has anyone taken-- or know of anyone who has taken-- the mcats without all of the basic science courses? ideally, i want to take the mcats this coming year, but i will only have a year of chem, 3/4 of a year of bio, no orgo whatsoever (cell biology, which has a little to do with orgo), and AP physics, of which i don't remember too much. my gpa is 3.9, in sci it's 3.75, so i have the grades... is it possible to teach myself the necessary orgo for the mcats, or should i hold off for a year?
If I were in your shoes I would hold off for a year and get some more classes under my belt, especially organic chemistry.
I took it without the prereqs in 1994 (self-taught gen chem, some organic, some physics, and self-taught bio) self-taught 4 months before exam no practice tests, basically unprepared result= 23, Q. Took the 2001 august administration having taken gen chem, gen bio , self taught some physics, some organic, waiting for results as we speak and expecting decent performance. Dr.Perez
I took the April 2001 MCAT while finishing the second semester of organic. The bio sciences section on my version of the test was easily 60% if not 70% organic chemistry. No way would I take it without organic. You asked... Spang
I agree with the others. If the class you were missing was anything but organic, it would be better. The BS section has a lot of ochem, and it is even incorperated into the biology passages. It's also extremely hard to learn on your own. Sorry, I know that's not what you want to hear. It will definitely help you have the prereqs under your belt first. I had to hold off a year on the MCAT's too, and it drove me crazy! But it has worked out much better in the end! Pam
I took it without Physics II, but... I agree with everyone else - you're missing a lot of prereqs - not all of bio, and NO organic would kill your BS score beyond any hope of retrieval. Wait until you have Orgo, or at least most of orgo. you could go to the test and try it, and if you feel like you did ok, you could submit it, if not, void it. Thats one way to assess your chances. If you feel like you're clueless aobut a lot of stuff, void it, but if you get 70% bio/genetics (like I did), you could be ok. Star
I took the MCAT this last August having had only one year of biology for non-science majors and one semester of general chem. I won't know the results until mid Oct., but I think I got at least a 30. Verbal reasoning is the section that I didn't feel comfortable with, which is the section irrelevant to this discussion. I am taking the pre-requisites now, and I think that I would do better come April, but that might have more to do with the additional repetition than anything else. You can get a good score if you teach yourself, but it would take you at least as long to do it properly as if you had taken the courses. In my case, I got mono in the first few weeks of the fall semester that I was taking physics, chem 2, and organic, and had to drop out. The community college where I was taking the classes (I already have my BA) didn't offer physics 1 in the spring, nor organic 1 until the following fall, so I decided to get a jump on those classes by studying on my own. Eventually I just decided to take the MCAT first without the classes, hoping that an adcom might at least be a little impressed that I could teach myself. I was self-taught in highschool too, so I am used to it. However, if I had the choice now, I would probably take the classes before the MCAT. I have the feeling I would have gotten one or two more cheap points on the two science sections if I had. Should you decide to do it on your own, I would suggest that you buy a one semester organic book rather than a two-term book. The two-terms go into more detail than you need. Also, take many practice exams well prior to the exam, and perhaps take a Kaplan course if you can afford it. I didn't take a review course, but most people who have feel it helped. Good luck, whatever you might do.
Why in the world would you want to take the MCAT without the required classes? You have to take those classes to get into med school so I can see no reason to short change yourself and attempt the MCAT without the courses. Unless your 50 years old and are trying to get into med school ASAP.
Your GPA and your grades will not save you on the MCAT. Take O-chem beforehand, you'll be much happier in the long run. Andrew
I think it would be an awful idea to take the MCAT without all of the pre-reqs. Also I found upper division biology classes extremely useful in taking the MCAT. So considering how important the MCAT is I would delay it as long as possible.
I think you could get by with minimal biology. You can teach easily teach yourself biology (as I did) but the organic, I could not.
I agree with Moo, if you hadn't taken biology, you can definetly self-teach that subject, but I concur with everyone else that self-teaching organic chemistry is a recepie for disaster. Some versions are claimed to have 70% orgo. In the older days when the breakdown was 70% bio, and the ochem was said to be basic, self-teaching the needed ochem was realistic.
hi all. Not to be the voice of dissent, but it is possible to do well on the MCAT without prerequisites.......i did it without any physics or orgo. obviously, if you have ANY other option, do it, but if you are between a rock and a hard place you can succeed. self study sucks but it is doable.
