Possible to do well on MCAT without prereq's?

[esob]

I've not taken any prereqs but would be in my final semester of my B.A. if I applied with academic fresh start. I consider myself a fairly proficient standardized test taker (99 AFQT on the ASVAB, 32 on the ACT, 167 on the LSAT) and from my initial impression of the MCAT, it honestly seems like its mostly just a giant data dump. I'm not really seeing how burning through my prereqs would benefit me as much as 4 -5 months of just studying the MCAT material instead. Am I skewed in this thinking?

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[ZPakEffect]

Your initial impression of the MCAT is woefully inaccurate. I scored a 1510 on the SAT (99th percentile), 177 on the LSAT (99th percentile), and 39 on the MCAT (99th percentile). The MCAT is on par with the LSAT in terms of demand for reasoning and analytical skills. In addition to that, you have to know a large amount of scientific concepts, facts, and equations very well. Some of the biology experimental passages are as complicated as the logic games in the Analytical Reasoning section of the LSAT in terms of relationships between multiple entities. It is undoubtedly the most demanding of all the admissions tests.

If you have not taken the pre-reqs, it is unlikely you will have developed a sufficient amount of the intuitive, subconscious, heuristic, conceptual understanding of the scientific concepts that is required to do well on the MCAT in 4-5 months of studying.

 

[esob]

So Chem I/II and Bio I/II before taking the test?

 

[deleted407021]

So Chem I/II and Bio I/II before taking the test?

And physics I/II and a semester of biochemistry.

 

[BluMist]

Is there any particular reason why you are rushing to take the MCAT?
People have self-studied and done well (more commonly for the psych section), but if you are going to take those classes anyway, why not wait?

 

[Ad2b]

And physics I/II and a semester of biochemistry.

Which requires a semester of organic chemistry.

 

[GrapesofRath]

You're going to get an extremely biased sample on SDN where you're bound to get some naturally brilliant posters talk about how "they self studied biochem for a 1.5 weeks, read over some Kaplan psych book 2 days before the test and glanced at their physics textbook from class a day before and pulled off a 520+". This is not the representative sample of what most people are like.

The biggest question before thinking about the MCAT is getting the grades needed for med school in science courses and your pre-reqs. You've done fairly well on standardized tests to this point(although I would hardly look at a 32 ACT as some guarantee that you'll do well on the MCAT at all), but that's far different than beating out a large proportion of gunning pre-meds in classes you take with them to obtain those A's you want in your pre-req courses. Focus first on getting a 3.5+ in your pre-reqs(the higher the better) then start thinking about the MCAT. Many people take additional upper level science courses on top of pre-reqs as well.

 

[esob]

Is there any particular reason why you are rushing to take the MCAT?
People have self-studied and done well (more commonly for the psych section), but if you are going to take those classes anyway, why not wait?

Well, essentially, I'm a senior with 1 semester left for my degree in religion. So, my thought process was that I would spend the next 4 - 5 months studying for the test and see how I do. If my score was good enough to get into the med schools I wanted, then I would go ahead and do the academic fresh start, knock out the prereq's and basically set myself back as a junior (because I would have to do a couple core classes like comp 1 by using academic fresh start).

Otherwise, if I can't get a good score on the test, then there is no point in using my academic fresh start, and I'll simply change my major to something useful. Basically, if I don't go to med school, my degree in religion is useless, so i will need to declare a new major and basically start over, which means I'll likely do engineering. That does entail some risk however, in that I might damage my otherwise decent (3.93) GPA. So, the ultimate goal is med school but a degree in religion has zero fallback, so I would like to know up front if I can make the score needed on the MCAT to even bother applying to med school to begin with. If that's not possible without taking prereqs, I'll just have to do them. But at this point I've paid off all my previous schooling so I'm student loan debt free and didn't want to acquire new debt for classes (bio/chem) that won't apply to my new major (engineering) if I didn't have to.

And I've already done physics I/II because I was an astronomy minor for 2 years, lol.

 

[BluMist]

I can somewhat see your perspective; I am personally using MCAT as a decision point as well.

If I were you (I'm biased coming from an engineering background),
I'd enroll as an engineering student, but postpone most of the engineering classes so you can front load the pre-reqs
My engineering degree required physics I, II, chemistry I, II, organic chemistry I, so that overlaps with some of the pre-reqs.
That leaves biology, biochemistry, and possibly psychology/sociology.

If MCAT and/or medical school doesn't work out, engineering is safe to fall back on.
Very few people can pull off the 4-5 months studying ALL of the pre-reqs.
Also, I don't know why you need a fresh start given your high GPA.

