What did you memorize? More important, what do YOU wish you HAD memorized!?

[DrJD]

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If you are going into the test what have you all chosen are the best things to actually memorize. (Amino acids, pathways, enzymes, etc. etc. etc.) SHARE!!

More importantly for those of you who have already taken the test, what do you wish you had memorized? That one question that you knew if you had just memorized that last item you could have gotten it right!

I think this thread could be really useful to future MCAT takers. Thanks to everyone who helps!!!

 

[stylinMD]

the passage usually gives you formulas and you use them to answer the questions.
basic plug and chug

Sorry these are such amateur questions...so you're saying that I dont have to memorize all these equations in the PS section...i mean some of the basic ones u do because of repetition...but like Bernoulli's eqn and stuff? I havent actually taken an official MCAT exam yet...just practice stuff out of books so I dont quite know the entire format.

 

[Mandek]

Awesome thread! 👍

Bump...

 

[Mandek]

Well not just how to solve for P and Q, but what those letters mean in real life in terms of genotype/phenotype. It's a good thing to know how to apply an allele frequency to calculate phenotypic frequency and vice versa.

The EK book mainly talks about how to solve for p and q. Did the Kaplan book did a good job of explaining the Hardy-W?

 

[majahops]

Solubility rules, solubility rules, solubility rules...

... they say you don't need to memorize these -- YOU DO. I got a discrete on specific information from the solubility rules.

and recognizing weak-strong vs. strong-strong and mono vs. poly-protic titration graphs....

 

[majik1213]

was really happy that I studied human renal system .. the human systems .. circulatory, immune, are on BS

i wished I had reviewed Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium calculation methods, even though I guessed correctly.

I REALLY wished I had reviewed redox reactions (-1 on PS), electrolysis (-1 on PS), solubility rules (-1 on PS), and boiling point elevation / freezing point depression (-1 on PS).

 

[majik1213]

The EK book mainly talks about how to solve for p and q. Did the Kaplan book did a good job of explaining the Hardy-W?

here's a good take on it (I hope!!): basically p and q are probabilities, correct? p denotes the probability that, given a set of alleles, ONE of them will be a dominant allele. q denotes the probability that, given a set of alleles, ONE of them will be a recessive allele. (note that therefore HW equilibrium doesn't work for x-linked traits, because in that case one allele is missing). We must then, consider p*p + 2*p*q + q*q because alleles come in pairs, and p*P is the probability of homozygous dominance, 2*p*q heterozygous dominance, and q*q homozygous recessive.

PLEASE someone verify my statement in bold .. regarding x-linked .. it follows from my interpretation of the concept, but it may not be true in general, and so my interpretation would then be wrong

 

[halekulani]

Sorry these are such amateur questions...so you're saying that I dont have to memorize all these equations in the PS section...i mean some of the basic ones u do because of repetition...but like Bernoulli's eqn and stuff? I havent actually taken an official MCAT exam yet...just practice stuff out of books so I dont quite know the entire format.

i didn't say you didn't have to memorize any equations
when approaching PS passages, you are "usually" given equations, not always.

memorize everything is the best advice

edit oops rofl i didn't know that was posted such a long time ago

 

[tncekm]

p*p + 2*p*q + q*q

Also important to note regarding that equation, IMHO:

Say, lets replace p and q for more conventional lettering, A and a, where A is dominant and a is recessive.

We then have:

EQ1. A^2 + 2Aa + a^2 =1

This stems from the fact that, if you've got a gene pool for the A and a alleles, the sum of those two alleles makes up 100% of the gene pool. So:

EQ2. A+a=1

The importance: EQ2 is just EQ1, both sides squared, and distributed.

 

[Mandek]

bump

 

[bozz]

DEFINITELY know the electromagnetic spectrum... and the order

I missed a simple question on the test...

 

[Mandek]

DEFINITELY know the electromagnetic spectrum... and the order

I missed a simple question on the test...

are you talking about the elctromagnetic waves like ROYGBIV?

