Tetrahymena passage, AAMC Biology Question Pack #1

[tluedeke]

I was doing pretty well working through this question pack, when this Tetrahymena ciliate protozoa cell division passage popped up, with micronuclei and macronuclei, and a seemingly incomprehensible stream of gibberish steps in cellular division.

Needless to say, I had no clue on any of it and ended up guessing all but one question. It completely annihilated me. I've gone back to look at it more and still have no idea. I supposed I could go study it from ground zero, but I've got two weeks until the MCAT.

I've never heard of micronuclei or macronuclei, nor anything about this type of cellular division. Where in the world did this come from? Is there some sort of "Advanced Microbiology" pre-requisite course that I missed reading about? If they put this kind of stuff on the exam, I'm dead meat.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[itsmemario]

Dont stress! It is not advanced microbio. I find that passages like these test your reading comprehension and ability to understand/follow an experiment more than the science content itself. Just carefully read the entire passage and answer to the best of your ability. I also like to mark such passages and come back if I have time at the end.

 

[misterwiggles]

My TPR Bio instructor who took the new MCAT and scored 519 with a 131 in Bio said that passage is always hard for everyone. I also asked him about that passage and he told me it was extremely low yield and don't expect it to come up but if it does, they'll give you more context and be more clear.

 

[El-Rami]

I remember that passage. They gave you confusing/convoluted diagrams that served only to distract you, really. The answer explanations made a lot of sense. Also, I agree it's low-yield.