Course most useful for MCATs

<p>Which would you say is useful for MCATs and which are of lesser importance? Which should we spend more time studying? (please add classes that you feel are important but are not mentioned on this list) Thanks.</p>

<p>General Chemistry I
General Chemistry II
Organic Chemistry I
Organic Chemistry II
Biology I
Biology II
Biology III Organismal Biology
Cell Biology and Physiology
Mammalian Physiology
Microbiology
Genetics
Biochemistry I
Biochemistry II
Biochemistry III
Human Anatomy and Physiology I
Human Anatomy and Physiology II
Physics I
Physics II
Physics III
Calculus I
Calculus II
Calculus III Multivariable Calculus</p>

<p>1.) Calc is not on the MCATs. Not even on physics.</p>

<p>2.) Physics III -- what on earth? Is that quantized optics? That's certainly not on there at all.</p>

<p>3.) Biochem makes no appearances, though I can imagine you'd pick up useful bits and pieces here and there.</p>

<p>4.) The MCAT is much less a content test, though you certainly need to know it, than a critical thinking test. Much of the content you need is actually given to you in the passages.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>a.) By raw percentages, there are three sections. Physics and genchem are each half a section; "biology" is 2/3 of a section, organic chemistry is one-third a section.</p></li>
<li><p>b.) Of orgo, only the beginning (nomenclature, stereochemistry) and the end (carboxylic acid reactions) are horribly useful, though IR/NMR show up for a question or two.</p></li>
<li><p>c.) Of biology, the most important courses are NOT the introductory courses. Those should be skipped if at all possible (esp. if they're poorly curved). Anything with the word physiology in it is very useful. Anatomy is not, but it's very useful for medical school. Cell biology is a big deal. Genetics and microbiology make cameo appearances.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>6.) English gets its own section.</p>

<p>7.) English is also the most important skill on the other two sections.</p>

<p>8.) So English, English, English.</p>

<p>9.) Reading. Literature. Critical reading skills, as involved in writing.</p>

<p>10.) The writing section is the only section that's ever been shown to predict your third/fourth year rotation grades, and those are the only grades that matter. It doesn't matter for admissions, but it should tell you something that it's more important than the other three put together.</p>

<p>11.) So, writing. And English.</p>

<p>hmmm, is there enough genetics and microbiology to warrant two more semesters for those classes? Biology is the one thing i'm not so good at. I don't know where people get the idea that biology is easy and everything else is hard. I find inorganic and organic chemistry easy along with physics and calculus. But biology is a bunch of seemly random stuff that doesn't make sense. I mean it's like, molecules magically arrange in the krebs cycle? or was it the calvin? anyways it's things like those that won't make sense to me unless its mechanisms are explained through chemistry or physics or something like that.</p>

<p>Is it a really bad idea to take the MCAT after only taking intro bio and orgo rather than waiting to take more advanced bio courses?</p>

<p>There is no bio class that's worth taking just for the MCAT (outside of intro bio). Physiology might be of importance but I took the MCAT w/o any anatomy/physiology and did just fine.</p>

<p>If I remember correctly, you scored very very well on the MCAT. May I ask how much biology you took before the test?</p>

<p>Intro bio, evolutionary bio, and 1 sem of biochem. I took the test after my sophomore year.</p>

<p>Was evolutionary and biochem of any use, or was it just intro?</p>

<p>On the other hand, I found Genetics/Cell Biology and Animal Physiology very useful. Maybe I could've learned it without the courses.</p>

<p>There's usually very little evol. bio on the MCAT and the biochem course I took (the first semester of two) only covered half of all biochem topics so they weren't of any use. There was a lot of microbio on my form but I don't think that's typical for a MCAT.</p>

<p>another thread that will have to wait until I'm more coherent...</p>

<p>did you self study for the microbio part since you didn't take a course? Did you take an MCAT prep course? The thing is, I can't afford something like an MCAT prep course (it costs more than my college tuition) so would simply buying some kind of study guide suffice? Also would it be a good idea to take the MCATs after sopomore year so if I screw up at least I can retake it after my junior year?</p>

<p>i think people take the MCAT course mostly for the structure it provides. However, if you are disciplined enough, I'm sure you can pull it off without the course.</p>

<p>Hrm I wish this thread would have been discussed more especially on the merits of taking an upper-division bio course like cell bio for MCAT prep vs registering for classes where the professors never curve, bump your semester grade, => GPA killer</p>

<p>Is genetics/other upper-level bio worth the risk of getting a low grade rather than taking intro bio and having a much better shot at an A? B.c I scored a 5 on the AP bio 3 years ago and my medical schools accept it; they just want a bio college class whether it's intro or upper-division.</p>