which Bio class do you think is helpful to the MCAT and Medicalschool

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vincikai

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which Bio class do you think is helpful to the MCAT and Medicalschool in general? MOLECULAR GENETICS, Biochemistry, Cell Bio? or any other class helped you in any other field is also welcome. :love:

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Cell structure and function and Vertebrate Physiology were pretty helpful. Lots of review and more in depth than basic bio on hormones, and included several topics I had MCAT stuff on, like oxygen saturation and muscle activity. Took Biochem after MCAT, but don't think it would have helped much. Also, maybe a good ecology class, since mine included a lot of reading/graph interpretation.
 
i would say the most useful bio class was intro bio. You learn a good amount of material that is suppose to be tested on the exam. :p
 
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For the MCAT, the most helpful thing is to take it as soon as you can after finishing your basic science courses (Chem, Ochem, Bio, Physics). Those are the subjects that are tested the most heavily and at the most difficult levels. There is also some mo bio, biochem, and genetics on the test, but you can learn these on your own at the level needed for the MCAT. It's not worth it to take all the upper division classes before the test because you'll start forgetting the lower division stuff that you really need.
 
Animal physiology was the most helpful by far. Biochem is helpful, but its not worth going through a semester of that hell just to get 8 more questions correct.

*I'm a biochem major...biggest regret of my college career. Some of it is really interesting but a lot the material is DRY and boring. Do you like rote memorization? You'll fit right in.
 
which Bio class do you think is helpful to the MCAT and Medicalschool in general? MOLECULAR GENETICS, Biochemistry, Cell Bio? or any other class helped you in any other field is also welcome. :love:

I did basically all of the "required" MCAT courses over the spring and summer semesters, and ended up with a 9 in BS (30 overall, not bad for cramming).

What helped me biology-wise was basic physiology and then your molecular & cellular biology (basic level). Not being intimidated by organic also helps with test anxiety (obviously).

If you can learn what's in review books (i.e. Kaplan, Princeton Review), you should be fine, but you have to learn it word for word b/c these resources are very condensed. I suggest supplementing them with textbooks.
 
is metabolic bio tested at all? And for animal physiology, is that like the same as mamalian bio?
 
disagree with others BIOCHEMISTRY=SUPER HELPFUL for mcat and med school (although I didn't exactly rock mcat bio)
 
disagree with others BIOCHEMISTRY=SUPER HELPFUL for mcat and med school (although I didn't exactly rock mcat bio)

I totally agree with this. I was able to take a majority of the first year med classes with my masters program and struggling through 2 upper level biochems in undergrad helped out so much for medical biochem. However, I do know people who did not take biochem in undergrad and still did well in the course. Over-all I do not think it hurts. :thumbup:

With the past August MCAT, physiology was the most helpful non-basic pre-req course.. but it depends on which passages you get and what they are emphasizing on this new MCAT. :confused:

For upper-level courses that you need to take during undergrad/post-bac in order to graduate and/or to help prep for med courses I would suggest looking at the schools that you are most interested in and what each curriculum is like. If you want to start out strong, then take fundamental courses like biochem, physiology, and anatomy. If you want to go all out, go for histology, immunology, genetics, and neuro. :oops:
 
physiology, cell biology, and genetics
 
which Bio class do you think is helpful to the MCAT and Medicalschool in general? MOLECULAR GENETICS, Biochemistry, Cell Bio? or any other class helped you in any other field is also welcome. :love:

Diversify. Go take some non biology stuff(business comes to mind). The basic bio class should be enough for the MCAT and medschool. Taking biology classes for medschool is like buying two cars with the same color, make, model and body, only one is a 4 cylinder(ugrad bio) while the other is a V8(medschool bio).
 
I was glad I had taken Genetics but I think I just happened to have a particularly genetics heavy form... you could just as easily end up with a heavy physiology form. Just learn your basics really well and take the MCAT soon after finishing the pre-recs and you'll be golden.

Edit: Actually - I was really glad I'd taken a philosophy course. I thought it really helped with verbal.
 
No class is worth taking simply because you think it'll help with MCAT. Intro bio is enough.
 
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I was glad I had taken Genetics but I think I just happened to have a particularly genetics heavy form... you could just as easily end up with a heavy physiology form. Just learn your basics really well and take the MCAT soon after finishing the pre-recs and you'll be golden.

Edit: Actually - I was really glad I'd taken a philosophy course. I thought it really helped with verbal.

I agree with the philosophy. Any course with high level reading and interpretation will help for verbal. I took a lot of these types of course for my minor and was able to slay the verbal. Of course, I forgot all my physics and chemistry ... ah well.
 