 

[iA-MD2013]

are you talking about the elctromagnetic waves like ROYGBIV?

I think bozz is talking about the entire EM spectrum (rather than just the visible light)
Radio> Microwave > IR > Visible (ROYGBV) > UV > X-ray > Gamma Ray
<----------increasing wavelength
---------->increasing frequency/ energy
Bozz, is it also worth it to memorize the wavelengths...or just the order?

 

[Mandek]

I think bozz is talking about the entire EM spectrum (rather than just the visible light)
Radio> Microwave > IR > Visible (ROYGBV) > UV > X-ray > Gamma Ray
<----------increasing wavelength
---------->increasing frequency/ energy
Bozz, is it also worth it to memorize the wavelengths...or just the order?

lol..bozz..how did you miss a stand alone question on that bro?

 

[bozz]

I think bozz is talking about the entire EM spectrum (rather than just the visible light)
Radio> Microwave > IR > Visible (ROYGBV) > UV > X-ray > Gamma Ray
<----------increasing wavelength
---------->increasing frequency/ energy
Bozz, is it also worth it to memorize the wavelengths...or just the order?

From the AAMC list and review books... know the order for sure! I didn't! I just knew the wavelengths of the visible spectrum... so know the "range" of the visible spectrum, ROYGBIV, and the order of the diff. types of waves as well.

 

[Mandek]

From the AAMC list and review books... know the order for sure! I didn't! I just knew the wavelengths of the visible spectrum... so know the "range" of the visible spectrum, ROYGBIV, and the order of the diff. types of waves as well.

was it a stand alone question or a passage based ques that you missed on electromagnetic?

 

[tf2medic]

sugars
fructose = 5 member ring
glucose and galactose = 6 member ring

woah buddy don't post wrong info! all three of those are 6 membered rings. ribose is 5 membered. i don't see how any premed wouldn't know that tho...you learn that **** in high school! no offense 😛 haha j/k

 

[tf2medic]

Also important to note regarding that equation, IMHO:

Say, lets replace p and q for more conventional lettering, A and a, where A is dominant and a is recessive.

We then have:

EQ1. A^2 + 2Aa + a^2 =1

This stems from the fact that, if you've got a gene pool for the A and a alleles, the sum of those two alleles makes up 100% of the gene pool. So:

EQ2. A+a=1

The importance: EQ2 is just EQ1, both sides squared, and distributed.

freakin n00bs! p=probability of homozygous dominant, q=probability of homozyg. recessive, and pq = probability of heterzygous dominant. it's p^2 and q^2 for AA and aa and 2pq because you can have Aa or aA. get it? then the violations of hardiweinberg are common sense...mutation, natural selection, isolation/divergence, population growth (imm/emmigration), etc. pretty sure you can figure out any question on this if you know those things. pretty basic.

hehe, being a bio major is pretty tight. don't really need to study for the bio part of the biological section!
i'm sure the same goes for being a physics major for the physic section tho. if that's your major, then the stuff covered on mcat is just so basic. you'll get a passage on a topic that you took an entire course on. prettty sweeeet

 

[iA-MD2013]

freakin n00bs! p=probability of homozygous dominant, q=probability of homozyg. recessive, and pq = probability of heterzygous dominant. it's p^2 and q^2 for AA and aa and 2pq because you can have Aa or aA. get it? then the violations of hardiweinberg are common sense...mutation, natural selection, isolation/divergence, population growth (imm/emmigration), etc. pretty sure you can figure out any question on this if you know those things. pretty basic.

hehe, being a bio major is pretty tight. don't really need to study for the bio part of the biological section!
i'm sure the same goes for being a physics major for the physic section tho. if that's your major, then the stuff covered on mcat is just so basic. you'll get a passage on a topic that you took an entire course on. prettty sweeeet

2pq=probability of heterozygous...not pq, right?

