which course would be most beneficial?

[wvupremed2]

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I'm trying to decide which elective course to take next semester. I'm in my third year, and I'll be taking the MCAT at the end of the spring semester, so I'd like to know which course would be most beneficial with that in mind. I'm trying to decide between human physiology (400/500 level that physician assistant students take), biochemistry, or analytical chemistry (maybe a good review of inorganic chem?). I'll definitely take both physiology and biochemistry before graduating. Just wondering which I should take before the MCAT. Thanks!

 

[desiboy]

I'm trying to decide which elective course to take next semester. I'm in my third year, and I'll be taking the MCAT at the end of the spring semester, so I'd like to know which course would be most beneficial with that in mind. I'm trying to decide between human physiology (400/500 level that physician assistant students take), biochemistry, or analytical chemistry (maybe a good review of inorganic chem?). I'll definitely take both physiology and biochemistry before graduating. Just wondering which I should take before the MCAT. Thanks!

hi dude I have taken biochem but not anal or human phy i been studying for the mcat for a while, so I will tell you one thing take human phy before it will help you in ur studying there isn't that much biochem on the mcat besides metabolism and anal chem i feel like u can reveiw that gen chem so take human phy i didn't take it and i feel at a disadvantage alright peace brother

 

[RySerr21]

for the mcats. physiology. im almost positive there are no biochemistry questions on the mcat. every practice test i have ever seen/every person ive talked to has said physiology has shown up. i dont think its a significant portion of the test. but if you are choosing between those two courses based on preparation for the mcat. you wont miss anything if u take biochem after

 

[RySerr21]

hi dude I have taken biochem but not anal or human phy i been studying for the mcat for a while, so I will tell you one thing take human phy before it will help you in ur studying there isn't that much biochem on the mcat besides metabolism and anal chem i feel like u can reveiw that gen chem so take human phy i didn't take it and i feel at a disadvantage alright peace brother

true that. besides, you will get metabolism when you take physiology. you wont get the details of every chemical step and every enzyme you will go into in biochem, but that wont matter.

 

[schussboarder]

take physio...on my mcat, the biological sciences section only had 2 passages of organic and the rest were cell bio, evoltionary bio, and physio...it had a real hard passage on the endocrine system and on the oxy-hemiglobin dissociation curve, both of which were covered in my physio class. No biochem showed up at all so I was real glad i chose to take a physio class over the biochem one.

 

[RySerr21]

take physio...on my mcat, the biological sciences section only had 2 passages of organic and the rest were cell bio, evoltionary bio, and physio...it had a real hard passage on the endocrine system and on the oxy-hemiglobin dissociation curve, both of which were covered in my physio class. No biochem showed up at all so I was real glad i chose to take a physio class over the biochem one.

oxy-hemiglobin dissociation curve....that was the last question on my physio final last semester! exciting to konw that it may come of use for the mcats cuz i think i rocked that quesiton. the ednocrine system, now thats a different story. itd b cool if we just had one hormone that did everything when needed. not sure how that would work. but i can dream

 

[UTBME]

take Physiology for sure

 

[wvupremed2]

thanks guys. that's the one i've had scheduled for a while. i really wasn't in the mood for biochem next semester anyway. 🙄

 

[superfan56]

for the mcats. physiology. im almost positive there are no biochemistry questions on the mcat. every practice test i have ever seen/every person ive talked to has said physiology has shown up. i dont think its a significant portion of the test. but if you are choosing between those two courses based on preparation for the mcat. you wont miss anything if u take biochem after

My mcat was 2 passages devoted to metabolism, could not have done it without biochem.

 

[TexasTriathlete]

I also had quite a bit of metabolism/biochem on my MCAT. That was a couple years ago though. I took biochem II and vertebrate physiology in the same semester when I took the MCAT. I thought both were pretty helpful. I can't really say which one was more helpful because I honestly don't remember. But there are things on the MCAT that will draw from both subjects.

Traditionally, amino acids are all over the MCAT, but not always.

Why not take both classes? Dump something else and take it later if you have to.

 

[RySerr21]

My mcat was 2 passages devoted to metabolism, could not have done it without biochem.

what kinda questions were they asking that you wouldn't be able to answer with a physiology background in metabolism? did you have physio as well before the mcat?

 

[superfan56]

what kinda questions were they asking that you wouldn't be able to answer with a physiology background in metabolism? did you have physio as well before the mcat?

cell phys, not human phys. from what i remember it was a lot of experimental stuff based on metabolism. not just remember this and that. so a lot of application of the stuff i actually learned in biochem.

as well as typical amino acid stuff intertwined in orgo questions as well.

