Should I learn Greek?

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Seems like most of these bio terms are written in Greek. Should I study basic Greek to prepare for the mcat?

Was it not part of the basic pre-med sequence at your school...? I know all the adcoms I've spoken with want to see that you've taken at least a year of Greek, preferably two. I'm not sure how you would even attempt the MCAT without that under your belt, to be honest...

Originally Posted by bananaz

Was it not part of the basic pre-med sequence at your school...? I know all the adcoms I've spoken with want to see that you've taken at least a year of Greek, preferably two. I'm not sure how you would even attempt the MCAT without that under your belt, to be honest...

Plus at least a year of Latin.

To be less of a jerk: if you have a language requirement for your degree, there are easier ways to go. If you've got an interest, it's true that a bit of Latin and a bit of Greek can be helpful come med school; but to my mind it's not enough of a help to be enough of a reason on its own.

Also, I took intro Latin, and I swear the Latin roots I know that help me with medical terminology came not from Wheelock but from a solid background in English.

Originally Posted by davcro

Seems like most of these bio terms are written in Greek. Should I study basic Greek to prepare for the mcat?

Yes, and while you're at it, you might as well study quantum mechanics (for physics section), number theory (math is required!!)... etc

though a lot of biomedical terms do have latin/greek origins, there's so few you'll actually need to know that it'd be a tremendous waste of your time to study those languages. you'd be much better off putting that time into studying the hard sciences

Originally Posted by davcro

Seems like most of these bio terms are written in Greek. Should I study basic Greek to prepare for the mcat?

Actually, you could just get a DNP or become a pharmacist and practice medicine.

Originally Posted by railgun

Yes, and while you're at it, you might as well study quantum mechanics (for physics section), number theory (math is required!!)... etc

I highly recommend Number Theory and Numerical Analysis in Greek.

Numbers are arabic, so we should learn Arabic, too.

OH GOD. How am I going to pass the mcat with only...english!!

Originally Posted by chiddler

Numbers are arabic, so we should learn Arabic, too.

OH GOD. How am I going to pass the mcat with only...english!!

I hear the verbal section is in Japanese.

Originally Posted by HoltMD

I hear the verbal section is in Japanese.

actually what they do is they take the passages as they are in english, then they use google translate to translate the passage from english to french to spanish to to japanese then back to english and put it on the exam. I know this because I've tried this and the sentence that I get is more coherent than what they present on the exam

edit: also I hear abstract algebra helps on the math for the PS

Originally Posted by typicalindian

actually what they do is they take the passages as they are in english, then they use google translate to translate the passage from english to french to spanish to to japanese then back to english and put it on the exam. I know this because I've tried this and the sentence that I get is more coherent than what they present on the exam

edit: also I hear abstract algebra helps on the math for the PS

That's pretty funny!!!

Yup, this is exactly why I decided to start studying for the MCAT at least 2 years in advance-freshman spring break, actually.

I enrolled into all prep courses including the USMLE 1 Qbank, of course (just to get some practice w/ application-based questions)