Chem 353 at U OF C on the mcat

[miked1672]

Hello everyone,

I was just wondering if anyone did their undergrad at u of c and took chem 353. It's not a required course but I hear the material pops up on the mcat. Was it worth taking?? I personally hate chem I just find it very boring for some reason and I hear 353 is much harder than 351. Just wondering if anyone didn't take it and how they managed.

Thanks for any help

[mTOR]

Hey there. I took the MCAT this summer and I can assure you that you will be doing yourself a huge favor by taking Chem 353. My MCAT exam had a lot of organic chemistry on it and the knowledge of chem 353 definitely helped me.  I know CHEM 353 can be hard but taking it is totally worth it.

[Bcemslayer]

Yeah I took CHEM353 as well, and it was very helpful. Having a solid understanding of organic chemistry can be nothing but helpful. Will it make a huge difference on your score to have good raw knowledge on the subject? maybe. 
Also, there are practice tests all the way back to 1993 for the ochem courses, there is no reason not to do well in the course. They always repeat questions. 

[Ghostpilots]

Something I see pop up occasionally, but never answered, is the applicability of ochem I and II vs taking just ochem I. Those that have written the MCAT before, is the material covered in the test ochem II specific, or is a foundational understanding from ochem I generally enough?

[adhominem]

17 hours ago, Ghostpilots said:

Something I see pop up occasionally, but never answered, is the applicability of ochem I and II vs taking just ochem I. Those that have written the MCAT before, is the material covered in the test ochem II specific, or is a foundational understanding from ochem I generally enough?

353 builds on 351. You need to learn some of the 353 material because it is tested on the MCAT. 351 is helpful, but not enough.

[Ghostpilots]

On 2/6/2019 at 11:49 AM, adhominem said:

353 builds on 351. You need to learn some of the 353 material because it is tested on the MCAT. 351 is helpful, but not enough.

Without trying to get too clever with planning it, would you say there's benefit of taking both ochem I and II in addition to mcat studying vs taking ochem I for a foundational understanding, then studying to the mcat ochem II requirements later? Just thinking the GPA hit from ochem II might negate any real knowledge benefit, versus taking a lighter course, and keeping the GPA up.

My post secondary only has ochem I as a prereq to biochem, so if I can avoid ochem II, I will

[birdy21]

I honestly disagree with most of the comments here, CHEM 353 is a tough course and I feel it only marginally helped me on the MCAT. The test, in my opinion, is much more bchem heavy than it is ochem. I felt like most of the ochem material I could have just learned on my own while studying for the MCAT, instead of torturing myself by actually taking the courses. If you do not love chemistry I would not recommend risking the hit to your GPA.

[jp123]

On 2/12/2019 at 5:52 PM, psychsohard said:

I honestly disagree with most of the comments here, CHEM 353 is a tough course and I feel it only marginally helped me on the MCAT. The test, in my opinion, is much more bchem heavy than it is ochem. I felt like most of the ochem material I could have just learned on my own while studying for the MCAT, instead of torturing myself by actually taking the courses. If you do not love chemistry I would not recommend risking the hit to your GPA.

I agree with this. I only took OCHEM 1 and I think there was only one thing  that was in my prep material i didn't understand. Chem was also my best section on my MCAT