Beyond the basics, I'd say physiology (cell and animal) and biochem were the most useful. Analytical chem. (Quantitative analysis) helps reinforce acid/base chem, titrations and battery stuff, but i wouldn't recommend it if it doesn't count towards your major. Also, take the MCAT while the material is fresh. I took it twice after graduating (3&4 years after genchem and ochem) and I think it made studying harder.
 
I agree with the philosophy. Any course with high level reading and interpretation will help for verbal. I took a lot of these types of course for my minor and was able to slay the verbal. Of course, I forgot all my physics and chemistry ... ah well.
I disagree with philosophy. I took a philosophy class and did well (A-) and my verbal still stank! Alright, I didn't go to class at all (maybe like 3 times) but I'm an exception to the "philosophy helps verbal score" theory.
 
as for the MCAT, no bio class is helpful.. the kaplan bio book has everything you need to know (the PR book has more than you need to know). if you want to score at the higher end you just have to have had a lot of bio classes where you pick up random details (i had a few stand alone questions on ecology (ie, r-selection, etc) on my mcat test that were not covered in any of the study books). Don't take courses for the purpose of preparing for the mcat.

as for med school, you learn it all anyway once you are there. don't take courses for preparation in the future... i think you'll just psych yourself out. (i know this opinion likely differs from everyone, but whatever, its my opinion).
 
which Bio class do you think is helpful to the MCAT and Medicalschool in general? MOLECULAR GENETICS, Biochemistry, Cell Bio? or any other class helped you in any other field is also welcome. :love:

Seriously, I think Bio 001 and Bio 002 (the Intro sequence for Bio) is all you need for the MCAT. It is really a broad test that covers many, many topics. So if you take Cell Bio, for example, to increase your preparation for the MCAT, while you may get those 12% of questions on the Bio section about Cellular Biology right, it doesn't help on those other questions.

I'd say maintain the broad focus and really study all the topics that the MCAT tests, which is available online. Remember that it's not depth of knowledge that's tested here but breadth.
 
No class is worth taking simply because you think it'll help with MCAT. Intro bio is enough.
what he said.

just study a good prep book - they'll cover everything you need to know. really. the rest is up to you to understand passages and take away what you need to gather from them.
 
as for the MCAT, no bio class is helpful..

Amen! I was about to put the same thing. I had AP BIO credit from high school so I didn't take intro bio in undergrad. I took 4 higher level BIOs, the only ones of relevance were Genetics and Cell Bio, and NEITHER were helpful. I also had terrible grades in the courses. When I say terrible I'm not talking about A or B range...

Honestly, a lot of students with high level coursework in a particular section tend to struggle more than students who just learn what they need to know for the MCAT (from my experience as an instructor).
 
No bio class is helpfull? I couldn't disagree more. But to each his/her own. I believe that it is valuable to have a broad knowledge of both the life and social sciences through not only advanced coursework, but also related academic and extracurricular activities. More knowledge is not a bad thing, it can only help you. While perhaps taking any single upper level class just to prepare for the MCAT may not be helpfull, the OP was asking about classes that also may be helpfull for the medical school in a more general sense as well. Extra meanigfull knowledge or experience that one accumulates may actually help, and it certainly won't hurt. It all depends on each individuals background, interests, strengths, and weaknesses.
 
I've heard that immunology is useful for med school (half your question), but I don't think so much for MCAT. I had one random stand alone question related to immuno on my version, and it wasn't hard to figure out based on prefix/SAT type vocab rules.
 
MCAT aside, if you are a bio/premed major and are required to take a certain number of credits in upper level biology, why would you want to take courses other than those that would prepare you for med school? Example: at my undergrad, I had the choice of taking PCHEM or Biochem to satisfy a graduation requirement... hmmm... let's see which one would help out w/ med school more.

Of course if you have credits to waste and already met your requirements to graduate, take something/anything that interests you because once you get into med school, there are very few chances to do this. But in terms of meeting bio grad requirements, it seems wasteful to take something that won't help prep for med courses.

If you want to take upper level plant/fungal bio or evolution to broaden your horizons and meet grad requirements that is great but maybe tuition/credits would be more useful going towards courses like histo, biochem, physio, genetics, or immuno? :idea:
 
philosophy did NOT help me at all (got pwnd on vr) but then again I could be an anomaly.

i think hum phys is the most important class. animal phys was pretty pointless because mcat really doesnt care about sponges and alligators and the like. if i were to do it all over i would have taken humphys rather than vertphys (neurosci).
 
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