More people tend to see orgo as hard and thus the sections with more orgo seem harder. But for me, the more orgo the section has, the better it is. I mean then if the exam has less orgo, it would be easier for more people and thus the curve is gona be harsher. I'm the opposite. I love orgo and I want more orgo passages in my section. In my section in MCAT, I had one orgo passage only!!!!! and only 2 orgo discretes the rest are bio. I think it's not fair, they should make equal amount of passages to really make it fair for everyone. Orgo became popular for difficulty so people tend to be more scared of it and actually not good at it. But this is not my case.
BS section with less orgo more easy?
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Doesn't make sense.
By this logic it should always be exactly half in half physics and chem. And VR should always have equal numbers of humanities and natural sciences.
MCAT can play to your strengths just as well as it can prey upon your weaknesses which makes it fair in my opinion.
Well yea it should be half half everything. I don't mind any topic but it should be half half. Well I'm pretty strong in orgo more than bio so why not make it half half at least? I'm not asking for more than this.
Yes, but biochemistry is one class in the entire med school curriculum, and organic chemistry is only a very small portion of that one class. I think the amount of organic chemistry on the MCAT is appropriate.
No, I actually like it. But you can search around this forum, a lot of physicians have said that they barely remember any organic chemistry and that it rarely, if ever, comes up in clinical practice.
Yea I know it wouldn't be as useful as biology of course. I'm just saying that some students are pretty strong at it and I'm one of them so I would have loved the BS section to have more orgo...at least 25 % like they said. In my test, I only had 1 orgo passage and 2 discretes, that's about 15 % not even the 25 % they mentioned.
Yeah, I agree. The orgo is easy for me too. But, the MCAT is unpredictable. Did they say the 25% was guaranteed? I think that is just a general rule, but they often do a little more or less than that.
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i had 5 bio and 2 orgo on my test.. the orgo wasn't HARD, but it was tricky. however, it wasn't the style of orgo that we are use to from the practice tests. it was more bio related i guess. amino acid chains and things like that. there were some typical orgo discretes. overall, the test is become heavier on the bio. i think we're starting to see a lot less reactions and hit or miss type orgo.. it's more about concepts now and how it relates to the big picture of the science field.
i actually think it favors us because we don't have to study and memorize all these different orgo reactions and stuff..we still should know it, but chances are you wont see too much of it on game day.
i actually think it favors us because we don't have to study and memorize all these different orgo reactions and stuff..we still should know it, but chances are you wont see too much of it on game day.
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i had like 5 MCB/genetics/biochem passages on my sept 8 test, and 2 ochem passages. while i also like ochem more than physiology. i don't whine when i see physiology. you just gotta know everything about everything if you want to score 35+ range.
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I'm not sure how many doctors I know actually do any biochem on an even semi regular basis.
Yes, the ones I work with in HIV/ID do all the time but because that calls for it. Not really even then.
Most drug interactions, etc, come up when you try prescribing a patient a new medication. Sure it helps to know on the fly, but that stuff is electronic too and if you try to input something, then the system will stop you.
Drug design/metabolism is helpful, yes, but you don't have to do that on a day to day basis. You can read about it and know it well enough too without understanding what's going on chemically.
Yes, the ones I work with in HIV/ID do all the time but because that calls for it. Not really even then.
Most drug interactions, etc, come up when you try prescribing a patient a new medication. Sure it helps to know on the fly, but that stuff is electronic too and if you try to input something, then the system will stop you.
Drug design/metabolism is helpful, yes, but you don't have to do that on a day to day basis. You can read about it and know it well enough too without understanding what's going on chemically.
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This entire thread is frigging hilarious.
"I'm much better at organic chemistry than biology. Therefore, the MCAT should have way more organic chemistry, which I'm better at. If it doesn't have the stuff I'm good at on it, it's unfair."
Are you kidding me dude? Did you even read your first post (although it's close to incomprehensible. what was your VR score?)? "Lots of people think ochem is hard, I think it's easy therefore the MCAT should have more of it."
Every single one of your posts in this thread makes me internet rage.
