General Retaking courses for which I had AP credit?

[TMP-SMX]

Hello,

I took a lot of AP exams during HS and managed to get credit for calculus I/II, intro stats, general chemistry 1, general chemistry 2, and bio 1/2. I also received a lot of English credits from AP English Language & Composition as well as AP Literature.

During my post-baccalaureate program, I would like to take calculus 1/2, general chemistry 1 and 2, and bio 1/2 because it's been so long since the AP exams (~10 years ago) and I'm worried that upper division chem/bio might eat me alive without strong fundamentals in place. I was a math major, so I took many upper division math/stats courses beyond calculus I/II and generally did well (my BCPM is ~3.77), but, again, it's been so long.

So, my questions are: Would it look bad to med school adcoms if I were to retake all of those introductory/pre-requisite courses? Or can I do so knowing that as long as I do well in them, they'll be a credit to my med school application? Also, should I take some introductory English classes, too, so that I have some college-level grades on that front, too?

Thanks!

Why would you repeat the same courses? You should take upper level science courses. Do you need math again? How did you do on the MCAT?

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[TMP-SMX]

Have you taken the MCAT already?

No, I haven’t yet. I am planning to do so after completing the post-bacc program, which I hope will give me enough of a science foundation to prepare for the exam.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I guess the real question was how many bio/chem classes did you take. It sounds like the answer was pretty much none when you were first in college. I hope I'm right with that assumption. If you were a math major and you really haven't taken any beginning biology or chemistry in over a year, presuming you are in a career-changing postbac program, you probably should consider retaking your prerequisite classes. A good foundation for the next level of biomedical science classes will certainly help you. As for introductory English classes, if you had general education coursework in your undergraduate degree, you don't really need to take introductory English again. You could take some reading-/writing-intensive classes though.

Thank you for the reply. Yes, the last time I took any beginning bio/chem courses was high school, save for a physical chemistry class I took in my freshman year (which was about a decade ago). I definitely want to start from square 1 because I really want the foundation, and it would seem from your response, that's the right way to go. I don't want to walk into organic chemistry, biochem, genetics, or some other more advanced class and struggle as a result of weak fundamentals!

 

[TMP-SMX]

If you are afraid of not having the fundamentals certainly repeat the courses but if you do that this is going to take you a couple years to complete. How long until you'd have all of the pre-reqs complete?