New mcat and non-sci majors

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arianaarepa

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Hello hello, i'm new to sdn and have a quick question...
I'm currently on track to graduate in 3 years and my major will most likely be political economics...i have worked in the usual premeds into my plan but i am hearing that the new mcat requires biochem/psych/physio etc. Are the classes necessary for a good score? Thanks!

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Biochem, psychology, and sociology is new content being added to the MCAT,

You are technically only required to take whatever classes are required by each of the medical schools you apply to, which may or may not include the all of content covered on the MCAT.

But generally speaking, yeah it's going to be a good idea to take the class if you want to score well. People who try to self study without the coursework tend not to do as well based on what they post around here.

The only cases where it might be ok to skip it is if you've covered a significant amount of the content elsewhere.

For instance, I've taken coursework for all of the new MCAT content except sociology. One of my degrees is in pyschology, so one of my advanced courses there was social psychology. I've also taken cultural anthropology and criminology which cover aspects of sociology. Finally as a graduate student in public health, I've covered other related content and have a req. course called Fundamentals of Social and Behavioral Science. The AAMC has a content guide that shows what content areas are covered and looking at that shows I probably don't need to take sociology class given what I've covered elsewhere.

But generally speaking, yeah, take the class.
 
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Ok, and how vital is physio/anatomy (would love to take them but limited time (
 
Ok, and how vital is physio/anatomy (would love to take them but limited time (


per AMCAS the physio and anatomy you need should be covered under the other individual subjects like bio so you shouldn't NEED the class. However it seems like people here in the Nontrad forum have found it helpful. I'm just studying for the MCAT now and haven't taken it yet, so I'll let others weigh in on that more.
 
Ok, and how vital is physio/anatomy (would love to take them but limited time (
I can't speak to the new MCAT on this, but on the current one I only saw a handful of physiology questions and no anatomy questions, though the AAMC content review list has a fair bit.
I think it's possible to self study this, but (big caveat here) I say this as someone who had a fair bit of familiarity with anatomy/physiology beforehand. If it's all greek to you, then I would recommend a class. Most of the physio questions I saw between practice tests and the real thing dealt with hormones and/or regulatory mechanisms. So...for me this meant just brushing up on specific hormones and homeostasis regulation points. For someone who's never looked at any of that before though, it would probably be difficult to pick up on your own. Most people aren't very good at absorbing this kind of material just from reading about it.

Biochem you absolutely do need the class.
Psych/Soc...as @wholeheartedly said, it depends on how much exposure you've had in the course of your other classes. If none, then take a class. If some to lots, then I wouldn't worry so much about it.
 
Thanks for all the info everyonre :) how soon did you start mcat prep /how long to study usually
 
I did 5 months - 10 weeks of content review(covering everything in the AAMC lists), 1 week break, 10 weeks of practice tests (starting with 1 full timed section every other day, alternating with going over answers, moving up to FL timed 1-2x per week, reviewing answers on 'off' days), then the real thing.
You could condense this down to 3 months if you're not doing anything else, but I was working around a full class load so I stretched it out a bit.

Check out the MCAT forum, there's a lot of info on there and the ever popular SN2ed study schedule (3-4 months full time) is what I modeled mine on.
 
Yep, it's a marathon, so pace yourself.
Good luck.
 
You'll likely need to take Biochem I at a minimum for med school anyway to be able to apply. A lot of schools are making it a requirement now. I took Biochem I and II which seems to be recommended but not necessarily required.
 
This is very off-topic but I wonder if psychology and sociology will be included in BCPM calculations now that the MCAT is changing so drastically...
 
This is very off-topic but I wonder if psychology and sociology will be included in BCPM calculations now that the MCAT is changing so drastically...

Nah, they'll won't be BCPM anytime soon. AMCAS is just approaching admissions in a brand new approach. Certain psych and soc. classes can be BCPM. Any statistics that you take in either dept can count as MATH. Same goes for any neuro-related class from the psych dept which would be classified as BIO
 
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