MCAT after sophomore year?

[nparsons]

I am a rising sophomore and am planning out when I should take the MCAT. I understand most students prefer to take it during their junior year, but is it a bad idea to take it late August (or possibly September) before your junior year? I don't plan on retaking it, but if I was unhappy with my score this would allow me enough time to retake it before applying in June.

The only prereq I will not have taken before the MCAT is biochem (with a small school it is only offered during the spring and I can't fit it in my sophomore schedule). Otherwise I will have completed...
General bio (1 semester in college and AP bio from high school)
Inorganic/general chem 1 and 2
organic chem 1 and 2
cell bio
genetics
Anatomy and physiology 1 and 2
Psychology (AP pscyh)
Statistics (1 semester)
2 writing intensive courses
Physics 1 and 2 (which I will be taking the summer after sophomore year-classes end early August before I would take the test)

Thoughts? Is it reasonable to take the MCAT right before starting junior year? Side note: I am set to graduate in 3 years (or possibly 3.5 if I choose to take additional coursework)

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[aldol16]

Biochem is really important for the new MCAT. You need to know the metabolic pathways to maximize your chances of scoring high. You should also have experience with interpreting raw scientific data - that usually comes during upper-level science courses but if you have that experience already, then you should be fine in that. The only concern is, again, biochem.

 

[nparsons]

Biochem is really important for the new MCAT. You need to know the metabolic pathways to maximize your chances of scoring high. You should also have experience with interpreting raw scientific data - that usually comes during upper-level science courses but if you have that experience already, then you should be fine in that. The only concern is, again, biochem.

I checked my schedule again and if I drop genetics my spring semester, I would be able to take biochem instead. Would this make more sense? I could then take genetics junior year. Ideally, I wish I could take both but it seems as if biochem is more important for the MCAT

 

[aldol16]

I checked my schedule again and if I drop genetics my spring semester, I would be able to take biochem instead. Would this make more sense? I could then take genetics junior year. Ideally, I wish I could take both but it seems as if biochem is more important for the MCAT

If you must take the MCAT between your sophomore and junior years, then you should take biochem before that. Genetics won't help you much for the MCAT - you only need to know basic inheritance patterns.

 

[Electron_flow]

I think with all those prereqs you should be fine. I haven't taken biochem yet either and I am planning on taking the MCAT this summer. With the chemistry and biology prereqs you should be able to self teach the biochem stuff. Also since you are taking it in august, why not take a biochem course while you study for the MCAT?

 

[aldol16]

I think with all those prereqs you should be fine. I haven't taken biochem yet either and I am planning on taking the MCAT this summer. With the chemistry and biology prereqs you should be able to self teach the biochem stuff. Also since you are taking it in august, why not take a biochem course while you study for the MCAT?

I believe OP's university only offers it in the spring. I would really not recommend self-teaching biochem. It's quite involved and you should know the central metabolic pathways of life. That takes awhile to understand. It's certainly doable but to do it well requires a lot of extra time. Take at your own risk.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

I am a rising sophomore and am planning out when I should take the MCAT. I understand most students prefer to take it during their junior year, but is it a bad idea to take it late August (or possibly September) before your junior year?

Every summer we have several students (from 40 to 60 out of roughly 200) that take the MCAT between their sophomore and junior year and they do as well (often times better) than their older colleagues. These students generally have biochemistry under their belts, which helps greatly. If you have the coursework completed and time to study during that summer, it is often a better plan to take it that summer rather than during the school year.

 

[Electron_flow]

I believe OP's university only offers it in the spring. I would really not recommend self-teaching biochem. It's quite involved and you should know the central metabolic pathways of life. That takes awhile to understand. It's certainly doable but to do it well requires a lot of extra time. Take at your own risk.

Yea that's what I've been told, but given my situation I don't have time to take biochem before I take the MCAT, unless I take the MCAT next spring. I'll probably end up doing both honestly.

 

[DoctorCakes]

It seems like you really want to take this exam in August thinking it will put you ahead of others but I strongly discourage you from doing that. Biochemistry is high-yield on the exam and it is not about memorization but deeper critical analysis that you have not encountered yet in your lower level bio classes. The exam also requires thorough analysis of research methods and graphs which are emphasized in upper-level biology classes. Also you said you would taking Physics 1 and 2 while studying for the mcat in the summer which will have a detrimental impact on your mcat score. No undergrad can juggle that amount of knowledge and do spectacular on the mcat. Ideally you only want to take the mcat once but if you are dead-set on being ahead of everyone else, go ahead and take it but there is a very high chance that you will have to retake which is is very big nuisance considering you are still in school and your grades will likely suffer.

 

[aldol16]

Yea that's what I've been told, but given my situation I don't have time to take biochem before I take the MCAT, unless I take the MCAT next spring. I'll probably end up doing both honestly.

As we all recommend on here, you want to go into the MCAT thinking that you'll only take it once. Especially now that it's a 7.5 hour test. Take it once and do very well on it. Some schools care whether you take it once or multiple times and some average the scores. You want to take the MCAT when you're in the best position to do well.

 

[nparsons]

Thanks for all the input everyone. I have decided against taking physics during the summer so that I can dedicate all of my time towards studying for the MCAT.

I was able to rearrange my fall schedule to include organic chem 1, cell bio, and calc-based physics 1 (I know this is a lot of difficult classes but I believe that I can handle it)
Spring schedule is much more difficult to organize (bad part of small schools) and, as of now, I am set to take organic chem 2 and biochem. Schedule conflicts aren't allowing me to take physics 2, but I am working to connect with profs to figure this out.

With all my prereqs done (this is seriously hoping that physics will work out), I would get a full 3.5-4 months of solely studying for the MCAT.
Thoughts on this plan?