Which biology courses to take before DAT?

[MSB.]

Hey everyone!

I hope you all are doing fine. I am confused and cannot decide which upper level biology courses to pick before taking my DAT? I am a biology major too.
I am done with Bio 1 and 2 along with Gen Chem 1 and 2.

For fall, I am taking Organic 1 (3 credits), Physics 1 (4 credits), Pre calc (3 credits), and one more upper level biology course with lab.
For spring, I am planning to take Organic 2 (3 credits), Organic 1,2 lab (2 credits), Physics 2 (4 credits), Calculas 1 (4 credits), and one upper level biology course without lab.


Now, I don't know which biology courses to take. I was planning to take genetics with lab in fall and ecology without lab in spring. Which one is easier? I think genetics is more interesting. However, I want to take the easier one in spring so I can also prepare myself for DAT at the same time. What do you suggest? Microbiology is an option too but at UCF, it's a 5 credit course and considered really difficult, so I don't want to overload my courses and end up with a bad gpa.

I would highly appreciate if you could all share your experiences and let me know if genetics, ecology or any other course in your mind would be suitable with that schedule of mine 🙂
Thanks.

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[JLT223]

You technically don't need any upper level courses to take the DAT, but I would highly recommend microbiology and biochemistry if you can take them. Ecology could potentially be very useful, depending on what is taught in lecture (my ecology course was totally biased towards useless equations....)

 

[BluntForceTrauma]

Cell bio FTW

 

[MolarBear11]

Tbh it really doesn't matter what UL bio you take because all you need is bio 1 and 2 for the DAT. Take whatever your heart desires

 

[Roy Williams]

I took bio 101, anatomy, and biochemistry. I honestly learned the most from the destroyer book.

 

[Incis0r]

At the time of my DAT, I had bio 1, 2 and several upper level bio courses under my belt (including genetics, biochem, microbio).

None of the upper level courses assisted me in my DAT. I was satisfied with my Bio score, and I owe it to a) Cliffs/Barrons b) Feralis Notes c) Destroyer, and d) Bootcamp. That's it. Nothing less, nothing more.

 

[JLT223]

The more you know before studying, the better. Content review sucks enough as is!

 

[D.M.D. Miller]

You have similar courses planned as mine. I plan to take microbiology and anatomy and cell biology


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[mystery84]

The material is all touched upon in bio 1 and 2. If you want to take some upper level bio to increase your exposure to the material take microbiology, cellular, molecular, embryology/developmental, physiology (I don't recall there being any anatomy), biochem.

I think physiology and developmental were the most helpful to me.

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[JLT223]

The material is all touched upon in bio 1 and 2. If you want to take some upper level bio to increase your exposure to the material take microbiology, cellular, molecular, embryology/developmental, physiology (I don't recall there being any anatomy), biochem.

I think physiology and developmental were the most helpful to me.

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+1 for developmental courses

 

[sumin5924]

Random, but did they get rid of plant biology? Those questions were so dumb and honestly referencing useless information...

 

[JLT223]

Random, but did they get rid of plant biology? Those questions were so dumb and honestly referencing useless information...

Nope

 

[sjk20]

You technically don't need any upper level courses to take the DAT, but I would highly recommend microbiology and biochemistry if you can take them. Ecology could potentially be very useful, depending on what is taught in lecture (my ecology course was totally biased towards useless equations....)

Signed on to second this. I am taking Microbiology at the moment and am slightly annoyed I didn't take it before the DAT. There's a lot we go over in my class that would have been nice to skip over while I was studying (or just not spend as much time on). Not sure if Micro curriculum varies from school to school but if you have any friends in the class, maybe take a look at their syllabus and see what they spend time on. If it's going to be one of those classes that spends 3 weeks on just bacterial diseases and viruses, then it's probably not worth it.

Biochem however...invaluable. 100% recommend.