"I'm much better at organic chemistry than biology. Therefore, the MCAT should have way more organic chemistry, which I'm better at. If it doesn't have the stuff I'm good at on it, it's unfair."
Are you kidding me dude? Did you even read your first post (although it's close to incomprehensible. what was your VR score?)? "Lots of people think ochem is hard, I think it's easy therefore the MCAT should have more of it."
Every single one of your posts in this thread makes me internet rage.
Well, try to calm down.
I had a 5:2 ration on my test, which lines up nicely with the AAMC practice exams. (11-17/52 orgo related questions)
I do find it interesting the official AAMC guide NEVER specifies a ratio between the two subjects.......
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You're saying it's not fair to "everyone" to have less orgo on the MCAT because most people do not like orgo while you just happen to be good at it?
Strong reasoning skills here...
I was VERY disappointed too when I found out orgo was not half of BS. I love it and did well in the class too 🙁 I don't love humanities but somehow always score over 90% on humanities verbal passages and less than 70% on natural science passages 
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I got one orgo passage and like 3-4 discretes, but I felt as if there was some semi-orgo/biochem inserted into the bio passages.
Right before test day it dawned on me that the orgo on the MCAT is a lot less complicated than I thought. Looking over what I did wrong on practice exams, I realized I knew the answers, but the fear of orgo was making it hard to think straight. I could see how orgo would be easier than some bio passages, because it requires less reading comprehension and problem solving (meaning one can prep for it better).
As an aside, it would be nice if there was a consistent ratio of orgo:bio or physics:chem, but I guess that is why the MCAT is such a @#$%^.
Right before test day it dawned on me that the orgo on the MCAT is a lot less complicated than I thought. Looking over what I did wrong on practice exams, I realized I knew the answers, but the fear of orgo was making it hard to think straight. I could see how orgo would be easier than some bio passages, because it requires less reading comprehension and problem solving (meaning one can prep for it better).
As an aside, it would be nice if there was a consistent ratio of orgo:bio or physics:chem, but I guess that is why the MCAT is such a @#$%^.
To centrigeugle, calm down hotshot....why are you wasting your time replying to this thread if you don't like it...you just good at making yourself looking an ass****. Yea man my English sucks, because I'm ESL but what that makes you? Jesus?
I'm not saying that organic chemistry should be more JUST because I'm good at it despite how many people like it or hate it. I'm saying it should be at least 50 50 so that nobody complains whether from the huge amount of it in the test or from the small amount of it in the test.
Jesus guys, I was just throwing a point...can't we just have a fair discussion with no immature posts? If you don't like my post or you have an idea to share, please do. Maybe I'm incorrect in my reasoning or maybe my idea was hard to understand but you guys can tell me what's your point and what you think instead of saying immature things.
And to 996GT2, You clearly didn't get my point to judge me. I agree that a lot of people don't like orgo but not MOST people! it shouldn't be about the majority here. Heck, I know 85 % of people don't like the verbal reasoning, that means they should remove it since the MAJORITY don't like it? no.
The thing is in my morning exam, I had only ONE orgo passage while the afternoon exam had like 3 passages. I'm pretty sure I would have done better in the more orgo version. I ain't being selfish right here and that's why I said at least 50 % or 33 % to the minimum if you say.
Finally, to anyone who is about to post immature posts judging me in the wrong way like these two guys, don't waste your time buddies....your posts won't change anything and you are only wasting your valuable time. Thank you!
I was VERY disappointed too when I found out orgo was not half of BS. I love it and did well in the class too 🙁 I don't love humanities but somehow always score over 90% on humanities verbal passages and less than 70% on natural science passages
LOL I'm the exact opposite. Dude I get a lot happy when I see a science passage and hate myself if I see any other type of passage. Surprisingly in my test, I had like 4 science passages at least which never happened to me before. I was shocked, but they were not by any means easy.
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First of all, you haven't gotten your scores back yet so you don't know how well you did. You could have ended up doing very well for all you know.
Second of all, don't ask how the test can change to better suit you, ask how you can improve yourself to do better on the test 😉. If a person was really prepared for the MCAT, they wouldn't be worrying over petty things like what topics will appear on their specific test...they'd be prepared for anything. So, instead of saying that there should be more orgo on the MCAT, why not ask yourself how you can improve your skills in the rest of the BS section? It would help you out in medical school anyway.
