<p>When did you take the MCAT and what science courses/background knowledge did you have at that point?</p>
<p>Or when do you plan on taking the MCAT and what science courses do you think you'll have taken by then?</p>
<p>How long have you been studying or did you study specifically for MCAT?</p>
<p>Not necessary, but if you like, you school and score</p>
<p>the mcat consists of the following sections: writing, verbal, biological sciences (bio and orgo), & physical sciences (gen chem & physics). by the time you’ve taken the mcat in your jr year, u should have taken every course and be almost done physics or have completed physics at this point.</p>
<p>i was in an early pathway program so i only needed a 28 on the mcat and studied for 3 weeks to achieve that. physical sciences was the worst for me. i didn’t study a second for writing and got an R (scores range from J-T with T being the best).</p>
<p>what about biochem - does it help to have taken it before the mcat?</p>
<p>or should i take the mcat before i take biochemistry, see how i do, and take biochem based on whether or not i have a decent score or not</p>
<p>letsgo, when you take it depends on when you finish the pre-requisite courses; usually after sophomore or junior year (or somewhere in between).</p>
<p>Generally, you shouldn’t have to study for the MCAT for more than 2-3 months.</p>
<p>In my experience (I took biochem after taking the MCAT), biochem would not have helped me. Very little of it was relevant. It’s also important to note that the MCAT is more of a verbal comprehension and reading test than a science test.</p>
<p>I also suggest you read these threads in the pre med forum:
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/80275-mcats.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/80275-mcats.html</a>
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/214382-coursework.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/pre-med-topics/214382-coursework.html</a></p>
<p>goldshadow, i believe, is 100% right. i got striaght a’s in physics and always had no problem understanding the material. however, sorry if this is just me, but i have a lot of trouble reading 7 moronic passages that don’t seem cohesive what-so-ever (mostly in verbal, but some in the science sections) and then having 70 minutes total to extract the information necessary to answer 52 questions. take as many practice tests as you can, because if you aren’t prepared for the format of the test and only study sciences for 3 months, you will go in feeling like you accomplished nothing in that time period.</p>
<p>p.s. the above may not necessarily apply to you if u are wonderful at reading a passage once and getting everything necessary out of it. i, personally, need to re-read things a couple of times and found myself with 2 passages left and 10 minutes on the clock when i tested. it was brutal. also, a helpful place to learn about the mcat is the student doctor forum. just google mcat student doctor forum and you will be amazed.</p>
<p>
Yeah this is actually a great point. Take as many practice tests as possible. I would say that helped me more than anything else while studying for the MCAT.</p>
<p>thanks, people</p>
<p>It is interesting to learn that Verbal seems to be the hardest in MCAT. It appears that the SAT has the same trend. I have noticed the % of college freshmen making 700-800 in SAT reading and math per the following link. In most cases, the math is much higher than the reading. It implies that SAT Math is too easy compared to critical reading. Many high school students would tell you that SAT math is a joke. If you count the newer writing section, it is really like two hard Verbal sections against one easy Math section. Now, MACT does not even cover math. We all heard about the relative poor math ability of the US students compared to other nations. Is that really a surprise? For students wanting to get into elite college, Medical school, Law schools, Business School, etc., he or she really needs to prepare for the reading/verbal skills starting in middle school school. </p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://content.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges/pubcollege.php?sortby=INRANK&orderby=flip&states[]=ALL&myschool[]=none&outputby=table]Kiplinger.com[/url”>http://content.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges/pubcollege.php?sortby=INRANK&orderby=flip&states[]=ALL&myschool[]=none&outputby=table]Kiplinger.com[/url</a>]</p>
<p>All,</p>
<p>1) Would anyone care to comment on the correlation between the MCAT Verbal and SAT Critical Reading? </p>
<p>2) I heard that Economist and New Yew Yorker seemed to be two good magazines for HS and College students to read for the preparation of MCAT Verbal. I do not think that it would be too early for my HS junior boy. Are there other suggestions?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>1) It’s probably pretty strong, althoug imperfect because the MCAT focuses on the upper portion of that exam, where the SAT depends heavily on luck rather than actual test-taking ability.</p>
<p>2) That sounds fine. I think it’s a very good start.</p>
<p>bluedevilmike</p>
<p>Thanks for the note. Would you please elaborate a little more on “upper portion of that exam”?</p>
<p>Only students scoring at the highest percentiles of the SAT tend to take the MCAT.</p>
<p>The SAT is designed to give a very good “spread” around a score of M+V=1000. That is, the test is designed to make sure that a 1010 is really smarter than a 990. It’s not entirely successful there, but it’s MUCH better in that range. A 1580, by contrast, is about the same as a 1560. The test isn’t very good at separating students out at the highest (or lowest) ranges.</p>
<p>Because those students tend to be the only ones who take the MCAT, the correlation is tough to determine. It’s not because the skills are different – they’re mostly the same, just harder – but because of imprecision in the SAT itself.</p>
<p>bluedevilmike,</p>
<p>Thanks. It is very helpful.</p>