Hello! I am writing to ask if I should re-take CHEM I and II for the MCAT???
I took it seven years ago and received a B in both sections and an A in the corresponding labs.
Do we need basic inorganic chemistry knowledge for organic chemistry?
Would inorganic knowledge be helpful for the MCAT?
Would you recommend taking these courses again? I understand it depends on my confidence, etc…but, does anyone have any thoughts?
I appreciate your feedback!
Best,
Jill
It all depends on you but I would not retake the courses, especially if you received a B. What you can do it audit the class, just sit in on it.
I took chemistry in the mid 90s and I was surprised how quickly it all came back to me. I took a prep course and it was alright.
Again this is all up to you.
Jill,
Or maybe just buy an MCAT preparation book for Chemistry (like Kaplan, ExamCracker or something similar) and check if you still remeber the concepts. Take a sample MCAT test and see. This should be the best diagnosis of how much you remeber and if you need a formal instructions or you can just reteach yourself on your own 
Jill,
In my opinion, 7 years is quite awhile unless you’ve been using the knowledge regularly. The first thing I advise you to do is to contact the medical schools in which you’re interested in applying to be sure that they will accept credits from that long ago. They may or may not want you to retake. Secondly, because organic chemistry builds on foundations learned in general chemistry (i.e. molecular bonding theory, acid/base reactions, periodic trends, etc.), to go into organic without a certain comfort-zone is putting additional pressure on you in a subject which gives so many people difficulties–you can read about the o-chem woes all over this forum if you do a search. Because an entire section of the MCAT exam is devoted to the physical sciences (which tests physics and general chemistry), having a firm grasp of gen. chem is essential for doing well. Taking an MCAT prep course will definitely help out–depending on your recall it may be enough. Gabe’s idea of auditing the class is an excellent one if you’re able to find a professor who will agree. Repeating the course will not help you as far as GPA is concerned unless you are applying to a DO school. We have an organic professor at our university who has gone out of his way to allow students to audit the course because they didn’t feel they learned the material well enough the first time they took it with another professor–he even allows them to take the exams and marks them so the students can see how well they’re understanding the material if that’s something they want to do. There may be someone at your university who would do the same.
Larry
Thank you everyone! I appreciate your feedback!
More important than the MCAT is whether or not the schools you are applying to will accept courses taken 7 years ago. There seems to be a trend of no greater than 5 years. Not all schools but as more nontrads apply more schools are requesting that the prereqs have been completed no more than 5 years prior.
I agree. Consider checking with med schools on how recent / old should be your science courses. Some med schools like Duke won’t take anything older than 7 years. Also, some med schools want you to retake stuff again to show that you can handle recent coursework and because that particular science has changed. While gen chem and calculus haven’t change much, biology has changed, especially in light of recent advances in genetics. (and more and more genetics is appearing on the MCAT as well).
Hi there! Chemistry is a difficult subject to remember unless you practice regularly. I would suggest either sitting in on the class or taking one of the refresher courses like at a Kaplan Center that doesnt impact your official records. B is a decent grade so you dont want to screw that up. Good luck.