MCAT 2015: Infographic on the MCAT science

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Blueprint MCAT Tutor

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Hey guys, one of my colleagues here at Next Step put together a fantastic little infographic giving you a rundown on what you need for the new MCAT.

It's here:

http://nextsteptestprep.com/2014/08/25/2015-mcat-question-content-infographic/

the big big BIG takeaway point: only 11 questions of orgo on the whole test.

Yup. 230 questions. 11 organic chem.

Check out the infographic for the whole rundown.

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There are only 14 organic questions on the current exam, so that's really not that different. That doesn't mean you shouldn't study that material. I'd hate to not take organic seriously and then miss those questions and get knocked down four points on my sectional score.
 
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There are only 14 organic questions on the current exam, so that's really not that different. That doesn't mean you shouldn't study that material. I'd hate to not take organic seriously and then miss those questions and get knocked down four points on my sectional score.

You're 100% right. In the same way that I don't recommend the strategy of "skip a passage in verbal to give yourself more time on the other 6" I would also absolutely NOT recommend "just skip studying orgo to give yourself more time elsewhere". You do need to study it.

Having said that, it's all about priorities.

Organic chem is currently something like 14 questions out of 144 - so a smidge less than 10% of the exam.

On the new test, organic is 10-11 questions out of 230 - so it's dropping to below 5%.

We can't downplay the change - organic chem is now less than half as important as it used to be.

Yes you have to study orgo but you absolutely must prioritize it at the bottom of your MCAT barrel.

I think what we'll find is that orgo ends up matter mostly insofar as being comfortable with the language of organic chem helps you with the biochem questions and some of the bio stuff. The new test is going to be much more cross-disciplinary, so it'll really help to be comfortable speaking the language of organic chem.
 
Don't worry! You're in the same boat as everyone else! Be sure to get an "A" in that biochem and psychology class (and of course rock your biology coursework) and you'll be in good shape :)

Good thing I'm taking it next Saturday!
 
Good thing I'm taking it next Saturday!

LOL good luck!!

One big piece of final advice as you head into the last few days / week before the exam: take an afternoon to do a "positive review" of a test.

Here's what I mean by that:

When most ppl review a test, they just quickly flip through looking for all of the questions they got wrong. They obsess over mistakes, bad guesses, things they didn't know, etc. While that is good to generate learning, it means they end up creating a very negative view of the test and their performance. More importantly, it means they're missing a chance to learn stuff from all the questions they got right.

So a "positive review" is a way to boost your confidence right before the exam. What you do is take a full practice test and review it, but only review the questions you got right. Just ignore/skip over the questions you got wrong.

It'll be like this: "Okay got #1 right, great, why did I get that right... okay got #2 right man I'm so lucky I made a good guess there... eh #3 wrong skip it.. okay I got #4 right awesome I knew that fact! okay I got #5 right, phew! I had it down to 2 and I guessed right! I'm so lucky!!!...."

It's a great way to build up a positive attitude, create some positive reinforcement AND still be learning lots of good science facts.
 
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