Psychology?

[mwsapphire]

Hi
I'm a sophomore, and was have already taken sociology and am currently taking a War and Peace philosophy class. I'm wondering if taking psych would be useful on the MCAT, or for med school. Somebody told me Abnormal Psych is extremely helpful ( and it sounds cool). But that would require intro psych first, and then abnormal psych. I need to take gen eds anyway.

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[Luka75]

The MCAT does have psych material so I don't imagine it'd be detrimental to take at least the intro class.

 

[greenturtle22]

I think psych was very useful for my MCAT. For what it's worth, my MCAT was heavy on social and developmental psychology, so I'd at least look into those.

 

[deleted781806]

Taking an intro to psych class would be very beneficial for the MCAT, as the behavior sciences sub-section relies more on basic psychology concepts across a wide variety of disciplines rather than just focusing on abnormal psych topics. Questions dealing with memory/learning or socialization seemed to be much more common that those relating to mental health issues. So, if you feel like a review book would not be sufficient, I would take the intro psych class. If you find yourself to be very interested in the topic, then move on to the abnormal psych class (but the latter is definitely not necessary for MCAT-prep)

 

[Go4Doc]

Taking an intro to psych class would be very beneficial for the MCAT, as the behavior sciences sub-section relies more on basic psychology concepts across a wide variety of disciplines rather than just focusing on abnormal psych topics. Questions dealing with memory/learning or socialization seemed to be much more common that those relating to mental health issues. So, if you feel like a review book would not be sufficient, I would take the intro psych class. If you find yourself to be very interested in the topic, then move on to the abnormal psych class (but the latter is definitely not necessary for MCAT-prep)

I agree wholeheartedly. I was a psych minor with quite a few upper-level psych courses but the intro class easily covered the vast majority of the psych questions I saw on test day.

 

[Citizen #3]

I guessed by butt off on that section, but the questions that I felt confident in were related to developmental psychology and abnormal psychology. I took three developmental psychology classes that shared a lot of material, so I retained a good chunk of that information. The abnormal psychology class wasn't necessarily helpful because almost all of the abnormal psychology that was on the MCAT was also covered in my introduction to psychology class. However, I took intro to psych as a freshman and definitely forgot a lot of it, so taking abnormal psych my junior year was very useful.

Honestly, if your school offers a good survey class for intro to psych, you shouldn't need more than that, but other classes might help to reinforce the material.

 

[hubbsbubbs]

Psych major here. For MCAT all you need is that one introductory psych class. Abnormal psych probably won't help as much as psychology of learning, developmental, or a sociology class. Most upper div psych classes would prepare you well for the methodology of psych (psych stats is also great for this). I actually think abnormal psych is very lacking in this regard, so I would recommend taking another course. I feel like the psych section of the MCAT is more focused on methodology and less on content knowledge

 

[Wiesal]

I think psych was very useful for my MCAT. For what it's worth, my MCAT was heavy on social and developmental psychology, so I'd at least look into those.

Do the focus of individual MCATs vary?

 

[coffeeandcodeine]

I don't think psych is at all necessary. I have never taken a psych or soc course, and managed to pull off a 132 (100th percentile) on that section. I studied hard for the MCAT, but I didn't feel like I had to put any extra effort into the psych/soc section despite my lack of background in psych. Only take the course if you're truly interested and think it's a good use of your electives/gen eds.

 

[dguirg95]

I don't think psych is at all necessary. I have never taken a psych or soc course, and managed to pull off a 132 (100th percentile) on that section. I studied hard for the MCAT, but I didn't feel like I had to put any extra effort into the psych/soc section despite my lack of background in psych. Only take the course if you're truly interested and think it's a good use of your electives/gen eds.

I'm going to go ahead and say this is not common and you should take an intro psych course as is recommended by the AAMC.


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[coffeeandcodeine]

It may not be the norm, but it is extremely doable. I'm a somewhat above average test taker, but not brilliant at it like many of my peers. I found that using flashcards to thoroughly memorize key terms (I used a combo TPR and Kaplan books) was the most helpful way to prepare, and this can definitely be done without taking a class. Since the psych/soc material is so much memorization (as opposed to actual conceptual learning) it can be mastered at a relatively quick pace. I would never recommend this for the other sections.

I'm going to go ahead and say this is not common and you should take an intro psych course as is recommended by the AAMC.


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[libertyyne]

I don't think psych is at all necessary. I have never taken a psych or soc course, and managed to pull off a 132 (100th percentile) on that section. I studied hard for the MCAT, but I didn't feel like I had to put any extra effort into the psych/soc section despite my lack of background in psych. Only take the course if you're truly interested and think it's a good use of your electives/gen eds.

1+ 131 and I have never taken a psych class. I would recommend taking a study design, research methods ,or even a statistics class over a pysch class for MCAT prep. You are tested on ability to interpret and apply scientific knowledge in the language of pysch and sociology in that section. Taking a pysch class may give you that language ,but you can easily pick up that language by reading a review book.

