<p>A lot of people say that upper levels aren't necessary, as the MCAT is a reasoning test and only "requires" basic biology, chemistry, and physics. But I talked to a friend who took the MCAT last year and she said that upper-level bio courses made the test noticeably easier. I, planning on being a non-science major, don't really know if I could fit upper-level bio courses other than biochem (and possibly one more, but that's a stretch) before the MCAT. How much of a disadvantage would I be in without taking classes like Genetics, Physiology, etc?</p>
<p>I think it depends on your test taking skill. However if I were you, I would at least take one or two additional bio classes just to be safe.</p>
<p>Somebody (on SDN) posted that, for the particular MCAT test DS happened to take, “he did not know a person needs to learn an alien’s (the alien is from an outer space?) language on the spot before he could understand the question.” So if you are good at picking up some seemingly gibberish language within a very short time during the MCAT test, you probably do not need to take additional bio classes. LOL.</p>
<p>I’m studying for the MCAT right now, and it’s all basics; a good prep book will include most of everything you’ll need to know. </p>
<p>I have noticed that my physio class has helped me understand specific topics like kidney function, hormones, etc. but you can easily make up for that by reading review chapters on those subjects.</p>
<p>You will only know after taking dignostic practice test, nobody else can tell you.
D. said that NONE of the required first Bio was on MCAT, only upper Bio. I imagine that it is different from UG to UG.</p>
<p>^yeah, depends on what your bio1/2 classes cover and what you consider upper level. For example brown a one semester basic bio class and then every other topic essentially has an intro and an advanced level to it (e.g. physio, immuno, genetics, cell bio all fall into this category). Obviously you don’t need any of the advanced topics classes for the MCAT, those are all classes that overlap with the grad school curriculum.</p>
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<p>This brings back an ACT I took last September. I remembered that on the Science section, the last 2 passages were Chemistry and Biology, in that order. The Chemistry was a real head-scratcher and ate up most of my remaining time. When I visited the discussion thread on CC, it turned out that those who previously took AP Chemistry breezed through while those that didn’t (including me) found it incredibly hard. The Biology section – same thing; I took AP Biology before and the passage contained an AP Biology topic, and I cruised through. Non-AP takers scratched their heads. Apparently, both sections had AP material on it, and the AP students’ prior knowledge of the topics helped them significantly.</p>
<p>Case in point, I better take a couple upper-levels.</p>