Do lab classes help w/ MCAT?

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In your experience or opinion, do lab classes play a substantual part in helping you get that great MCAT score.

I'm thinking about waiting until after the MCAT to take my O. Chem and Biology Labs. Mostly to spread the classes out a bit.

 

[DrYoda]

I'm gonna say no, my school's labs are for the most part useless.

 

[requeim]

i dont quite agree with the op. here's why. we are required to take labs because they allow us to apply what we have learned in a reg class to a diff or unique situation. this is in essence what the mcat is testing, imo.

for example, in my human physiology class we learned about the kidneys. so i read the chapter in the textbook about kidneys and had an understanding of how they work etc. in lab, we did a lab on a computer which let us simulate different conditions and its effect on kidney function (different blood pressures, introduction of different hormones etc). i took a lot more from the lab than just listening to the lecture in class and reading the text.

this isn't a blanket statement...there obviously will be some labs that are useless. in any case, i think we should pay a bit more attention to the labs.

 

[Hindiana_Jones]

They don't play a SUBSTANTIAL part in bringing up your score. You could take these classes after the MCAT.While there only maybe one organic chemistry passage cropping up on the bios section, it may be an experimental passage, which would require knowledge from lab, such as fractional distillation, chromatography, etc. All the review books I have looked at have some the techniques from o-chem lab in them, so as long as you review them, you'll be okay. Taking organic chem lab will give you a deeper understanding of the material, but it's not critical. So pretty much what Dr.Yoda said...

 

[Revilla]

I found that both Organic and General Chemistry labs helped me. When dealing with solution chemistry, it's easier for me to remember what we did in lab with various solutions and why than memorizing solubility rules. For Organic, if you scan the practice tests, you'll see a handful of questions on lab techniques. If you learn them from a review book, you should be okay, but to me, nothing's better than doing it yourself. When you know what you're doing, you also learn the why and that can only help you understand the procedure you're given on the MCAT.

As for biology, I didn't find the lab all that useful for the MCAT. I had a difficult Bio I teacher so you had to know the material like the back of your hand for lecture so maybe that's why I got more out of lecture than lab. You will have to know some basic lab techniques and it helps if you've done things like electrophoresis, but it's not as prevalent as the Organic lab questions.

 

[ewKinematics]

I have encountered a few questions in chem and o-chem that I only knew the answers to because I had done something similar in lab. I wouldn't say you MUST take labs before the MCAT, but it might help you on a passage or two- you never know.

 

[MadEvans]

I took the MCAT June 13th and I feel there were a couple o-chem lab questions that I wouldn't have mastered without taking both the class + the lab together. Depends if your school stresses things like IR, solubility based upon structure and MW, and acidity/hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity (if those are words). So, it won't kill you - but I'd definitely look the stuff over or at least go through a solid review book to make sure you've got it all.

 

[ballofnerves]

I haven't written the MCAT yet, but organic chem labs have helped me on the AAMC practice tests. They haven't helped immensely, but I never have any problems when questions about lab techniques (distillation, extraction, chromatography) happen to pop up.

 

[requeim]

i think labs are better for chemistry than biology because you get to see what's happening with your eyes. you can read about reactions and such in a textbook but compared to actually seeing it happen, a textbook has little meaning.

the mcat does only test basic lab techniques but i would def have taken the chem labs before the mcat.