If you've taken the MCAT: Biology Discretes?

[magictouch]

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How tough are they?

I am not sure how much detail with which to go into my biology studying. I really want a 13+ on BS...and I've been scoring 9 and nailing most of the passage-based questions but getting killed on discretes. That said, I haven't taken any of the bio courses...but I am wondering...if I know everything in the TPR book will I be good? Do I only need to know the basics from it? Basically, how specific have discretes been on recent MCATs?

PS: I am taking Cell Bio, Gen Bio 2, and Biochem next semester, so I am hoping those will help me, but I only have one shot (January MCAT) so I want to do my absolute best.

 

[lNVlNClBLE]

I had some pretty damn specific bio discretes on my MCAT.

I don't know what to say other than "know everything"?

 

[mirabelle]

I had some pretty damn specific bio discretes on my MCAT.

I don't know what to say other than "know everything"?

Exactly the conclusion that I arrived to by doing mt first MCAT preparatory exam. You never know. Even microbs: you have to know some of them and the way they move..Anyways, Better read a lot and remember a lot, and stay motivated.

 

[csx]

Exactly the conclusion that I arrived to by doing mt first MCAT preparatory exam. You never know. Even microbs: you have to know some of them and the way they move..Anyways, Better read a lot and remember a lot, and stay motivated.

What do you mean by the way they move? like flaggellar motion?

 

[Czarcasm]

What do you mean by the way they move? like flaggellar motion?

I was thinking something along the lines of the actual structure: basal body, hook, tail (prokaryotes) vs. flagella in eukaryotes (9+2 microtubule arrangement). You also have cilia for certain eukaryotic cells which is similar in structure.

 

[Roxas]

Most of my BS discretes weren't too bad, but I can still remember 1 very specific question that I wouldn't have known no matter how much I studied. It wasn't difficult, it just required memorization of something that wasn't in any of the prep books that I used.

 

[Czarcasm]

Most of my BS discretes weren't too bad, but I can still remember 1 very specific question that I wouldn't have known no matter how much I studied. It wasn't difficult, it just required memorization of something that wasn't in any of the prep books that I used.

Prioprioception!!!

 

[Czarcasm]

Sorry ignore my random impulses.

 

[lNVlNClBLE]

The fact is, you shouldn't be so focused on knowing EVERY little detail. Your MCAT is going to ask discrete questions, and you may or may not remember them. One of my discrete questions was a tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny little paragraph in EK. I ended up getting it right via PoE / luck anyway.

And really, assuming everything else goes well, missing that random discrete may drop you from a 15 to 14 or 14 to 13. If you nail every single passage / most discrete questions, I don't see you getting less than a 13.

 

[Roxas]

The fact is, you shouldn't be so focused on knowing EVERY little detail. Your MCAT is going to ask discrete questions, and you may or may not remember them. One of my discrete questions was a tiny tiny tiny tiny tiny little paragraph in EK. I ended up getting it right via PoE / luck anyway.

This. You are going to get far more questions right by being able to dissect and understand a convoluted passage then you are trying to memorize every little detail.

 

[mirabelle]

What do you mean by the way they move? like flaggellar motion?

Question: Locomotion of Euglena is accomplished by:
A) pseudopodia
B) Cilia
C) Flagella
D) Microvilli
E) Cauda equina

Answer:
Euglena is a COMMON green flagellate protozoan found in fresh water ponds. Locomotion of Euglena is produced by undulating movements of the flagellum, these movements draw the organism after it in a characteristic spiral path. So answer is (C).

If you read this question for the first time you may just chose c and be right without really knowing that it is the right answer but there is A and B also. E, D are eliminated right from the start, if you studied enough about the human body. Even if some Eukaryotes do have microvilli (see http://www.choano.org/wiki/Choanoflagellates), it seems that they serve for the absorption of nutritive elements, like in the intestines.
I didn't start yet but I have the intention to make a list of the common species of unicellular organisms and study them a little bit. Also, I want to focus more on the taxonomy and remember more the characteristics of the branches, because at school, I didn't pay that much attention to this subject.

