<p>How are you supposed to remember and still have a solid understanding of chem, bio, and physics by spring of your junior year? I mean when you are taking the class, you spend hours trying to learn the material and understand it but the following year, even if you had an A in the class, you will not remember half the stuff. I took bio last year and I can't remember photosynthesis, krebs cycle, etc.</p>
<p>Well, you'll have about two months of reviewing to help you fill in the things you've forgotten. If you understood the Kreb's Cycle the first time around, you should still remember the basics and reviewing will bring it all back.</p>
<p>If you'll have your reqs done after your first two years, why not just take it the summer before your junior year?</p>
<p>So would it be a good idea if i re-read the bio textbook again or just wait since I wont be taking the MCAT for atleast 2 years? Also, I haven't taken AP Chem so should I just self-study that in preparation for the MCAT?</p>
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So would it be a good idea if i re-read the bio textbook again or just wait since I wont be taking the MCAT for atleast 2 years?
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<p>So you're going to spend two years just reading and re-reading the bio textbook? What a giant waste of time.</p>
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Also, I haven't taken AP Chem so should I just self-study that in preparation for the MCAT?
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<p>No, you should take college-level general/inorganic chemistry and college-level organic chemistry in preparation for the MCAT. If you want to take AP Chem, that's great, but don't delude yourself into thinking that it'll be of much help on the MCAT. (I say this as one of the best AP Chem students in my high school class and as a college chemistry major. So take my advice, please.)</p>
<p>Go outside, frolic, run around! Get into college. You already sound like one of those hyper-neurotic-clueless premeds that frequent these online forums. Your goal now should be prepping yourself to do well in college. not hyperventilating about the MCAT. The MCAT is still a long way off.</p>
<p>You'll spend time reviewing the material for a couple months before test day. You'll be fine.</p>
<p>shades_children: so do you suggest everyone to start from gen chem at college no matter how strong Chemistry courses one takes in HS? I mean is it worth taking Gen Chem if u take quite strong chem courses through HS (I go to one of the most elite HS. so, I think I'll end up w/ courses like Organic Chem or Enivoronmental Chemistry in my senior year..as a junior I'm taking CH305....Chemistry by INquiry....it's just a bit lower than AP Chem....I just felt like not taking AP test at all..since I'll have to take two more Trimesters of AP CHem (almost same stuff) for AP Test) </p>
<p>What kind of courses will help me to get a head start for undergrad Premed/bio major: Advanced Biology Courses or Advanced Chemistry courses? (for Bio...I can take Molecular Genetics, Classical Genetics, Evolution, Ecology, Aquatic Ecology, Research in Biology, Anat and Physiology, Immunology, etc.)</p>
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so do you suggest everyone to start from gen chem at college no matter how strong Chemistry courses one takes in HS? I mean is it worth taking Gen Chem if u take quite strong chem courses through HS
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<p>I went to the #1 or #2 public high school in my state. (We were always duking it out with another school across the state for the title of best public high school.) I took both AP and IB Chemistry in high school, and I went on to take Honors General Chemistry as a college freshman. If you believe your chemistry background is that strong, then I strongly suggest you take the Honors section of General Chemistry at your college.</p>
<p>There are a couple of key things about taking General Chemistry. The first is that college expectations and standards are generally a lot higher than any good high school. Taking General Chemistry again gives you some time to adjust to what's now expected of you. In addition, my General Chemistry class covered some topics like basic quantum mechanics and more complicated equilibriums than I learned about in AP or IB Chem. If I had skipped out of those, I think P-chem and Orgo would've been more difficult because I was lacking that background knowledge.</p>
<p>Finally, if you're still in doubt about what to take, ask the chemistry department. There should be some sort of advisor who can tell you what level course you should fit into.</p>
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What kind of courses will help me to get a head start for undergrad Premed/bio major: Advanced Biology Courses or Advanced Chemistry courses?