 

[ZPakEffect]

If you can score a 167 on the LSAT, then you should be able to pull off a 515+ on the new MCAT with sufficient studying. If you have any doubt about yourself and your ability to excel, then you should not pursue medicine.

 

[esob]

I can somewhat see your perspective; I am personally using MCAT as a decision point as well.

If I were you (I'm biased coming from an engineering background),
I'd enroll as an engineering student, but postpone most of the engineering classes so you can front load the pre-reqs
My engineering degree required physics I, II, chemistry I, II, organic chemistry I, so that overlaps with some of the pre-reqs.
That leaves biology, biochemistry, and possibly psychology/sociology.

If MCAT and/or medical school doesn't work out, engineering is safe to fall back on.
Very few people can pull off the 4-5 months studying ALL of the pre-reqs.
Also, I don't know why you need a fresh start given your high GPA.

Well, when I joined active duty, I dropped all the classes from my school once I had my date for basic training ..... or so I thought. This was the beginning of the computer era and while I was sure I had dropped the classes and was no longer enrolled, apparently doing this on the computers at the registrars office was a bad idea because I was never unenrolled. So I got four F's for that semester. Couple that with the fact that the army decided to be nice and give me free college credit for my military training in medical laboratory technology. The catch was basically there if u passed the program, u basically got a 3.0. So I've got 60 hrs from GWU at 3.0 as well (there was no opportunity to earn an A, either u passed the program and got all B's, or u failed out completely). So, these two institutions drag my GPA way down. However, with academic fresh start, I can get rid of both since they are both > 10 years old, leaving me with nothing but my 114 hrs at 3.93.

 

[Ad2b]

Very few people can pull off the 4-5 months studying ALL of the pre-reqs.

This. Pre-reqs just give you the base knowledge. MCAT is all about applying it in ways with words you have never seen before but a concept you have.

That you did well on the LSAT will help you with the MCAT as MCAT is "just a reading comprehension test" with a boat load of science thrown in that you must understand.

 

[Fedekz]

I scored a 30 something on the ACT - I think it was a 31 without studying hardcore (I reviewed math - I always sucked a math and still do!). I went to a large state school with intro classes of 300+ that were heavy weed out... I got a 4.0 in every pre-req except physics 1 where I got an A-, and had a 3.94 s GPA and 3.84 c GPA going into the MCAT my senior year... and I scored a 504. So while your scores on previous exams/academic record might be great, don't underestimate the MCAT like I did and get caught off guard.

I typed up a big post that honestly turned into more of my anecdotal experience with the 2015 MCAT.

I'll just try to sum it up.

C/P
Gen chem 1 & 2 absolutely needed
Physics 1 & 2 ... yes and no, I only had 2 or 3 calculations that were cake - it was more understanding how multiple theories/systems might work together and predicting how experiments (passages) will turn out. You may be able to watch Khan academy and learn the main points before hand. I'd say I used more physics 2 knowledge, but that doesn't really help you because to get to physics 2 you'd have to take 1 to begin with.
Organic - I had a very orgo heavy C/P section, probably 40% of my passages were literally organic. Take that for what it's worth!

CARS

Hard to prepare - if you did well on the LSAT you'll be fine here I'm sure. Just get a method down you feel comfortable with. I personally read the question stems (NOT the answer choices), then the citation at the bottom (puts the passage into context - is it from a scholarly journal? books? what era? the title is usually a giveaway as well!), then finally read the passage once all the way through. Then went back and did the questions.

Bio/Biochem

Biochem is absolutely needed. If someone would have given me this section of the exam and didn't tell me it was the MCAT, I would guess it is a biochem journal article critical reading final. If you can't take biochem, read as many journal articles in a biochem article that you can - I wish I would have!
Bio - Cell bio or organismal biology is a must as well.

Psych

I'm a psych major, so my opinion is likely skewed. The FSQ's tested stuff that was highly unlikely to be covered in intro to psych courses. Lots of recognizing theorists and understanding their viewpoints (i.e. Carl Rogers and unconditional positive regard). The passages were pretty easy, no real knowledge needed for them. I think you could probably do fine without taking any psych/soc courses here ... just read TPR or watch khan.

 

[esob]

I took a ton of psych classes already, so I'm pretty confident on that part. I guess it helps that my target school has a median MCAT of ~ 25 last I checked

 

[Ad2b]

target school has a median MCAT of ~ 25

505 or so?

