Taking MCAT withot Physics 2

[deleted839746]

So I am going to be taking physics 1 in the fall and planning on taking the MCAT in January before starting physics do, any advice on if thats a good or bad idea? I will be a junior next year and want to submit everything by June 1st so I don't want to risk having to take the MCAT twice or even over the summer.

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[ICUBlue]

It's technically a very small portion of the content, but it could show up in either C/P (obviously) or in a cross-application to lab techniques in biochem section. It will take extra time but khan+ the summary section of a textbook and reading the actual sections you don't understand will probly give you the basic conceptual understanding you need. Just depends on what type of learner you are though. I seem to struggle to grasp physics even with a class so I would not be able to do this.

Do not try to learn something the first time around through an MCAT review book tho


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[begoood95]

If you don't take physics 2, I'd highly suggest getting very familiar with:

1. circuits,
2. optics, and
3. waves.

The rest of the material from P2 is relatively low-yield. You could get a whole section based of circuits though, and discrete questions on optics are imaginable. Wave functions, theory, and etc. can be woven into other questions (as most all of physics subject matter can be).

I didn't take P2 before the MCAT, and did perfectly fine -- just make sure you cover that material more in-depth when you're doing content review.

 

[md-2020]

Work through the complete set of Kaplan books, one of which is Math/Phys. They're all excellent, and I aced the MCAT w/o ever taking Biochem and also being quite poor at Orgo previously.

 

[jb94mg]

I found Physics II harder than Physics I (some of the waves and circuits stuff isn't as straightforward as what you're learning in Physics I), as do most people, but you might be fine if you're diligent about self-studying it. The main thing I would say is that if you are going to do this, try to go back over things a second or third time. Since you would be teaching yourself, you wouldn't get as much of the extra repetition that you'd get with a class.

 

[Welshman]

I agree with the above that it's definetly much harder and less straightforward than physics I, You really benefit from having a professors help.

I will be a junior next year and want to submit everything by June 1st so I don't want to risk having to take the MCAT twice or even over the summer.

I think this statement is a bit non sequitur..
No one plans on taking the MCAT twice, but by taking it in January, before physics 2, you're essentially increasing the odds of doing poorly in that section unless you can learn it well enough on your own all while taking a full course load in the Fall..
There's a reason most premeds don't take the mcat before their prereqs..

 

[bornunderatree]

My MCAT was very heavy physics 2.
I took my MCAT before physics 2.
In retrospect I missed some easy questions because I hadn't taken physics 2.
If I had taken physics 2 before taking the MCAT I would have scored a couple points higher at least.
Good luck!

(PS, my if the above paragraph seems repetitive, I did that on purpose. It's called voice or something)

 

[efle]

You can self study for the physics 2 content

 

[efle]

I think people give too much credit to the prereqs sometimes. You could learn the handful of formulas and do some practice problems in a matter of a week or two, and at that point be limited by your test taking abilities not your knowledge base

^ I mean the above specifically for Physics 2 , the amount of background you'd need to learn to self-study Bio or self-study multiple subjects would be hindering

 

[begoood95]

I think people give too much credit to the prereqs sometimes. You could learn the handful of formulas and do some practice problems in a matter of a week or two, and at that point be limited by your test taking abilities not your knowledge base

^ I mean the above specifically for Physics 2 , the amount of background you'd need to learn to self-study Bio or self-study multiple subjects would be hindering

I agree with this. It does not take a full semester (or year) to learn what's required for the MCAT on specific subjects. I'd say this even for high-yield subjects like biochemistry.

Now obviously it would be a little better to have it under your belt beforehand, but it is by no means a deal breaker in terms of your performance on the MCAT.

 

[Dagrimsta1]

I think people give too much credit to the prereqs sometimes. You could learn the handful of formulas and do some practice problems in a matter of a week or two, and at that point be limited by your test taking abilities not your knowledge base

^ I mean the above specifically for Physics 2 , the amount of background you'd need to learn to self-study Bio or self-study multiple subjects would be hindering

I taught myself physics 2 before my MCAT #1, Scored a 128 on the section. Unfortunately i spent so much time teaching myself the subject, I neglected the remainder of the exam and ended up with a ****ty score.

Don't make my mistake. If your planning to self study better take extra time for physics 2.

As for the MCAT itself, you can't predict how many physics 2 topics you will have if any at all. Dont skimp and good luck

 

[Medic741]

I took the MCAT without physics two and it wasn't a problem, just spend a week or two memorizing in reviewing the Kaplan book on physics, and you'll be fine. Now this is coming from the guy who scored a 127 on that section, ain't no rainman but willing to work hard and this section was right alongside the rest, with 127 across the board except for a 125 in psych social because I could not bring myself to memorize all that crap.

Moral of the story… Very doable, but don't underestimate the psych social portion while you're studying

 

[Medic741]

Really… Physics 2 boils down to capacitors and resistors in series and parallel, calculating the voltage of an EMF, and basic optics. In my opinion this is by far the easiest section to study for

 

[Welshman]

Really… Physics 2 boils down to capacitors and resistors in series and parallel, calculating the voltage of an EMF, and basic optics. In my opinion this is by far the easiest section to study for

Others would disagree

The point is if you think you can score better than 90% (or whatever your goal is) of people who have taken physics 2 on top of reviewing by self studying while taking a full course load and while scoring better than most people in the other sections then go for it.