LOL you think my question or post would change the test any ways? I know it won't, I just felt like posting the thread and saying my point. I'm actually not bad in the rest of BS, which is bio. I'm good at it too even though orgo is better for me. And I agree too that the bio in BS will be more helpful in medical school than orgo. If I do good in my MCAT, especially in the BS, I will come especial for you and hug you 😀
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Okay well anyways your point is bad.
50/50 would be completely pointless as organic chemistry is all but totally useless when practicing medicine (sorry bro).
edit: massive lol at the "here's a super long post but don't bother wasting your time answering it because i already wasted all my time typing it so therefore i win. so don't answer. please. you're just wasting your time destroying my completely terrible point." Welcome to the internet.
50/50 would be completely pointless as organic chemistry is all but totally useless when practicing medicine (sorry bro).
edit: massive lol at the "here's a super long post but don't bother wasting your time answering it because i already wasted all my time typing it so therefore i win. so don't answer. please. you're just wasting your time destroying my completely terrible point." Welcome to the internet.
Go tell the medical school you are applying to that organic chemistry is all but useless and see what they say. I wonder what you got on it to make you say this...plus why are you hating dude? Seriously get a life and stop replying to my post if it makes you that angry...and when you get in medical school then open your mouth punk.
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Pot calling kettle black?
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I got straight A's in organic chemistry and a 12 on every section, but thanks for playing. Medical schools clearly agree that most of organic chemistry is useless, considering they don't teach it and how little of it exists on the MCAT. I'm fantastic at organic - that isn't my problem. My problem is that your argument is stupid.
Seriously, get a life and stop posting on a public forum if you can't handle getting public replies. I'm "hating" because your entire point is a) completely illogical nonsense, b) incredibly arrogant and entitled, and c) written like you're just smashing erlenmeyer flasks on the keyboard and seeing what happens. Seriously, people like you make me feel better about my competition this cycle.
Also, I've seen distilling columns that talk better smack than you.
You need to calm down. You are really doing an excellent job of making a mountain out of a mole hill. Of course the OP is FULLY aware the AAMC won't accommodate her preferences to suit her strengths or fulfill a certain paradigm of equal representation of subjects. I think he/she is just looking for a light-hearted discussion.
By the way, the argument that because organic chemistry is less useful to medicine, therefore it should have less representation on the MCAT is also stupid because the premise leading to the conclusion is false. I took a graduate course in bio-organic chemistry, and many drugs target critical enzymes or interfere with certain important steps in cellular biochemistry. Even some mechanisms of enzyme function involve complex organic mechanistic principles. This course incorporated many critical concepts from organic chemistry.
There is a lot of sense in 50-50 representation as the OP states. My PS was 70% physics. The OP and many others would rather see 50-50 representation, but the AAMC will randomize as they seem fit. I don't think the AAMC has a medical-school-oriented goal in how they represent subjects in a test as the process is "somewhat" random. Some BS sections contain more organic chemistry than biology. This single occurrence alone is inconsistent with the argument that the MCAT exalts the primacy of biology over organic chemistry. If it were true, every BS section would feature more biology over organic chemistry . The point is that one should be prepared for everything. End of story.
And stop being so emotional.
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I'm perfectly calm, actually. However, if you assert something, you should be, you know, correct. I'm not emotional in the least (other than irritated by your molehill/mountain of wrongness).
You're also wrong, but nice attempt with premise/conclusion formal logicy stuff. Saying that your bio-organic chemistry class used organic chemistry is completely and totally pointless. Your organic chemistry class used organic chemistry. Great. Notice how it also wasn't medical school, so once more pointless.
I took a full year of biochemistry - real biochemistry, not one of these strange almost-but-not-quite-actual-biochem "bioorganic molecular chemistry of living biosystems" style classes. The only real ochem you need to know is resonance and carbonyl chemistry. Everything else is nonsense, as is your painfully florid rambling about "complex mechanistic steps". Not really. Enzyme mechanics are easy, and once again involve mostly carbonyl proton transfer and resonance. Medical students frequently post here saying how useless ochem is.
