Guest mfp Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Hi Everyone- thanks for this great forum. I really appreciate all the advice and am quickly becoming a more regular contributor. I'm currently taking the introductory 0.5 credit Orgo at UofG (CHEM 2700). Is half a credit in orgo enough for the purpose of taking the MCAT? cheers- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 0T6 Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 If you follow this link: www.aamc.org/students/mca...mistry.pdf You'll find a list of all the 'testable' orgo on the MCAT. Go over it closely with your course syllabus and make sure you study whatever you won't be covering in course. What I've dound while doing practice exams in the past few weeks is that even if there's a particular functional group my orgo class has yet to cover upto this point, over a semester of orgo gives you the basic understanding to do pretty well on the orgo questions, but of course it doesn't hurt to know everything they can test you on Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mfp Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 OT6 - thanks, your advice is appreciated. cheers- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest byjude Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 My friend wrote the MCAT before taking orgo (and without studying it before the test) and she said there were only a few questions about it: a couple of nomenclature, two about reaction types (sn or e or whatever) and one about the expected product, so probably one semester of orgo would be enough preparation. But that was a few years ago; I've heard the MCAT has seen been changed, and now has even less orgo and more molecular. Is that true? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest klukyboy Posted March 4, 2004 Report Share Posted March 4, 2004 Almost. There's less orgo (no aromatics, alkenes, etc), but it was replaced with more genetics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 0T6 Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 It's too bad there's no more aromatic.. all that directing functional group stuff and electrophillic addition's not TOO hard. From the prep books I've read I've seen bio:o rgo ratios of about 60/40 but have also read that AAMC is gradually going towards 50/50 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steve U of T Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 Looking over the content list, I think I learned just about all of that in my first year orgo half course. I'm not exactly sure, because I did take another half course in 2nd year, and it's tough to distinguish when I learned each topic. I'm pretty sure most of that stuff is taught in first year, and you should certainly know all of it after a second half course. One half course is probably sufficient, especially if you pick up an MCAT prep book that will review exactly what you need to know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted March 5, 2004 Report Share Posted March 5, 2004 Hi there, My friend wrote the MCAT before taking orgo (and without studying it before the test) and she said there were only a few questions about it: a couple of nomenclature, two about reaction types (sn or e or whatever) and one about the expected product... Be careful. In previous MCAT exams, the proportion of organic chemistry to non-organic chemistry questions has varied widely. Each test day includes multiple iterations and combinations of exams. Therefore, two test-takers could write at the same location on the same day and one could receive a test half-filled with organic chemistry questions while the other would have a paucity. My advice would be to study conservatively, as though you may encounter a high proportion of organic chemistry questions on your test form. You may be better off knowing a bit too much than a bit too little. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Gedz1 Posted March 6, 2004 Report Share Posted March 6, 2004 Don't many Ontrio med schools require a full year of orgo as a pre-req anyways? gedz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest michca Posted March 6, 2004 Report Share Posted March 6, 2004 No, most Ontario schools do not require a full year of orgo. Western requires either a 1/2 year of orgo and 1/2 year of biochem, or 1 full year of orgo. The same now goes for Ottawa. Mac has no course requirements, and Toronto and Queen's do not specifically require a course in organic chemistry. Outside of Ontario is another matter... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest studentz Posted March 10, 2004 Report Share Posted March 10, 2004 Kirsteen made a few really great points. You are not even guaranteed to have the same version of the test as the person sitting next to you and content varies among the different series. If your class is like most orgo classes split in halves, then the first half won't be enough without supplementary notes. You probably won't cover carboxylic acids and their derivatives, alcohols, spectroscopy etc. and at least on my test last year, this is where the bulk of the material was. The Kaplan notes were good for orgo in my opinion so that may help. Just get the content list from AAMC and compare it to your syllabus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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