Biochemistry or Physiology

[vectorman]

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I have one free elective slot in my spring semester (the semester before I apply to med schools and MCAT). Which subject do you guys think is more beneficial for MCAT prep as well as for admissions: biochemistry or physiology?
I would really appreciate a reply. Thank you!

 

[Vvandenn]

Hmm.

 

[Quix]

It will depend on the test you get, but I'll vote for physiology. I didn't see a whole lot beyond Orgo II on the test, but I did see the Wiggers diagram, and that ain't Bio 1 or 2.

 

[Vox Animo]

physiology

 

[tncekm]

Great topic 😀 I'm glad to hear physiology helps MCAT prep.

I'm taking comparative animal physiology now (have already taken anatomy and physiology) and its really freggin' interesting actually.

 

[Quix]

Great topic 😀 I'm glad to hear physiology helps MCAT prep.

I'm taking comparative animal physiology now (have already taken anatomy and physiology) and its really freggin' interesting actually.

I think you'll find it more useful for the DAT, which apparently has a review section for vert. morph. Are you doing human physiology as part of the class?

 

[Falco2525]

physiology for sure

 

[jash0624]

Some schools require Biochem. I'd make sure none of your schools do before you count it out.

 

[lynn623la]

I have seen some biochem related ques. on the practice mcat, but the questions didn't require any specific knowledge of biochemistry; rather-- it made the problem less intimidating when it discussed ligands and enzyme substrate complexes.. yada yada.

Physiology seemed a lot more fun than biochem, but fun could be a relative word. Biochem has its highlights as well-- Km's, Kcats, Vmax in describing the enzyme substrate reactions. See-- it probably already lost your interest, so go for the physiology. 🙂

 

[tncekm]

I think you'll find it more useful for the DAT, which apparently has a review section for vert. morph. Are you doing human physiology as part of the class?

I'd say 80% of it is mammalian phys that is directly applicable to human phys. Usually the other types of animals (non-mammalian verts and inverts) are used as evolutionary advancement examples and to show that lots of physiological systems are extremely similar in many different animals. Very rarely do we get into physiology that is not applicable to humans, such as asynchronous muscular contractions in some insects. And when those things are talked about its very brief.

 

[Quix]

Are you discussing homeostatic mechanisms and biomechanics (e.g., Wiggers)? Any pathophysiology?

 

[enigma85]

for MCAT: probably physiology
for admissions: at some schools biochem b/c it's required, check MSAR
for med school prep: probably biochem, it's usually more difficult to learn, hence the prereq at some med schools

 

[tncekm]

Are you discussing homeostatic mechanisms and biomechanics (e.g., Wiggers)? Any pathophysiology?

Haven't gotten into Wiggers. So far we've covered: frank starling, paid quite a bit of attention to the different rates of conductance and depolarization of the three different types of cardiac muscle and their importance in cardiac muscle contraction (no tetany, heart contracts at once, etc), smooth muscle and its "latch" state, excitation-contraction coupling, actin-myosin cross bridge cycling, second messenger systems, circulation (function of veins, arteries, etc and how the muscle pump, respiratory pump, and peristalsis get blood back to the heart from veins), microcirculation, and a bunch of other crap.

Pathophysiology, none yet.

 

[Quix]

Good topics there. See if you can locate any pathophysiology teaching cases (e.g., medical school level); we learn quite a bit about the body by what happens when things go wrong.

 

[tncekm]

Yeah, I agree...they are good topics. Very interesting. And my teacher requires on exams that all questions be answered in detailed paragraph format. Last exam I had 1hr 15 minutes to write about 6.5 to 7 pages (top to bottom, full) worth of answers to questions he asked and I rushed to finish in time. I didn't even have time to include as much information as I would have liked to. So, I feel I really know those topics much better than I would have ever expected to goign into this course.

And thanks for the heads up on the pathyphys. I'll look into them.

 

[davee]

im a physiology major and am currently taking biochem. alot of my friends told me that they were glad they took biochem before the mcat(i didnt) as it gave them familiarity with some of the passages. I thought my physiology education only helped a little with the MCAT.

 

[GoodDoctor]

The 2 best classes for MCAT Bio are 1) Physiology and 2) Cell Bio.

Take a look at the Bio topics:
http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/st...es/biology.pdf

Over half the topics are Physiology:
-Pages 5-10 are largely Physiology.

Cell bio covers almost as many pages:
-Pages 1-4 are largely covered in Cell Bio (except Genetics on pg 2).

Any "Biochem" on the MCAT is also covered in Cell Bio.