Starting to think Berkeley's Orgo Books are overdone

[Fortify]

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Comparing my BR Orgo books to the EK Orgo books, I've noticed one trend - BR likes to include way more detail. And this is fine in and of itself.. except..

BR Orgo books have topics not on the MCAT. Alkene reactions like electrophilic addition, and certain reactions like elimination are not at all in the EK books, and in fact aren't even on the AAMC list of Organic Chem Topics on the MCAT, and yet Berkeley feels compelled to include this..

Can someone help me understand why? There has to be a logical reason

 

[CodeBlu]

EK Orgo... FTW

EK tells you about elimination, but you don't need to know the crux of elimination like you need to know substitution reactions.

That being said, I did supplement EK orgo with TPR bio/orgo book. But I found EK orgo to be awesome.

 

[Pre-Med Village]

I think you really do want the detail for organic, but the more brief conceptual summary of EK can also be useful. If learning the organic were like studying a city, think you should think of EK for seeing the city from the highest building and TBR for learning the street level detail. It's good to have a representation of the material that you can cycle quickly through, and it's good to have a representation that is more detailed and immersive.

As far as the reactions, specifically electrophilic addition, not on the AAMC list these days, those reactions used to be on the MCAT, so it's probably a bit of inertia in their editioning. There may be a bit of stubborness or disbelief that AAMC really means it. It's easy for lovers of organic and biochemistry to identify.

I think AAMC just decided that the complexities of electrophilic addition, as well as the electrophilic aromatic substitution, have too much nit picky detail and represent too great a portion of time in MCAT preparation. In the sense that MCAT prep gives you the opportunity to review your undergraduate coursework and get your knowledge base solid before medical school, I'd take a few minutes to browse them but I'm nuts.

I would probably assume they're just slow in re-editioning there. I would not let that erode faith in TBR or their approach to organic. If you are pressed for time, just skip those sections. There is no perfect MCAT prep in materials or method, so I suggest having both systems that you benefit from the strengths of both TBR and EK because the strengths of either can make up for the weaknesses of the other.

 

[Flamen04]

EK Orgo is definitely all you need to know. Sure, TBR is great and explains things really well. However, it IS too verbose and you most likely won't retain all the information you read in it.

 

[IncognitoGuy]

I find TBR to be REALLY, really good for passages - especially for ones that tend to get a bit complex or out of your comfort zone. Think of it as a perfect place to practice not panicking and getting your bearings when you have no idea what the junk is going on. And IMO, it's not just the Orgo - I see the trend in all of the TBR books.

For me, my scores in TBR are all over the place - one section I'll get 5/7 on a passage, 2/7 on the next then a perfect on the next one. Hopefully I'm slowly but surely gaining an instinct for those kinds of passages, and with time you will too 🙂

I do like EK because they get straight to the point, and in comparison to TBR are much, much more readable. But both have their strengths and weaknesses, so the rest is really on the student to nail it down.