MCAT subject prevalence

[ashurso]

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I am taking the mcat in spring 2019 and I am trying to decide which courses will courses to take at my school to help me get a better score. I will be taking Biochemistry in the fall and I am trying to decide between taking 1 of the following 3: genetics, cell bio, or physiology. The remaining two that I do not take in the fall I will be taking in the spring of 2019. Im just trying to see which subject is more concentrated on the mcat based on peoples experiences.

 

[Zenabi90]

I would say take whichever one you expect to have the hardest time self-teaching. Genetics can be really difficult for some people, physiology as well, cell bio is sheer memory work.

Truthfully it's difficult to say what is most prevalent because tests on different days differ both in terms of content and difficulty, and if you look at the Official Guide from AAMC, you'll only find a broad list of topics, but no possible proportions. This is why I suggest the alternative rationale above.

 

[NextStepTutor_1]

Hi @ashurso -

As usual, @Zenabi90 has excellent advice 🙂. The only thing that I would add is that of the three subjects, genetics is tested the most conceptually on the MCAT -- that is, for both cell bio & physio you'll have to re-review a lot of little finicky details as part of your prep, but genetics is more the kind of thing where you see a smaller set of key ideas show up again and again. Most upper-level genetics courses go into more depth than the MCAT tests, so a genetics course can provide a good conceptual foundation, especially since experimental passages might assume that you understand certain facts/ideas about genetics & biotech without specifically testing them in the questions. So if all things are truly equal, I'd suggest considering genetics, followed by physiology -- but I agree w/ @Zenabi90 that the overall takeaway is to pick the subject you think you need the most help with.

Best of luck as you get started on this process!!