Binding Situation, Could Use Some Advice.

[KeepOn]

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I am taking Orgo I this semester and needless to say its not going well grade wise. I know a lot of students like to blame their teachers and I don't necessarily blame him, but this being his first semester teaching the subject doesn't help. I can easily do the questions in the book but the exam questions he chooses just baffle me at times. Now I see that I should have gotten a tutor to get me prepared for the most difficult questions but now that is something Il have to do for Orgo 2.

The major problem is that I will take a big blow to my GPA as the grade I am going to receive for the class will range from a C to a D+. I am presented with the option to take credit no credit right now and am wondering if I should do that and then later on just retake Ogo I for a full grade. I have seached and found a thread where people have said that taking credit no credit for a pre-req is not recommended. But it seems that it may also be better then receiving a D, atleast my GPA will be unscarred from it.


My second question is that its my third year as an Undergrad and I have no fully finished all the pre-req's. Need two more technically, but do you think if I really hit the MCAT books I can compensate for it? One pre-req is bio 2 but I took AP Bio and was generally good at it, but the other is Physics 2 which I heard is rather difficult and different.

My last question is that, how bad is it, or is it absolutely necessary that I take the MCAT in my third year? As I will most likely need another semester or so after my fourth year to finish my major due to the registration system and its stupidity at my school.

I hope you guys can steer me in the right way. 👍

 

[plumhill]

1. I'd recommend taking it for credit/no credit now and re-taking it. No reason to ruin your GPA if you don't need to. But when you take it the second time around, figure out what went wrong this time and work as hard as you can to get the highest grade possible.
2. I wouldn't do that. Sometimes people take the MCAT at the end of the year in which they're taking one of the pre-reqs (so they'll take the MCAT in May or June the year they've taken Physics or something), but MCAT books won't teach you the material. They're REVIEW books, and they assume that you've gone through a course and won't spell out every detail. As such, it will be much better for you to take extra time to go through the pre-reqs, and then study, and then take it.
3. Following what I said above, it really isn't. Plenty of people take the MCAT their senior year, or even after, because they want to do the best that they can. Especially if you're taking an extra semester (which is very common) there is nothing wrong with taking it during or after your fourth year/last semester.

Regardless of what you do or how long it takes, your end goal needs to be to do the best that you absolutely can. Don't worry about "normal" times frames (like taking the MCAT your 3rd year or graduating in 4 years).