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<p>Er, well, courses that relate to humans would be best. So Ecology and Aquatic Ecology wouldn't be too helpful, though they do sound interesting. Advanced chemistry courses usually don't have direct relationships to human health and function until you get to the really advanced stuff like biochemistry.</p>
<p>A lot of people seem to think their high schools are "elite." As a general rule, the only public schools which qualify are high-powered magnet programs in the Northeast (i.e. Stuy, Blair, or Bronx). Private schools, of course, are a whole different story -- Andover, Exeter, St. Mark's, etc.</p>
<p>shades_children: thanks a lot for your resourceful advice. I really appreciate it. </p>
<p>Bluedevilmike: for your information, I attend "North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics" (<a href="http://www.ncssm.edu)%5B/url%5D">www.ncssm.edu)</a>. As the name says it all, it's a residential public high school which is totally funded by state. </p>
<p>If you have doubts about the "elite"ness of the school, you check out the school websites or the national consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology (which was in fact started w/ the intiation of NCSSM) at National</a> Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology.</p>
<p>I'm familiar with NCSSM. While it's an excellent school, it's not the sort of place that will turn intro courses into a waste of time.</p>
<p>Wait....so are you suggesting that I should not try to re-learn bio and teach myself AP Chem? I say that because senior year is really easy for me, the only hard classes being AP Physics AP Calc and AP Econ. I am just trying to develop good study habits that will help me out later on. On the same token, should I, instead of reading campbell's biology textbook and learning chem, devote more time into reading Harper's, New Yorker, Atlantic, and just novels in general?</p>
<p>I mean, I'm no MCAT expert, but maybe you should like go out and have fun?</p>
<p>I'm not sure what's so hard to understand: STOP THINKING ABOUT THE MCAT IN HIGH SCHOOL.</p>
<p>The MCAT does not test much knowledge. Anything you forget by the time you start studying for it (which should be weeks before the test, not years) can be refreshed in a matter of weeks.</p>
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<p>Your sn suggests you probably know abt ncssm. (am I right? :D) </p>
<p>well, the fact is that AP Chemistry will repeat the same stuffs just with a few additions from CH305. More over, I need to fulfill my Physics and Bio requirements by next five trimesters. If I take AP Chem, I will not have time to take other "interesting" courses....like Hi-Speed Imaging, or ASTROPHYSICS, Digital Music Production or Mentorship (at Duke usu), etc. I think I'll take Organic Chemistry in my senior year which will be one trimester only. So, yeah, pretty much I'm abandoning from taking AP Chem for sake of taking diverse classes (not for college, just for my sake)</p>
<p>Calccobra is the first person in the history of the MCAT who will have forgotten one iota of knowledge from their pre-req classes. Seriously, why do you think it's so hard to get into medical school? Duh. Because all the successful applicants never forget ANYTHING, EVER. And all that money spent on Kaplan and TPR...in all actuality, the instructors walk in the first day and go "well no one forgot anything from the first day of general chemistry or anything else, did they? You know that day where you were a freshman and were more nervous about making sure you were in the right place than whatever the hell the professor was talking about?" And if someone raises they're hand and says "I forgot about VESPR theory", the instructor replies with "Well, I guessed your ****ed! Time to start thinking about law school! Oh and thanks for paying $1500 so that I can get paid $17/hour sit on my rear, hungover, while you take practice tests!"</p>
<p>In all honesty, why I am worrying about the MCAT to such an extent is I am not a good standardized test taker, period. It took me 6-7 tries to score in the 99th percentile on the ACT and 3 tries to score in the 97th percentile on the SAT. </p>
<p>While it is true that most people study at most 1 month for the SAT, I know for a fact that had I not become familiar with the SAT and start taking practice tests as a freshmen, I would have been stuck with a 1200 M+V. Through tons of practice, practice, and getting my hands on all of the question and answer services was I able to maximize my score. In the end, my CR score was still very bad- 650, despite all the efforts to improve it.</p>
<p>My point is that given that MCAT is a standardized test as is the SAT, if I don't start studying for it well ahead of time, I will score very low, as happened with the SAT initially. That is all.</p>
<p>If that's the case, then why even bother at all coming here and asking the question? </p>
<p>At this point your attitude can only end up as a self-fulfilling prophecy. You'll either sit here and start to study for a test that you may or may not take in 3.5 years. If you take it and get a decent score, then you'll believe it's because you studied as long as you did. If you don't get a good score, you'll believe that it's because you are an awful standardized test taker and you should have been studying for the MCAT since the 8th grade.</p>
<p>Your other option is that you won't start studying now, you'll be "normal" and wait until you're within a couple of months of taking the test to begin preparation. At that point, you'll get a horrible score and say "SEE!". I don't predict that you'll actually get a very good score if you wait to start your studying because you'll have a complete mental block and when test day rolls around it will be so ingrained in your head that you didn't prepare enough, that you are awful at taking tests and you'll psyche yourself out of any chance that you ever had of performing well. </p>
<p>One final note. Remember that the USMLE is a standardized test too...you might want to get started on that too while you're at it.</p>
<p>I guess I will adhere to the common consensus and wait till junior year and hope it all turns out well.</p>
<p>sleep more. maybe your memory will be better</p>