 

[MareNostrummm]

131 in psych/soc, but I was a Bio-psych major. Nevertheless, most of the questions were just applications of research methods and statistics (reading tables, p value, etc). There was actually not much memorization on my test (No Erikson stages, etc)... I think my upper division psych background may have helped with 1-2 discretes though that were not covered on the TPR book (they were covered in Khan academy though).

 

[MareNostrummm]

1+ 131 and I have never taken a psych class. I would recommend taking a study design, research methods ,or even a statistics class over a pysch class for MCAT prep. You are tested on ability to interpret and apply scientific knowledge in the language of pysch and sociology in that section. Taking a pysch class may give you that knowledge ,but you can easily pick up that knowledge by reading a review book.

I don't know if they have updated the review books since 2015, but they are definitely not comprehensive (EK's P/S was pretty bad, and TPR had to add an online addendum for a missing 50 pages). The only comprehensive psych/soc resource is khan academy, that is unless they have released new versions of the books.

 

[libertyyne]

I don't know if they have updated the review books since 2015, but they are definitely not comprehensive (EK's P/S was pretty bad, and TPR had to add an online addendum for a missing 50 pages). The only comprehensive psych/soc resource is khan academy, that is unless they have released new versions of the books.

I used ek , PR and Kaplan for pysch . I found the PR and lap combo to be sufficient. But YMMV.

 

[MareNostrummm]

I used ek , PR and Kaplan for pysch . I found the PR and lap combo to be sufficient. But YMMV.

True!

You had to use multiple review books though, most people that I know tend to just buy a whole set of 1 review company and call it a day. They would be at a serious disadvantage, but then again these people don't even know what student doctor is.

 

[Citizen #3]

True!

You had to use multiple review books though, most people that I know tend to just buy a whole set of 1 review company and call it a day. They would be at a serious disadvantage, but then again these people don't even know what student doctor is.

Having one set of review books isn't some sign of irresponsibility. They're expensive, and having multiple sets isn't really necessary to get a score good enough to get accepted (especially since Khan Academy exists and is free). 🙄

 

[MareNostrummm]

Having one set of review books isn't some sign of irresponsibility. They're expensive, and having multiple sets isn't really necessary to get a score good enough to get accepted (especially since Khan Academy exists and is free). 🙄

There's people who don't even know khan academy has a MCAT section and still think going to Carribean will get them into a competitive residency LOL. Sorry you seem to be butt hurt about it.

I never said to buy multiple book sets, the person I was quoting just happened to have multiple sets... If you do your research then you would know that each company is better in one area than others. If you go online you will see which books are bad (EK P/S) and which companies are better (Kaplan Biochem). If you do not do this basic research then yes you are irresponsible and are at a disadvantage.

And you clearly don't know the new MCAT if you think 1 set is enough to get you a good score. EK said to not memorize the amino acids... until they released a revised set. If you followed that advice you would have bombed the biochem section.

Like I said, if you do not do your research then you might as well also be in the same pool of people applying to OOS schools that take only instate...

 

[numbersloth]

One of the MCAT psych practice questions I just answered was straight from my biological psychology class. Like it literally could have been on one of our exams. Super useful for both the mcat and to have a solid basis of the mind-brain-behavior system going into medical school

 

[deleted781806]

And you clearly don't know the new MCAT if you think 1 set is enough to get you a good score. EK said to not memorize the amino acids... until they released a revised set. If you followed that advice you would have bombed the biochem section.

I'll just be over here with my 96th percentile while using only one set of review books. Obviously you want to pick the best books that you can that will help you get a better score, but to look at someone and say that you need to buy multiple copies of books before even thinking about getting a good score is ridiculous. Also where is this non-sense about how memorizing the amino acids would have helped you? Entirely not the case.

 

[Citizen #3]

True!

You had to use multiple review books

I never said to buy multiple book sets

'

Yeah, those two things are so consistent. Did you spend all your time studying biochem and none of it studying CARS?

Honestly, though, I think you're making some pretty broad generalizations. Yes, you could trade your first-born or your left kidney in for several different MCAT prep books, and they probably would be very useful, but it really isn't necessary to get a decent score.

Also, you're comparing apples and oranges in your post. Not buying more than one set of books is obviously not the same thing as never having heard of Khan Academy's MCAT prep, and neither of those things is the same as going to the Caribbean with a low GPA/low MCAT and expecting to match into derm.

 

[21Rush12]

I studied for ~45 minutes for psych and got a 130 using a different test taking strategy. It's probably beneficial to have a background class or two but it's probably the easiest section to learn independently.

If you feel you're someone who needs classroom presentation of things first, take intro psych or developmental. If not, save your time and money and just read Kaplan.


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[MareNostrummm]

'

Yeah, those two things are so consistent. Did you spend all your time studying biochem and none of it studying CARS?

