCAT is conceptual. You do have to solve some problems but, at least on my exam, there weren't that many and the math was mostly easy. You would have to double this value or halve that value, for example. I didn't want to get bogged down on wasting a lot of time doing the math part of the chemistry problems that was way more detailed than anything you would see on the real exam.

I recommend taking a practice PCAT online and then seeing what you need to focus on. I thought that it was a pretty good representation of the real thing.

So basically I for Chemistry I could use the text/notes and Kaplan especially for OChem and for Bio, Kaplan would be enough?

 

[diastole]

So basically I for Chemistry I could use the text/notes and Kaplan especially for OChem and for Bio, Kaplan would be enough?

Kaplan should be fine for general chem and bio but not organic chemistry. Your class notes should help out with that but you don't have to go into lots of detail. Know general reactions, nomenclature, molecular geometry and some of the more basic stuff like hybridization, pi and sigma bonds, etc.

Kaplan doesn't cover micro well either so you should probably supplement for that part too.

 

[pharmRxn]

Kaplan should be fine for general chem and bio but not organic chemistry. Your class notes should help out with that but you don't have to go into lots of detail. Know general reactions, nomenclature, molecular geometry and some of the more basic stuff like hybridization, pi and sigma bonds, etc.

Kaplan doesn't cover micro well either so you should probably supplement for that part too.

if he/she uses the kaplan book alone their biology score will suffer. it depends on which test version they get.

 

[PistonFan531]

What if I were to use Kaplan, Cliff Notes, Barron's, Dr. Collins, and Pearson for the Bio section? Along with looking at some of my class notes from time to time? Do you think that would be enough for Bio or would my score still probably suffer?

 

[diastole]

It's hard to say. I used just Kaplan and skimmed my micro book but I do remember answering questions that I just knew from my classes and I don't remember if they were in the book or not. Maybe you could study Kaplan really well, take a Pearson exam, and then decide if you need to study more material from other sources.

 

[kordjames]

Instead of reading all the things that my bio or chem class covered would it be enough to just read each of the topics Kaplan covers by reading it in more detail with a bio/chem text? Does the Kaplan book at least have all the topics needed so I can just read in more detail with a text or notes?

 

[diastole]

Instead of reading all the things that my bio or chem class covered would it be enough to just read each of the topics Kaplan covers by reading it in more detail with a bio/chem text? Does the Kaplan book at least have all the topics needed so I can just read in more detail with a text or notes?

It should have all the major topics covered. They do throw in seemingly random facts once in awhile in biology that is difficult to prepare for but that shouldn't affect your score too much if you understand the major topics. They do skip whole sections of things in organic chemistry and microbiology so if a topic isn't covered there, you still have to go out and prepare from other sources. For example, they might ask you which organism causes a certain disease and Kaplan doesn't cover that at all.

 

[kimbebe51]

I'm studying for the chem section with the kaplan book as well as the text. However, I am relying more on the text than the book since I feel that the Kaplan book doesn't explain it too much into detail.

I have a question for you all: Do I need to memorize the solubility chart? Will precipitation rxns be on the test?

I was going over it and there are so many exceptions to this and that. If I don't have to memorize it that would make it so much easier.

 

[diastole]

I'm studying for the chem section with the kaplan book as well as the text. However, I am relying more on the text than the book since I feel that the Kaplan book doesn't explain it too much into detail.

I have a question for you all: Do I need to memorize the solubility chart? Will precipitation rxns be on the test?

I was going over it and there are so many exceptions to this and that. If I don't have to memorize it that would make it so much easier.

I don't believe that you do. Even if you do, at most there will be one question. Your time would be better spent working on something else.