 

[esob]

505 or so?

I think closer to a 500. UNT HSC

 

[Ad2b]

oh.

 

[Satire5Texul]

I took a ton of psych classes already, so I'm pretty confident on that part. I guess it helps that my target school has a median MCAT of ~ 25 last I checked

I am a psych major. completed. and I cant answer the questions asked on the new section.
More than likely what you were taught in class is not the same thing that you will be asked.
For example. bystander effect. Great we went over that in about 6 of not more of my classes at different levels and perspectives. Never did we go over what is the relationship between the rate of bystander and other factors. Although this can be derived, I just wanted to share that when I heard of the new change I was like "great ! I have this section in the bag !".
Turns out, no. Gotta study as hard for this section of the MCAT. But the exposure helps

Classes give you a crunch timeline + the professors are often well aware of a class comprised of future MCAT test takers. My biochem professor is on top of this. He/She regularily adds snippets like "this will be in some form on your MCAT". "don't be surprised if they ask you x,y z.". he/she is even doing saturday lectures for extra material that is on medically-related fields. Extra info and fluff that had to be cut out due to class timeline, but she wants us to learn for our standardized tests. You are missing out on this and other exposure to material that you yourself alone cannot guide yourself through.

 

[esob]

ok, so prereq's it is I guess. Guess I'll just keep my major and put off taking the capstone seminar until all my prereq's are done.

 

[Fedekz]

This is borderline disturbing. Then again, I guess a lot of people with 3.8+ GPAs probably end up not doing that well not the MCAT; it's just that those people self-select and don't post their MCATs on here. Did you prep for the MCAT intensively?

No, I think that may have been my downfall. I sort of figured I did so well in the pre-reqs that I didn't need to prepare all that much for the MCAT. I just read through the TPR book set once and called it good ... actually, I never even touched the physics book. I hated physics so much I didn't even care lol.

 

[argle_bargle]

Well, essentially, I'm a senior with 1 semester left for my degree in religion. So, my thought process was that I would spend the next 4 - 5 months studying for the test and see how I do. If my score was good enough to get into the med schools I wanted, then I would go ahead and do the academic fresh start, knock out the prereq's and basically set myself back as a junior (because I would have to do a couple core classes like comp 1 by using academic fresh start).

Otherwise, if I can't get a good score on the test, then there is no point in using my academic fresh start, and I'll simply change my major to something useful. Basically, if I don't go to med school, my degree in religion is useless, so i will need to declare a new major and basically start over, which means I'll likely do engineering. That does entail some risk however, in that I might damage my otherwise decent (3.93) GPA. So, the ultimate goal is med school but a degree in religion has zero fallback, so I would like to know up front if I can make the score needed on the MCAT to even bother applying to med school to begin with. If that's not possible without taking prereqs, I'll just have to do them. But at this point I've paid off all my previous schooling so I'm student loan debt free and didn't want to acquire new debt for classes (bio/chem) that won't apply to my new major (engineering) if I didn't have to.

And I've already done physics I/II because I was an astronomy minor for 2 years, lol.

In my experience if you're not 100% med school then you shouldn't even bother. It sounds like you're not sure on what you want to do. Maybe you should shadow some physicians to see if medicine is for you? But to answer your question, I do think it is possible but it would be a ton of work without having done any of the pre-reqs, probably more than 4-5 months for a decent score. I got a 510 without having biochem but I had done all the other reqs

 

[esob]

In my experience if you're not 100% med school then you shouldn't even bother. It sounds like you're not sure on what you want to do. Maybe you should shadow some physicians to see if medicine is for you? But to answer your question, I do think it is possible but it would be a ton of work without having done any of the pre-reqs, probably more than 4-5 months for a decent score. I got a 510 without having biochem but I had done all the other reqs

Well I'm not planning on taking the MCAT for 2 years now since I will be doing all my prereq's, so I'm guessing 2 years of prep should be enough. And as a little background, I was a both a combat medic (including seat time as a flight medic) and lab tech in the Army for 4 years, so I've probably had more exposure to actually providing patient care (especially in a trauma setting) than most college kids who do shadowing (though I am planning to do shadowing as well). TBH at this point I've made enough money to retire tomorrow if I wanted to live modestly for the next 45 years or so. That said, being financially responsible and not spending extra $$ on schooling I didn't need seemed like a good idea *IF there was no point in it. However, it seems the consensus is that the prereq's are necessary to perform well on the test so I'm just going to go ahead and knock them out and spend the next couple years prepping for the MCAT.