By not taking physics 2 your putting yourself at a disadvantage compared to the average applicant before you even start

Ultimately, you're risking having to take it twice more by testing in January than spring

 

[efle]

By not taking physics 2 your putting yourself at a disadvantage compared to the average applicant before you even start

again gotta say this was not my experience at all, and Phys 2 content has been reduced since I took the test. You do not need a 5 mo class to get comfortable enough with the few equations/concepts

 

[begoood95]

This is my anecdotal experience, but just for OP's peace of mind and others who come across this thread -- because confidence and settling nerves are in my opinion 80% of the game -- I had only taken physics one at the time of my MCAT, and all physics two material I studied from BR and wikipremed.com (which, actually, I haven't seen thrown around here very much, and for being free, they've got some great links/resources), and my section score for C/P?

131.

Now I might have been lucky in that, if I recall correctly, I only had one passage plus five or six questions that were explicitly a physics two-based -- that definitely helped, and the physics two questions outside the explicit passage required only surface-level understanding.

This isn't an "MCAT strategy" thread, but since I was very happy with my 525 (I promise that's not a humble brag; it's just so that people possibly take my advice more seriously than they otherwise would on an anonymous forum), I'll give my quick 0.2¢:

1. Keep your stress and nerves to a minimum. This I can't stress enough, and I think is one of the most important tips I can give; even if you don't feel that confident in your ability to score high, you will be wasting precious mental energy by stressing out. Accept it: this is the biggest exam of your life, but you've prepared! You will be okay 🙂
   • The C/P section will always seem brutal -- in fact, so will the entire exam. The thing is though, it's brutal for everyone, so don't fret.
2. One of the best ways to prepare for the B/B section is to read at least one scientific article a day. The passages, and the literature on which they're based, are littered with what I like to call an "alphabet soup." There are abbreviations for every little protein, of which there are many, and their (complex) relationships can be muddied if you're not familiar with their usual academic presentation.
   • On my first scored exam (after content review), I got a 127 in this section. I do think that focused studying helped the areas I was sketchy in, but, honestly, what I think helped the most was that I made it a point to familiarize myself with the rhetoric style (read: bland, abbreviations-galore, and data interpretation) of scholarly articles.
   • That last point in my parenthesis is important: when you're reading these articles, do not skim over the figures. Love the figures. Acquaint yourself with the figures. Be the figures. But seriously, dissect the hell out of them, until you are confident with your data analysis skills. You will get questions that ask for interpretation of data; you should not miss these, because this skill is easily improved.
   • If this wasn't obvious from the above, make sure the articles aren't just descriptive. That is, look for articles that are experimentally heavy (i.e., ones that explore the relationships between proteins, genes, and etc.).
   • Here are two great examples of what you should be looking for. If you can get to the point of understanding these types of papers fairly easily, you'll be able to handle any passage they throw at you, in any section:
     • http://www.cell.com/cell/pdf/S0092-8674(13)01521-3.pdf and http://diabetes.diabetesjournals.org/content/diabetes/57/6/1470.full.pdf
3. I made a post about CARS a while back ago, and in addition to my advice, some further great comments were made. I suggesting reading through it:
   • ProTips: here's what helped me score a 132 on CARS
4. As others have mentioned, and as it currently stands and from my experience, the P/S section is by far the easiest section to master. I'd suggest going through every term indicated on the AAMC MCAT page (https://aamc-orange.global.ssl.fast...22d-418b-42b3-9776-425a382e8c73/mcat-psbb.pdf), and writing a brief summary of what you know -- marking what you don't -- and studying appropriately.
   • I wouldn't go as far as others and say that it's simply a matter of rote memorization/regurgitation, but it's not too far off. Focus on being familiar with all the terms, theory, and etc., and you should be set. Here's a useful Quizlet I found online, and used: https://quizlet.com/_37e55r.

This is getting long so I'll stop here, and continue on another post that I'll make shortly. Hopefully this answers many of your questions OP. If you have anymore, you can send me a PM. Good luck! 🙂

 

[Welshman]

By all means try it, but if you're not preforming well on your FLs or sections just reschedule the exam

 

[deleted839746]

My MCAT was very heavy physics 2.
I took my MCAT before physics 2.
In retrospect I missed some easy questions because I hadn't taken physics 2.
If I had taken physics 2 before taking the MCAT I would have scored a couple points higher at least.
Good luck!

(PS, my if the above paragraph seems repetitive, I did that on purpose. It's called voice or something)

so what books did you use for studying for the physics portion? also how long did you study for that portion or in general i guess- thanks for the advice!!

 

[TRPMinus]

What's the rush? You can take the MCAT in April or May and still apply very early. That way you would have time to get all of your content nailed down and out of the way.

 

[Welshman]

What's the rush? You can take the MCAT in April or May and still apply very early. That way you would have time to get all of your content nailed down and out of the way.

He's worried he'll have to retake it in April or May even though he says he doesn't want to do that