Scheduling help - is biochem a requirement?

[irishnerd26]

Hi everyone, hopefully someone can help me out. I'm in the class of 2016, planning on taking the 2015 MCAT and applying 2015-2016 cycle. My school isn't letting me take biochem because I haven't taken Quantitative Analysis (our version of Gen Chem 2) but I HAVE taken, Orgo 1 and 2 and Cellular Biology. Anyways, my options at this point are as follows:
1. Audit Biochem to take the MCAT. (Wouldn't get credit, but would have all the info...do admissions look for Biochem as a requirement?)
2. Possibly take Intro to Biochem in the spring....not sure if this would help at all.
3. Wait and take biochem next fall after QA this spring and the push the MCAT and everything back a year.

Please help me out, I'm really stuck and not sure what to do.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[supermintyfresh]

1) You dont need Biochem to take the MCAT
2) Most schools recommend Biochem or will allow it a substitution for orgo II
3) Focus on the MCAT now, and take Biochem next year or glide year

I thought you needed Biochem knowledge for the new 2015 MCAT? I took the 2013 version, but I was a sample section test taker, and I was tested on many concepts I learned in Biochem, such as enzyme kinetics (Vmax, substrate concentration, etc).

Edit: Here's what I got from the AAMC website for the science section breakdown https://www.aamc.org/students/download/266006/data/2015previewguide.pdf,

Science Discipline:
 First-semester biochemistry : 25%
 Introductory biology: 65%
 General chemistry: 4%
 Organic chemistry: 6%

So while you may get away with not taking Biochem as a prereq for certain med schools, you might have to prepare more for the MCAT than if you already were familiar with those concepts.

 

[cjcarter]

Hi everyone, hopefully someone can help me out. I'm in the class of 2016, planning on taking the 2015 MCAT and applying 2015-2016 cycle. My school isn't letting me take biochem because I haven't taken Quantitative Analysis (our version of Gen Chem 2) but I HAVE taken, Orgo 1 and 2 and Cellular Biology. Anyways, my options at this point are as follows:
1. Audit Biochem to take the MCAT. (Wouldn't get credit, but would have all the info...do admissions look for Biochem as a requirement?)
2. Possibly take Intro to Biochem in the spring....not sure if this would help at all.
3. Wait and take biochem next fall after QA this spring and the push the MCAT and everything back a year.

Please help me out, I'm really stuck and not sure what to do.

Pretty sure you will need biochem to take the 2015 MCAT. If you don't take it, maybe new editions of MCAT review books will cover it so you can learn it that way. I would take it anyway because it will look good on your application if you do well.

 

[lnvictus]

I'm more intrigued that Biochem can replace a second semester of Orgo - I thought most schools were beginning to require both Orgo semesters and Biochem?

 

[487806]

Hi everyone, hopefully someone can help me out. I'm in the class of 2016, planning on taking the 2015 MCAT and applying 2015-2016 cycle. My school isn't letting me take biochem because I haven't taken Quantitative Analysis (our version of Gen Chem 2) but I HAVE taken, Orgo 1 and 2 and Cellular Biology. Anyways, my options at this point are as follows:
1. Audit Biochem to take the MCAT. (Wouldn't get credit, but would have all the info...do admissions look for Biochem as a requirement?)
2. Possibly take Intro to Biochem in the spring....not sure if this would help at all.
3. Wait and take biochem next fall after QA this spring and the push the MCAT and everything back a year.

Please help me out, I'm really stuck and not sure what to do.

Wait how did you even take orgo without taking gen chem 2? Regardless, I would probably audit it and take it later. Get gen chem 2 done and proceed to knock out biochem even after taking the MCAT and before matriculation.

 

[mrh125]

Speaking from experience biochem helps a lot on the mcat even if it isn't required. It really refreshes you on material you do need to know including amino acids, sugars, glycolysis, krebs cycle, etc, and can really help you understand physiology (all of these are in the pool of mcat topics). It's a recommended course for a lot of med schools too. Honestly, the courses that helped me the most for the mcat were cell bio, genetics, and biochem.