P-chem or animal phys before the mcat?

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feathr

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Hi guys,

I'm currently in a dilemma between which of these two classes I'm going to take winter term. I'll only be able to fit one of them in my schedule, and I plan on taking the MCATs after the summer. Which class, p-chem (gen chem 2) or animal phys will be more helpful?

Just a note, I haven't touched gen chem in over 2 years.
Another note, tested out of intro bio classes, so i havent touched any of the basics since highschool (however biochem has a lot of overlap, and i've taken genetics).

Thanks!

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Hi guys,

I'm currently in a dilemma between which of these two classes I'm going to take winter term. I'll only be able to fit one of them in my schedule, and I plan on taking the MCATs after the summer. Which class, p-chem (gen chem 2) or animal phys will be more helpful?

Just a note, I haven't touched gen chem in over 2 years.
Another note, tested out of intro bio classes, so i havent touched any of the basics since highschool (however biochem has a lot of overlap, and i've taken genetics).

Thanks!
I suggest gen chem 2. Animal phys won't help you much since all the biology and physiology tested on the MCAT is all human.
 
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Animal physiology, no question about it. Thermodynamics is mostly useless for the MCAT and quantum mechanics is even worse. Physiology, on the other hand, will give you a good review for the biology section. Make sure to brush up on reaction equilibrium and rates and you'll cover everything thermodynamics would be useful for.
 
i'm confused. isn't gchem a prereq for pchem?

you should complete your prereqs. if you took gchem II already then either class would be helpful. if you did not complete gchem, then you absolutely should finish it before taking the mcat.
 
Humans are animals. derp

Wow, you must be a genius to have figured that one out. The poster tested out of bio so while they may be rusty I assume that with a bit of review they will pick it back up quickly. However, since they didn't test out of gen chem it probably is a subject they either did not take prior to college or is a bit harder for them. Therefore taking 2nd semester gen chem will be useful both for the MCAT and especially for applying to med school in general since many schools still require 2 semesters of gen chem. The basics of animal physiology are of course relevant to human physiology but the MCAT is not going to test you on things that basic. Human physiology would be much more helpful since things such as endocrine hormone cascades will come up commonly on the biology section. Honestly whatever section of the MCAT you feel is your worst should be the section to spend the most time improving so original poster if you feel you do better with bio and o-chem than physics and gen chem take the chem if not take the bio but keep in mind that you will still probably have to take the 2nd gen chem anyway to apply.
 
i'm confused. isn't gchem a prereq for pchem?

you should complete your prereqs. if you took gchem II already then either class would be helpful. if you did not complete gchem, then you absolutely should finish it before taking the mcat.

i don't know what the universal terminology is, but my school called the class physical chemistry. it is equivalent to the 2nd semester of inorganic chem (so gen chem 2?) for pre-med prereq.
 
i don't know what the universal terminology is, but my school called the class physical chemistry. it is equivalent to the 2nd semester of inorganic chem (so gen chem 2?) for pre-med prereq.

oh ok. then finish your 1 year of chemistry before taking the mcat.
 
both are helpful but you don't really need them to ace mcat as long as you have a good review book. well, base on my exp, I guess physiology is better than pchem.
 
I'd really recommend BOTH. Gen Chem 2 will show up alot. Animal phys does a great job of covering the majority of the bio.
 
both are helpful but you don't really need them to ace mcat as long as you have a good review book. well, base on my exp, I guess physiology is better than pchem.

:thumbup: :thumbup:

I'm not sure how your school works things out but our pchem class was a 4000 level course and that hands down the most difficult two courses I took. IMO calling it genchemII would be a drastic understatement.

I would opt for Aphys and stay far, FAR away from pchem (unless you want to learn all the ridiculous derivations for the gchem equations).
 
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