 

[tf2medic]

2pq=probability of heterozygous...not pq, right?

yep because the 2 takes into account like Aa and aA.
okay so technically for homozygous dominant (AA) probability, it's p^2...one p for each of the A's. likewise q^2 for aa probability

 

[tncekm]

woah buddy don't post wrong info! all three of those are 6 membered rings. ribose is 5 membered. i don't see how any premed wouldn't know that tho...you learn that **** in high school! no offense 😛 haha j/k

Actually, glucose (any many other six member carbohydrates) can go from its non-ring form into a 5 or 6 member ring form because there are two hydroxyl groups capable (carbons 4 and 5) of attacking the carbonyl carbon without ridiculous steric strain.

Worth noting is that 6 member rings are referred to as pyranoses and 5 member rings are referred to as furanoses because they resemble pyran and furan, respectively.

 

[tncekm]

freakin n00bs! p=probability of homozygous dominant, q=probability of homozyg. recessive, and pq = probability of heterzygous dominant. it's p^2 and q^2 for AA and aa and 2pq because you can have Aa or aA. get it?

Not quite sure what your point was here...

 

[tf2medic]

Actually, glucose (any many other six member carbohydrates) can go from its non-ring form into a 5 or 6 member ring form because there are two hydroxyl groups capable (carbons 4 and 5) of attacking the carbonyl carbon without ridiculous steric strain.

Worth noting is that 6 member rings are referred to as pyranoses and 5 member rings are referred to as furanoses because they resemble pyran and furan, respectively.

this isn't true for the mcat. 🙂 considering that wasn't even mentioned in my biochem class, that means it's rare and we definitely don't need to know that for mcat, which is what this thread is about. show your "brains" off elsewhere. not impressed 😴

 

[tncekm]

this isn't true for the mcat. 🙂 considering that wasn't even mentioned in my biochem class, that means it's rare and we definitely don't need to know that for mcat, which is what this thread is about. show your "brains" off elsewhere. not impressed 😴

You're strange 😀

 

[iA-MD2013]

You're strange 😀

hahaha...nice

 

[smeagol]

woah buddy don't post wrong info! all three of those are 6 membered rings. ribose is 5 membered. i don't see how any premed wouldn't know that tho...you learn that **** in high school! no offense 😛 haha j/k

this isn't true for the mcat. 🙂 considering that wasn't even mentioned in my biochem class, that means it's rare and we definitely don't need to know that for mcat, which is what this thread is about. show your "brains" off elsewhere. not impressed 😴

So many things can be said here... I will try to be brief.

tncekm was not trying to impress you. He/she was pointing out the inaccuracy of your claims and was being nice by calling you strange.

Your Biochemistry class, if it is worthy of that label, should have gone over the process of Glycolysis. You should have encountered Fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, a very, very common 5-membered fructose ring as shown below.

http://www.steve.gb.com/images/molecules/sugars/alpha-D-fructofuranose-1,6-bisphosphate_%28haworth%29.png

 

[tf2medic]

So many things can be said here... I will try to be brief.

tncekm was not trying to impress you. He/she was pointing out the inaccuracy of your claims and was being nice by calling you strange.

Your Biochemistry class, if it is worthy of that label, should have gone over the process of Glycolysis. You should have encountered Fructose 1,6-bisphosphate, a very, very common 5-membered fructose ring as shown below.

http://www.steve.gb.com/images/molecules/sugars/alpha-D-fructofuranose-1,6-bisphosphate_%28haworth%29.png

of course covered that in glycolysis but was presented in the straight chain form. it wasn't mentioned that it was a 5-membered ring since the book didn't present it that way. if the book didn't present it that way, then not that commonly portrayed in that fashion! i'm not saying you're wrong. i believe you that is a 5-ring but just saying glycolysis is most often shown in straight chain form.
thus, like i said, for mcat you don't need to know that. only fructose=6-membered. i win again. you both lose 👎

 

[tncekm]

He should have encountered Fructose 1,6-bisphosphate during his review of glycolysis for the MCAT, too 😀

P.S. I'm glad you saw that I wasn't trying to impress anyone. LOL.

