MCAT Bio and cellular respiration

[SixStringPsych]

Hey all,

Not really a Q&A thread, but I wanted to know based on your guys' own experiences with the MCATA, how much cellular respiration (Kreb's cycle etc) we have to know? I am going to make it a point to understand and memorize this stuff as much as possible, but it is definitely a weaker point for me as far as the BS section goes.

Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[illinichief89]

Its could be on the test it might not. Its really a toss up. Its not like Physical sciences where you know there are a limited amount of subjects and equations that they might test you on. Alot of Bio is reading passages and deducing answers from those passages. And they can be on just about anything. Its more about how you understand scientific experiments. Then there are the organic questions which are more straight forward and make up like 15%-35% of that section. There are only a few questions that are discrete that test your bio knowledge. Memorization of some organic patterns and a few reactions is worth more to you than memorizing some of the stuff in cell respiration. But if anything that you should know about cellular resp, then know this:

-Glycolysis takes place in cytoplasm
-Krebs is in the mitochondrial matrix
-Electron Transport chain is in the inner mitochondrial membrane
-Glycolysis produces things in 2s: 2 NADH, 2 ATP, 2 pyruvates
-That glycolysis can take place even without oxygen
-Oxygen is the final electron acceptor in the electron transport chain
-Fermentation is for oxidizing NADH to NAD+ so it can be used in glycolysis again under anaerobic conditions, which ultimately helps the cell produce more ATP if there is no oxygen availabe.

There are a few other things I can't think off the top of my head. But keeping track of all the NADH, ATPs, CO2, FADH2 is alot if you are trying to squeeze in everything in a short amount of time. I don't know your situation, so maybe you have alot of time to study or you are a genius and can memorize everything and this post my unnecessary.

 

[MedPR]

Hey all,

Not really a Q&A thread, but I wanted to know based on your guys' own experiences with the MCATA, how much cellular respiration (Kreb's cycle etc) we have to know? I am going to make it a point to understand and memorize this stuff as much as possible, but it is definitely a weaker point for me as far as the BS section goes.

Thanks!

1. Location.
2. Aerobic or Anaerobic?
3. Net products.
4. Reactants (e.g. fats can enter TCA)
5. Location.
6. Net products.
7. Location.
8. Net products.