How much genetics was really on the April 2004 MCAT?

[MDtoBe777]

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Hi! Those who took April 2004 MCAT:
I know there was a ton of genetics on it. Since you can't post exact questions on the thread, can you perhaps post the topics within Genetics that were covered? Thank you so much. By the way, do you have to be able to calculate the distances between genes, and the frequency of recombination? Any advice you can provide will be greatly appreciated. 😀

 

[Swack]

Hi! Those who took April 2004 MCAT:
I know there was a ton of genetics on it. Since you can't post exact questions on the thread, can you perhaps post the topics within Genetics that were covered? Thank you so much. By the way, do you have to be able to calculate the distances between genes, and the frequency of recombination? Any advice you can provide will be greatly appreciated. 😀

On my form I distinctly remember 3 genetics passages. You have to know how to read a pedigree, how to calculate allelic/genotypic frequencies, heredity patterns, etc.. hope this helps.

 

[MDtoBe777]

When you say hereditary patterns....are you talking about sex linked traits, etc?

 

[MoosePilot]

Hi! Those who took April 2004 MCAT:
I know there was a ton of genetics on it. Since you can't post exact questions on the thread, can you perhaps post the topics within Genetics that were covered? Thank you so much. By the way, do you have to be able to calculate the distances between genes, and the frequency of recombination? Any advice you can provide will be greatly appreciated. 😀

Wow. Since you can't take notes and are told not to memorize, how are we supposed to have this data? 😳

I have no idea exactly. I know there was at least one passage requiring a pedigree.

I don't think there was anything on distance and frequency of recombination, but I could be wrong.

 

[MDtoBe777]

Please say it wasn't a pedigree like the crazy one in TPR's ICC!!! 😕

 

[Swack]

When you say hereditary patterns....are you talking about sex linked traits, etc?

Yea, just know generally how alleles are inherited (ex: a Bb heterozygote must have gotten the b from the mother if the father was BB). And I don't know if I'm allowed to say this, but there was a question where I actually had to calculate a number using p^2 + pq + q^2. Luckily I got it right cause I remembered from my genetics class, but I thought it really came outta left field. I dunno how much I can talk about the questions cause at e-mcat we had big long discussions about questions afterwards until the mod ended up deleting a whole bunch of my posts 🙁.

P.S. The MCAT loves drosophila flies

 

[MoosePilot]

Please say it wasn't a pedigree like the crazy one in TPR's ICC!!! 😕

I don't think it was anything outrageous, but it did have the potential to bog you down, particularly if you like that sort of thing, which I do. I hate it when I actually get into a problem.

 

[UCLAstudent]

I had four genetics passages, as well as some standalone questions. One passage had a pedigree. Another had a really long molecular pathway that we had to make sense of.

 

[Shades McCool]

I dont remember anything about my MCAT BIO section.

 

[N-toxicologist]

Please say it wasn't a pedigree like the crazy one in TPR's ICC!!! 😕

I remember that one. No, MCAT's more basic.

As far as recombination frequencies, I doubt we'd have to calculate anything, but know that the closer two alleles are to one another, the better chance they have of being passed on together.Aren't the frequencies proportional to map units? If it came up, I don't see it being any harder than that, and it would probably be something passage-based, anyway. 👍

 

[Shades McCool]

1 mu = 1% recomb

 

[MoosePilot]

1 mu = 1% recomb

Yeah and the further apart they are, the greater the chance of re-recombination, so the percent recombination will underestimate the distance, because some of the recombinations are hidden by a 2nd recombination.

 

[FitnessModelMD]

Yeah and the further apart they are, the greater the chance of re-recombination .....

That is only true up to 50 map units. alleles further than 50 centi-morgans apart on a chromosome behave as if they were on seperate chromosomes for genetic purposes and obey mendel's second law. so alleles further than 50 m.u. apart will NEVER have a greater chance of 50% recombination.

so if two alleles are on the same chromosome and are 72 map units apart and you are asked to calculate the fqcy. recomb....the answer is math-free! just write 50% and your done and 100% right! 👍 🙂

 

[UseUrHeadFred]

Dude, you replied to a thread that's over three months old.

 

[Fermata]

Dude, you replied to a thread that's over three months old.

True. But he did add something relevant.

 

[FitnessModelMD]

True. But he did add something relevant.

haha..Thank you, its guys like you who learn more because your always open to information. I wonder if that other zipper head knows how old many of the things he is being taught are.

anyways..i was doing a search on the MCAT and was reading some responses..thats how i ended up doing that.

 

[UseUrHeadFred]

I believe the purpose of this forum is to answer questions of people regarding the MCAT and getting into medical school. If we started answering every question asked months or years ago, then that goal would be serverely compromised.

Thanks for the ad hominem attack by the way. "I wonder if that other (insert attack) knows how much good can be done by not calling people names."