 

[tncekm]

of course covered that in glycolysis but was presented in the straight chain form and wasn't mentioned it was 5-membered form since book didn't present it that way. if book didn't present it that way, then not that commonly seen in that fashion!
thus, like i said, for mcat you don't need to know that. only fructose=6-membered. i win again. you both lose 👎

Well, we've got our first SDN pre-med with an IQ equal to his MCAT score, lol.

 

[tf2medic]

Well, we've got our first SDN pre-med with an IQ equal to his MCAT score, lol.

danng you can get a 150 on the mcat. are you serious???

 

[tncekm]

danng you can get a 15.0 on the mcat. are you serious???

You forgot your decimal point--fixed it for you.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

I am glad that I studied refraction especially internal reflection. i got an easy question bc of it.

 

[martiniblue]

.

 

[BigJuicyWart]

Definitely know the unique amino acids (acidic vs. basic, cys has SH bridges, etc.)

 

[tncekm]

Definitely know the unique amino acids (acidic vs. basic, cys has SH bridges, etc.)

Good to know... lots of test preps say not to worry about that stuff.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

Definitely know the unique amino acids (acidic vs. basic, cys has SH bridges, etc.)

I didnt have any, and thank god!!

 

[BigJuicyWart]

Good to know... lots of test preps say not to worry about that stuff.

I definitely had a question when I took the exam in 2007 which required me to pick out the AA with a positively charged side chain at neutral pH. Definitely got it wrong, but still managed a 12 in the BS section. Who knows, that one question could have bumped me up to a 13. Know everything!

 

[tncekm]

I definitely had a question when I took the exam in 2007 which required me to pick out the AA with a positively charged side chain at neutral pH. Definitely got it wrong, but still managed a 12 in the BS section. Who knows, that one question could have bumped me up to a 13. Know everything!

Did they give pI (isoelectric point) values, or did they just expect you to know?

 

[BigJuicyWart]

If I remember correctly, the the form of the question was something like:

(DISCRETE Q)
"Drug X has been shown to affect positively charged amino acids. Of the following, which are most likely to be affected by Drug X?"

This is not the exact question, but it is the form of the question. A friend of mine who took the MCAT in 2006 had a question which asked something along the lines of:

"Disease X denatures proteins by breaking disulfide bridges formed by which amino acid"?

There was some info given in the passage, but you pretty much had to know that cyteine can form disulfide bridges beforehand.

Remember, these are rough estimates. It's been quite some time since I've thought about the MCAT, but though I'd offer some help. Hope this is useful!!

 

[TheBoondocks]

freakin n00bs! p=probability of homozygous dominant, q=probability of homozyg. recessive, and pq = probability of heterzygous dominant. it's p^2 and q^2 for AA and aa and 2pq because you can have Aa or aA. get it? then the violations of hardiweinberg are common sense...mutation, natural selection, isolation/divergence, population growth (imm/emmigration), etc. pretty sure you can figure out any question on this if you know those things. pretty basic.

hehe, being a bio major is pretty tight. don't really need to study for the bio part of the biological section!
i'm sure the same goes for being a physics major for the physic section tho. if that's your major, then the stuff covered on mcat is just so basic. you'll get a passage on a topic that you took an entire course on. prettty sweeeet

Can i have your autograph? tncek explanation was better and more accurate than yours. He/she simplified it for the other person, removing p and q to illustrate what they represent. He/she cleary understood what p and q mean. For some reason you interpreted this as not understanding p and q, which only an idiot with poor reading comprehension would have done.

