a2sanche Posted February 22, 2011 Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 HI I was wondering if any of you has taken the mcat and could advise me if I really need to take the organic chemistry course to be prepared for the mcat, or if i could just take the mcat preparation courses and self-study with the book. I dont want to risk my gpa but also want to be prepared, so juts wondering how deep is the organic in the test.. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatonekid Posted February 22, 2011 Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 The orgo covered on the MCAT is pretty basic. The only thing is that it's a difficult concept for many students to grasp. I'd suggest you read the orgo section in a prep book and do some practice problems. If you understand the stuff and can answer the questions, then that's great. It not, you may want to consider taking an orgo course. I do know people who never too orgo in school and did fine on the BS section of the MCAT (10s and 11s). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerena Posted February 22, 2011 Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 I think the organic chem section on the MCAT is very tiny... In the biological sciences section it's about 30% of it, maybe 30-40%. The organic chem that they test you on is very basic. You mentioned taking the MCAT prep course? If you're going to do that, I think you should be fine. But then again it's really hard to know if you can do well in organic chem without first doing some practice. I mean, I'm saying that part of the test is easy (I wish it was more of the MCAT ) but then again, I'm an ochem TA! So, even though I think the MCAT ochem is fairly simple, it's one of those things that is hard for some and easy for others. And no one here knows your aptitude for it... I guess, in my case, I took the physical sciences section without taking physics in my undergrad! I studied physics soooo much last summer. I hated physics... so... much... But it ended up being my best section on the test. I studied my a$$ off though, and my bf tutored me (he's a genius at physics). So, I think it can be done in your case, but figure out where you are in terms of the ochem material before you commit to taking the exam. The MCAT is not really a test you want to write again, it sucks lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astrogirl Posted February 22, 2011 Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 Yes, the stuff on the MCAT is very basic. I never took it and I got an 11 on that section. But I did do a lot of studying on my own. However, if you're going to have to take organic chemistry anyway (because it is a pre-req for some schools), you might as well take it before you take the MCAT. And if you're worried about your gpa, you can always take it in the summer because a lot of schools don't count summer grades in your gpa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerena Posted February 22, 2011 Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 Yes, the stuff on the MCAT is very basic. I never took it and I got an 11 on that section. But I did do a lot of studying on my own. However, if you're going to have to take organic chemistry anyway (because it is a pre-req for some schools), you might as well take it before you take the MCAT. And if you're worried about your gpa, you can always take it in the summer because a lot of schools don't count summer grades in your gpa. I took ochem in the summer it is an awesome idea to do this. And at my school the summer ochem class usually has a much higher average than the fall semester class. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proton Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 My two cents here. It seems like a lot of posters can manage orgo. I'm horrible at it. I mean really, really bad at it. I took a full year of it and didn't really get it. Then I took the prep course - still didn't really get it. Did fine on BS (11) with I think one or two orgo passages but rewrote later for expiry reasons - restudied orgo - STILL didn't get it. It is just not my thing. However, the background I got from taking it in my normal academic year, the reinforcement of having to look at it all the time, even my study notes, charts etc - they came in handy for me. Try the practice passages and see what you think. The second time I wrote, even though there were fewer passages for BS (the test was now computerized) I got THREE orgo passages. I was glad I had studied it so much before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Jan Intor Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 hey i was wondering if you guys could help me with this....is the mcat orgo mostly covered in orgo I classes? Basically, if i only take the first half of orgo in the summer, will it be sufficient to cover what I need to know for mcat orgo? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatonekid Posted February 23, 2011 Report Share Posted February 23, 2011 hey i was wondering if you guys could help me with this....is the mcat orgo mostly covered in orgo I classes? Basically, if i only take the first half of orgo in the summer, will it be sufficient to cover what I need to know for mcat orgo? Thanks Look at this document (start at page 13) https://www.aamc.org/students/download/85566/data/bstopics.pdf The compare it with the course description for your school's orgo classes and see what classes you need to take to cover all the material. Generally, the MCAT covers stuff in both halves of orgo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larrivee Posted February 24, 2011 Report Share Posted February 24, 2011 I don't think you don't need to take o-chem. They have fairly recently made the o-chem section of BS much smaller and placed more emphasis on genetics. And the o-chem that is on there is suuuper simple. The prep books will easily teach you what you need to know as long as you are diligent in studying them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slashsev01 Posted March 23, 2011 Report Share Posted March 23, 2011 orgo is nothing to worry about... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBoss Posted March 23, 2011 Report Share Posted March 23, 2011 As an anecdote, the o-chem on my MCAT was minimal (only a few questions related to o-chem). A couple of the questions were super simple, and a couple I guessed on. I don't think studying wouldn't helped much with those questions though, since there was too much going on so I just didn't think it was worth the time to try to figure it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehumanmacbook Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 As an anecdote, the o-chem on my MCAT was minimal (only a few questions related to o-chem). A couple of the questions were super simple, and a couple I guessed on. I don't think studying wouldn't helped much with those questions though, since there was too much going on so I just didn't think it was worth the time to try to figure it out. The Boss said it....like a BOSS. I'm sorry...I had to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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