Best courses to brush up one or learn before college?

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As you may know, I am a senior in HS and would love to be well prepared for college. Knowing that I will have to take the basic pre requisites for medical school, what subjects do you think will be in my best interest to touch upon before entering into the courses once in college?

Basic overview of courses I have taken/etc.:

Chemistry background:
I have taken Chemistry Honors at my school and got a mere 680 on the subject test due to the fact that my school's honor class doesn't teach a whole lot. Without studying a little more I would have gotten much lower. (I may review more concepts on www.khanacademy.org if it's the best option in preparation for college).

Biology background:
I took Biology in 10th grade and am currently enrolled in Biology AP so my knowledge may be quite recent and I will brush up and review later on for the Advanced placement test.

Physics:
I am currently taking physics and I think physics is slightly harder for me and since I am in a normal class we likely do not cover some topics and do a good job of it.

Calculus:
I have taken Calculus AB last year scoring a 5 on the Advanced placement test. This year I will be self studying for the Calculus BC exam and refreshing my calculus knowledge with Princeton.

English:
I have taken English (obvious) + will be self-studying AP Language so I will get more exposed to literary terms and become a better writer. I am also making a lot more effort to read more books.

Organic Chemistry:
The only prior knowledge I have is what I took away from my Chemistry honors course which is using the IUPAC (or something like that) naming standards, the methane, ethane, propane, butane, pentane stuff, naming some compounds like carboxylic acids, alcohols, ketones, etc. (most of which I don't remember anymore)

Originally Posted by indianjatt

As you may know, I am a senior in HS and would love to be well prepared for college. Knowing that I will have to take the basic pre requisites for medical school, what subjects do you think will be in my best interest to touch upon before entering into the courses once in college?

Its been a few years since I was where you are, but I'll try to help...

Originally Posted by indianjatt

Basic overview of courses I have taken/etc.:

Chemistry background:
I have taken Chemistry Honors at my school and got a mere 680 on the subject test due to the fact that my school's honor class doesn't teach a whole lot. Without studying a little more I would have gotten much lower. (I may review more concepts on www.khanacademy.org if it's the best option in preparation for college).

If you did OK in honors Chem, I think you'll be fine starting with g-chem in college. That's not to say that it won't take some effort, but the concepts should not be too foreign. I would stress, as I will again later, the importance of understanding chemistry as it is 1/2 of the numerical MCAT score.

Originally Posted by indianjatt

Biology background:
I took Biology in 10th grade and am currently enrolled in Biology AP so my knowledge may be quite recent and I will brush up and review later on for the Advanced placement test.

I may get lynched for saying this, but, in terms of getting into medical school, biology is just not that important. You take a year of intro bio, which should be a cake walk after AP Bio, and you're good to go for the MCAT. Now, this isn't to say that taking other biology (cell bio, micro, and so on) won't help you once you get into med school. I'm merely stating the getting in aspect.

Originally Posted by indianjatt

Physics:
I am currently taking physics and I think physics is slightly harder for me and since I am in a normal class we likely do not cover some topics and do a good job of it.

Physics seems to be the area that lots of med students had trouble with. Make sure you have a good understanding of intro college physics for the MCAT. That being said, the rest of my thinking here goes better right below this.

Originally Posted by indianjatt

Calculus:
I have taken Calculus AB last year scoring a 5 on the Advanced placement test. This year I will be self studying for the Calculus BC exam and refreshing my calculus knowledge with Princeton.

This is great news. From my classmates, I've noticed that math (and calculus specifically) gave them the most trouble in undergrad. You obviously have talent in math which will serve you very well both in general and in physics.

English:
I have taken English (obvious) + will be self-studying AP Language so I will get more exposed to literary terms and become a better writer. I am also making a lot more effort to read more books.

Organic Chemistry:
The only prior knowledge I have is what I took away from my Chemistry honors course which is using the IUPAC (or something like that) naming standards, the methane, ethane, propane, butane, pentane stuff, naming some compounds like carboxylic acids, alcohols, ketones, etc. (most of which I don't remember anymore)[/QUOTE]

I think reading is the best way to become a strong writer. This is not meant to downplay the important of any writing program your college may offer, but merely to suggest that a good background will make it easier to pick up some of the more advanced topics.

Don't worry about organic, everyone starts off pretty much the same there. Just be prepared to put in some good effort for this as well.

Take everything I've said with a grain of salt, as each person has a different experience.

Enjoy the end of High School and the summer before college! Forget learning anything, you can learn in when you get there.
Spend time with those friends you will never see again! if you don't, you will regret it I promise ()

Originally Posted by Tatertots

Enjoy the end of High School and the summer before college! Forget learning anything, you can learn in when you get there.
Spend time with those friends you will never see again! if you don't, you will regret it I promise ()

This. 100% truth . You'll have ample time to relearn all that gen crap anyway in college. You'll be surprised how much downtime you'll have unless you're a gunner and have no life outside of studying.

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Hi i always stand first in my class. I would like to ask is this enough to get in to college. I am a student who regularly attends classes in school as well as I go through online lessons. For maths i go through online lessons (www.youtube.com/user/GuruBix?ob=0&feature=results_main). For english -my mom is an english lecturer and she teaches me english very well. For Science( Biology and Physics) my neighbor is a doctor when ever i get doubts in science she clears my doubts.Remaining subjects i will cover up myself. I feel that Maths, Science(Physics & Biology), English are major subjects. With the support of online maths lessons, My neighbor and mom i am able to score good marks in them. Is this enough to get in to college? Or shall i need to attend tutorials outside. My classmates would like to attend tutorial from this academic year starting from June. Do i need to join them for tutorials or is it ok if have enough guidance for reading the subjects.

Take the BC exam, get out of taking math in college. For chemistry you sound prepared, and for biology if you do well in the Ap class you should be ready. However don't bother with taking the AP exam as many medical schools don't accept AP credit for sciences and it will be better to take them over again and receive A's.

I recommend shadowing a few physicians and doing some volunteer work. If you haven't done this yet, it's a great way to make sure you really want to become a Physician. It would be a shame if you worked three years into the sciences and decided becoming a doctor isn't right for you.

Originally Posted by indianjatt

As you may know, I am a senior in HS and would love to be well prepared for college. Knowing that I will have to take the basic pre requisites for medical school, what subjects do you think will be in my best interest to touch upon before entering into the courses once in college?

Basic overview of courses I have taken/etc.:

Chemistry background:

Reviwew

Biology background:

Look over your notes a few weeks before you take your first bio class

Physics:

Try to learn as much as you can. It'll be handy later on.

Calculus:

Good. No review needed.

English:

Read good lit over the summer and try to find new experiences that will help you grow as a person.

Organic Chemistry:

You won't be taking this until sophomore year, so don't worry about it

My responses are in bold