Taking Gen. Chem when your a sophomore

[Joedude1920]

Hey, everyone. I got a little problem. Its probably nothing major, but I wanted to see if its a good idea.

I was planning on taking General Chemistry (and Calc I) this summer at the community college that I am currently going to. But the way they are scheduled and the fact that I wanna do some volunteering and work at the local hospital this summer, I decided to take other classes that are offered online instead (like Pysch, and History). And since I plan on attending Drexel this upcoming fall I was going take those classes then, which means I would take General Chem as a sophomore and Organic Chem as a junior. Is that a bad idea for the MCAT or am I just worrying to much about it?

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[Green Pirate]

wait... are you a freshman right now? or are you a high school senior? It would be best to take gen chem in your freshman year of college... if it's too late for that, then you have no choice but to wait until soph year, but you should still be able to fit everything in by your junior year so you could take your MCAT in the middle of junior year.

 

[TheAmazingGOB]

Maybe you should worry about taking 5th grade English/grammar when you're a sophomore...😛

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Anyway, taking Gen Chem during your sophomore year shouldn't hurt you too much on the MCAT, in fact it could be beneficial as you will have taken it more recently than others sitting for the test. O-Chem only accounts for 35% of the biological sciences section, so if you take the MCAT halfway through the O-Chem series you should still be okay. You could also take O-Chem summer semester to catch up.

 

[Joedude1920]

I'm a freshman this year (and in college btw, lol). I'm ok with taking General Chem next year, since I'll have to anyway. I'll be taking Physics next year too. I'm probably going to start Organic Chem during the summer trimester since I'm going to be on Co-Op during spring and summer trimester for my Junior Year. So I'll be done with Orgo when the MCAT rolls around. I was just worried that I would be screwed for the Orgo part of the MCAT but since it only counts for 35% and I'll be taking it while preparing I'll be ok.

Thanks everyone.

 

[BloodySurgeon]

Hey, everyone. I got a little problem. Its probably nothing major, but I wanted to see if its a good idea.

I was planning on taking General Chemistry (and Calc I) this summer at the community college that I am currently going to. But the way they are scheduled and the fact that I wanna do some volunteering and work at the local hospital this summer, I decided to take other classes that are offered online instead (like Pysch, and History). And since I plan on attending Drexel this upcoming fall I was going take those classes then, which means I would take General Chem as a sophomore and Organic Chem as a junior. Is that a bad idea for the MCAT or am I just worrying to much about it?

I think your worrying too much about it. If you want to do volunteering and work, I think its a good idea. Taking O-chem ur junior year is typically expected unless you're a science major. Just make sure you give yourself time between studying for the MCAT and taking the MCAT (~3 months).

*WARNING: this advice is given assuming you will have your other requirements done by your third year.

 

[msundi83]

It depends if you really want to have those classes closer to the MCAT or not. As long as you get them in before the MCAT you should be fine. Some like to have the classes fresh while they take the test. I know others who had easy semester when they took the MCAT and prepared/studied on their own. I even know someone who took Orgo his senior year and taught himself Orgo before the MCAT. He did fine. What is ideal for you depends more on how you prepare and how well you do on standardized tests.

 

[etsuprinthead]

i took gchem my sophomore year because i had REALLY bad chem in high school and didn't want to overload my 1st semester in college. this was absolutely the best decision i made as far as the MCAT goes -- i was finishing up ochem, physics 2, and upper-level bio when the MCAT rolled around, so the only actual MCAT studying i did was taking practice tests -- the rest was just studying for my classes. of course, this was when MCAT was only in april and august -- you certainly don't want to take the MCAT before you finish almost all of ochem.