hey im a sophomore in college majoring in biological sciences and was wondering was classes i should take. i dont know what order people usually take the pre-reqs in. i have already taken 1 year of general chem a semester of biology, and calculus. next fall i plan on taking english, physics, and zoology. should i take organic chemistry too? or can i wait my junior year and take it? will i have enough time to prepare myself for the organic chemistry portion on the OAT if i take it during the spring of my junior year?
what classes to take?
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ttran01 said:
hey,
It depends when you want to take your OAT and apply to Optometry school. I would try to complete as many pre reqs as possible before taking the OAT. Organic Chemistry is a big portion of the OAT so you should definitely take it and study it before the test. I took the OAT in February of my junior year so I took organic chemistry 1 the spring of my sophomore year and organic chemistry 2 the fall of my junior year.
Kevin
is the material from organic chem 2 on the OAT? because i know some optometry schools require only a semester of o-chem. also how difficult is zoology? how difficult is o-chem 1? are both those classes a lot of memorization? i want to be able to get good grades in them. thanks.
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ttran01 said:
if I remember correctly, there were some mechanisms that I learned in o-chem 2 that were on the OAT. Organic Chemistry isn't really about memorization. It is more about understanding the material and applying it. Which schools only require one semester of o-chem? All the schools I looked to apply to and applied to required 2 semesters. With a little studying, I'm sure you'll do fine in o-chem. Good Luck!
Kevin
southern california college of optometry, illinoise, ohio, texas....they require 1 semester or 2 quaters...im looking at this pre-reqs paper a college sent me and the only schools that i see that require 1 year or organic chem is berkeley, indiana, michigan, new york, and oregon.
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ttran01 said:
For my own experience, Pacific (Oregon) requires only one semester, but it should be the survey course as opposed to just the first semester course. I hate O. Chem and chose to apply to only those schools which required as little as possible! (Yes, this makes me lazy, but I REALLY hate O.Chem.) Pacific also "recommends" Biochemistry as well, which I took, and liked a hundred times better than O.Chem.
prettygreeneyes said:
so i was looking on oregon's website and yeah they want 1 year of organic chem or a survey of o-chem....whats the difference between these classes? yeah i heard o-chem is really hard. im still deciding if i should take it next fall while taking zoology and physics. or if i should take it my junior year. i just dont want to fall behind while taking my upper division.
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Organic as a two-semester course will go into more depth than a survey-type course. I'm not sure how taking one versus the other would affect your OAT performance, but no matter what you take, studying will be a key to success. As for the question of zoology - it's difficulty largely depends on what your school puts into its course description, the attitude of the prof, how much studying you do, etc. Ask students at your school how they feel about the zoology class. As for a year with zoology, physics, and o-chem - sounds rough, but do-able if those are your only three classes. I think many biology students take organic both semesters of sophomore year and then physics both semesters or junior year. Either way, if you take the OAT in winter or spring of your junior year, you'll be missing out on one semester of either organic or physics, and you just need to try and study ahead and do the best you can. If you're unsatisfied with your score, you can always take the OAT again in the fall semester of your senior year. Good luck!ttran01 said:
