sachanistheavalanche Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 Hey guys, I'm a third year business administration co-op student at WLU. I've got good grades (10.5/12 GPA) and am a hard worker. Graduated HS with 93% avg. I'm thinking about med. school and the MCAT. Most non-MCAT schools require certain science pre-req's (which I don't have), but I feel without proper revision I would get killed without brushing up on sciences anyway. Enter MCAT...my question is, do the prep. courses cover enough bio, chem, physics material to give me enough knowledge for the test? Is it reasonable to learn the required material for the MCAT through the prep. courses alone, GIVEN my lack of science background? Or should I be looking at picking up some basic science textbooks to brush up, THEN do up the MCAT texts and prep. course? You hear of all these stories of ppl from different backgrounds (humanities, business, etc...) writing the MCAT. How can they do it without undergraduate science knowledge? Is the MCAT really realistic for a guy who gets good grades, works hard, but has a limited science background (HS courses only)? Keep in mind I'll do whatever it takes to kill this thing, I just need the tools. Impossible is nothing. Give it to me straight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
w8kg6 Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 Some of the posters here may disagree with me, but I think that textbooks are a real necessity. Although the prep courses are great at tailoring knowledge towards the MCAT, if you don't have a base, they can't do much for you. If you're willing to put in the work, and realize that your competition is going to be partly people who are doing their PhD's in biochemistry and analytical physics (although mostly it will be undergraduate science students), then it's possible. You are at a disadvantage, but it's not insurmountable. Spend some time in the next little bit getting the background info on the sciences (you'll have to put a fair amount of work into it. HS sciences are nothing compared to the knowledge that your opponents have), but once you've got that, the MCAT prep course should be quite handy. Hope that helps, and good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsci Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 good to hear from another biz student... im third year biz, writing the mcat this summer... debating a little bit but will probably take a prep course just cause i only wanna do this thing once, with that said i have taken all of the typical science courses too tho since im a science minor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apache Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 hmm im a bit drunk rite now butt... when i i took the mcat i was a psych student with only 2/3's the preqs... and i ****ing owned the humanities half with a 12 and a T and pulled 10's on the sciences... so its definately possible,although its a lot of hard work for the science sections... (4 months hard studying!!! ) but its def possible, i wont say its fun tho Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apache Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 i also must mention, examcrackers 101... owns kaplans ass Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sachanistheavalanche Posted February 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 Thanks guys. So I'm going to brush up on the Grade 12 physics, chem, bio. But what level of undergraduate science courses (year 1, 2, 3, 4) do I need to be prepared for the MCAT prep. course? I've heard that you just need to understand the basics from a 1st and 2nd year science undergrad to be ready for the MCAT prep. course. Is this accurate? Where can I verify this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
svp2k5 Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 I took the MCAT with an engineering background, so I had no exposure to the biological sciences part. I studied from the Princeton Review Books (I didn't take the course) and it seemed to work out well. I believe that the level of sciences on the MCAT is somewhere between Gr. 12 and 1st year university. Check this site: http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/ it has a lot of info regarding preparation, scope of exam, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supafield Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 When I wrote the MCAT I had.... 1st year bio, 1 year physiology, and a term of anatomy... no physics, no chem, no orgo.... That said I used the princeton course and learned it on my own which made the process considerably lengthier than it would have been if I had taken those courses and payed attention. So it can definitely be done.... but you really have to go at the stuff you don't have background in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byrne Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 I'd say introductory courses in Biology, Chemistry and Physics will give you a good foundation that will make preparation for the MCAT a lot less stressful. Courses in Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, Genetics, Cell Biology, Physiology and Anatomy are definitely helpful, too -- but you can get away with not having them. Keep in mind that the MCAT is more of a reasoning exam than a memory-based exam. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Octavius Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 You'll be fine. The Princeton Review books have a whackload of **** in them. I have a science background so it's hard to comment, but I never found science very difficult...especially biology which is jsut knowledge based (no skills). If you can pull off 93 and that 10 or whatever at WLU you shouldn't have problems adapting. You can try out an MCAT at http://www.e-mcat.com - that's the AAMC place. You can buy additional MCATs if you're serious about it but that will give you a rough idea of what it's like...School doesn't really teach you to take an MCAT anyway, they teach you to be a scientist, so it's more rote learning. MCAT is really conceptual and critical thinking. Anyway given the economic climate I think you're making the right choice lol. It's probably going to be easier for you since you see this **** for the first time...This is the 6th time I've seen this stuff and I literally want to shoot myself when I look at it. I've read cases where business students killed it on student doctor network. It's all in your drive. Based on those princeton review books they seemed to cover **** from first principles. You're grown up, you don't need a teacher to take you by the hand and learn grade 12 ****. The only stuff I can a non-sci tanking on is physics and organic. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Octavius Posted March 9, 2009 Report Share Posted March 9, 2009 I take that back, don't use up a real test lol. I wouldn't be intimidated by this ****. Material goes up to the end of first year biology/chemistry/physics, and organic is a second year course, but that only comprises 25% of the bio section which is 25% of the exam. I would not recommend examkrackers for you since that is designed for science students to fast track the MCAT material (they don't cover fundamentals in depth) although their biology book would be good to sop up the review and their 101 passage book essential. Use the princeton review hyperlearning, whether you want to take a 1600 course or buy the textbook materials for 100 is up to you. I have faith that you'll do well, especially with that GPA of yours (means you are smart and/or hard working). Science can be mastered, it may be a few years of science but you have to remember curriculums are designed to match up with the slowest students and there were TONS of repetition between grade 11/12/1st year. I don't recommend you study less than 3 months though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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