AAMC FL 7, Question 103

[Chunkle]

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The question asks how many cells would be produced by an egg after three days if the embryo divides every 10 hours.

So the calculation is simple: by ~70 hours you'll have 128 cells.

But an embryo is an ovum fertilized by a sperm.. not an ovum itself, which can't go through mitosis to divide like this.

So I guess my question is, is an egg an ovum? or a fertilized embryo.

I know it sounds stupid, but this test makes me really paranoid.

 

[richkaj]

I believe the egg and ovum are the same. The fertilized egg is the egg/ovum and sperm together.

I would just focus on the duration. Nothing strategic or tricky here. Duration 10hr doubling. 72 hour. Doubles 7x. 2^7=128... Hope this helps.

 

[MangoPlant]

But the question is asking how many cells would be produced by the egg. 2^7 includes the egg so the answer should be 2^7 - 1 or 127 right?

 

[Trayshawn]

you guys are definitely overthinking it.

The MCAT isn't out to "get you." Don't try to fight the test.

You KNOW the topic they're testing here is your knowledge of division. Considering traps in vocab is being overly paranoid and will waste precious time.

Just my two cents