taking MCAT without completing physics

[smc927]

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Great responses on my last post - very, very helpful. I appreciate it. <br>
<br>
I'm facing two options. Once is to cram in organic chem this summer and take the August MCAT. The biggest obstacle I see here (besides the challenge of cramming both semesters of org chem into one summer) is PHYSICS .......<br>
I will have taken one physics course, but not the other. Is it possible to take the MCAT and do well, having spent several months using Kaplan (and others) with all med school requirements completed <i>except</i> the seconds physics? <br>
I've read of people who never took the pre-reqs but took the MCAT (for whatever reason, not to get into med school though) and did very well.<br>
Option two is to wait all of next year for the April 05 MCAT. This is when I graduate and would leave me another year before I could actually start med school.<br>
I really don't want to wait another year. I like the idea of graduating med school at age 30, not 31. In the big scheme age doesn't matter, I know. I am willing to do what is best, and not just be impatient at the cost of my MCAT scores, but I would like to get it done!<br>

 

[Amy B]

Don't be in a rush. You need to learn the information in the required courses in order to do well on the MCAT. Cramming it in over a summer and not taking all of the required courses is a bad idea. Unless of course, you are a genius and can do well on the MCAT without learning the info first.

Pace yourself and take all the courses without cramming, then take the MCAT in 2005 like you suggested in your post. I know it is another year, believe me I know what it feel like to have to wait another year, but what if you blew the course over the summer, got a bad grade in it, screwed up the MCAT in August due to not know ing the material and then what??? Where would that get you. You would then have to build up your GPA and try to take the APril 2005 MCAT anyway.

Use the extra year to do what you want, to have time for interviews without worrying about taking time from your studies, take a trip, have fun, etc.........


Just the opinion of this older SDNer who has seen alot of posts from people who took the MCAT without all the classes and regretted it. The year will go by before you know it!!! Good luck on whatever you deceide.

 

[Alcon]

Originally posted by smc927
Is it possible to take the MCAT and do well, having spent several months using Kaplan (and others) with all med school requirements completed <i>except</i> the seconds physics?

It is very possible to do well, since there are books and courses that outline everything you need to know. I took physics class right before the MCAT and have no doubt that it helped, but I wouldn't put off the MCAT for a full year just to take it. As long as you have the concepts down cold and a few important formulas memorized, you can quickly figure out the questions as you encounter them.

I've read of people who never took the pre-reqs but took the MCAT (for whatever reason, not to get into med school though) and did very well.

Don't count on this. Not all, but 99.99% of peoplewho take the MCAT have med school in mind, and make it a point to take most pre-req classes. (MCAT = Medical School Admission Test)


You can do well on the MCAT, just study hard and do lots of practice exams.

Good luck!

 

[HollyJ]

I would say to wait a year. I know that's rough, but I would be concerned that you were cramming organic into the summer, and would thus have VERY little time to study for the MCAT. Since that's on top of not having all of the prereq classes under your belt, plus the disadvantage of taking the August MCAT, I think that you would be sorry in the long run.

I'm a nontrad as well, and I know how tough it is to have to push off more time. Your likelyhood of doing as well as you could on the MCAT is pretty low under the circumstances that you've described, and the last thing that you want is to not do well, so that you would have to wait another year anyway, and be saddled with a suboptimal MCAT score and possibly not a great organic grade to boot.

Good luck -- I hope that everything works out for you.

 

[vegangirl]

I'm planning on taking the mcat this april without physics II and by relying on kaplan and examkrackers material. I'm planning on taking orgo II next semester so I dont want to take both physics II, and orgo. But I got an A in physics I so I think I'll be okay. I suggest that if you got an A in physics I then go ahead and skip then Physics II but if you got a B then I would think about taking it even though youll have a heavy load. Just my 2 cents though.

Good Luck Mate🙂

 

[twinklz]

Yeah, like VeganGirl said, if you are good at physics (like I most definitely am not) then go ahead and just use the MCAT prep books. BUT if you need to be dragged through physics kicking and screaming I'd say to wait a year.

Oh, and I also think it would be incredibly difficult to study for the MCAT and take ALL of organic within the period of 3 months. 😱

Good luck whichever option you decide to pursue😀

 

[PianoGirl04]

I wouldn't recommend taking the MCAT without physics. My friend did so and she got a 7 on the physical sciences section (her other section scores were 13 and 14!). If she took physics, she might have been able to get a 10 or 11...that's the difference between a 34 and a 37-38! Don't be in a rush to take the MCAT...do physics first. That said, I took the April 2003 MCAT while I was still taking Physics. I was able to finish all of the material before the MCAT because my school does auto-tutorial physics, but it's possible to do well on the MCAT if you take physics at the same time.

 

[spumoni620]

i took the mcat this april w/o physics or ochem, and did well enough in the science sections to be teaching them for the princeton review...i bought truckloads of practice exams and materials from kaplan, examkrackers and princeton review, and i had a good ochem textbook (wade). i had taken some science in college (a bio minor, so i'd taken genetics and physiology, but it had been ~ 7 years since i had taken an intro bio class.) i was insanely nervous, but i wanted to enter med school so badly i was willing to work my butt off (this sounds a bit like your enthusiasm as well). which i did, for the 6 most difficult/stressful months of my life...if you are a good self-learner, want medicine badly enough and are disciplined, you can do it. it's a truly personal thing which only you can really answer - do you have the will, drive, motivation and mental stamina to go thru the self-study process? moreover, in taking the aug mcat you'd have to do well enough to get "noticed" as a later applicant.

anyway, here's another hope for you: the mcat, they say, is importantly a critical thinking/reasoning test first and science knowledge test second. this is true...even if you had taken the class before the mcat will try to intimidate you with complex sounding equations and reactions you've never seen before. as long as you're aware of this and know the basic principles, you can still do well. and imo, taking the class right before the mcat is also a good thing - yes, you'll be busy studying ochem, but much of it overlaps with studying for the mcat.

now i have to say, in retrospect, as i'm currently taking ochem and physics, i know i could have performed to my true potential on the science sections had i taken the classes before. things just gel together when you take a class and hear it from the teacher. so what other posters bring up above are all really valid points. but for me, the tradeoff in at most 2 points is worth it...i don't regret my decision at all...and am glad to be entering the class of 2008! 🙂