Will those be covered?

[euphaire]

Dear SDN members,

I desperately want to know if the following topics will be covered. I am of engineering background and still in school full time. Things are getting so crazy I'm losing a lot of sleep lately. I don't think I would have enough time to teach myself all the topics in my study notes. Therefore, here are some "strange" looking topics which I feel may not be on the exam "as much", but I can only guess...

Btw, by "strange", I mean they didn't show up on my Kaplan OAT practice tests.

1. Carbohydrates (structure, reaction, etc)
2. Nitrogen derivatives (azide, imine, enamine)
3. NMR details
4. Amino acid, proteins

Also, how do you guys prepare for this test? If you just look at the Physics section alone, there are a lot of equations for kinetics, forces, gravitational forces, etc etc. Not to mention there are a lot of equations in general chem as well. Are we expected to MEMORIZE all the equations? Would they be given...?

I've never taken the OAT and I'm very stressed right now. Thanks for your advice in advance!

Thank you,
Cherry

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[zxcutiemdr]

yes we are expected to know all the equations in all the subjects as well as the concepts behind them. you def need to know nmr..i had one question on my OAT and a few other people on the thread have had one as well.

know aa and proteins, pretty much everything about them. some may argue that you dont need to memorize all 20 but i found it helpful to go back and re-memorize the 20 of them. enamine you would need to know as I had an enamine structure on my oat..im not sure about the other N derivatives you mentioned. You may not necessarily need to know carb reactions but do know the structures good and like what monosacchs make up disacchs (glucose+glucose=maltose and glucose+galactose=lactose etc..) and that kind of stuff.

I didnt take a course. I used kaplans BIG OAT book and the small kaplan OAT book with 2 FL exams and I used OAT Achiever

no equations are given, the only things we are given on OAT are constants that we would've memorized already (like speed of light and some other dumb thing). i got 340TS and 330AA and i got a 380 in physics (im just putting this so you know my score because like idk seemed appropraite lol) good luck and if you arent ready its not that serious just postpone it and please dont lose sleep over it or stress, it is just a test. good luck again

 

[quackquack]

Yup know all equations... it comes in handy for questions that's asking how a variable would change if __ changes. I've done practice problems and sometimes they list some obscure/unknown equation that would be given (but usually has no relevance in the question, but just there as a distraction).

If you are really strapped for time, just known the main points. ie. NMR if you can't memorize any of the numbers, for sure know the ones for C=O, OH. I wouldn't memorize structures for amino acids at all. But know that they are categorized by their properties (hydrophobic, etc.) and maybe when they are charged and when they're not (ie. below pka for COOH it is +ve). For proteins, know 4/3/2/1 structures and a bit about them (bonds/interactions). Things like that. Hope this helps!

 

[physicslover]

I found that you didnt really need to know all the exact equations that were listed per say, rather to UNDERSTAND them, because the questions that are given are mainly concept, (although they are definitely calculations as well!) But in order to understand them, you need to memorize them anyway. I wouldn't stress out about memorizing them to the point where you keep writing them over and over till you get it..cause that's not going to help you much. If you understand the relationships expressed in the equation, that should be a good start.

 

[GreenPeas]

I felt exactly the same way you did when I first started studying for the OATs during this Summer, and really worried about knowing all the equations since my memory isn't that great. I used the ExamKracker books, and I felt the books helped me a lot in knowing the relationships of the equations for gen chem, physics, and the trends in ochem. And although at first it might seem to be a lot of memorizing, the more practice problems you do, and the more you understand the concepts that involve the equations, you will realize that it isn't that bad as long as you understand the concepts.
For carbohydrates know, the structure, i think I had 1 question on this. Know imine and enamine for nitrogen derivatives. I had 2 NMR questions, one C-NMR, and one H-NMR.