Memorize AMINO ACIDS: Yay or Nay!?!

[UMICHPremed]

For those who have taken the MCAT, was it helpful for you to have the amino acids memorized (although they say that you don't have to)?

And for those who are in the grueling process like me, are you going to memorize the amino acids?

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[addo]

I have only come across a few questions regarding amino acids, and they did not consist of identifying them, but were mainly questions concerning the isoelectric point or something of that nature.

As a side note, they are a basic thing to know in any biochemistry class, in this case yes.

 

[loveoforganic]

His, Lys, Arg, Asp, Glu, Gly, Cys, Pro

are all you need to know, and you just really need to know what's special about them

His Lys Arg - basic

Asp Glu - acidic

Gly - achiral

Cys - Reverse chirality, disulfides

Pro - cyclic using amine

 

[MegaSpectacular]

For those who have taken the MCAT, was it helpful for you to have the amino acids memorized (although they say that you don't have to)?

And for those who are in the grueling process like me, are you going to memorize the amino acids?

Amino Acid knowledge is CRUCIAL to understanding biology.

This is why I think taking classes like biochem/genetics/cell bio are very helpful.

You should understand that proline causes kinks/turns in a protein chain, the acidic amino acids, the basic amino acids definitely. Then obviously know cysteine. I would just glob all the nonpolar AA together, as they are less talked about. Modifications are going to occur on the AA I mentioned earlier (acidic/basic).

I actually bought an MCAT prep book just to kind of "feel" it out before taking genetics/cell bio/biochem. I was shocked at how much surface understanding you get from prep books, you actually have no clue of what is really happening if your knowledge of biochem is coming from a prep book (like EK).

With that said, you will still be able to get 80%+ of the MCAT questions correct with the surface knowledge, then there is an upper tier that you need to be a bit stronger conceptually to get.

I guess if you are asking should I memorize the AA, then you probably aren't conceptually strong with what they do.

E.g. histone modifications on K, adding sugar linkages to N, etc

deletion of E causing a deleterious effect. It baffles me that they expect you to have such a surface level understanding of this stuff...

His, Lys, Arg, Asp, Glu, Gly, Cys, Pro

are all you need to know, and you just really need to know what's special about them

His Lys Arg - basic

Asp Glu - acidic

Gly - achiral

Cys - Reverse chirality, disulfides

Pro - cyclic using amine

never even considered lack of chirality for Glycine. Hmmm. Never even heard it being brought up. Biochemically I wouldn't think it is very relevant, but good for Ochem I guess

 

[WatchForDaEF55]

Had to memorize all of them for my biochem class, which was pretty helpful for my advanced biochem class. Didn't take long at all to memorize them when you separate them up into nonpolar, polar, aromatic, positive charged, and negative charged amino acids

 

[UMICHPremed]

Yea, I have memorized them before for biochem but that was 2 semesters ago. I was considering if it would be a good idea to relearn them, which should be quick.

 

[SN2ed]

If it won't take long, spend the time to relearn them.

 

[plsfoldthx]

Not worth your time. Any information you need will be contained within the passage.

 

[Compass]

Understand, yes. Memorize, no.

 

[boaz]

It's a waste of time for you to memorize amino acids.

 

[MegaSpectacular]

If it won't take long, spend the time to relearn them.

agreed.

I find it funny people saying it is a waste of time. They should say, "it is a waste of 10 minutes" followed by 2 or 3 minutes of repetition once a week or so. You waste more time if you play any online game than it would take to memorize these.

If you are studying biological sciences, you should know/understand the amino acids.

It affects your knowledge of BIOCHEM / GENETICS / CELL BIOLOGY / PHYSIOLOGY

-covalent modifications of glycoproteins (specific AA); deletion in the active site (specific AA); Transmembrane channel protein (specific AA) that allow ions through; diseases like autism, sickle cell, cystic fibrosis, etc.... (specific AA mutations);

it baffles me that one would study or be going into a profession that requires the mastery of the above subjects yet can't explain the unique qualities of at minimum acidic/basic amino acids, then maybe the non-polar, then the ring containing aminos. Obviously cysteine too.

So we are studying:

BIOCHEM: Require proteins to synthesize/catalyze/degrade things
GENETICS: Make protein end products from a code
CELL BIO: Use proteins to again make/catalyze/degrade things
PHYSIOLOGY: Use proteins for structural support/linking cells together/synthesis/metabolism/catalyzing rxn/etc

Yet.... we are advising people to not waste time learning what these proteins are made of.

Wow. On top of that, it only takes about 10 minutes. This is just my opinion, but if you want to be good at what you do, you should probably know these things (as you will need to know/understand them for life) regardless if they are on 1 question on the MCAT or not. If not, you probably aren't locked into the career.

 

[MegaSpectacular]

Boy: I would like to be a great painter, much like yourself.
Picasso: Good for you.
Boy: Should I memorize the colors?
Picasso: Yes. Yes I think you should.

 

[boaz]

I find it funny people saying it is a waste of time....

The title of this forum is "MCAT Discussions." When someone posts a question on this forum without any qualifications, we should assume that they are asking a question with relevance to the MCAT, not to the knowledge one must have acquired on the way to becoming a physician.

Many intro biochemistry courses require you to memorize the amino acids. But biochemistry is not a standard med school prereq. And none of the other med school prereqs require memorization. It is common knowledge that the MCAT does not expect memorization of the AAs. The MCAT is understood to be a reflection of what admissions committees expect you to know before med school. But you know better.

Would you please relax.

 

[MegaSpectacular]

The title of this forum is "MCAT Discussions." When someone posts a question on this forum without any qualifications, we should assume that they are asking a question with relevance to the MCAT, not to the knowledge one must have acquired on the way to becoming a physician.

Many intro biochemistry courses require you to memorize the amino acids. But biochemistry is not a standard med school prereq. And none of the other med school prereqs require memorization. It is common knowledge that the MCAT does not expect memorization of the AAs. The MCAT is understood to be a reflection of what admissions committees expect you to know before med school. But you know better.

Would you please relax.

The title that precedes "MCAT Discussions" is "Pre-Medical Forums" - I.e. "want to be in medicine as a career" Forum. When someone posts on these forums we should assume they want to have a career in medicine.

it takes 10 minutes...

The building blocks of understanding Biochem/Cell Bio/Physiology/Genetics.

Pretty important stuff. This reminds me of a "if it's not on the test, I don't need to waste time on it" attitude.

Good to get scores. Good for mediocrity. Bad for your education/career.

 

[Beren]

For those who have taken the MCAT, was it helpful for you to have the amino acids memorized (although they say that you don't have to)?

And for those who are in the grueling process like me, are you going to memorize the amino acids?

Don't waste your time memorizingf amino acid structures and biochem pathways for the MCAT. Knowing the gist of these concepts is good enough; the passages are largely self-contained.

 

[MegaSpectacular]

Don't waste your time memorizingf amino acid structures and biochem pathways for the MCAT. Knowing the gist of these concepts is good enough; the passages are largely self-contained.

agreed on not memorizing structures. As loveoforganic/Compass said, understand the relevance... acidic/basic AA, cysteine, etc. basic nonpolar.