Honestly, though, I think you're making some pretty broad generalizations. Yes, you could trade your first-born or your left kidney in for several different MCAT prep books, and they probably would be very useful, but it really isn't necessary to get a decent score.

Also, you're comparing apples and oranges in your post. Not buying more than one set of books is obviously not the same thing as never having heard of Khan Academy's MCAT prep, and neither of those things is the same as going to the Caribbean with a low GPA/low MCAT and expecting to match into derm.

He had multiple books so he could cover any deficiencies regardless, so it did not matter if he bought a less than optimal book. You quoted me out of context "You had to use multiple sets, THOUGH..."and made it look like I was attacking people who cannot afford to buy all EK/TPR/KAPLAN. I am saying that people who just buy 1 whole set are at a disadvantage, you should really be trying to buy the best books.

In other words, he could get away without doing research because he had the money to pay for extra sets... This concept is not inconsistent at all.

In fact, if you read up to my previous posts in this thread, the only comprehensive P/S section I said was khan academy, which was free. So you are interpreting me as looking down on people for not buying multiple sets, which makes no sense. In fact, you would likely save money and get a better score if you did your research, and only bought the best book from each set. Where did I ever say to buy multiple sets?

For the record, I only used 1 book for each section for my MCAT (Kaplan biochem, TPR P/S, EK Bio, etc, I never had "multiple sets". Buying multiple sets is a waste of money.

 

[MareNostrummm]

I'll just be over here with my 96th percentile while using only one set of review books. Obviously you want to pick the best books that you can that will help you get a better score, but to look at someone and say that you need to buy multiple copies of books before even thinking about getting a good score is ridiculous. Also where is this non-sense about how memorizing the amino acids would have helped you? Entirely not the case.

I never said to buy multiple books, I said to buy the best book for each section. It did not matter for that guy because he had multiple sets, so he could cover the deficiencies with other sets. ex: Why would you buy the EK P/S book if the soc section is missing half the vocabulary (which it was..), just because its part of the set?

 

[Citizen #3]

You quoted me out of context "You had to use multiple sets, THOUGH" and made it look like I was attacking people who cannot afford to buy EK/TPR/KAPLAN.

You're quoting yourself out of context. You equated buying one book set to not ever hearing about SDN, effectively implying that anyone who only had one set was just an anecdote in the "less-informed pre-meds" forum.

True!

You had to use multiple review books though, most people that I know tend to just buy a whole set of 1 review company and call it a day. They would be at a serious disadvantage, but then again these people don't even know what student doctor is.

Also, you didn't bring up shopping around for different subject books until after I responded to you.

 

[MareNostrummm]

You're quoting yourself out of context. You equated buying one book set to not ever hearing about SDN, effectively implying that anyone who only had one set was just an anecdote in the "less-informed pre-meds" forum.



Also, you didn't bring up shopping around for different subject books until after I responded to you.

I quote myself twice from above in this thread:

"I don't know if they have updated the review books since 2015, but they are definitely not comprehensive (EK's P/S was pretty bad, and TPR had to add an online addendum for a missing 50 pages). The only comprehensive psych/soc resource is khan academy, that is unless they have released new versions of the books."

"You had to use multiple review books though, most people that I know tend to just buy a whole set of 1 review company and call it a day. They would be at a serious disadvantage, but then again these people don't even know what student doctor is."

Because if you do buy one book set and call it a day... you basically are in the "less-informed premeds forum". The books for the new 2015 MCAT are full of errors, missing entire chapters, etc. They companies did not know what was being tested on. I was saying he did well because he had multiple books to cover the deficiencies. The typical premed will buy 1 book set and be oblivious. They just see the name Kaplan or TPR and that is their one stop for study materials. For the record, I was always advising people to look at Khan academy. The person I was quoting has the advantage of multiple books to cover his bases, so he could get away without using khan, though. If you did not know of sites like student doctor would you even know there were deficiencies in your books in the first place? You're just taking this and accusing me of looking down on people who can't afford extra sets of books...(screw the poor people?) it's not the argument I've been trying to make at all. I'm actually looking down on people who don't even realize their books are full of errors.

 

[deleted781806]

Because if you do buy one book set and call it a day... you basically are in the "less-informed premeds forum" [...] The typical premed will buy 1 book set and be oblivious. [...] You're just taking this and accusing me of looking down on people who can't afford extra sets of books...(screw the poor people?) it's not the argument I've been trying to make at all. I'm actually looking down on people who don't even realize their books are full of errors.

Your writing tone is atrocious, which is leading to these misunderstandings, the whole high-horse shtick never presents itself well. Also, I think everyone just needs to lighten up a little.

The new 2015 MCAT books were originally full of errors but the companies have been making changes in subsequent editions. But seriously, just buy whatever book suits your style the best, go on Khan academy every now and then, and call it a day. You get out what you put into it (along with a good chunk of luck).