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Went to a science faculty advisor to ask for a second opinion about what specific courses at my university would be needed for the MCAT, were I to do an extra year after my BScN. She wasn't very nice about telling me that I'd need

not just chem, physics, and bio (which I expected) but also at least a whole year of calc, organic, english (I'd expected half a year of these ones, really) and ethics/critical thinking, genetics, and a whole boat load of other courses. I do have or will have some of the stuff she insisted on (physiology, micro, anatomy, pharm) . .. but is genetics really essential to the MCAT??

 

Frustrated . . .

 

Is a half year of calc, organic, and english enough to do well?

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haha! No way - you don't need all those courses!! Intro chem, physics and biology are the only essentials for the MCAT

 

There is some very basic organic chem on the the BS section, but you can learn that on your own (EK is really good for just teaching you what you need)

 

Genetics? Yeah, it would be a bonus, but your into biology should teach you basic Mendelian and population genetics. There is nothing more advanced than that.

 

Physiology? Anatomy? - forget it! You'll find what you need in any MCAT prep manual. However, those courses are pretty useful once you get into med school :)

 

English? Critical thinking? Writing course? - Depending on your skill level, these may not be necessary. Try out a VR and WS section in a practice MCAT to see where you stand.

 

I agree that your best bet would be to try a practice MCAT (one of the AAMC ones). As far as MCAT content goes, there are some excellent prep manuals out there. I hadn't been in school for 10 years, studied on my own w/ Exam Krackers, and started med school last year.

 

Best of luck w/ your studies. You are smart for asking around about what is needed for the MCAT. For years I made the assumption that you needed advanced courses in biochem and organic to do the MCAT - this put me off going to med school for many years. I wish this forum had been around back then!

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No, I haven't taken any sample MCATs. I haven't even taken the bio/chem/physics. I'm just trying to figure out exactly what I need (since there are so many different opinions!) so I can plan ahead, cause the nursing course sequence is quite prescribed. One really does need to plan really far in advance.

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I'd say you'd be much better prepared after a year of organic and physics - the actual MCAT questions are simpler than what you'd see in the courses, but the fresher and more familiar the material is, the better things will go. I'd say that success on the MCAT science sections will correlate with how recently you did the respective courses.

 

That said, I wouldn't bother with a full year of calc - there isn't any on the MCAT, which isn't to say that the general concepts aren't useful. The first half of intro calc will suffice, though. I'd recommend a full year of organic though - it's often required by the schools, and the first half won't cover enough really.

 

Unless you have no other humanities/social science/writing courses, I don't see why you'd need to take English at all, but it wouldn't hurt to do a half course.

 

As for genetics, there's often a bit of molecular stuff on the MCAT (well, there was the one time I wrote it, and it was common in the practice tests), but that doesn't extend beyond knowing about the four bases and really, really basic stuff about DNA/RNA. You won't need to know the details of replication, transcription, and translation either (i.e. no TATA boxes or OriC's) but a first-year level understanding will suffice.

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Guest begaster

I aced the MCAT with the following courses:

 

First year calc (taken three years prior to writing - absolutely useless for the MCAT).

First year bio (taken three years prior to writing).

First year physics (taken two years prior to writing).

Second year physics course - Modern Physics and Special Relativity (taken one year prior to writing - absolutely irrelevant to the MCAT).

First year chemistry (taken one year prior to writing).

One half-year literature class (taken half a year prior to writing - thoroughly useless for the MCAT).

 

No orga, no advanced biology courses, no ethics.

 

Mind you, biology was my weakest section of the three (scored 11), and those courses probably could have helped me bring that mark up, but, really, it's doable to score above 10 without ever taking them. If you have time, go for it. If you don't, no need to panic.

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In my limmited expirence advisors rarly know what they are talking about beyond the standard course requirments for standard undergrad degrees such as BSc. etc.

 

If you want the good stuff you gotta do the work yourself. ;)

 

Your golden at 99% of the places in North America, Australia and Ireland with: bio, calc, inorganic chem, orgo, biochem, physics. Toss an english in there if you want to add a few more schools.

 

Physiology would help a bit on the MCAT but not much of you have a good prep book... Going by my expirences, micro, genetics, anatomy etc. couldn't be more useless to your odds of getting. These classes are way above the MCAT level and are not prereqs. I say this as a current applicant, as one who as written the MCAT and as one who has taken lots of the courses you mentioned as part of my major.