50-50 representation makes no sense whatsoever because biology is more important than organic chemistry, full stop.
You're also wrong, but nice attempt with premise/conclusion formal logicy stuff. Saying that your bio-organic chemistry class used organic chemistry is completely and totally pointless. Your organic chemistry class used organic chemistry. Great. Notice how it also wasn't medical school, so once more pointless.
I took a full year of biochemistry - real biochemistry, not one of these strange almost-but-not-quite-actual-biochem "bioorganic molecular chemistry of living biosystems" style classes. The only real ochem you need to know is resonance and carbonyl chemistry. Everything else is nonsense, as is your painfully florid rambling about "complex mechanistic steps". Not really. Enzyme mechanics are easy, and once again involve mostly carbonyl proton transfer and resonance. Medical students frequently post here saying how useless ochem is.
50-50 representation makes no sense whatsoever because biology is more important than organic chemistry, full stop.
Every BS section does have more biology than ochem. Thanks for playing.
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"biological sciences subtest as the best predictor of medical school performance in the preclinical years (r = 0.32 95% CI, 0.21-0.42) and on the USMLE Step 1 (r = 0.48 95% CI, 0.41-0.54)."
Source: http://www.educus.com/Journals/17198300
I know this is not the point of the thread, but just thought some posters would be interested.
Source: http://www.educus.com/Journals/17198300
I know this is not the point of the thread, but just thought some posters would be interested.
Do you have evidence that supports the claim that the trend towards less organic chemistry is due to the little relevance it has to medical school? Of course you'll probably argue that it's just common sense without any evidence to back that up 🙄
Secondly, If your argument is that the content of the MCAT is geared towards medicine, why do you sometimes have a greater representation of physics on the test? Why isn't the PS always more chemistry and less physics? I imagine that general chemistry will be more relevant to medicine than physics.
Finally, though isolated, there have been MCAT versions that have had more organic chemistry content that biology. I have a few friends in medical school who have told me their MCAT contained more organic chemistry and warned me not to neglect it. I think I'll trust their opinions over the ramblings of some emotional kid.
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k. 👍 good luck with your score fellows.
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and the winner by heavy weight knockouttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt
centrigeugle. I couldn't agree more with everything you said. Good luck this season.
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With grammar like yours, I would put a great deal of effort into the writing section even though it does not matter as much as the other ones. If you get killed on it, this will look bad...
Dude chill, this is internet it's not like I'm writing an official paper...damn. Ok guys you think my English sucks and my reasoning is bad and my argument is pretty much stupid, thank you for saying that but what does that make you once again? Jesus? I'm pretty sure each of you has as much problems in their school or life as I do. BTW, I have a 4.0 GPA and I pulled two straight A's in my two english classes and I once again pulled an A in advanced political science course that required a lot of writing and reading. So come on now, you can't judge the book from it's cover.
Oh and I got a 45T in my MCAT...now am I really saying the truth? Probably not and you are probably lying too. Even if you are saying the truth, 12 isn't all that impressive and getting an A in organic chemistry depends on how hard was your class and your professor not how hard the subject is. Plus getting an A in organic chemistry isn't again that impressive.
And for the part about competition, dude relax...if we put each part of our application in comparison, I'm sure I would win any time..but this is so childish because it isn't all about academic performance but it's more about how you are oriented in life and how you view things.
I appreciate it much to get comments like that from you, I didn't know that many premeds are actually ass*****.
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What a mature, considerate, and well-written post. I give you my utmost congratulations. Harvard medical school should be proud to have you as a matriculant.
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left in the bjj in case we need to rumble irl
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Ochem is not useful in Biochemistry. I don't know who told you this, but Medical Biochemistry = Biochemistry^2 + Pathology/Random Diseases - Ochem. In fact, Ochem is useless for life in general 🙂
All the Cell Bio, Genetic, and Physiology tidbits you learn from Biology or A/P will be very, very useful in medical school. That + your wits is what's being tested on the BS section of the MCAT.
