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- Nov 29, 2012
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So I wanted to make a list of all of the high yield topics I have encountered on the AAMC practice exams and self assessment package more specific than what is provided on the AAMC website. I am particularly interested in those things we might neglect to study. Please feel free to add
Physics:
-Questions about gravity in relation to radius and mass. In particular, setting gravitational force= centripetal force to solve for things like velocity.
-How frequency/period of a pendulum doesn't change if you change the mass of pendulum or the amplitude. Similarly know how this applies to springs
-Photoelectric Effect. How transitions from n=2 to n=1 are more energetic than from n=3 to n=2 etc
-Types of decay, sometimes they like to incorporate a 'momentum' problem with this or an electrostatic force problem with this. Ie. fission of a nucleus releases two particles, what is the force of repulsion of the two.
-Capacitors, know conceptually how capacitance can be altered. Same goes for resistance
-Particle deflectors! they love this one. For example, finding the radius of curvature a particle will experience in a magnetic field by setting Fmag=Fcentripetal. Also, setting the force applied by an electric field equal to force of magnetic field and solving for the velocity required for linear motion.
-Resonance and beat frequencies. Also know that 'pitch' is the same as frequency.
-Buoyant force vs pressure at a certain depth. Buoyant force doesnt change with depth (vdg) as opposed to pressure which does (dgh). d is density, v is volume, g is gravity, h is depth
-Ohms law, particularly resistors in series vs parallel. They love to ask these questions as discreet questions so you get no help from the passage.
-'Apparent weight' of things submerged in water. How much does the buoyant force take away from the gravitational force
Of course kinematics and work/energy as well.
Gen Chem
-Reaction Diagram profiles. Know how to interpret these. Finding Ea, Exo or endothermic, rate determining step if it involves more than one. Kinetic/thermodynamic product
-Titration graphs, particularly for weak acid/strong base (visa versa) and for polyprotic species. Also know half equivalence point is where PH= pka and [a-]=[ha]. The equivalence point will be more toward the PH of the strong species.
-They love questions involving the 'habor process' i have noticed
-They also love questions about 'hard water' when dealing with solubility.
-Determining the rate equation from data is huge. Also know how to calculate the rate law when the rate limiting step involves intermediates
-Electrochemistry. They love questions involving plating out of species ie 'how many grams of Cu will be produced when 10A of current is supplied to ...'. Know anode vs cathode for both electrolytic and galvanic. Know how Ecell is + for galvanic and - for electrolytic and that Gibbs free energy is - for galvanic and + for electrolytic. Know flow of e- vs flow of current. Know salt bridge anions go to anode and cations go to cathode.
-Calorimetry problems! The test makers have a huge hard-on for these, so practice them. Especially when there is a phase transition involved!!
-Of course things like Periodic trends
Biology
-Punnet squares, be proficient for both mono hybrid and dihybrid crosses. Also know how to take into account codominance and incomplete dominance
-Know that cholesterol is a precursor for steroids
-Know steroids act on cytoplasmic receptors while peptide hormones act on surface receptors and that tyrosine hormones act in the nucleus (weird huh)
-Bone remodeling always shows up! Know the effects of PTH and Caclitonin and Osteoclasts/blasts
-The role of the RER and Golgi in the production of proteins
-The location of transcription and translation in bacteria vs eukaryotes. That translation can take place simultaneously with transcription in bacteria
-They love the endosymbiotic hypothesis (that mitochondria came from a prokaryote being engulfed by another cell)
-Location of glycolysis/fermentation/pdh/krebs are in the cytosol, cytosol, matrix, matrix and intermembrane space.
-Sympathetic vs parasympathetic effects on everything
-Sarcomere contraction: the role of Ca in muscle contraction. The role of ATP in muscle contraction.
-Fast twitch vs slow twitch fibers and what you'd expect to see in them
-Action potentials. What flows when and where. Be able to diagram an action potential. Also know how cardiac action potentials are different. Know that hyperpolarization is inhibitory and depolarization is excitatory.
-Things that change hemoglobins affinity for O2 (Right shift with decreased PH, DPG, increased CO2, high temperatures: so O2 can be unloaded to active muscles)
-Know cooperative binding in Hb but there is none in myoglobin
-Bicarbonates role as a buffer
-How the kidney can control blood pressure and how blood pressure effects GFR
-The role of aldosterone and ADH in blood pressure control. Know aldosterone is a steroid (STERONE) and therefore acts in the cytoplasm wherase ADH is a peptide and acts on the surface of target cells.
-Fetus stuff. The ductus arteriosus shunts blood away from the lungs, the ductus venosus bypasses the liver, the foramen ovale is a shunt from the right to left atrium. Know fetal Hb has a higher affinity for O2 than the mothers
-They love questions about blood types. In particular the heredity of blood types. "what are the chances a type B mother who marries a type O father has a kid with type B blood? well either 50% or 100% depending on if the mother is BB or Bi.