 

Hope this sheds some new light on your situation!

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Went to a science faculty advisor to ask for a second opinion about what specific courses at my university would be needed for the MCAT, were I to do an extra year after my BScN. She wasn't very nice about telling me that I'd need

not just chem, physics, and bio (which I expected) but also at least a whole year of calc, organic, english (I'd expected half a year of these ones, really) and ethics/critical thinking, genetics, and a whole boat load of other courses. I do have or will have some of the stuff she insisted on (physiology, micro, anatomy, pharm) . .. but is genetics really essential to the MCAT??

 

Frustrated . . .

 

Is a half year of calc, organic, and english enough to do well?

 

Genetics is essential to the MCAT - BUT only basic genetics.

 

Ethics/critical thinking and english are NOT essential - but having the ability to read and comprehend somewhat advanced literature is essential for the VR section of the MCAT. The VR section boils down to - can you understand what you are reading. Courses in the humanities and social sciences definitely help your reading and writing (for the WS). Microbio, anatomy, pharm ARE NOT essential for the MCAT. Physiology is ABSOLUTELY essential (It is tested, but taking a course in this subject is not essential). But if you are graduating with a BScN, you will have completed most of the subjects tested.

 

Calculus is not required. Honestly, all you need are the TPR Hyperlearning Books and you're good to go. Taking introductory courses in Genetics, Biology (Evolution and Molecular Biology), Physics, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Physiology, and some humanities/social science courses will help.

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Unfortunately graduating with a BScN doesn't always guarantee you have all the core subjects tested. The course sequence I have to follow has only three option/elective courses in the entire 4 years. Essential to the MCAT or not, I have to take physiology, anatomy, pharm, micro, med micro because the nursing degree requires them. That's why I'm tossing around the idea of getting the BScN and then doing another year to study bio, chem, physics, and anything else that I might find to be essential to writing the MCAT that wasn't covered in nursing.

It's certainly not that the BScN is useless, far from it. There's the clinical experience, and the fact that alot of the nursing courses require tons of reading and essay writing- which I hope will be of some help, no matter how small, to my ability to do the VR and WS sections.

 

Yes, so I have limited time to fit in courses to help me with the MCAT so thats why I keep bugging y'all for what you think is absolutely essential, haha.

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That's why I'm tossing around the idea of getting the BScN and then doing another year to study bio, chem, physics, and anything else that I might find to be essential to writing the MCAT that wasn't covered in nursing.

 

Hi kapers,

 

You don't need to take university courses in each of the subjects tested, in order to do well on the MCAT. Everything you will need is covered in the review books. Rather than doing a 5th year of university, it may be wise to consider working through a set of review books to learn the material not covered in your nursing courses.

 

I did not take all of the undergraduate science courses prior to writing my MCAT. I only took one year of high school physics (1994), and never took university physics. My university chemistry was from 1995-96. However, I still got a 12 in the PS section of the MCAT.

 

Best wishes to you!

Elaine

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You don't "need" any courses for the MCAT. But obviously taking a bunch of courses with material relevant to that on the MCAT would help.

 

Your science advisor basically listed off a bunch of courses that would help you better prepare for the MCAT, since you would be more familiar with the material. Does that mean you couldn't have learned some or all of it on you own? Of course not!

 

That being said, I don't believe learning everything from scratch would be easy. In my opinion, I think taking first year chem, biology and physics, and 2nd year organic chemistry are the most important for providing experience for the fundamentals for doing the MCAT. Everything else is just gravy.

 

Good luck.

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I know that the taking of the courses isn't "needed," I'm just not sure about my ability to get through it all myself with review books, I suppose. That said, it would be nice to not to do the extra year. Then the question: when the heck am I going to get time to do this studying? Oh dear . . .?

 

Elaine, if you don't mind me asking- where did you apply in canada, since you didn't have any prereq university courses?

 

Random question: about writing the MCAT . . . you typically write in April/May/ June ish and submit your scores for an October application deadline?

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Elaine, if you don't mind me asking- where did you apply in canada, since you didn't have any prereq university courses?

 

I applied to Dalhousie, Queen's and Western. Dalhousie and Western have no specific prerequisites. I took the courses required by Queen's when I was first at university back in 1995-1996. (Fortunately, the marks obtained in each course don't count.) None of the schools I applied to required physics, which is why I didn't take it.

 

Elaine

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