What book is the best for MCAT Organic Chemistry?

[wahoo2010]

TBR, TPR, Kaplan, or EK?

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[ChubbyChaser]

I dont think there is much difference between any of them. Go with EK if you dont want to go into all the nitty gritty, TPR or TBR if you do, and kaplan is an intermediate i suppose

 

[Raindrop423]

If you really need help understanding orgo from the base up, I would go with Organic Chemistry as a Second Language I & II - I found them super helpful because I really just didn't get orgo the first time around. They take you through all of it starting with the completely basic stuff and working their way gradually up from there. Other than that I used a combination of TPR and EK.

 

[SpartanBlueJay2]

If you really need help understanding orgo from the base up, I would go with Organic Chemistry as a Second Language I & II - I found them super helpful because I really just didn't get orgo the first time around. They take you through all of it starting with the completely basic stuff and working their way gradually up from there. Other than that I used a combination of TPR and EK.

. I would have been lost without these books. I hadn't taken organic chemistry in about 5 years, and I don't think I had a very good understanding of it the first time around. I was using both Kaplan and EK, and was confused as heck about organic until I got the Second Language books. I highly recommend them as well.

 

[Corpus Callosum]

Organic Chemistry L. G. Wade, those other MCAT books are helpful but never enough, at least for me, I always had to go back to the test book, look up mechanisms, capitalize on the priciples, and do some relevant problems.
Wade's book is amazing.

 

[Cytotoxic]

Organic Chemistry L. G. Wade, those other MCAT books are helpful but never enough, at least for me, I always had to go back to the test book, look up mechanisms, capitalize on the priciples, and do some relevant problems.
Wade's book is amazing.

Wade is an excellent textbook, but I think reading textbooks to review material you should have already learned is a huge waste of time.

Klein's Orgo as a Second Language books are amazing, and I highly recommend them if you're having trouble with orgo. Klein explains the concepts very clearly, and gives you tons of practice problems. Neither of his two books covers spectroscopy, though, so I'd use Kaplan, EK, TBR, etc. for that.

 

[MooseKing]

i went through Schore's Organic Chemistry book and it is amazing. I had him as a teacher too. This book is easy on the eyes and explains things very well. also there are a lot of mcat questions/passages in it. Ochem really has become a "second language" to me after going through the book.

 

[ChePibe]

Taking into consideration the amount of Orgo showing upon the tests I would use the EK book as it is the most concise and effective way of reviewing the subject. I had Kaplan materials also but decided to stick to EK as I believed that most Orgo questions could be answered with knowledge of these 4 chapters.

 

[bunnylove]

I agree that the book Organic as a second language is great if you are having difficulty grasping the concepts. It also gives you some practice to see if you understand the mechs and reactions.

 

[FIREitUP]

Taking into consideration the amount of Orgo showing upon the tests I would use the EK book as it is the most concise and effective way of reviewing the subject. I had Kaplan materials also but decided to stick to EK as I believed that most Orgo questions could be answered with knowledge of these 4 chapters.

i have heard they are tuning down the amount of orgo on the MCAT, so I would have to agree.

 

[chad5871]

i have heard they are tuning down the amount of orgo on the MCAT, so I would have to agree.

My MCAT only had one organic passage and maybe two discretes. I wouldn't interpret that as indicative of a current trend, but it's possible that there won't be much organic.

 

[RoadRunner17]

I think you just need a good understanding of underlying concepts in Organic chem, recognizing trends and characteristics of mechanisms involving different functional groups. You don't have to spend the time to memorize obscure Organic Chem reactions, which is an inefficient use of your time considering that Organic Chem is 40% of the BS section... at best.

 

[Funky]

good thing there isnt much orgo on the mcat
or else i would have been screwed

 

[NewKidin2block]

Mine have 3 organic passages and 4-5 discrete.

My MCAT only had one organic passage and maybe two discretes. I wouldn't interpret that as indicative of a current trend, but it's possible that there won't be much organic.

 

[chad5871]

Yeah, like I said that was just my experience, and I'm sure it varies from test to test. I heard it was supposed to be 25% Organic and 75% Biology, which would mean 2-3 passages and 3-5 discretes on Organic.

 

[changarang]

i must chime in and agree that klein's orgo as a second language book is really good. i just read the first one, and plan on reading the second one too. he doesn't give you all the reactions, but he at least helps you organize them. he's also good about repeating general principles over and over again throughout the book so that you get a good handle on what drives these reactions.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

If you are looking for a reduced-size O Chem book with great integration of outside topics (biology mostly), there is a book by Oulette that is excellent. While it is not designed with the MCAT in mind, it is at the level of the MCAT and has a large number of great examples and applications. It's the best textbook for reviewing at the MCAT level.

For MCAT materials, I guess it's sort of obvious which one I'd say, so I'll respectfully decline to comment.

 

[jon stewart]

never taken a mcat, what are discretes? Are they the questions that are answered without refering to any of the passages? Just stand a lone questions?

 

[chad5871]

never taken a mcat, what are discretes? Are they the questions that are answered without refering to any of the passages? Just stand a lone questions?

Exactly. They're just stand-alones.