<p>I don’t think all of my undergrad’s premed classes prepare its students adequately for the MCAT.
To make up for this, would it be a good idea to use lecture materials and problems sets of great premed schools that are signed up with Open Courseware?
If so, then what are some good premed schools available on the Open Courseware?
Does MIT offer great premed courses?</p>
<p>How do you have a poor premed class? The info need for the MCAT is so basic, it can be taught by a HS science teacher. How does one have a bad Bio 101 or gen chem class?</p>
<p>norcalguy: I never looked at any MCAT problems yet; I had no idea the questions were so basic. I was just assuming that it mainly asked you advanced questions. I suppose you could never have a bad gen bio or gen chem class, but what about Orgo? So far, I took Orgo I, and when I compared my school’s Orgo I problem sets with those of MIT’s Orgo I, my school’s were easier. Are MCAT’s Orgo problems also basic? But doesn’t it test you on many different reactions? Unfortunately, the Orgo I course I took covered no more than 10 different reactions, so I’m worried. From the Open Courseware, I’m aware that MIT’s typical Orgo makes you learn much more than 10 different reactions.</p>
<p>MCAT organic is very, very easy, as is physics. Biology and Gen Chem are actually a little bit harder.</p>
<p>The MCAT is not, fundamentally, a knowledge test, although the knowledge is important. At its core, it’s an intelligence test. (“Critical thinking,” if you must.)</p>
<p>Orgo has become practically nonexistent on the MCAT. On the MCAT I took, only 9 out of 77 questions in the BS section were orgo. The rest were all bio.</p>
<p>Edit: But you should’ve learned more than 10 reactions in Orgo I lol The reaction wheel I received in my TPR MCAT review course had around 80 basic reactions which represented less than half of the reactions I learned in orgo at Cornell. I’m not sure if you’re talking about 10 individual reactions or 10 classes of reactions (electrophilic aromatic substitution, SN1, etc.)</p>
<p>what college do you go to?</p>
<p>
I’m talking about the 10 classes of reactions. I don’t think my instructor covered any individual reactions. I took Orgo I during summer semester. 
That’s probably why it’s so much easier. Are all those different individual reactions tested in MCAT? It’s unfortunate I never got an opportunity to learn them.</p>
<p>I guess I just have to study for the MCAT’s orgo much more by myself than others who took good orgo courses, even though I got an A on this really easy summer orgo course. I really shouldn’t have taken orgo I in summer. :(</p>
<p>you’llsee…: I go to Simon Fraser university. It’s a Canadian university located in BC province. I chose to go here because it’s a 20-minute distance from where I live.</p>
<p>I heard that there are great differences among contents taught in different orgo classes across different colleges and even within same college under different profs. Is it possible that I’ll learn all the necessary MCAT reactions in Orgo II? It may be that some orgo classes at my college are just designed differently from typical orgo classes. If not, how much am I screwed? How hard is it to self-study for the MCAT’s Orgo reactions?</p>
<p>Anyone? (10 char)</p>
<p>I find it hard to believe that when teaching a class of reactions, the professor didn’t do any examples (that’s what I mean by “individual reactions”).</p>
<p>Out of curiosity… I have a choice between two orgo textbooks: McMurray, and Carey. Which one would you recommend?</p>
<p>McMurray is generally considered to be a pretty “light” text – which is fine for MCATs, provided that it adequately covers the material in your class.</p>