Hello.

[2DEG]

Hi Folks:

I haven't been on SDN in a long time. I was having trouble posting anything. I hope this posting works.

I am taking post-bacc courses beginning this Fall. With fulltime work and a small family, its pretty difficult (at least for me). But I am taking Gen. Chem 1, and doing pretty well so far. So..I am pretty excited.

The way I had planned was..if I don't do well in the first one or two courses, I will just drop my plan to go to med school. But I am gonna go ahead in fullspeed now.

I am wondering though.. as I am taking these gen. chem etc courses, do you guys have any suggestions as to how I should study with MCAT in mind? Sometimes I wonder if I should go through a MCAT prep-guide as I am taking courses.

Another thing.. how is Pharmacy as a backup plan?

Thanks and hope to hear from you.

Shahab

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[Sweet Tea]

Hey!! Glad to see a fellow Durham resident!! Where are you doing your post-bacc work?

Honestly, I think you'll do much better if you don't study with the MCAT in mind. Doing well in your pre-reqs (instead of just concentrating on material covered in the MCAT) will help you do better in the class AND on the MCAT than will studying with the MCAT in mind.

I can't give you any opinion on pharmacy as a back-up plan, as I don't know much about the pharmacy progams out there.

PM me if you have any questions-- I've been a Durham/Chapel Hill resident for the past 9 years.

Best of luck!!

 

[agent]

i have a similar situation as you. I have a family of my own and work full time and school full time.

chat with me if you want to vent. good luck.

 

[Amy B]

I would suggest you buy the big Kaplan study book in any bookstore. It costs about $70 and is well worth it. When you study for tests you could you the Kaplan book as a reference. Kaplan writes descriptions of topics very nicely. I used it faithfully, especially during physics.

As you may know, not all topics you study will be included on the MCAT. I would use the Kaplan info as a guide and would highlight topics in my textbooks that would most definetly be on the MCAT. I used a pink highlighter for MCAT stuff in my textbooks and notes. The pink was ONLY used for MCAT topics. That way I could quickly thumb through my notes and find MCAT topics when I studied.

Hope this helps.

 

[agent]

good advice for me as well. thanks amy.

 

[LoveDoc]

Shahab,

I recommend not using a calculator whenver possible in G-chem and really focusing on application of chemistry to medicine.

I hope to be in a post-bacc next year. I am enrolled in G-Chem now and I took the April MCAT. I took the TPR class and loved it.

I have an A so far in G-Chem and am really enjoying it because I can really see the 'bigger picture' which became evident after studying for the MCAT.

Try to commit the equations to memory and really understand their concepts. For example, when you see Graham's law on the MCAT it won't be labelled that but just know when and why it's applicable to anatomy/medicine.

You can do it. We both can.

 

[shahab_nc]

Thanks everyone for your kind reply. I have never before enjoyed school so much. Sometimes stress of work and life in general gets me -- I admit. But my determined goal gets me going...and to be honest with, coming here and reading other people's postings gives me a huge energy boost.

I will take the advice I got. I already have that big Kaplan book. So, I think I will spend sometime reading that book without loosing focus on my class.

Again, Thanks. Have a pleasant morning.

shahab

 

[agent]

yeah coming here gives me the encouragement i need as well.

I just got my big stats test back 92%!!!