To take upper level bio courses or not

[wha6226]

I’m a sophomore psychology major and am planning to start pre med courses Bio 1/ Chem 1 next semester. Pre reqs are going to fill up all the extra class space I have left for my degree. But, I’ve been reading online that it’s recommended to take some upper level bio courses to help with the MCAT. I want to go into studying for the mcat without having to self teach myself new things as much as possible so would you guys recommend that I take these extra classes? if so which out of these would you recommend: A/P 1, A/P 2, Genetics, microbio, cell bio, Molecular genetics, and/ or Human physiology? I’d probably do 2 or 3 at the most because I’d be paying out of pocket and not on scholarship.

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[deleted872555]

make sure you take Biochemistry, since it is the most heavily weighted subject on the MCAT.

of the ones you listed, i’d say Genetics and Physiology.

there’s barely any anatomy on the MCAT, but they do expect you to have a good understanding of the interrelation between biochemistry and physiology.
barely any Microbio on there as well, so don’t take that. you’ll learn what you need to know for Cell Bio in Bio 1, no need to take an actual class for that.

taking Genetics will also reinforce Molecular Bio concepts as well.

in conclusion, take Biochem (forsure), Genetics, and Physio.

 

[wha6226]

make sure you take Biochemistry, since it is the most heavily weighted subject on the MCAT.

of the ones you listed, i’d say Genetics and Physiology.

there’s barely any anatomy on the MCAT, but they do expect you to have a good understanding of the interrelation between biochemistry and physiology.
barely any Microbio on there as well, so don’t take that. you’ll learn what you need to know for Cell Bio in Bio 1, no need to take an actual class for that.

taking Genetics will also reinforce Molecular Bio concepts as well.

in conclusion, take Biochem (forsure), Genetics, and Physio.

Thanks, I will look into taking those and I definitely will be taking biochem.

 

[wha6226]

make sure you take Biochemistry, since it is the most heavily weighted subject on the MCAT.

of the ones you listed, i’d say Genetics and Physiology.

there’s barely any anatomy on the MCAT, but they do expect you to have a good understanding of the interrelation between biochemistry and physiology.
barely any Microbio on there as well, so don’t take that. you’ll learn what you need to know for Cell Bio in Bio 1, no need to take an actual class for that.

taking Genetics will also reinforce Molecular Bio concepts as well.

in conclusion, take Biochem (forsure), Genetics, and Physio.

I've also seen some people say that you learn everything you need to know about genetics in intro bio, similar to what you said about cell bio. Is that true?

 

[deleted872555]

I've also seen some people say that you learn everything you need to know about genetics in intro bio, similar to what you said about cell bio. Is that true?

this may vary by school and professor, but there were a good amount of concepts i learned in Genetics that i did not learn in Bio 1. you really only go over the fundamentals of Genetics in Bio 1, and get to the detailed concepts in the actual Genetics course.

i’d speak w/ students from your school and ask them about the Genetics content in Bio 1.

 

[FrameshiftAndrew]

There are some genetics-related topics that the MCAT covers that may or may not be in Bio 1. Some things to look for would include operons, a fairly thorough treatment of gene expression in eukaryotes (including but limiting to post-transcriptional control, chromatin structure, methylation, noncoding RNAs), a fairly wide range of biotech applications (restriction enzymes, the mechanisms of PCR, blotting & gel electrophoresis), Mendelian concepts including incomplete dominance & penetrance/expressivity, and so on. I agree w/ others that you should try to learn about what's covered in the specific classes in your school, because it some genetics courses go into greater detail than the MCAT covers. Another thing to keep in mind is that reputable MCAT courses/prep material build their content around what the AAMC includes in its content outline, so if the only purpose of taking a class is to prepare for the MCAT, focusing on MCAT-specific materials might make sense.

 

[Round786]

There are some genetics-related topics that the MCAT covers that may or may not be in Bio 1. Some things to look for would include operons, a fairly thorough treatment of gene expression in eukaryotes (including but limiting to post-transcriptional control, chromatin structure, methylation, noncoding RNAs), a fairly wide range of biotech applications (restriction enzymes, the mechanisms of PCR, blotting & gel electrophoresis), Mendelian concepts including incomplete dominance & penetrance/expressivity, and so on. I agree w/ others that you should try to learn about what's covered in the specific classes in your school, because it some genetics courses go into greater detail than the MCAT covers. Another thing to keep in mind is that reputable MCAT courses/prep material build their content around what the AAMC includes in its content outline, so if the only purpose of taking a class is to prepare for the MCAT, focusing on MCAT-specific materials might make sense.

Which operons? Only one I’ve learned in depth is the Lac Operon.