 

[TheBoondocks]

of course covered that in glycolysis but was presented in the straight chain form. it wasn't mentioned that it was a 5-membered ring since the book didn't present it that way. if the book didn't present it that way, then not that commonly portrayed in that fashion! i'm not saying you're wrong. i believe you that is a 5-ring but just saying glycolysis is most often shown in straight chain form.
thus, like i said, for mcat you don't need to know that. only fructose=6-membered. i win again. you both lose 👎

He must be in the biochem class for dummies. At my school there's the hellish 400 level class for biochem majors and the 300 level one for bio majors. Didn't your book have diagrams, that's pretty bad that you messed that up. Something so basic, yea you win in the stupidity category. 😴

 

[TheBoondocks]

Actually, glucose (any many other six member carbohydrates) can go from its non-ring form into a 5 or 6 member ring form because there are two hydroxyl groups capable (carbons 4 and 5) of attacking the carbonyl carbon without ridiculous steric strain.

Worth noting is that 6 member rings are referred to as pyranoses and 5 member rings are referred to as furanoses because they resemble pyran and furan, respectively.

there's a kid who knows his biochemistry. 👍

 

[bozz]

I have absolutely no idea what the biochem whizzes are talking about above ^

Look at the AAMC topics list and know everything on there
know some of the extraneous stuff like Log-Log plot as well (it's on there)

 

[TheBoondocks]

I have absolutely no idea what the biochem whizzes are talking about above ^

Look at the AAMC topics list and know everything on there
know some of the extraneous stuff like Log-Log plot as well (it's on there)

Bozz, we were mocking one arrogant poster. He corrected someone in a condescending manner and happened to be wrong. He was corrected, and refused to admit he was wrong. We know you don't need to know this for the MCAt, but it was his holier than thou attitude that irritated myself and the other posters. It's one thing to be intelligent and cocky. However, don't be pretentious and give out false info, cough cough.

 

[iA-MD2013]

Bozz, we were mocking one arrogant poster. He corrected someone in a condescending manner and happened to be wrong. He was corrected, and refused to admit he was wrong. We know you don't need to know this for the MCAt, but it was his holier than thou attitude that irritated myself and the other posters. It's one thing to be intelligent and cocky. However, don't be pretentious and give out false info, cough cough.

haha he sooo deserved that

 

[MedKiddo]

i wish i spent more time on renal system 🙁

 

[tncekm]

there's a kid who knows his biochemistry. 👍

Never took Biochem... but, between Ochem and TPR books that concept is pretty solid. 👍

 

[TheBoondocks]

Never took Biochem... but, between Ochem and TPR books that concept is pretty solid. 👍

which makes it more pathetic that the idiot didn't know this while taking a Biochem class.

 

[tf2medic]

He must be in the biochem class for dummies. At my school there's the hellish 400 level class for biochem majors and the 300 level one for bio majors. Didn't your book have diagrams, that's pretty bad that you messed that up. Something so basic, yea you win in the stupidity category. 😴

na the book taught glycolysis with linear structures. didn't show the REAL structures. so there's actually no reason why i should have known that! i knew it based on how we were taught. i only took biochem1 tho...maybe that's taught in biochem2?? tho i doubt it cuz we went into detail on glycolysis...just not the 3D structure of each step. :\

i still own everyone, though. except for bozz

 

[tf2medic]

Bozz, we were mocking one arrogant poster. He corrected someone in a condescending manner and happened to be wrong. He was corrected, and refused to admit he was wrong. We know you don't need to know this for the MCAt, but it was his holier than thou attitude that irritated myself and the other posters. It's one thing to be intelligent and cocky. However, don't be pretentious and give out false info, cough cough.

why are you coughing? do you have a dick in your mouth? LOLOLOL
go eat a fat dick

 

[TheBoondocks]

why are you coughing? do you have a dick in your mouth? LOLOLOL
go eat a fat dick

nahh, man, I let the ladies do that. If you swing that way more power to you👍 Go give wrong advice elsewhere. Oh and you own no one since someone with such a high IQ shouldn't even be studying for the MCAt. One of my buddies who's IQ is only 140 took it cold and got a 37. I would expect no less from you mr 150.