 

[shh-pthway]

The passages are there to test your reasoning skills and the discretes are there to test breadth. Yes, there may be one or two challenging discretes (hopefully in a subject you know well!!!) but most of them are way for AAMC to know whether you know basic college biology. Therefore, for most questions you just need to know the basics.

I used kaplan for bio review. However, every time I would get a practice question wrong that made me feel like I needed more work in a given area, I would reference my textbooks (e.g., "Essential Cell Biology") and read a section or two.

 

[Saxappeal1]

A few of the discretes are pretty unfair. I saw a discrete on mine that I hadn't covered in my year of class.

 

[shh-pthway]

A few of the discretes are pretty unfair. I saw a discrete on mine that I hadn't covered in my year of class.

Sometimes undergrad classes don't cover everything on MCAT. It is safe idea to look at AAMC website for list of content.

 

[Saxappeal1]

It wasn't on there either, trust me. I went through each guideline for months.

 

[magictouch]

So I'm hearing some say discretes are awful and some say mostly basic. Out of the ~13ish dicretes, how many would you say are basic vs tough vs killer?

I'm hoping these upper division classes help. I'll have bio 1, bio 2, anatomy & phys (pretty basic), biochem, and cell bio prior to taking it. Besides genetics, I feel I should have everything needed...but I'm not the kid who remembers every detail of every class. If any of you got 13, 14, 15 can you say whether you thought you got lucky or were just really good at passages or just dominated bio in college?

 

[lNVlNClBLE]

Sometimes undergrad classes don't cover everything on MCAT. It is safe idea to look at AAMC website for list of content.

None of my physics courses even touched fluids. At all. wtf lol!

 

[csx]

None of my physics courses even touched fluids. At all. wtf lol!

mine neither.

 

[RC4L]

I found that many of the discrete questions were a matter of simple, educated guessing rather than having specific knowledge of the subject matter. For instance I remember a passage regarding cancer treatment experiments with mice and I couldn't fathom how they expected us to know the exact answer but three answers were easy to eliminate on a couple of the questions because the answer asked for a protein and only one of the answer choices had an "ase" ending as opposed to lipids and other molecules. General example but there are often simple giveaways hidden in complicated questions. There were of course a couple that required you to know very specific processes but those were few in number.

 

[RC4L]

Question: Locomotion of Euglena is accomplished by:
A) pseudopodia
B) Cilia
C) Flagella
D) Microvilli
E) Cauda equina

Answer:
Euglena is a COMMON green flagellate protozoan found in fresh water ponds. Locomotion of Euglena is produced by undulating movements of the flagellum, these movements draw the organism after it in a characteristic spiral path. So answer is (C).

If you read this question for the first time you may just chose c and be right without really knowing that it is the right answer but there is A and B also. E, D are eliminated right from the start, if you studied enough about the human body. Even if some Eukaryotes do have microvilli (see http://www.choano.org/wiki/Choanoflagellates), it seems that they serve for the absorption of nutritive elements, like in the intestines.
I didn't start yet but I have the intention to make a list of the common species of unicellular organisms and study them a little bit. Also, I want to focus more on the taxonomy and remember more the characteristics of the branches, because at school, I didn't pay that much attention to this subject.

This is a great example! Few people are likely to know that one answer choice is correct with certainty but a general understanding of biology and terminology can make your odds favorable. Pseudopodia means false feet so you would assume it probably wouldn't be the primary source of locomotion. Cilia are locomotive structures but they are shorter and are more commonly referred to for their roles inside an organism-lining our airways to collect particles or controlling liquid movement direction I believe. Flagellum are the primary locomotive structures which makes sense considering they are longer. Knowing as many details as possible will help but frequently its matter of piecing together general info to choose the most logical answer. Not many people are going to remember everything about Euglena characteristics specifically.

 

[magictouch]

Glad to hear a lot of them can be done using process of elimination! Thanks guys!