What classes are required before taking the MCAT?

[mdbold]

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Does this sound adequate?

2 semesters of general/inorganic chemistry.
1 semester of organic chemistry
2 semesters of physics
2 semesters of biology.

I'm asking because I'm about to be a junior and the only premed stuff I have done is one semester of physics (and a bunch of English). I'm trying to figure out if I can get enough classes done to take the MCAT next summer.

Thanks!

 

[TipToad]

That sounds about right, although many people take more than 2 semesters of biology.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but since you want to take the MCAT next summer, that means you have to take Gen Chem I/II, Orgo I/II, Physics II, and Bio I/II all this year.

It's not a good idea.

 

[darkjedi]

The only sciences classes I took before the MCAT was 2 semesters of Physics, Bio, Chem and OChem. I wound up doing fine on the MCAT. Since I did a postbac, it was all within a year as well. I would be wary of clumping too many pre-reqs in a single year however in a normal university as they are less likely to coordinate, making it more likely that you can be overwhelmed.

 

[pfaction]

Bump that up to 2 sem OChem

 

[NickNaylor]

These are the courses that I found helpful/may be considered "required:"

-intro chem, bio, and phys
-ochem
-biochem
-human phys

People often disagree with the last two, but I was glad that I took them and thought they helped with my preparation.

 

[darkjedi]

These are the courses that I found helpful/may be considered "required:"

-intro chem, bio, and phys
-ochem
-biochem
-human phys

People often disagree with the last two, but I was glad that I took them and thought they helped with my preparation.

Human phys is definitely helpful. My Bio professor knew we were pretty much all applying to med school and so effectively taught physiology to us in a human context, which helped out immensely for the MCAT.

I never took biochem so I can't speak to how helpful it is, but I did fine on the Bio section without it.

 

[NickNaylor]

Human phys is definitely helpful. My Bio professor knew we were pretty much all applying to med school and so effectively taught physiology to us in a human context, which helped out immensely for the MCAT.

I never took biochem so I can't speak to how helpful it is, but I did fine on the Bio section without it.

Yeah, there's no content from biochem that shows up on the MCAT so it's only marginally useful, but I thought it was helpful to help get you in the mindset of synthesizing bio concepts with chem/ochem concepts for the BS section.

 

[sliceofbread136]

Yeah, there's no content from biochem that shows up on the MCAT so it's only marginally useful, but I thought it was helpful to help get you in the mindset of synthesizing bio concepts with chem/ochem concepts for the BS section.

The only thing I found really helpful was having the amino acids memorized.

 

[pfaction]

+1 for Amino Acids, I saw that in medicinal chemistry and pharmacological concepts over and over.

 

[TxResident]

Short answer: you don't NEED any courses to take the MCAT per se...

But you'll definitely want to take courses to teach you the materials/to get into med schools!

As people have mentioned before, I found human physiology to be REALLY helpful. I still thank my physiology professor every once in a while and while it may not be word for word stuff on the MCAT, the concepts can still be applied to some of the materials on the MCAT.