Bioligical Sciences Section

[OnMyWayThere]

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What did the BS mostly comprise of? I know in April, it was mostly genetics and very,very little Organic Chemistry.
Was it genetics infested again?

 

[DD214_DOC]

What did the BS mostly comprise of? I know in April, it was mostly genetics and very,very little Organic Chemistry.
Was it genetics infested again?

YES! Mine was either organic or genetics. I had 3 or 4 organic things (a few were hard) and everything else was either straight genetics or involved genetics somehow. A couple were molecular bio, one was micro. Mostly graph interpretation.

Luckily, I enjoy genetics and the concepts are not too difficult. I am actually glad it was genetics heavy.

 

[javandane]

very little genetics for me. one passage, which was evolution-based. kidney physiology, neuroscience, micro. . . .f@#K my brain's shut down--don't remember much else. not much ochem. overall, far more difficult than aamc practice exams.

 

[SensesFail]

Not much Genetics for me. A lot of physiology (kidney re-absorption, neurotransmitters and cocaine, blood pressure/cardiac physiology) etc... Overall, better than I expected it to be. I hate Genetics and I could never get those damn Pedigree passages. Only 2 passages on Organic but they were somewhat hard.

 

[ExplodingBoy]

form AG here

really heavy on neurons and neurology stuff, 1 passage on evolution.

3 orgo passages, but they were really really tought.

one asked how many units a certain H in a phenyl ring would be downshifted.... WTF?

 

[Nuel]

Not much Genetics for me. A lot of physiology (kidney re-absorption, neurotransmitters and cocaine, blood pressure/cardiac physiology) etc... Overall, better than I expected it to be. I hate Genetics and I could never get those damn Pedigree passages. Only 2 passages on Organic but they were somewhat hard.

agree in general, although I would have preferred genetics. I am generally overweening in organic, but two passages I got kicked my ass.

 

[drguy22]

i had AP...i had a evolution passage too and lots of neural stuff....does the live store water soluable vitamens?????????? cuz i put that it didnt ...the choices were glycogen, cholestorol, digestive enzymes, and the water soluable enzymes.

 

[DD214_DOC]

i had AP...i had a evolution passage too and lots of neural stuff....does the live store water soluable vitamens?????????? cuz i put that it didnt ...the choices were glycogen, cholestorol, digestive enzymes, and the water soluable enzymes.

Liver stores glycogen, which is converted to glucose. It also stores vitamins A, D, B12, as well as Iron and Triglycerides.

I think the answer would be digestive enzymes. The liver produces bile, which isn't an enzyme.

 

[drguy22]

no...the question was which of the following doent have to do wit the liver?? i put the water soluable vitamen

 

[fahimaz7]

CH had 3 genetics, 2 organic, and the rest was phyisology based bio.

Scott

 

[javandane]

unless we had different versions of a similar question, the liver question asked whether the liver stores glycogen, syn. cholesterol, produces digestive enzymes, or stores FAT-soluble vitamins. the liver does not synthesize digestive ENZYMES--bile isn't an enzyme.

 

[drguy22]

did u have the spinal cord passage..where the lady coulnt feel her leg on one side...i didnt like tat...there was this ridiculous question about putting two frogs hearts in a jar and one of connected to the vagus nerve..and it aske what does the exp show...i put that it shows that the vagus nerve slows doen the heart

 

[ExplodingBoy]

the liver synthesizes chol. ? Damn... i thought it just used it as a precusor to make steroids... but then the liver doesnt make steroids...

man, why didnt i think of that an hour ago.

 

[ExplodingBoy]

the heart one's main thing was that they were sharing the same liquid. The fact that the heart that wasnt stimulated by the vagus nerve slowed down a few minutes after the one that was stimulated shows that some chemical was diffusing through the liquid and causing the same effect on heart 2.

 

[drguy22]

there was a answer choice that said that????

 

[javandane]

the heart one's main thing was that they were sharing the same liquid. The fact that the heart that wasnt stimulated by the vagus nerve slowed down a few minutes after the one that was stimulated shows that some chemical was diffusing through the liquid and causing the same effect on heart 2.

correct! the thing i didn't like about BS was that many of the answer choices seemed plausible--reminded me a lot of VR. the answer choices for the AAMC practices exams were much more cut and dried, requiring deliberation between 2 answers, as opposed to 3-4.

keep the BS questions coming. . . .

 

[Nuel]

doesn't apply to BS:

and who got this question concerning the current on some 2 ohm resistor once the switch was back on.

I thought it 2A if the resistors were in parallel and 0.5 A if in series (given a 4 V battery), I didn't see 0.5 A so I chose 2 A.

 

[rob14599]

Not much Genetics for me. A lot of physiology (kidney re-absorption, neurotransmitters and cocaine, blood pressure/cardiac physiology) etc... Overall, better than I expected it to be. I hate Genetics and I could never get those damn Pedigree passages. Only 2 passages on Organic but they were somewhat hard.

