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- Jan 22, 2013
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Hey ya'll! 
Here is a trick I picked up last semester when I took human a&p. Our professor was brutal and wanted us to not only master every system in detail, but to be able to apply it to multiple medical scenarios (only critical thinking/free response exams 🙁) Needless to say, it helped prepare me for the MCAT more than any other class I've taken... here's how I got an A in the course, and what's helping me retain info in orgo and molecular bio as I study for my MCAT to be taken in April.
What I've done that has helped is print off the BS/PS section content outline, and start from the top. With each concept, (for example, the first topics listed on the BS section talk about enzymes/feedback inhibition), grab a good textbook that has a solid diagram (in most major textbooks, there's a detailed diagram for almost EVERY CONCEPT in bio, and orgo, and many in the physical sciences/physics), get a mini white board, and redraw/relabel the diagram...over and over and over. While you're drawing it, explain out loud what's going on in the diagram to an imaginary person as if you are tutoring them. Basically get to the point where you can draw/discuss the entire diagram without looking at the textbook for reference.
For instance, to get down the circulatory system, I drew an outline of the human body, drew a heart, and then used red markers to draw the arteries, blue markers for the veins, and drew the paths of everything while describing it.
I think it helps when reading a passage to convert what you are reading to the image that is in your head from drawing the diagrams, which really are helpful in understanding EXACTLY what is going on. I'm not saying that this will work for everyone, but this is definitely how I still remember most of the complicated things I learned (ex. the nervous system) even though it's been 7 months since I've looked at any of that
Hope this helps!! And good luck to everyone 🙂
Here is a trick I picked up last semester when I took human a&p. Our professor was brutal and wanted us to not only master every system in detail, but to be able to apply it to multiple medical scenarios (only critical thinking/free response exams 🙁) Needless to say, it helped prepare me for the MCAT more than any other class I've taken... here's how I got an A in the course, and what's helping me retain info in orgo and molecular bio as I study for my MCAT to be taken in April.
What I've done that has helped is print off the BS/PS section content outline, and start from the top. With each concept, (for example, the first topics listed on the BS section talk about enzymes/feedback inhibition), grab a good textbook that has a solid diagram (in most major textbooks, there's a detailed diagram for almost EVERY CONCEPT in bio, and orgo, and many in the physical sciences/physics), get a mini white board, and redraw/relabel the diagram...over and over and over. While you're drawing it, explain out loud what's going on in the diagram to an imaginary person as if you are tutoring them. Basically get to the point where you can draw/discuss the entire diagram without looking at the textbook for reference.
For instance, to get down the circulatory system, I drew an outline of the human body, drew a heart, and then used red markers to draw the arteries, blue markers for the veins, and drew the paths of everything while describing it.
I think it helps when reading a passage to convert what you are reading to the image that is in your head from drawing the diagrams, which really are helpful in understanding EXACTLY what is going on. I'm not saying that this will work for everyone, but this is definitely how I still remember most of the complicated things I learned (ex. the nervous system) even though it's been 7 months since I've looked at any of that
Hope this helps!! And good luck to everyone 🙂
