Hi all,
I am planning on taking the April MCAT and was wondering if you could give me some advice on whether Organic II or Biochemistry would be more helpful for the test? I have heard that although Biochem is not a required course at all med schools that it can be helpful for the MCAT. I don't really have time to take both because I work full time and need to save some free time for MCAT test prep. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!
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| I am planning on taking the April MCAT and was wondering if you could give me some advice on whether Organic II or Biochemistry would be more helpful for the test? I have heard that although Biochem is not a required course at all med schools that it can be helpful for the MCAT. I don't really have time to take both because I work full time and need to save some free time for MCAT test prep. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks! |
That's a tough call!
MCAT is changing their exam next year to reflect less organic and replace it with genetics. But, as there will still be some organic to deal with, I think I would concentrate on the Organic II, especially since it is a prereq anyway. And yes, if you can take Biochem, it may be helpful, but since time is an issue, personally I would stick with the Organic. Just my $0.02, but hope it helps!
Hands down Organic II which is the “real organic” anyways. I felt that the first semester of Organic was a whole bunch of regurgitation of General Chemistry. The second part will focus on reactions and that is usually was ends up on the MCAT.
O-chem II, absolutely. You WILL see biochem on the MCAT, for sure, but like Linda says, o-chem 2d semester is a prerequisite anyway.
Dunno what the MCAT people are saying now about specific course preparation, with the changes they're implementing in April 2003. In the past, they've explicitly said that you do NOT need to have taken any more than med school prereqs in order to do OK on the MCAT. A lot of folks come out of it moaning about biochem but I think that's the nasty, devious trickery of the MCAT - at first glance a lot of passages will make you think you need a Ph.D. in genetics or something, but when you learn to work through those passages you'll discover that it isn't quite as complicated as it seems at first glance.
So take o-chem II and definitely do lots of practice tests as preparation.
Thank you all so much for the helpful advice! I am so glad I stumbled across this forum because sometimes I feel like I am really missing out on things being a non-traditional student. I will follow your advice and plan on taking Org II. I feel that Organic may be my weak point so I will probably really need part II come test time. 