Sounds like you had the same form I did, form DG. You're right, light on genetics and not too bad with the orgo chem. Overall I didn't mind the Bio Sci section and the first 5 passages in the VR were unbelieveably easy. Physical Sci was HARD! A lot harder than when I took it in April. Writing sample topics were "The primary goal of every business should be to maximize profits" and "Scientific advancements should be shared with all nations." Got a 29 in April and I'm hoping for at least a 30 this time around.

BTW, any Michigan or Ohio test takers in here?

 

[grw0o]

Mine was LOADED with genetics. Dam amalase with akylated DNA repair was the worst! There was also a wack passage on cAMP, I thought I understood how it worked but that passage proved me wrong. One passage on hormones about the posterior petuitary which was easy.

 

[ethanolabsolute]

I had form CM. Not a ton of genetics. there was one genetics passage and a few free genetics questions. There were 3 different questions where they just gave u a sequence and had u choose the compliment! It was great, too bad probably every test taker in the nation probably got those right, so it won't matter once it gets curved. Also, only 2 orgo passages on form CM, and they were not very difficult either.

 

[SensesFail]

Sounds like you had the same form I did, form DG. You're right, light on genetics and not too bad with the orgo chem. Overall I didn't mind the Bio Sci section and the first 5 passages in the VR were unbelieveably easy. Physical Sci was HARD! A lot harder than when I took it in April. Writing sample topics were "The primary goal of every business should be to maximize profits" and "Scientific advancements should be shared with all nations." Got a 29 in April and I'm hoping for at least a 30 this time around.

BTW, any Michigan or Ohio test takers in here?

Yup, looks like we had the same form. Those were my two writing sample prompts. Physical Sci was such a bitch. It threw me off and I bombed Verbal because of it. Hopefully we'll have a generous curve for Physical Sci. I'm scared about Verbal though.

 

[OnMyWayThere]

I hear from non SDNers that it was heavy on Physio as well... I guess that's better than the type of genetics we got in April... 👍

 

[MDtoBe777]

Wait..but doesn't the liver make chromotrypsinogen or was that something else? I put the vitamins one. But, I'm brain dead right now. ANybody have a pedigree question?

 

[premedgeek]

no...the question was which of the following doent have to do wit the liver?? i put the water soluable vitamen

I remember that choices had Fat soluble vitamins. May be my brain is playing tricks on me.

 

[strangelight]

Man I felt like bio was out to get me. I was counting on bio to be genetics infested, but noooo, like a lot of others said, it was heavily comprised of physiology. A lot of the questions really required you think as well...it just seemed more analytical than what I've practiced from. Gosh, that section really put me down...it gave me the worst feeling when I walked out of that room.

 

[discusdan]

I had form EG and it had no physiology, which I was hoping for. Physical Science was also a lot harder than in April.

 

[discusdan]

I had form EG and it had no physiology, which disappointed me. Physical Science was also a lot harder than in April.

 

[SensesFail]

Is noradrenaline a catecholamine?!? Please tell me it is...

The other choices were enkaphalin, N-methyl-D-Aspartate, and one more...

How the heck do they expect us to memorize these minute details?

 

[themadchemist]

Is noradrenaline a catecholamine?!? Please tell me it is...

The other choices were enkaphalin, N-methyl-D-Aspartate, and one more...

How the heck do they expect us to memorize these minute details?

yes, it is! Noradrenaline and adrenaline are catecholamines. The best way to remember this is that they are peptide (i.e., amino acid) derivatives, hence "amines."

MDtoBe777--the pancreas makes chymotrypsinogen, I believe.

 

[Chouster]

****, the phenolpthalein answer was pink wasnt it? I put blue but now remember thats probably for thymol blue. F*CK.. how we supposed to know that?!

 

[drguy22]

i put blue too 🙁....i didnt think we had to know tat!

 

[Doctor Bagel]

i had all of two organic sections on my exam and a few discretes. there did seem to be a good deal of genetics, too.

 

[Chouster]

For the hydrogen located at point "e" on the benzene ring with the amine in "natural free form" (whatever the F that means).. I put 6-8 ppm because aromatic Hs appear at 7-8... but the free form of amine may have played a role in modifying that answer. wanna briefly explain? shiz...

 

[OHare]

I thought it would be the electrical impulse traveling through the electrolyte

correct! the thing i didn't like about BS was that many of the answer choices seemed plausible--reminded me a lot of VR. the answer choices for the AAMC practices exams were much more cut and dried, requiring deliberation between 2 answers, as opposed to 3-4.

keep the BS questions coming. . . .

 

[SleepPsych72]

Yea one question asked about Otto Leowi and how the heart in one jar affected the other. I remember reading his experiment I put that it was a chemical messenger because in his experiemtn he called it a chemical messener and said it was "vegas stuff". It couldn't have been an electrical conduction since it was an aqueous solution but who the hell knows now! I remember reading about his experiment.

 

[greubins]

i had CN
not bad bio. KILLER PS. *MUCH* harder than last year's PS. and yes, VR not fun, not fun at all.
thankfullly not much genetics in BS. i also had kidney physio and the cocaine passage amoung others. VERY little orgo (thankfully again).
there was an independent question about the liver: if a drug is in the liver but gets converted into something that is very much like the original substance, how does this effect the body (or outcome). strange question i thought.... i think i put it prolongs effects of the drug. i was thinking painkillers, IBprofin stuff like that, you feel the effects for a while. anyone have any insight? i'm courious.

