What to memorize for MCAT 2015?

[FauxBlue]

I've been lurking around a little bit and it seems like the consensus is the memorize all the amino acids because there's a bigger emphasis on biochemistry now? I guess something else to memorize are the equations for chemistry and physics.

Are there any other things to simply memorize such as equations, structures, and so forth?

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[Alkaidius]

I won't say don't memorize anything, but what I would recommend is to not focus on blatantly memorizing everything. The test is, and always will be, a concept understanding and knowledge incorporation test. So while memorizing all the amino acids might be helpful on the off-chance they ask you to identify it structurally (they can, but the chances of this are highly unlikely), try to shift your thinking more towards which ones are more hydrophobic/philic or better acids/bases, for example.

My first MCAT attempt I thought that memorizing all the formulas would give me a sort of cushion where if I stumbled onto an unfamiliar topic, I could refer to a formula on it for help. Could not be more wrong. You will memorize 100+ formulas and will likely use a handful, if even, on the test. Understanding what they tell you about a concept is far more important (and if you understand the concept, you're more likely to remember them anyway!). The same goes for the various anabolic and catabolic processes. Try to shift your thinking away from this. Memorizing nitty-gritty details like enzymes should be one of the last things you do in your studying.

 

[FauxBlue]

I won't say don't memorize anything, but what I would recommend is to not focus on blatantly memorizing everything. The test is, and always will be, a concept understanding and knowledge incorporation test. So while memorizing all the amino acids might be helpful on the off-chance they ask you to identify it structurally (they can, but the chances of this are highly unlikely), try to shift your thinking more towards which ones are more hydrophobic/philic or better acids/bases, for example.

My first MCAT attempt I thought that memorizing all the formulas would give me a sort of cushion where if I stumbled onto an unfamiliar topic, I could refer to a formula on it for help. Could not be more wrong. You will memorize 100+ formulas and will likely use a handful, if even, on the test. Understanding what they tell you about a concept is far more important (and if you understand the concept, you're more likely to remember them anyway!). The same goes for the various anabolic and catabolic processes. Try to shift your thinking away from this. Memorizing nitty-gritty details like enzymes should be one of the last things you do in your studying.

Thank you for the wonderful advice! I'm hoping to focus on understanding the concepts, but on the side, I'd like to possibly get into the habit of reciting equations/names/structures during my off time to just have in my arsenal. I totally agree it's more important to learn how these concepts are applied rather than blatantly jamming them in my head!

Do you know of any resources I can find possibly for memorizing these things or from your own experience what has been useful?

 

[Alkaidius]

I'm afraid I've never been a very big fan of stuff like flashcards. I usually just sticky note the page with the formula from my books. Some test prep companies come with a tiny booklet with pretty much every formula you would ever need. I think they call them Quicksheets, so if you're interested in that I would research the companies a bit. But if we're on the topic of just things you want to drill on off-time I highly recommend, in addition to your Physics and Chemistry formulas, Amino Acids, and Enzymes, look up the 1-letter code for amino acids (for example: Aspartic Acid = D, Arginine = R, etc). It's a new addition that has been seen around.

 

[Dr. Death]

Lineweaver burke plots and michaelis menten are a pretty good bet to be on the exam. Amino Acids, everything about them. Their one letter abbreviation, the three letter abbreviation, the structures, the properties. Also make a list of psychologists and their experiments and their theories. These are the only things I memorized, walked in and regurgitated everything onto my note packet and referred to it when necessary. I didn't do awesome but I attribute that to not having taken all the pre reqs and not having a lot of study time.

 

[Glazedonutlove]

Idk if I would bother with the psych scientist names

 

[lmladdno84]

I won't say don't memorize anything, but what I would recommend is to not focus on blatantly memorizing everything. The test is, and always will be, a concept understanding and knowledge incorporation test. So while memorizing all the amino acids might be helpful on the off-chance they ask you to identify it structurally (they can, but the chances of this are highly unlikely), try to shift your thinking more towards which ones are more hydrophobic/philic or better acids/bases, for example.

My first MCAT attempt I thought that memorizing all the formulas would give me a sort of cushion where if I stumbled onto an unfamiliar topic, I could refer to a formula on it for help. Could not be more wrong. You will memorize 100+ formulas and will likely use a handful, if even, on the test. Understanding what they tell you about a concept is far more important (and if you understand the concept, you're more likely to remember them anyway!). The same goes for the various anabolic and catabolic processes. Try to shift your thinking away from this. Memorizing nitty-gritty details like enzymes should be one of the last things you do in your studying.

This, to the t.

 

[PhilFerr]

If it helps, I took a practice test and it specifically asked me to identify a cleavage in a long amino acid chain, indicating that I needed to have known what the structure of certain amino acids looked like. Its also a good idea to memorize psychologist names and their theories. Other than that, what alkaidius said was very accurate.