How useful are the actual classes?

[Physics of Math]

Long story short, I took gen-chem in high school, and I don't really remember that much. Do I need to retake it to do well in orgo and on the mcat, or can I study it out?

As a corollary, are pre-med classes useful in and of themselves, or is it really, mostly the self-study time? Id est, can I take the easiest, they-don't-teach teachers if it doesn't make a difference?

Thanks

P.S. I got an A, but I'm pretty sure that had to do with the huge curve in the class.

P.P.S I don't mean this to sound lazy; quite the opposite, I'm trying to make sure I do it well.

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[aggie08]

Long story short, I took gen-chem in high school, and I don't really remember that much. Do I need to retake it to do well in orgo and on the mcat, or can I study it out?

As a corollary, are pre-med classes useful in and of themselves, or is it really, mostly the self-study time? Id est, can I take the easiest, they-don't-teach teachers if it doesn't make a difference?

Thanks

P.S. I got an A, but I'm pretty sure that had to do with the huge curve in the class.

P.P.S I don't mean this to sound lazy; quite the opposite, I'm trying to make sure I do it well.

A lot of med schools do not accept HS credit as a pre-req class.

I don't really understand your question. All classes will depend on the teacher, no matter what you take in some you will learn more from the prof and in others you will learn more on your own. Are they useful? Well, you're not going to do well on the MCAT without them and you aren't going to get into Med School without doing well on the MCAT....so yes, I'd say they are quite useful.

 

[Zona Pellucida]

All the pre-reqs are extremely important for the MCAT.

Biochemistry can help, but Cell Biology seems to help a lot also (especially with recent trends) ...but none of these MUST be taken before it.

Can't comment on usefulness for medical school but I'll assume anatomy, microbiology, biochemistry, cell biology, genetics, etc all come back in a big way (upper level bio's).

 

[Physics of Math]

1. The class appears on my official college transcript. I took the class from the college, and there's no way to tell I was in high school...save the date...

2. I meant, do you think you NEED to be in the classes (or under a good teacher) to do well on the mcat...or in my case orgo. Should I retake gen-chem as a formal class, or will studying from a textbook/study guide/etc be sufficient?

 

[seelee]

This response is coming from a Chemistry major who always got frustrated with the people who just wanted to get through the class as quick as possible.

Prereqs provide a foundation to medical school. Having an understanding of them is essential to understanding the material presented in med school. However, do you need to take the class to get that foundation if you already have the credit? Short answer: No. Do I think you can get the foundation from self study? It honestly depends on your learning style and how much time you would put into it. Taking the class forces you to put the time in. If you have the self discipline to study on your own then have at it.

With respect to orgo, it is not nearly as big a factor as it used to be. Genetics, Anatomy, Physiology, and Molecular/Cell biology are much bigger factors nowadays. However, if you have a solid understanding of chemistry and biology, you can learn what you need to know on your own.

That being said, the quick and easy path (dark side) is taking the easiest class that won't make you look like a wuss on your application.

 

[Disinence2]

In most situations, the person giving the lectures is the person writing the test. Typically by showing up to lectures (Which is really only a couple hours a week) you can get a pretty good idea of what questions are going to be on your exam. This is much harder to figure out if you just spend your time memorizing the entire textbook. Good grades are important so I would take every advantage you can get. Make sure you still put some quality time in with the text book.

I too had classes I took in high school count for college credit. They transfer to med school the same way community college credits work. If your university accepts them, then there's a good chance that most medical schools do. Just make sure you have some upper div classes as well, and rock the MCAT.

 

[bravofleet4]

When you say study it out, I hope you don't imagine it's going to be like review. You're going have to learn an entire a year or two worth of the subject on your own.

Chemistry is a big part of the Physical Sciences section and you do have to be pretty good at it do well. Organic chemistry is on the Biological Sciences side and may not be that important but you will likely get anywhere from 3-10 questions on it. Unless you think you can ace every other question, those O. Chem questions could make or break your MCAT score. Remember the MCAT scales dramatically at the higher end. Every few questions missed is a drop in your score. Meaning you can miss quite a few and get a 10 but to get a 15 you have to be perfect. That's why average MCAT for matriculants is 33 out of 45.

What you need to ask yourself is if you're going to rely on your natural smarts or hard work to carry yourself through. I'm sure some people can do it but most of us can't cover that amount of material by ourselves. Try taking a practice test or two on the physical sciences section now and see where you are (assuming you've already taken physics too).