 

[TexasTriathlete]

My cell phys class was very biochemistry-like. In fact, I think at least one semester of biochem was a pre-requisite for enrollment in that class.

 

[superfan56]

My cell phys class was very biochemistry-like. In fact, I think at least one semester of biochem was a pre-requisite for enrollment in that class.

ha, my biochem was basically cell phys on steroids.

 

[TexasTriathlete]

I found my cell phys class to be at least as hard, if not harder than biochem I. My prof was really tough though.

This is him. The picture was taken right after drinking from the wrong grail:
http://www.utexas.edu/neuroscience/Neurobiology/AustenRiggs/index.html

 

[Pheobe]

I'm trying to decide which elective course to take next semester. I'm in my third year, and I'll be taking the MCAT at the end of the spring semester, so I'd like to know which course would be most beneficial with that in mind. I'm trying to decide between human physiology (400/500 level that physician assistant students take), biochemistry, or analytical chemistry (maybe a good review of inorganic chem?). I'll definitely take both physiology and biochemistry before graduating. Just wondering which I should take before the MCAT. Thanks!

I would for sure take the phys over the biochem. However, quite possibly if you took the ana chem that would help w/ your PS section of the MCAT -- which for me was tougher than the bio.... maybe take a practice MCAT and see which section you score lower in.

 

[t-funk]

I also had quite a bit of metabolism/biochem on my MCAT. That was a couple years ago though. I took biochem II and vertebrate physiology in the same semester when I took the MCAT. I thought both were pretty helpful. I can't really say which one was more helpful because I honestly don't remember. But there are things on the MCAT that will draw from both subjects.

Traditionally, amino acids are all over the MCAT, but not always.

Why not take both classes? Dump something else and take it later if you have to.

I feel like I got a ton of biochem on my MCAT and I hadn't had biochem yet. I kept saying to myself throughout the bio part, "If I only had biochem." I think physiology was infinitely more helpful than biochem but my particular MCAT had a lot of physiology that was more advanced than what was covered in my physiology class. I guess I think having physiology and then secondly biochem as both very helpful and beneficial for the MCAT.

 

[scpod]

I'm trying to decide which elective course to take next semester.... I'm trying to decide between human physiology (400/500 level that physician assistant students take), biochemistry, or analytical chemistry (maybe a good review of inorganic chem?)....

Skip them all and take Genetics. That's the way everything is going these days. Does your school make you take the ACS exam for Biochemistry? If so, take Genetics and you'll do wonderful. When a section of Organic was dropped in the MCAT a few years ago, which subject do you think replaced it? Yep, Genetics.

My school gave the Kaplan diagnostic for COMLEX on our last day this year. You start reading the vignette and you know the Dx after two sentences...but that's not the question. What they want to know is what chromosome is affected or what's the mode of inheritance. Start learning Genetics now and it'll be your friend in the future.

 

[Bond8204]

Physiology hands down. HANDS DOWN. The level of genetics you need to know for the MCAT is covered in Gen Bio. I took Physiology the Fall before a Spring MCAT and barely had to study for the Biology portion.

 

[superfan56]

Skip them all and take Genetics. That's the way everything is going these days. Does your school make you take the ACS exam for Biochemistry? If so, take Genetics and you'll do wonderful. When a section of Organic was dropped in the MCAT a few years ago, which subject do you think replaced it? Yep, Genetics.

My school gave the Kaplan diagnostic for COMLEX on our last day this year. You start reading the vignette and you know the Dx after two sentences...but that's not the question. What they want to know is what chromosome is affected or what's the mode of inheritance. Start learning Genetics now and it'll be your friend in the future.

agreed. genetics is fricking huge on the mcat

 

[RockfordWF]

I'm trying to decide which elective course to take next semester. I'm in my third year, and I'll be taking the MCAT at the end of the spring semester, so I'd like to know which course would be most beneficial with that in mind. I'm trying to decide between human physiology (400/500 level that physician assistant students take), biochemistry, or analytical chemistry (maybe a good review of inorganic chem?). I'll definitely take both physiology and biochemistry before graduating. Just wondering which I should take before the MCAT. Thanks!

Human Physiology will be the most beneficial for the MCAT and for medical school. Biochemistry could also be helpful for both.

Analytical chemistry is completely useless because it will never be addressed in medical school.

 

[Orthodoc40]

Biochem or phys.
For me, having biochem was very relevant to the MCAT.