 

[Chouster]

The Otto dude question, I also put the choice that stated there was some chemical messenger between the two. Seeing as how it is 99% certain that people would not know who Otto man was... they would have to infer from the question stem itself. Given all the information, it had to be the chemical messenger relaying from heart 1 to heart 2. Simply stating that the vagus nerve reduced heart rate would not require 2 hearts connected in the apparatus described. However the chemical messenger answer neatly includes all the information given in the question.

 

[SensesFail]

i had CN
not bad bio. KILLER PS. *MUCH* harder than last year's PS. and yes, VR not fun, not fun at all.
thankfullly not much genetics in BS. i also had kidney physio and the cocaine passage amoung others. VERY little orgo (thankfully again).
there was an independent question about the liver: if a drug is in the liver but gets converted into something that is very much like the original substance, how does this effect the body (or outcome). strange question i thought.... i think i put it prolongs effects of the drug. i was thinking painkillers, IBprofin stuff like that, you feel the effects for a while. anyone have any insight? i'm courious.

That was an odd question. I put "it would take longer to feel the effects of the drug since the liver would take time to convert it to a drug of equal activity" or something. I dunno how they expect you to know that, unless you've taken upper level physiology classes.

 

[Chang10is]

form AG here

one asked how many units a certain H in a phenyl ring would be downshifted.... WTF?

Anybody get this question also? I'm trying to figure out whether or not I chose the right answer, but I don't remember what the choices were. I just remember which letter I picked.

It seems like the MCAT is getting less predictable, and they're asking questions that are more specific. What do you guys think?

 

[themadchemist]

The Otto dude question, I also put the choice that stated there was some chemical messenger between the two. Seeing as how it is 99% certain that people would not know who Otto man was... they would have to infer from the question stem itself. Given all the information, it had to be the chemical messenger relaying from heart 1 to heart 2. Simply stating that the vagus nerve reduced heart rate would not require 2 hearts connected in the apparatus described. However the chemical messenger answer neatly includes all the information given in the question.

Yeah, you're right. It also happens to be a classic experiment (although I didn't know details of it while taking the test).

 

[Chouster]

Yes, the MCAT is evolving to make Kaplan and TPR obsolete... kinda. I missed specific questions such as the color of phenolpthalein (answer was pink) and this stupid chemical downshift problem (I know aromatic hydrogens are 6-8.5 but the question stem stated that the amine group is "free-floating" or something to that effect which probably somehow effected the answer... how? I dunno). I've seen many people put 4-6 ppm, but whether that's right is anybody's guess. I guess AAMC really wants to distinguish those 14s from 15s now huh! 😳

 

[premedgeek]

Yes, the MCAT is evolving to make Kaplan and TPR obsolete... kinda. I missed specific questions such as the color of phenolpthalein (answer was pink) and this stupid chemical downshift problem (I know aromatic hydrogens are 6-8.5 but the question stem stated that the amine group is "free-floating" or something to that effect which probably somehow effected the answer... how? I dunno). I've seen many people put 4-6 ppm, but whether that's right is anybody's guess. I guess AAMC really wants to distinguish those 14s from 15s now huh! 😳

About the phenolpthalein, are you refering to question in passage that involved Carbonate ****? I put colorless for something, can't remember which one.

 

[silkworm]

I put colorless as well. It was just a guess, based on the passage info that says the phenolpthalein solution is colorless or something. Now I really doubt the answer was that simple. So why is the right answer pink?

 

[Chouster]

Okay now that I think deeply about what the question, I can't remember exactly which state for color it was asking. From what I can gather, I believe the solution dealt with the color of the phenolpthalein solution in the state other than the colorless solution. Phenolpthalein is either pink or colorless (I forget which state is which color). If somebody remembers the exact question we can tell.

 

[GiftLuv]

I don't remember the question either put I chose pink for my answer.

 

[Heidegger]

Phenolpthalein is either pink or colorless (I forget which state is which color).

I didn?t take the exam, but phenolphthalein is colorless in acidic solution and pinkish in basic solution.

 

[Miss Roxie]

I didn?t take the exam, but phenolphthalein is colorless in acidic solution and pinkish in basic solution.

Darn. I chose yellow 🙁 😡

 

[bonez318ti]

for some reason, i remember seeing alot of obscure factoids being tested on both the discretes and the passages.. more than i would have expected since I thought the MCAT was more of a reasoning test than amemory test.

Oh well.

 

[amy73]

Hi,
Form EK
Heavy on genetics and cell bio stuff. Not much complex orgo maybe 2-3 passages. Some discretes required a lot of in depth outside knowledge.
Bye
Amy

 

[safrat]

form AG here

really heavy on neurons and neurology stuff, 1 passage on evolution.

3 orgo passages, but they were really really tought.

one asked how many units a certain H in a phenyl ring would be downshifted.... WTF?

answer was 6-8, thank you tpr