TPR Organic vs AAMC Organic

[immuno90]

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Hi all,

I have been trudging away with TPR's organic. While I seem to understand the concepts as they're presented in the book, when it comes down to doing the TPR practice tests and the hyperlearning practice questions, I fall flat on my face. However, on the AAMC tests I've been getting fairly close to full points on the organic questions as they seem a lot more straightforward and predictable (stereochemistry, predictable reactions, lab techniques etc.).For the TPR, it seems like every answer is the exception to the rule.

For those who've taken the real thing, how close is the organic on the AAMC practice tests to the real deal? My test is quickly approaching and I'm very concerned that this will seriously hurt my biology score. Is it true that the average organic component is ~20%?

Thanks for any input

 

[circulus vitios]

Bump, I would like to know this as well.

 

[PanRoasted]

One of the July administrations had 2 orgo passages.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using SDN Mobile

 

[ssandy23]

Hi all,

I have been trudging away with TPR's organic. While I seem to understand the concepts as they're presented in the book, when it comes down to doing the TPR practice tests and the hyperlearning practice questions, I fall flat on my face. However, on the AAMC tests I've been getting fairly close to full points on the organic questions as they seem a lot more straightforward and predictable (stereochemistry, predictable reactions, lab techniques etc.).For the TPR, it seems like every answer is the exception to the rule.

For those who've taken the real thing, how close is the organic on the AAMC practice tests to the real deal? My test is quickly approaching and I'm very concerned that this will seriously hurt my biology score. Is it true that the average organic component is ~20%?

Thanks for any input

I used TPR for my orgo review as well and I recently took the MCAT on June 21st.

I would say not to use the 20% estimate, I would actually even say that it ranges from 30-40% (40 at most, and most likely rare). I also had two passages for orgo on mine.

I think TPR was an okay source, I pretty much had the concepts from the book down cold, but also struggled on the practice material. However, I could use my reasoning to connect the materials from TPR to the AAMC exams, which I agree seemed to be relatively easier.

Personally I lucked out with Orgo, definitely my weak spot, for stereochem was a big topic on our exam. However, I would say try to master as much as you can from TPR hyperlearning and their practice material. My first attempt (last september) was VERY orgo dense and I definitely underestimated how hard it would be and my score reflected it. Don't let Orgo stop you from a good bio score, keep at it! However, if you're scoring well on the AAMCs it looks like you're heading in the right direction 🙂

 

[Anthrax]

I think you summed it up pretty well when you said that AAMC orgo is a bit more simpler (stereocentres, lab techniques, etc).

However, I still think TPR Orgo is good practice. I think they write their books so that all potential topics are covered and because of that it seems like they are giving you more info than you need. So I would still use it and take advantage of it. At the same time, if you don't do well in some of the passages or questions, don't take it to heart or get discouraged by it. Look at why you got it wrong and try to understand the reason behind it.

Also, another thing we hear about is the variability in the amount of orgo on the actual test.

Some say that they had a lot of orgo and some say that they had less orgo than practice AAMCs. So you never know if you will have more or less than normal. That's why I think it's better to have studied and prepared well for the worst case, which is more amount of and detail in orgo than usual.

Hope that helps. 🙂

 

[argama]

do you recommend TPR for brushing up on a few Organic concepts (content review) and then use the TBR passages + TPRH Science Workbook for practice?

There's a couple concepts I want to go over in Orgo (like Stereochem, Structure Elucidation, NMR, and Sn1/Sn2/E1/E2) but everytime I open the TBR book and start to skim it, it makes me not want to study xD

 

[immuno90]

Thanks so much for all your guys help!

My test is next Thursday (unfortunately) so I'll let you know how it goes.
Hopefully I remember something from organic...