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- Aug 30, 2017
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I know this has been written about a few times, but I figured I would add my own on here just in case someone has not found any that really stick for them. These have helped me tremendously and I hope someone else finds them helpful! Some are from the Gold Standard MCAT prep, and some I’ve come up with on my own. So here they are:
Non polar amino acids:
GAP VW LIMF (think of LIMF like lymph fluid, which can be fatty and/or carry fat molecules)
Polar amino acids:
STYC NQ (think “stick nick”, “stick” like a “pole” or “polar”)
Acidic & Basic:
DE HKR (pronounce or think of it as “Dee Hicker”, DE=acidic, HKR=basic)
Cyclic amino acids:
Water Helps You cycle (think “cyclic”) Faster
OH side chain:
Yes To Shots (of alcohol!)
Oxygen in their side chain:
Quite Drinking Nasty EspressO (“O” like oxygen. Plus all the oxygen in side chains are double bonded so think of the double “ss” in espresso as a double bonded oxygen)
Amino groups in their side chain:
WQRKHN (pronounce “workin” like: “workin on learning my amino acids!”)
I know some of these are corny but they have really helped me!
ADDITIONAL TIP: In my first MCAT attempt I used some of the 5 minutes prior to the test starting (that time when you’ve already been seated with your pencil and scratch paper but haven’t pressed “start” yet) and I jot down all these mnemonics. This REALLY helped me save time during the exam. Instead of just going through all the info in my head, I could look at my mnemonics to help me find the amino acid I needed. For example, if I knew I was looking for a nonpolar amino acid with an amino side chain, I could just glance at my written mnemonics and see “oh! Tryptophan is in both of those groups!”
Happy studying!
Non polar amino acids:
GAP VW LIMF (think of LIMF like lymph fluid, which can be fatty and/or carry fat molecules)
Polar amino acids:
STYC NQ (think “stick nick”, “stick” like a “pole” or “polar”)
Acidic & Basic:
DE HKR (pronounce or think of it as “Dee Hicker”, DE=acidic, HKR=basic)
Cyclic amino acids:
Water Helps You cycle (think “cyclic”) Faster
OH side chain:
Yes To Shots (of alcohol!)
Oxygen in their side chain:
Quite Drinking Nasty EspressO (“O” like oxygen. Plus all the oxygen in side chains are double bonded so think of the double “ss” in espresso as a double bonded oxygen)
Amino groups in their side chain:
WQRKHN (pronounce “workin” like: “workin on learning my amino acids!”)
I know some of these are corny but they have really helped me!
ADDITIONAL TIP: In my first MCAT attempt I used some of the 5 minutes prior to the test starting (that time when you’ve already been seated with your pencil and scratch paper but haven’t pressed “start” yet) and I jot down all these mnemonics. This REALLY helped me save time during the exam. Instead of just going through all the info in my head, I could look at my mnemonics to help me find the amino acid I needed. For example, if I knew I was looking for a nonpolar amino acid with an amino side chain, I could just glance at my written mnemonics and see “oh! Tryptophan is in both of those groups!”
Happy studying!
