one semester of survey of biochemistry vs. one year of biochemistry

[luv2sd]

Which should I take? I definitely think that taking one year of biochemistry before MCAT is overkill but taking one semester of biochemistry that covers one year worth of topics in less detail doesn't sound very appealing... I don't know what to do

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[154465]

I would NOT take a full year of biochem, but thats just me. I think you should take the survey course. Most schools don't require biochem, and the ones that do only require a semester. There is some biochem on the MCAT, but it's nothing that you can't simply study for with that survey course for background info.

 

[Mayssy]

This is interesting because just TODAY I got advised to continue taking biochem (instead of delaying it to fit in molecular genetics) next semester because there's a lot more biochem on mcat than mol gen.

 

[lykyamy00]

here is my opinion. i am in a post bacc program taking med school classes with med students and taking the same tests and omg do i wish i had taken a year of biochem. it would make my life so much easier right now! i dont know anyone who doesnt wish they had a full year of biochem under their belts already. the amount of information in med school is just so much that already having a good foundation in biochem will make you so much more prepared and will make your first year so much easier. i would have taken a year myself but my school happened to only be offereing biochem 1 the year i was taking it and replaced 2 with some other advanced chem course.

TAKE A YEAR! especially if medical school is your goal ;-)

 

[wanderer]

This is interesting because just TODAY I got advised to continue taking biochem (instead of delaying it to fit in molecular genetics) next semester because there's a lot more biochem on mcat than mol gen.

Is your advisor Satan? I've never seen a falser statement.

Edit: What's with the necromancy?

 

[CoolWhipp]

Take the semester and get the general knowledge down, two semesters would be overkill and its not going to score you any extra points.

 

[Schemp]

It won't score you extra points, but it'll better prepare you for medical school. I'd take it personally, but then again I'm a biochem major, so I'm a little biased.

 

[Mayssy]

Is your advisor Satan? I've never seen a falser statement.

Edit: What's with the necromancy?

I'm ignoring the 'edit'...

So I was told that by a student who's a year ahead and he had a really high score on the MCAT... It doesn't matter at this point anyway because I've registered and I'm kind of excited to only have one lab next semester.. But out of curiosity what makes you so confident? I've taken a few practice MCAT's and I've never had a problem answering genetics questions (some I even knew from AP bio and cell and molecular bio)

 

[silverhorse84]

it won't score you extra points, but it'll better prepare you for medical school. I'd take it personally, but then again i'm a biochem major, so i'm a little biased.

+1

 

[wanderer]

I'm ignoring the 'edit'...

So I was told that by a student who's a year ahead and he had a really high score on the MCAT... It doesn't matter at this point anyway because I've registered and I'm kind of excited to only have one lab next semester.. But out of curiosity what makes you so confident? I've taken a few practice MCAT's and I've never had a problem answering genetics questions (some I even knew from AP bio and cell and molecular bio)

Again with the necromancy?

There's more molecular genetics than biochem on the mcat. My MCAT score was pretty high as well. 2 semester of biochem is way more than enough as far as the MCAT goes.

 

[CoffeeCzar]

If you plan on going to medical school, your GPA is much more important than the level of the classes you take, especially if they are not required for admission.

If you don't need a year of biochem for your major, it would be a mistake for you to take it.

 

[Mayssy]

If you plan on going to medical school, your GPA is much more important than the level of the classes you take, especially if they are not required for admission.

If you don't need a year of biochem for your major, it would be a mistake for you to take it.

Good point.. but actually I'm doing well in Biochem and it looks like it'll raise my GPA since I didn't do as well in orgo. And since I'm taking both course anyway, I've added a minor in biochemistry. The minor needs molecular genetics which I'll take senior year

Again with the necromancy?

There's more molecular genetics than biochem on the mcat. My MCAT score was pretty high as well. 2 semester of biochem is way more than enough as far as the MCAT goes.

So this time I looked up necromancy which is defined by dictionary.com as "a method of divination through alleged communication with the dead; black art" so I had the right idea... and I still have no clue what you're talking about

That's too bad, I should have asked on here before making the decision and seen how many people agree and how many think I'm making the right (or neutral) choice. I'm taking less credits than usual, so maybe I'll audit it.

Since we're on the subject, how much micro can I expect? To those who've taken more than their share of practice exams..

 

[RySerr21]

Which should I take? I definitely think that taking one year of biochemistry before MCAT is overkill but taking one semester of biochemistry that covers one year worth of topics in less detail doesn't sound very appealing... I don't know what to do

Just take the minimum you need to get accepted (some schools require a biochem course). I went in with one semester of biochemistry, and it wasnt even a bio biochem course, it was offered by my kines department (i was a kines major). It was Biochem of Exercise. I took it after my MCAT, so obviously it didnt help for that. Ill admit it might have been nice to have more biochem, might have saved me some time since most of the first half of the course was all stuff i had never seen, but overall it didnt matter. I did well on all my tests and it didnt really make much of a difference. Get a way with taking as few classes as possible that you dont want to take. Now if you enjoy biochemistry, obviously take as much as you want.

 

[anbuitachi]

im taking 1 semester of Biochemistry that covers 1 year of biochem material in same amount of detail. its a lot of work but i think the class taught me a lot

 

[iMD]

take the biochem that you will learn the most from. it's a class in med school and having a background in biochem helps. not to mention itll help you a bit on the mcat

in med school, you basically take a semester of undergrad biochem and squeeze it into about 2 weeks.... so it helps to have a background.

 

[McPoyle]

Ya just take whatever looks interesting to you. Honestly I don't see taking a full year of biochem to be especially helpful for med school. While the material is dense and difficult at times, I felt adequately prepared with the one semester biochem I took. This was also different than the biochem needed for the biochem major. Honestly I probably coulda gotten by without even that as they tell you everything you need to know-either in lecture or textbook format-they don't expect you to walk in the door with that deep of a knowledge base.

Now, with that said, it was nice to have already seen and studied (even over the one semester course I took): glycolysis, TCA cycle, e- transport, urea cycle, fatty acid synthesis and B-oxidation, and gluconeogenesis. Obviously i didn't have these mastered by any means but it was nice to at least recognize the principles and even simply the words/terminology used.