Question for any medical student that has taken an AP Exam

[demh23]

Hello

I am preparing for the AP Chemistry exam and I was wondering how an exam like the annual AP Chem test compares to a regular exam in medical school. Thanks

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[lord_jeebus]

Preclinical medical school tests cover a much larger body of facts but generally involve less complicated reasoning and very few calculations. This is a generalization as some courses like physiology may require application of principles that are somewhat more complex than those covered in AP Chemistry.

 

[demh23]

Oh ok so its more like AP Bio?

 

[MilkmanAl]

I disagree with that statement, actually. I feel like med school requires substantially more complex logic to answer questions correctly than any of my AP of college courses did.

If I had to put a number on it, I'd say that the AP chem test will cover about as much chemistry as you'll do in a week of med school biochemistry. That might be selling med school a bit short, too. No, I'm not exaggerating.

Trying to compare med school to anything you'll do until the later parts of college is probably unwise. Even then, it's a very different ballgame. It's like trying to compare soccer practice to doing an Iron Man. You just won't get the scope of med school until you're immersed in it.

 

[VneZonyDostupa]

I agree with everything MilkmanAl posted above, especially the comparison of time/material in med school.

 

[demh23]

Wow it is really tough to imagine cramming all of the material I've learned since September into one week.

 

[SAvoodoo]

Wow it is really tough to imagine cramming all of the material I've learned since September into one week.

try imagine doing it every week for two years...

(I agree with what was said above, no comparison at all)

 

[MilkmanAl]

Not to mention for multiple classes each week. Your celebration for plowing through that AP class will be met by the other 1-3 you need to tackle before the next week starts staring you in the face.

 

[loveoforganic]

Don't be discouraged though. College is significantly more difficult than high school, but you learn to adapt. Likewise for med school.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Although they are both "science," I think it is hard to make a good comparison because of the immense body of knowledge in medical school that I mentioned above. If you did AP Chemistry in a week or two you wouldn't cover an unreasonable number of memorizable facts, but you would cover more new principles requiring complex conceptual understanding than you would in a week of medical school. Personally, I think the concepts covered in many college courses (physical chemistry, electrical engineering, and literary theory were tough ones in my experience) are much more difficult to comprehend and master than those of medical school. If you can wrap your mind around AP Physics, you should be able to master, with effort, the most complex aspects of medical school physiology, pharmacokinetics, or immunology.

I think the closest comparison would be to imagine taking AP US History, European History, and Physics simultaneously over 6-8 weeks. You would be learning and applying many new and tricky concepts, but the bulk of your long study days would be filled with the learning, review, and memorization of thousands of regurgitable facts.