Did you memorize all 20 amino acids?

[Monkeymaniac]

Hi.

Did you memorize the structures of all 20 amino acids before you took MCAT?

And do you think it actually helps when we take biology section?

Thanks.

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[spicedmanna]

Hi.

Did you memorize the structures of all 20 amino acids before you took MCAT?

And do you think it actually helps when we take biology section?

Thanks.

No, I didn't commit them to memory, and I don't think it's necessary. I did, however, make an effort to understand the classifications, and a little about acid/base properties (pI), R groups, polar/nonpolar, and hydrophobicity trends. Knowing a little about how they are classified stereochemically might help a little, too. But I wouldn't bother with memorizing exact structures and names.

 

[Monkeymaniac]

Thanks for your awesome reply.

 

[Law2Doc]

Hi.

Did you memorize the structures of all 20 amino acids before you took MCAT?

And do you think it actually helps when we take biology section?

Thanks.

It won't be useful on the MCAT. But FWIW, you will likely be required to know them in biochem in med school, so if you already memorized them, you are ahead of the game.

 

[TauPathology]

Again, no to the original question. I would like to stress, however, that information you learn in biochemistry during that part of the year (during general amino acid and protein lectures) will come in very handy, or at least it would have for me this August.

 

[DrBowtie]

I knew Glycine (simplest), the disulfide bridge one, and the ring one (Histidine I believe).

 

[Jonassen]

It's not that hard to memorize 20 compounds with the same backbone structures. If you have time to post the question on SDN, you could have already memorized 5. The next MCAT is 4 months away.

But yeah, you don't need to, still it's good to know.

 

[BigRedPremed]

Hi.

Did you memorize the structures of all 20 amino acids before you took MCAT?



Thanks.

Yes...but not for the MCAT. It was required for my biochem class and now for my protein class but not required for the MCAT. As someone has said, being able to group them into categories (polar, alipathic, aromatic, etc.) is good.

 

[smuwillobrien]

I had two semesters of Biochemistry before I wrote the MCAT, so although I didn't consciously memorize the twenty common amino acids, I did know their structures by heart.

Just make sure that you know that the alpha carbon has an amino group, carboxylic acid group, hydrogen, and a variable alkyl group (R). Rather then learning all the R groups just realize that some make the amino acid acidic, basic, polar, and non - polar - some R groups like cysteine are useful to know, incase you get a question on sulfur links.

Other then that though I wouldn't worry about it - I had no questions that related to this knowledge on the August MCAT.

 

[supafield]

I knew Glycine (simplest), the disulfide bridge one, and the ring one (Histidine I believe).

Cysteine I think it was.... oh god I don't want to have to take this again

 

[IckeyShuffle]

understand properties about them but it is not necessary to memorize them. They will give you the structures (i had some questions like this on the real deal but they gave me the structures)

 

[Mr. Tee]

nope, i essentially knew them already....

but it helps to know the general structure of certain groups of amino acids. cysteine comes up alot due to its ability to form sulfide bridges. which ones are polar? nonpolar? acidic? basic? you don't need to know the exact structure, but just the functional group really.

 

[solitude]

Hi.

Did you memorize the structures of all 20 amino acids before you took MCAT?

And do you think it actually helps when we take biology section?

Thanks.

I hadn't, but I knew that cysteine forms disulfide bridges, and I knew the functional groups that they fall into and how that can affect pI, etc. I wouldn't waste your time memorizing them just for the MCAT. I never came across a question where I would have needed to have memorized them, and I took 12 practice exams.

 

[smuwillobrien]

understand properties about them but it is not necessary to memorize them. They will give you the structures (i had some questions like this on the real deal but they gave me the structures)

Just like this guy says... any passage I've ever seen on an AAMC MCAT (practice and real) will give you the structures.

 

[MediaMan]

I knew Glycine (simplest), the disulfide bridge one, and the ring one (Histidine I believe).

proline

and it definitely doesn't hurt to know them, but knowing which is polar/hydrophobic/acidic/basic is probably more important than the exact structures

 

[applyingsucks]

I had one question on my mcat (DISCRETE); no strucutre given, asking to pick out the polar amino acid from the group (the names were listed). I had some dumb acronym for it at the time that I cant remeber. They will never ask you to draw a structure (its scantron) just get an idea of the functional groups.

As for the mcat and the types of questions they ask, they are leaning toward more "how you think" as opposed to "what you memorized" type questions. I only had 3-4 spit back questions on my mcat. I was kinda pissed I memorized most of the **** I did.

All in all the mcat sucks, just do it, get it over with, and start filling out secondaries. (which such a lot, but slightly less than the mcat)

 

[Coldsweat_06]

I had two semesters of Biochemistry before I wrote the MCAT, so although I didn't consciously memorize the twenty common amino acids, I did know their structures by heart.

Just make sure that you know that the alpha carbon has an amino group, carboxylic acid group, hydrogen, and a variable alkyl group (R). Rather then learning all the R groups just realize that some make the amino acid acidic, basic, polar, and non - polar - some R groups like cysteine are useful to know, incase you get a question on sulfur links.

Other then that though I wouldn't worry about it - I had no questions that related to this knowledge on the August MCAT.

I totally agree with you. Except I actually had a question on my August MCAT that dealt with this material. I would know whether the amino acid is basic, polar, non-polar, or acidic because it made the question really, REALLY easy. Hopefully this will help.

 

[applyingsucks]

august mcat as well

 

[nick661806]

On my form of the august MCAT, there was one question that basically required you to know the stucture to answer it. But it was one question out of the 75 or so; i wouldnt waste time memorizing them all.

 

[GujuMD]

don't memorize all 20 structures...just know the basics about amino acids.

 

[akinf]

I knew them from Biochem, and I think it may have helped on one Kaplan practice test. So, I'd say you don't need to know them, but if you do, it is probably going to be a bonus. One of those things AAMC would probably put as 1 question on the entire MCAT.

 

[simpleman]

u dont have to memorize it, but it helps if u memorized all of them so u can picture their orientation when a questions comes up. I did and it really helped.