<p>aside from general bio, what are some highly suggested classes that people should take in preparation for the mcat?</p>
<p>no other classes are necessary. biochem and genetics may be helpful, but not by much</p>
<p>Physiology and (introductory) genetics are often recommended, I think. Some may recommend a few others (cell bio or biochem?), but I could not remember.</p>
<p>I heard that, on some MCAT bio tests, it is mostly the reading/reasoning that is challenging, not the depth of science knowledge. I once saw this kind of post on SDN: Right after the MCAT test, one test taker complained that he does not know he needs to be able to read “foreign language” in order to answer some of the questions – – even though the test is actually in English.</p>
<p>All you need for the MCAT is the pre-reqs (and not even all of them). I would at least have done the bio, chem and physics series before taking the MCAT. </p>
<p>But the test is less about knowledge than it is about reading comprehension and then putting things that you just read to use in the questions.</p>
<p>You might note, though, that MCAT “reading comprehension” and the reading comprehension you do in high school English classes and the ACT are really not even remotely the same thing. </p>
<p>If you want to get to know MCAT “reading comprehension” for bio, choose an article from a research or medical journal (immunology, genetics, and biochemistry were popular for the MCAT I took in May), extract about 600 words and some figures/diagrams. Then put together 7ish multiple choice questions that don’t ask you anything directly from the passage and instead require you to think as thoroughly as the initial researcher to answer, and answer those after only quickly reading through the passage once. Read, understand, and answer in about 8 minutes. Repeat 6 more times. Answer 13 challenging questions about anything biology related (from viruses to bacteria to plants to evolution to animals to humans etc) in about 12 minutes. Have 1 minute remaining to make sure you answered each question.</p>
<p>Multiply the complexity of what I just described by about 10, and you’ve just finished the bio section of the MCAT. </p>
<p>Welcome to the life of a premed.</p>
<p>But to answer your initial question: I felt prepared for the MCAT after (AP Bio), genetics, cell bio, animal physiology, biochemistry, and a Kaplan class.</p>
<p>According to my D., primarily Physiology and Genetics.</p>
<p>
I think only those who have been “tortured” by this kind of test could give a description of this “monster” test as truthfully as this :)</p>
<p>DS also took his MCAT test in May (pm of May 27. It was the last test that was scheduled in May.) Even though he got a very good grade for the biological section in the end, he said he had never taken such a hard test right after the test.</p>
<p>I guess one of the reasons he did well on this section is that his PI and post-doc in that year requested him to read many papers, often in short notice. The fact that many of his textbooks (like cell bio, immuno, etc.) are very dense (i.e., including well too much info on every page, encyclopedia-like) and hard to crack may be beneficial for his “preparation” as well. This is because he really did not devote much time in studying his Kaplan materials in the 3-4 months prior to the test date. (He did study it for two months about one year ago and then did not touch it for many months.)</p>