Prerequisite knowledge for MS1 classes

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Hiya all,

I'm starting up med school soon... and am a bit curious about the detail to which Bio 101 knowledge will be required. Would one be behind the game already if most of the knowledge is... not quite fresh? Or do schools tend to start biochem, etc from scratch?

Thanks in advance.

 

[sendwich]

Hiya all,

I'm starting up med school soon... and am a bit curious about the detail to which Bio 101 knowledge will be required. Would one be behind the game already if most of the knowledge is... not quite fresh? Or do schools tend to start biochem, etc from scratch?

Thanks in advance.

Fellow M1 here. We just finished week 1 so I'm not much of an expert on medschool classes, but so far it seems like profs bring on the basic stuff before heading into the meat of the material on day 1 and/or 2 to "level the playing field". Whatever you learned in undergrad might keep you afloat for a few weeks, max, but after that, I hear anything from undergrad does not help. If you got into medschool, you should be able to get through the basic stuff w/o a problem, I'm thinking. I was a bio major in ug and it helped some, but it's not a huge advantage or anything.

 

[psipsina]

Any knowledge I had from undergrad that was applicable to M1 coursework only gave me the slight advantage of being able to skim a couple of lectures early on that others had to spend a few hours on. The only major advantages I saw was a neuroscience background, gross-dissection experience and biochem background . . . but it really was only an advantage of a couple of hours, nothing drastic or insurmountable if you lack it.

 

[Flopotomist]

OK... keep breathing, and remember this: trust the process.

If they let you in, they know you will be able to succeed. Adcoms have been doing this for a long time, and know how to find people who will do fine. You were chosen - they didn't make a mistake as much as it will feel like it sometimes.

You will feel lost sometimes (in my case most of the time) but somehow, you will do fine. I did, and it had been 10 years since I took a bio course.

Good luck!

 

[PeepshowJohnny]

I overprepared for medical school. I was (essentially) a biochem major. I took human anatomy courses. I took microbio courses. I took genetics/cellular biology courses.

It helped, but I would have been fine without it.

As long as you know that human beings are made of litlte things called "cells" and that disease is not caused by miasma/vapors or the actions of a vengeaful diety, you'll do fine.

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

Or do schools tend to start biochem, etc from scratch?

Yes, they do start from scratch. However, it's like listening to a 33-rpm-record played at 78-rpm. We did an entire semester's worth of undergraduate biochemistry in 4 weeks. I know people who had never had biochem who did just fine, but I was very glad I wasn't one of them. Seriously, there really isn't anything you have to know when you land at medical school (well, actually, you'll use a little of your physics in physiology) but be prepared to go through the fundamentals at lightning speed. If your background is very poor, you may have to do a little extra study at home. But, you'll be fine.

 

[MattD]

Know how to read.



Seriously.

 

[Law2Doc]

Yes, they do start from scratch. However, it's like listening to a 33-rpm-record played at 78-rpm. We did an entire semester's worth of undergraduate biochemistry in 4 weeks. I know people who had never had biochem who did just fine, but I was very glad I wasn't one of them. Seriously, there really isn't anything you have to know when you land at medical school (well, actually, you'll use a little of your physics in physiology) but be prepared to go through the fundamentals at lightning speed. If your background is very poor, you may have to do a little extra study at home. But, you'll be fine.

I think at many places it's more like 2 weeks before everyone is on equal footing learning new stuff. However there didn't appear to be any clear advantage of those who had biochem and those who didn't in terms of final grades -- both groups seemed to spread out pretty evenly throughout the class; I think this has a lot to do with the fact that the level of competition is not the same as undergrad, and everyone who gets into med school has had their share of A's. If you hit the ground running and use outside resources to the extent you feel you need to refresh/catch up, you will do fine.

As to the OP's question, you don't really need to know anything from most of the prereqs when you start. Med school will teach you all you need to know, and then some. Just be prepared to review and re-review everything you hear in lecture and read in the notes multiple times until it sticks. That is what you are responsible for, not stuff you may or may not have covered in undergrad. Undergrad is just the leaky rowboat that carried you to this ship. Once you are aboard, it can, for the most part, be disposed of.

 

[medicomel]

If you keep up on a daily basis and successfully manage your time, you'll be fine. I was a humanities major who *only* took biochem as an upper-level science, and ended up doing fine. Granted, I sometimes felt I had to do doubletime in order to grasp the info, while others yawned and/or skipped class.

 

[cfdavid]

My view is that the more upper level science courses you have, the easier it'll be. How much easier depends on the UG course as well as your med school. But, it definitely helps to have at least seen the info before. I think it's often understated how that extra bit of repetition actually does help quite a lot.

That being said, you can do just fine with minimal "extras" from UG. You'll just have to work a bit harder. But, it's definitely doable. So, don't worry and just buckle down when necessary.

 

[njbmd]

Know how to read.



Seriously.

Actually, knowing how to read is about all you need for your MS-1 coursework. I will add that you need to have great time management skills and great study skills but being able to read and understand the material is the only prerequisite knowledge that you NEED for your coursework. It's not that your MS-1 classes are going to be difficult, it's the volume that most people have to adjust to.

The advice from the other posters is good too.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I would say that I came in behind the majority of my classmates in terms of science preparation. I had some minor anatomy exposure where I mainly learned muscles, all of which I had forgotten by the time school started. I also took biochem in 1998 I think and again all forgotten. Never took physiology, embryology, histology and only had some very minor neuro exposure from an upper level psych class. Speaking of psych, that upper level class was the only one I'd ever taken -- I didn't even have intro to psych under my belt.

So there were no classes I could entirely blow off. That's it, though. I did fine the first year -- in fact better than most of my science majoring classmates. I think the bit of extra studying I had to do was worth taking more fun classes in ugrad, and it's not like I had to kill myself to catch up.

 

[RokChalkJayhawk]

My buddy said biochem was essentially a review with a few new things tossed in, but it didn't mean that he didn't have to study for it. It helps when you know the terminology and mechanisms, but you should learn the basic structure of a course within a few weeks anyway.

 

[maxflash04]

Great advice everyone!

 

[beefballs]

stop stressing, I am as dumb as a bag of doorknobs and I did fine.

the dude who said all you REALLY need to know is how to read is correct. Any extra science knowledge can help and means it will be easier for you, but by no means necessary to begin with.