Is taking Psychology or Physics more important for the MCAT?

[mijmustang2000]

Hello,

I am only able to take either Psychology or Physics (Fluids, Light, and Optics) before I take the MCAT this September. Which do you think is easier to self-study and which needs more support through taking an actual class on it? I feel that Physics is the harder subject but then again it is fewer questions... so I am not sure if it is better to have a solid understanding of psychology because it is such a large portion of the test.

Thank you for your help!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[JowellHollyBuddy33]

Physics class for sure. Teach yourself psych

 

[workaholic181]

Totally agree w/ the above. The psych stuff is generally not too difficult from a conceptual standpoint and involves a lot of rote memorization of terms. Physics is a lot harder to do on your own.

 

[BTC0821]

Psychology would be easier to self-study; however, there is way more psych on the exam than physics, which is harder to teach yourself. Depends on how you feel about the content

 

[BTC0821]

IIRC, physics has the least representation on the MCAT. Considering that you may get around 10-15 questions on the MCAT about physics at the most, I'll play devil's advocate here and say take the psych course, which you'll almost certainly see at least 30-40 questions on. Its about getting the most number of questions right here, and so I would recommend focusing on the bigger set of questions than the smaller one. Perhaps it was just me, but a lot of my physics questions could be solved just by following units

 

[Detective SnowBucket]

Almost all of the physics questions I've come across are from physics II, light/optics, electromagnetics and fluids. You'll only occasionally get a question from physics I about Newton's laws and you can answer 99% of those with F=ma. I haven't taken a psych class since high school and am pretty much entirely self-taught therefore, you can definitely do it.

 

[monty522]

You absolutely need to take both. Physics -does- have lowest percentage of occurrence. However, you can easily get an entire passage about physics and have your PhysSci score impacted.

Psych, on the other hand, is an entire freaking section.

It's prudent to take both.

If it's a money thing, there's so many damn open courses now.

Introduction to Psychology | Brain and Cognitive Sciences | MIT OpenCourseWare

 

[NextStepTutor_1]

Hi @lg1120 -

One thing to consider is that psychology, especially for the MCAT, involves a lot of vocab memorization, which you can handle piecemeal through things like flashcards, meaning that you can break it up into pieces and schedule it around other obligations to some extent. (The P/S section isn't just memorization, but terminology is a large part of what you have to deal with). On the other hand, mastering physics concepts usually requires some degree of sustained attention and practice. I think this is one reason why (in my experience anyway) self-studying psych seems to work better for many students than self-studying physics. In any case, this is a tough decision that I think ultimately has to do w/ your comfort level with the two topics and how to study them for the MCAT. It may also be worth seeing if you can do any research about the courses and the instructors, because that could make a huge difference in terms of how valuable the experience is. Best of luck as you get started with this process!!

 

[Detective SnowBucket]

My dude, you're totally fine not taking psych if you understand that you'll need to do the review on your own with a review book. I am doing that at this very moment.

 

[wendigo_]

Take physics! Psych is not as conceptually difficult to grasp, and if you take an introductory psych class you won't learn even close to the amount that is covered on the psych/soc section. It includes abnormal psych, personality, research methods, health psych, developmental psych, etc. You're better off learning the vocab and doing self-study.

 

[Zenabi90]

A physics course will not only give you the information you need, but TONS of discrete-type question practice to help you solidify your procedural memory with the formulas, along with recognition of when to use which formulas, how to problem solve a physics problem, tips and tricks to quick solve, etc.

An Intro to Psych course is nearly pure memorization and regurgitation. Flash card type material.

If you can only take one, do the Physics.