-Know innate immunity as opposed to adaptive
-Know the difference between cell mediated and humoral immunity
-Know what carries oxygenated blood (ie the pulmonary artery is DEoxygenated because its moving towards the lungs and away from the heart, arteries aren't always oxygenated, they just move away from the heart)
-Know the stages of development Cleavage makes morula, Blastulation makes the blastula which gets implanted, Gastrulation creates the 3 germ layers, and then neuralation.
-Know what is derived from the 3 germ layers. Also know the notochord comes from mesoderm while the neural tube comes from the ectoderm. Dont get notochord and neural tube confused
-Bile! know that bile emulsifies fats and is produced in the liver, but stored in the gall bladder. Know that the digestion of fats would be impaired without bile.
-Respiration, in particular the role of the diaphragm. How inhalation requires energy to contract the diaphragm but exhalation is a passive process
-They love questions about mylenation and how it helps the conduction of APs.
-They LOVE the Ames test, and how to use it to determine mutigenicity of a substance, so know how to interpret these results
-Transformation vs Transduction vs Conjugation. F+ and F- plasmids
-Mitosis vs Meiosis vs Binary fission
-Non-disjunction events
-Polymerase Chain Reaction. Know the steps and that 2^n copies of DNA will be made
-Be able to interpret a Gel and see based on a DNA fragments migration, which allele is a mutant allele.
-Know about DNA compaction with histone proteins.
-Know the basics about alternative splicing and post transcriptional modification of mRNA (poly a tail, 5'cap)
-Know that DNA polymerase has proofreading activity but RNA polymerase doesnt. DNA polymerase requires a primer whereas RNA polymerase doesnt.
-Know the role of PH in the stomach
-They love asking questions about the immune system in terms of autoimmune disease
-Know the hormones involved in the menstrual cycle and pregnancy.
-Know the components of viruses, and what they do not have
..thats all I can think of for now
Organic Chemistry
-Know basic IR peaks. OH broad 3300, NH2 sharp 3400, Carbonyl 1700 and CN 2200
-Know how to determine chemically equivalent hydrogens in NMR
-Know how to determine stereochemistry of a carbon in a Fischer projection
-Know the basics for extracting an acid (by deprotonating it with a base, and extracing the aqueous layer) and a base (protonating with an acid and extracting the aqueous layer)
-Know the # of possible stereoisomers is 2^n where n is chiral carbons
-Know Sp3 vs sp2 COLD, they ask this a lot!
-Know the reactivity and trends of Carboxyllic acid derivatives
-Know enolate reactions, aldol condensation
-Know decarboxylation
-Be familiar with EAS activators vs deactivators and which are o/p and which are meta
-Know about PI and how an amino acid will move in an electric field at a certain PH
Im tired of typing for now, ill do more later..
Physics:
-Questions about gravity in relation to radius and mass. In particular, setting gravitational force= centripetal force to solve for things like velocity.
-How frequency/period of a pendulum doesn't change if you change the mass of pendulum or the amplitude. Similarly know how this applies to springs
-Photoelectric Effect. How transitions from n=2 to n=1 are more energetic than from n=3 to n=2 etc
-Types of decay, sometimes they like to incorporate a 'momentum' problem with this or an electrostatic force problem with this. Ie. fission of a nucleus releases two particles, what is the force of repulsion of the two.
-Capacitors, know conceptually how capacitance can be altered. Same goes for resistance
-Particle deflectors! they love this one. For example, finding the radius of curvature a particle will experience in a magnetic field by setting Fmag=Fcentripetal. Also, setting the force applied by an electric field equal to force of magnetic field and solving for the velocity required for linear motion.
-Resonance and beat frequencies. Also know that 'pitch' is the same as frequency.
-Buoyant force vs pressure at a certain depth. Buoyant force doesnt change with depth (vdg) as opposed to pressure which does (dgh). d is density, v is volume, g is gravity, h is depth
-Ohms law, particularly resistors in series vs parallel. They love to ask these questions as discreet questions so you get no help from the passage.
-'Apparent weight' of things submerged in water. How much does the buoyant force take away from the gravitational force
Of course kinematics and work/energy as well.
Gen Chem
-Reaction Diagram profiles. Know how to interpret these. Finding Ea, Exo or endothermic, rate determining step if it involves more than one. Kinetic/thermodynamic product
-Titration graphs, particularly for weak acid/strong base (visa versa) and for polyprotic species. Also know half equivalence point is where PH= pka and [a-]=[ha]. The equivalence point will be more toward the PH of the strong species.
-They love questions involving the 'habor process' i have noticed
-They also love questions about 'hard water' when dealing with solubility.
-Determining the rate equation from data is huge. Also know how to calculate the rate law when the rate limiting step involves intermediates
-Electrochemistry. They love questions involving plating out of species ie 'how many grams of Cu will be produced when 10A of current is supplied to ...'. Know anode vs cathode for both electrolytic and galvanic. Know how Ecell is + for galvanic and - for electrolytic and that Gibbs free energy is - for galvanic and + for electrolytic. Know flow of e- vs flow of current. Know salt bridge anions go to anode and cations go to cathode.
