MCAT plan - Which Course to Take?

[HesyRa]

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I will be sitting for the MCAT on August 7th. After this semester I will have all my pre-reqs done except for an introductory to biology course w/ lab. I am finishing Ochem II in a few weeks. My plan for the summer is to study for the MCAT from the middle of May to the date of the test, which gives me about 90 days to study. I was also planning on taking one course in June. I cannot decide whether I should take my intro to bio course, or if I should take biochem. That being said, whichever I don't take this Summer I will take in the Fall along with more bio courses. I plan to apply to schools June '15.

Does anyone have an opinion on which will be more helpful for the MCAT? It seems that the intro to bio material would be easier to teach myself, but there also might be a lot more of it. I could also consider taking something like anatomy.

 

[wholeheartedly]

What bio have you already had?

 

[HesyRa]

I have taken upper division genetics.

 

[wholeheartedly]

If you haven't done basic bio ore reqs you should probably take the biology course first.

 

[brownbaglunch]

I'm a bit confused on how the pre reqs work at your undergrad institution. Normally you can't take upper div bio courses, particularly biochem, without finishing a year of intro bio.

Most schools (currently) don't require you specifically take the intro series of bio. They just require at least a year of bio with lab. If you were able to handle genetics OK, you may be able to take more challenging classes.

In any case, I am a firm believer in 90 days dedicated mcat study. That's what I did, and it payed off for me. I would caution against taking a class during that time because it will eat into your study time. I can think of one exception - physiology. I would say close to half of the bio topics on the mcat are physio related.

I based my studying on the famous sn2ed plan. If you want to provide more details, I can try to offer more guidance.

 

[Pose]

I would definitely not take a class (unless you have no choice) while studying for the MCAT. Dedicate your time to studying for this exam.

 

[HesyRa]

Thank you for the responses. I am a M.Sc. student in geophysics, so the school will let me take whatever undergraduate courses I would like to take regardless of whether or not I have taken the pre-reqs. I received an A- in genetics. I will have 80 days from the time I finish this semester until the day of the test.

How much much biochem is actually on the exam?

It seems that consensus is to not take anything while studying for the MCAT, except maybe taking physiology? I'm just slightly worried about teaching myself all the anatomy/physio/bio that will be on the exam. I have had all the chemistry/physics.

I had not heard of the SN2ed plan, but it looks great. I was considering taking a prep course, but it looks like that might not be necessary.