1/2 year of Physics okay for MCAT?

[chemist156]

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I am under the impression that the typical pre-med student takes Gen Chem freshman year, bio and orgo sophomore year, and physics junior year. Since the MCAT is in April, does that mean most people only take a half a year of physics to prep for the MCAT?

 

[jackets5]

Dont do it with only 1 semester of physics almost all the physics on my test was from the 2nd semester. It was all optics, sound, electromagnetics etc. there was maybe a mechanics question or two on the test. Unless your an excellent physics student and feel comfortable teaching yourself the material. I thought most people took physics fall and spring of junior year so with the majority of the course under your belt youll be find

 

[gossmer]

I am under the impression that the typical pre-med student takes Gen Chem freshman year, bio and orgo sophomore year, and physics junior year. Since the MCAT is in April, does that mean most people only take a half a year of physics to prep for the MCAT?

Don't do it. I just took it in August, you really need the whole year.

 

[QofQuimica]

I am under the impression that the typical pre-med student takes Gen Chem freshman year, bio and orgo sophomore year, and physics junior year. Since the MCAT is in April, does that mean most people only take a half a year of physics to prep for the MCAT?

Unless your school is on some bizarre schedule, you should be almost done with your physics II class by mid-April if you take the class during the spring semester of your junior year. So taking the MCAT in April won't be a problem. We discussed this issue in the MCAT study questions subforum. Basically, it is fine to be enrolled in Physics II or Organic II while you study for the MCAT. You should not, however, take the MCAT without at least being enrolled in these courses, and without having completed all of the others.

 

[sequencer]

the physics really isn't that hard- if you've had high school and you take a review class like kaplan or something and really study up on it you'll do fine-
it will require a little extra effort but it'll be ok
you could also get a tutor that covers the topics on the mcat

 

[Agent Splat]

This is just personal experience, and I got lucky in this respect, but I took the April MCAT while I was in the middle of my second semester. As luck would have it, I think I only saw one questions or so that really was something beyond what I had already learned. Even better, most of the physics questions were on stuff I had JUST covered.

But then, I got an "8" on my physical science section. I blame the chemistry stuff for that.

I guess do some practice exams and see what you're comfortable with.

 

[dsq]

You will be most of the way through the 2nd semester of physics. If you are taking a review course like TPR, the review book should be sufficient to learn what you haven't in class. this worked for me, but everyone is different.

 

[67192]

My school is on the quarter system. So I was just 3 weeks into 3rd quarter when I took the MCAT. I still hadn't covered waves, optics or nuclear stuff when I took the test (and I had no high school physics to fall back on). But I knew from the beginning that physics was my weak point and so I studied the Kaplan stuff extra for physics and taught myself ahead of time about the physics material I hadn't learned yet. It worked out okay- I ended up getting an 11 in Physical Sciences.

The MCAT isn't too detailed, so if you spend some time learning the material (a Kaplan book covers the physics stuff in enough detail), you should be fine.

 

[Scottish Chap]

Don't do it. I attempted the MCAT last year with NO physics backgorund at all. Not good. My test script was very heavy on optics, EM, and extremely light on the classical plug-n-chug-type questions from Newtomian Mechanics, kinematics etc.

I stongly disagree with Sequencer's statement above: I am now a Kaplan instructor and I took the MCAT without studying physics....I won't say it's impossible that ~1% of the population will only need high school physics to do 'okay' on the PS compnent, but it's very, very unlikely that you'll do well. Kaplan and Princeton are for REVIEW only. They will not teach you the subject. You want to take this test once only; delay until you've taken the basic pre-req's. After that, go nuts.....

 

[drmota]

i took the MCAT with only one semester of orgo, which was fine because orgo is a minor part of the bio sciences section. as for physics, thats a whole other story. if you're gonna take it without having taken the class, make sure you teach yourself EVERYTHING. it'll take a LOT of studying but its feasible.
-mota

 

[Dave_D]

i took the MCAT with only one semester of orgo, which was fine because orgo is a minor part of the bio sciences section. as for physics, thats a whole other story. if you're gonna take it without having taken the class, make sure you teach yourself EVERYTHING. it'll take a LOT of studying but its feasible.
-mota

I'm going to second this.(At least this is how it worked out for me.) Orgo is mostly first semester and I think it's 35% of the bio section. Physics is 50% the physical science and it seemed like it was split between first and second semester. Admittedly when I took the MCAT in April I had a couple weeks of physics II left so it wasn't a big deal but I wouldn't take the MCAT without being mostly through physics II.(And I personally found Kaplan was terrible at teaching new stuff. Review was ok but the guy I had could have been better.)