Final Semester Pre-MCAT Course Choices

[mkirk3]

I know there are a lot of posts already about this subject, but in this case my circumstances are specific.
I plan to take the MCAT after the upcoming spring semester (i.e. in May/June 2017). At that point, I will have finished my junior year.

After this semester I will have taken:
Gen Bio, Cell Bio, Microbio, A & P 1
Gen Chem 1 & 2, Organic 1 & 2
Gen Psych, Intro Sociology

I have been instructed by our pre-med advisor to continue as expected into A&P 2 and Biochem, as well as to take Genetics. I am planning to take a minimum number of hours in order to study.

My question, though, is this: Should I take a psychology or two (Developmental and/or Abnormal) rather than A&P 2, since anatomy is not technically tested, whereas psychology is more so? Additionally, I think this might lighten my load and allow me more time and energy to put toward the MCAT.

Biochem, Genetics and A&P 2
OR
Biochem, Genetics, and Developmental/Abnormal Psych
?

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[theonlytycrane]

The psych you need for the MCAT is likely not covered really by developmental / abnormal psych. A&P2 would probably help, but will likely be overkill for the MCAT content as well. So probably just go with whatever you like more or what will be lighter to give you more time for MCAT studying.

 

[NextStepTutor_3]

I don't think you can go wrong either way - neither option (developmental/abnormal psych or A&P2) is likely to provide you with much MCAT content understanding, since all three of these courses are outside the scope of the material that's typically tested. I'd probably lean toward the psychology option for two reasons:

1) Like you said, taking psych instead of A&P will lighten your load. This is a huge benefit - a couple extra hours each week to work through and carefully review practice passages will be more valuable than anything these classes are likely to provide.

2) I'm always open to the input of others on this, but from my experience, the psych section is much more "random" than the other MCAT science sections. It's very typical to encounter 3-4 questions per section that are entirely based on fairly or very obscure concepts or tiny details. This isn't nearly as true of the bio/biochem section. So in theory, taking any psych class increases your chances of getting these unpredictable "random" questions correct, although it would only ever make a difference of a point or two.

That being said, the college course that helped me most for my own MCAT was anatomy & physiology (1, not 2). This had almost nothing to do with the course material - like others have said, the MCAT is very much NOT an anatomy test. But the professor was fantastic and asked very tough, multi-step reasoning questions that made the MCAT less intimidating. So if you have any information about the professors for these courses, or about the kind of thinking required, that can also help you make your decision.

Good luck