Memorizing all aa

[Ultimeaciax]

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Would it be wise if I take my time to memorize all the properties and structures of amino acids? Or should I give the time to study for something else?

 

[phltz]

Would it be wise if I take my time to memorize all the properties and structures of amino acids? Or should I give the time to study for something else?

As far as MCAT prep goes, it would be a waste of your time.

 

[ModernAlchemist]

It doesn't sound that productive to me. I think if you know the basic groups and bonds, they should provide the relevant pKa values. I can't think of what else they could test on. I did a practice passage recently on the amino acids and it seemed to provide most of the information you would need.

Would it be wise if I take my time to memorize all the properties and structures of amino acids? Or should I give the time to study for something else?

 

[NickNaylor]

You don't need to know that.

 

[EricMont]

Would it be wise if I take my time to memorize all the properties and structures of amino acids? Or should I give the time to study for something else?

As a master's student in physiology, knowing the properties of amino acids is very important for me. For the MCAT, however, I find it only supplemental. Any time I do a practice passage and see it talking about amino acids, the only real help I feel knowing the properties of amino acids is that it makes the passage less intimidating. Most students, as you can imagine, here the phrase "a string of hydrophobic valine, alanine, glycine sequences forms peptide bonds with tryptophan, lysine, and aspartic acid blah blah blah" and have shivers down their spines. If you memorize the amino acids all it will do is just make you a little more comfortable with the material. At most just know which ones are acidic (only 2 glutamate and aspartic acid) and which are basic (three Arg, Hist, and Lys)

 

[mitchlucker]

I think it's a waste of time but I did hear from a friend that there may or may not have been a discrete question that may or may not have asked what the name of an amino acid shown was that may or may not have been on her test.

I think if you know the general characteristics you should be good. Then again it wouldn't be difficult to skim through them a couple times just to familiarize yourself with them. I would just know which ones contain sulfur, aromatic rings, etc. Easy stuff and you should be fine.

 

[fahimaz7]

Waste of time for 99.9999999% of medical students, unless you happen to be facing an exam on it. I've had 10 years of science education (BS, MS, working on MD), and I have to look them up if I ever have to be that specific. Same with their neurotransmitter products.

 

[indygobu]

I'm guessing that if you do get a question on the real MCAT pertaining to amino acids, it'll be asking a question to see how well you understand the concept of pKa, titration curves, and pH.

 

[AnthroMD]

I think you're right, for the most part. As someone else stated above, there have been discrete questions asking the structure of amino acids and even nucleotides. I believe I had both on my last MCAT... just FYI.

That said, I wouldn't say that it is worthless to study them. On the other hand, I would not expect for them to ask what the primary structure of collagen is (Gly-X-Y).

I'm guessing that if you do get a question on the real MCAT pertaining to amino acids, it'll be asking a question to see how well you understand the concept of pKa, titration curves, and pH.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

For specific questions, they will likely provide you with specific information. For general questions, you might need to know general info like the pKa range for the two end terminals (COOH is 2-3 and NH3+ is 9-10 more or less).

You should have an idea of which amino acids have an impact on folding (the effects of proline and cystine) and that histidine has a sidechain pKa close to 7 (6.1 or so), so it's involved in several active sites. So while that isn't exactly memorizing the structures, it is knowing the effect they have on proteins and enzymes.

Know your concepts well and your facts a little!

 

[Self]

I had to do that for biochem I. I agree with the majority in that it won't be very useful for the MCAT, but if you really wanted to do it, it wouldn't be that much of a burden. Write up some flash cards and then write all the AA over and over again. You could probably get it done in one night, 3-4 hours. Whatever you end up remembering would be more than enough.

It might be handy to know about the intracellular histidine buffering system, but understanding that will take all of 30 minutes max. It might also be helpful to know about what other biomolecules come from AA, e.g. serotonin from tryptophan, histamine from histidine, epinephrine from tyrosine, etc.

 

[whoMD]

it might be helpful to know basic structure like which are polar charged (positively or negatively), polar uncharged, aromatic, aliphatic. that would be the most helpful in determining if any interactions between amino acids occur.

 

[Chrisebril1]

Would it be wise if I take my time to memorize all the properties and structures of amino acids? Or should I give the time to study for something else?

Don't bother memorizing the amino acids.

 

[phnerd1105]

You really shouldn't spend time memorizing that, when you have so much other material to cover. I just recently finished a biochemistry class where we had to memorize them, so that's the only reason why I still know them. I think on my summer practice tests, I maybe encountered 2 discretes over probably 10 tests that asked something specific about an amino acid, and it wasn't hard to eliminate choices just based on what you know from a basic biology class.