-Calorimetry problems! The test makers have a huge hard-on for these, so practice them. Especially when there is a phase transition involved!!
-Of course things like Periodic trends
Biology
-Punnet squares, be proficient for both mono hybrid and dihybrid crosses. Also know how to take into account codominance and incomplete dominance
-Know that cholesterol is a precursor for steroids
-Know steroids act on cytoplasmic receptors while peptide hormones act on surface receptors and that tyrosine hormones act in the nucleus (weird huh)
-Bone remodeling always shows up! Know the effects of PTH and Caclitonin and Osteoclasts/blasts
-The role of the RER and Golgi in the production of proteins
-The location of transcription and translation in bacteria vs eukaryotes. That translation can take place simultaneously with transcription in bacteria
-They love the endosymbiotic hypothesis (that mitochondria came from a prokaryote being engulfed by another cell)
-Location of glycolysis/fermentation/pdh/krebs are in the cytosol, cytosol, matrix, matrix and intermembrane space.
-Sympathetic vs parasympathetic effects on everything
-Sarcomere contraction: the role of Ca in muscle contraction. The role of ATP in muscle contraction.
-Fast twitch vs slow twitch fibers and what you'd expect to see in them
-Action potentials. What flows when and where. Be able to diagram an action potential. Also know how cardiac action potentials are different. Know that hyperpolarization is inhibitory and depolarization is excitatory.
-Things that change hemoglobins affinity for O2 (Right shift with decreased PH, DPG, increased CO2, high temperatures: so O2 can be unloaded to active muscles)
-Know cooperative binding in Hb but there is none in myoglobin
-Bicarbonates role as a buffer
-How the kidney can control blood pressure and how blood pressure effects GFR
-The role of aldosterone and ADH in blood pressure control. Know aldosterone is a steroid (STERONE) and therefore acts in the cytoplasm wherase ADH is a peptide and acts on the surface of target cells.
-Fetus stuff. The ductus arteriosus shunts blood away from the lungs, the ductus venosus bypasses the liver, the foramen ovale is a shunt from the right to left atrium. Know fetal Hb has a higher affinity for O2 than the mothers
-They love questions about blood types. In particular the heredity of blood types. "what are the chances a type B mother who marries a type O father has a kid with type B blood? well either 50% or 100% depending on if the mother is BB or Bi.
-Know innate immunity as opposed to adaptive
-Know the difference between cell mediated and humoral immunity
-Know what carries oxygenated blood (ie the pulmonary artery is DEoxygenated because its moving towards the lungs and away from the heart, arteries aren't always oxygenated, they just move away from the heart)
-Know the stages of development Cleavage makes morula, Blastulation makes the blastula which gets implanted, Gastrulation creates the 3 germ layers, and then neuralation.
-Know what is derived from the 3 germ layers. Also know the notochord comes from mesoderm while the neural tube comes from the ectoderm. Dont get notochord and neural tube confused
-Bile! know that bile emulsifies fats and is produced in the liver, but stored in the gall bladder. Know that the digestion of fats would be impaired without bile.
-Respiration, in particular the role of the diaphragm. How inhalation requires energy to contract the diaphragm but exhalation is a passive process
-They love questions about mylenation and how it helps the conduction of APs.
-They LOVE the Ames test, and how to use it to determine mutigenicity of a substance, so know how to interpret these results
-Transformation vs Transduction vs Conjugation. F+ and F- plasmids
-Mitosis vs Meiosis vs Binary fission
-Non-disjunction events
-Polymerase Chain Reaction. Know the steps and that 2^n copies of DNA will be made
-Be able to interpret a Gel and see based on a DNA fragments migration, which allele is a mutant allele.
-Know about DNA compaction with histone proteins.
-Know the basics about alternative splicing and post transcriptional modification of mRNA (poly a tail, 5'cap)
-Know that DNA polymerase has proofreading activity but RNA polymerase doesnt. DNA polymerase requires a primer whereas RNA polymerase doesnt.
-Know the role of PH in the stomach
-They love asking questions about the immune system in terms of autoimmune disease
-Know the hormones involved in the menstrual cycle and pregnancy.
-Know the components of viruses, and what they do not have
..thats all I can think of for now
Organic Chemistry
-Know basic IR peaks. OH broad 3300, NH2 sharp 3400, Carbonyl 1700 and CN 2200
-Know how to determine chemically equivalent hydrogens in NMR
-Know how to determine stereochemistry of a carbon in a Fischer projection
-Know the basics for extracting an acid (by deprotonating it with a base, and extracing the aqueous layer) and a base (protonating with an acid and extracting the aqueous layer)
-Know the # of possible stereoisomers is 2^n where n is chiral carbons
-Know Sp3 vs sp2 COLD, they ask this a lot!
-Know the reactivity and trends of Carboxyllic acid derivatives
-Know enolate reactions, aldol condensation
-Know decarboxylation
-Be familiar with EAS activators vs deactivators and which are o/p and which are meta
-Know about PI and how an amino acid will move in an electric field at a certain PH
Im tired of typing for now, ill do more later..
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