Which 2 courses out of Physiology, Genetics, and Cell Bio would be most helpful for MCAT?

[tomi65463]

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Due to my schedule, I can only take two the following classes before the MCAT: Physiology, Genetics, and Cell Biology. My main concern is taking the courses that are not easily learned from review books. If something can be easily learned by review books or a prep course then I guess I could skip that course. Thanks for any help.

 

[Person0715]

I think taking a genetics class is overkill for the genetics that can potentially be tested on the MCAT. I would definitely go the phsyio route and cell bio route.

 

[1TB4RKSB4CK]

What type of Genetics? Is it Molecular-based genetics or that mendelian bio I crap? I would go with Physio for sure but I think, depending on how in-depth Cell Bio goes, cell signaling is really important in BS portion.

 

[tomi65463]

Its a General Genetics class

 

[Romz]

What type of Genetics? Is it Molecular-based genetics or that mendelian bio I crap? I would go with Physio for sure but I think, depending on how in-depth Cell Bio goes, cell signaling is really important in BS portion.

Agreed with this OP. Upon reflection, MCAT genetics I got on my first attempt was more Cell Bio in nature than it was Genetics. Mendelian genetics is not that hard - I believe you'd profit more from the other two classes.

 

[natti101]

I think taking a genetics class is overkill for the genetics that can potentially be tested on the MCAT. I would definitely go the phsyio route and cell bio route.

This. For sure.

 

[Jepstein30]

MCAT genetics = very, very simple.. stuff you probably learned in high-school. You'll spend literally 5 minutes on the first day of a Genetics class covering MCAT-level material.

BUT.. generally, content is not why any of these classes are useful for the MCAT. In terms of content, you don't really need any of them. It's the critical thinking skills (specifically related to biology) that are developed in these advanced level classes that make them useful for MCAT prep.

I'd take Physiology (most content) and Cell Bio (thinking required here is more aligned with MCAT-style passages)

 

[HopelessDreamer]

I absolutely recommend taking Physio! I took the MCAT before taking physio and I felt completely rushed having to teach myself all of the physio that you're required to know. I still managed to do well on BS (definitely some luck involved), but I definitely didn't feel comfortable with my bio knowledge going into the exam.

 

[gettheleadout]

MCAT genetics = very, very simple.. stuff you probably learned in high-school. You'll spend literally 5 minutes on the first day of a Genetics class covering MCAT-level material.

BUT.. generally, content is not why any of these classes are useful for the MCAT. In terms of content, you don't really need any of them. It's the critical thinking skills (specifically related to biology) that are developed in these advanced level classes that make them useful for MCAT prep.

I'd take Physiology (most content) and Cell Bio (thinking required here is more aligned with MCAT-style passages)

I agree with the course recommendations, but I would just add that I think it's a really bad idea to discount the possibility of difficult genetics being on the MCAT.

 

[Jepstein30]

I agree with the course recommendations, but I would just add that I think it's a really bad idea to discount the possibility of difficult genetics being on the MCAT.

Not sure where I did that but like any topic, a really difficult genetics passage will be accompanied with enough background information to get by it.. making the critical thinking skills come in handy. Take a look at the topic list:

GENETICS
A. Mendelian Concepts
1. Phenotype and genotype (definitions, probability calculations, pedigree analysis)
2. Gene
3. Locus
4. Allele (single, multiple)
5. Homozygosity and heterozygosity
6. Wild type
7. Recessiveness
8. Complete dominance
9. Codominance
10. Incomplete dominance, leakage, penetrance, expressivity
11. Gene pool
B. Meiosis and Genetic Variability
1. Significance of meiosis
2. Important differences between meiosis and mitosis
3. Segregation of genes
a. independent assortment
b. linkage
c. recombination
d. single crossovers
e. double crossovers
4. Sex-linked characteristics
a. very few genes on Y chromosome
b. sex determination
c. cytoplasmic inheritance, mitochondrial inheritance
5. Mutation
a. general concept of mutation
b. types of mutations (random, translation error, transcription error, base substitution, insertion, deletion, frameshift)
c. chromosomal rearrangements (inversion, translocation)
d. advantageous versus deleterious mutation
e. inborn errors of metabolism
f. relationship of mutagens to carcinogens
C. Analytic Methods
1. Hardy–Weinberg principle
2. Testcross (backcross; concepts of parental, F1, and F2 generations)

All basic genetics that's barely covered in a full blown course.

 

[gettheleadout]

Not sure where I did that

MCAT genetics = very, very simple..

I took a genetics course before my MCAT, and I'm just saying it is possible for them to give you questions on things not covered in a course that technically fall under the content outline (i.e. difficult topics not explained in a passage).

 

[Roxas]

Genetics and physiology for sure. Plus whoever said that MCAT genetics is easy did not sit for either of my MCATs, cause I had what seemed like a good amount of fairly difficult genetics material. I felt like TPR Biology did a good job of covering the necessities, but I know taking it at my school helped a lot.

 

[ZeaL6]

I'd agree with OGrady. This is probably biased in hindsight from my MCAT but I took a genetics class and wish I would have had a good professor that taught it well, because I got raped by it. I would definitely say Physio and Genetics

 

[gettheleadout]

My other thought is that TBR Organic will teach you all the "biochem" you need to know anyway. I would (and did) go with physio and genetics as well.

 

[tomi65463]

This is a bit off topic but if i want to study for the MCAT over the summer (planning for summer of 2014) , would it be a bad idea to take one class (thinking genetics maybe cell bio) at my university and study for the MCAT at the same time? The class is A session so it would be the first 4 weeks out of my 4 month summer. I wouldn't be taking a prep course just using prep books. I just want to know if you guys would not recommend doing so . Thanks.

 

[gettheleadout]

This is a bit off topic but if i want to study for the MCAT over the summer (planning for summer of 2014) , would it be a bad idea to take one class (thinking genetics maybe cell bio) at my university and study for the MCAT at the same time? The class is A session so it would be the first 4 weeks out of my 4 month summer. I wouldn't be taking a prep course just using prep books. I just want to know if you guys would not recommend doing so . Thanks.

If you're studying for 3-4 months and the class would only last 4 weeks, then assuming the course isn't heavy on "busy work" (i.e. it's a straightforward 3-test course or whatever) it should only add more learning time on top of your content review occurring during those first several weeks. Assuming it won't cut into your MCAT study time it could definitely be beneficial. That said, if you're aiming to do the SN2ed schedule and the class requires 5 hours a day of in-class time, that might not be the best idea.

 

[RC4L]

Genetics seems to be one of the most heavily tested topics in mcat bio but cell bio and physio show up all the time too. I wouldn't sweat this decision too much because your mcat prep is going to get you a good score, not an undergrad class. In fact, I would consider not taking a class during the summer if you don't have to. Studying for the mcat is a job and you don't want to risk having to repeat the process. One of those classes may HELP you answer 3-4 questions at best probably not even) and if you sacrifice too much time taking a class to only get those few extra questions in bio, you run the risk of missing many more in other sections of the test from inadequate prep. Remember that the most difficult part of the mcat is applying that knowledge to the passages/questions. The knowledge you are required to know is often pretty general. This is just my personal opinion though. I will say there were about 4 questions on my last MCAT which I knew immediately thanks to my physiology course I took last fall. However that class was very difficult and if I took it during the summer while studying for the mcat it would have hurt me much more than help.