How much Physiology is on the MCAT?

[Mr_Churchill]

The title says it all. You may have seen my other thread: https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/how-much-will-a-w-in-anatomy-hurt.1239922/#post-18564065

Preface: I am a second semester Freshman. 3.762 CGPA last semester. Taking (at the very least) Chemistry 2 this Summer along with either Calculus 1 or Statistics.

Anatomy is a pre-req for Physiology at my university. I am planning on withdrawing from Anatomy. So, how beneficial is Physiology to the MCAT? Is it a manageable sort of thing that you can teach yourself on your own in your free time?

Would a survey course of Anatomy and Physiology be at all useful if taken this Summer at a CC?

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[Lannister]

iirc there really wasn't a ton of anatomy and physiology on the MCAT, and most of it was stuff you should have learned in intro bio.

 

[Mr_Churchill]

iirc there really wasn't a ton of anatomy and physiology on the MCAT, and most of it was stuff you should have learned in intro bio.

Could I get away with just taking a summer survey course in combined A&P? Or, if not even that, just don't take either at all and just review before taking the MCAT?

 

[Lannister]

Could I get away with just taking a summer survey course in combined A&P? Or, if not even that, just don't take either at all and just review before taking the MCAT?

What's a survey course?

 

[deleted738762]

It depends on your exam. Some people have a good amount of physiology, and some don't. Also, physiology will help because from my experience everyone that has taken it said that it helped on MCAT. It just depends, just like you might have less physics on yours as apposed to someone else. Finally, physiology is great, it ties in all the basics sciences you have learned from biology to biochemistry and even some physics. It's a great class and I suggest you take it for mcat, medical school, and just knowing how everything works.

 

[ciucia53]

AAMC details what is on the MCAT and you can look over that here: https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-medical-school/article/whats-mcat-exam/
I think this section goes over what you would need to know in terms of "anatomy & physio": https://students-residents.aamc.org...ool/article/mcat-2015-foundational-concept-3/

But like Lannister said above, it's really what you would learn in like your core bio classes -- aka what's the structure of a neuron, a nephron, a muscle cell? Things like that. As far as I remember, you don't have to know things like the names of bones and muscles and I don't see that on the AAMC site, either. If anything, maybe there would be a passage that talks about certain anatomical features, but in that case, all the info you need to answer questions would be in the passage itself!

Hope this helps 🙂

 

[Mr_Churchill]

What's a survey course?

Typically taken by students who aren't really going into that profession and tends to be dumbed down quite a bit.

 

[deleted738762]

AAMC details what is on the MCAT and you can look over that here: https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-medical-school/article/whats-mcat-exam/
I think this section goes over what you would need to know in terms of "anatomy & physio": https://students-residents.aamc.org...ool/article/mcat-2015-foundational-concept-3/

But like Lannister said above, it's really what you would learn in like your core bio classes -- aka what's the structure of a neuron, a nephron, a muscle cell? Things like that. As far as I remember, you don't have to know things like the names of bones and muscles and I don't see that on the AAMC site, either. If anything, maybe there would be a passage that talks about certain anatomical features, but in that case, all the info you need to answer questions would be in the passage itself!

Hope this helps 🙂

Naming muscles & bones is not physiology. That's anatomy. He/She was asking about physiology.

 

[Lannister]

Typically taken by students who aren't really going into that profession and tends to be dumbed down quite a bit.

I mean, I think that would be fine if that's what you want to do, but do you not have a physiology course that's part of your intro bio sequence? That's all you need and unless you really want to take upper level anatomy and physiology, I wouldn't worry about taking anything else.

 

[Mr_Churchill]

AAMC details what is on the MCAT and you can look over that here: https://students-residents.aamc.org/applying-medical-school/article/whats-mcat-exam/
I think this section goes over what you would need to know in terms of "anatomy & physio": https://students-residents.aamc.org...ool/article/mcat-2015-foundational-concept-3/

But like Lannister said above, it's really what you would learn in like your core bio classes -- aka what's the structure of a neuron, a nephron, a muscle cell? Things like that. As far as I remember, you don't have to know things like the names of bones and muscles and I don't see that on the AAMC site, either. If anything, maybe there would be a passage that talks about certain anatomical features, but in that case, all the info you need to answer questions would be in the passage itself!

Hope this helps 🙂

I skimmed both your links and truthfully, just from that initial read-through of it all, it seems like you would just need a broad understanding of organ systems and how they all tie in together as opposed to knowing specifics about every anatomical feature and process.

I mean, I think that would be fine if that's what you want to do, but do you not have a physiology course that's part of your intro bio sequence? That's all you need and unless you really want to take upper level anatomy and physiology, I wouldn't worry about taking anything else.

The only physiology course offered has a pre-req of our only anatomy course.

EDIT: I stand corrected. Here is the actual lowest course offering (but sounds like a survey course). Here is the course description for PHYS 205 (PHYS 215 is the one that has the anatomy pre-req):

"Human physiology emphasizing major functions of each system. Intended for health science and health and physical education teaching majors, science teaching majors, and radiography majors. Includes use of animals or animal tissue."

 

[ciucia53]

Naming muscles & bones is not physiology. That's anatomy. He/She was asking about physiology.

my b

 

[deleted738762]

my b

I feel like an a-hole now lol.

 

[Lannister]

I skimmed both your links and truthfully, just from that initial read-through of it all, it seems like you would just need a broad understanding of organ systems and how they all tie in together as opposed to knowing specifics about every anatomical feature and process.



The only physiology course offered has a pre-req of our only anatomy course.

EDIT: I stand corrected. Here is the actual lowest course offering (but sounds like a survey course):

"Human physiology emphasizing major functions of each system. Intended for health science and health and physical education teaching majors, science teaching majors, and radiography majors. Includes use of animals or animal tissue."

That's really strange that none of your intro bio courses include basic physio...
Anyways, you certainly don't need anatomy for the MCAT. I would either just take the survey course or self-study a little bit of physio, I think you'll be fine either way.

 

[Mr_Churchill]

That's really strange that none of your intro bio courses include basic physio...
Anyways, you certainly don't need anatomy for the MCAT. I would either just take the survey course or self-study a little bit of physio, I think you'll be fine either way.

Bio 1 was cell-bio based and bio 2 (which I'm in now) is more macro (IE evolution, etc). I'm not taking the MCAT until Spring 2019 (end of Junior year) anyways so I'm sure I could throw in some physio in my free time while studying for the exam.

 

[ciucia53]

That's really strange that none of your intro bio courses include basic physio...
Anyways, you certainly don't need anatomy for the MCAT. I would either just take the survey course or self-study a little bit of physio, I think you'll be fine either way.

I agree.

 

[Lannister]

Bio 1 was cell-bio based and bio 2 (which I'm in now) is more macro (IE evolution, etc). I'm not taking the MCAT until Spring 2019 (end of Junior year) anyways so I'm sure I could throw in some physio in my free time while studying for the exam.

Huh, now I'm wondering if my school was the weird one. We had 1 semester of genetics, evolution, and ecology, one semester of cells & proteins, and one semester of physiology and development.

 

[deleted738762]

Bio 1 was cell-bio based and bio 2 (which I'm in now) is more macro (IE evolution, etc). I'm not taking the MCAT until Spring 2019 (end of Junior year) anyways so I'm sure I could throw in some physio in my free time while studying for the exam.

Same here, my bio 1 did not have physiology at all. It had organelles, cellular respiration, & photosynthesis. Bio 2 was evolution based. So in your case, I would greatly suggest taking a physiology course.