What's bad and what's good? Want to give us your score breakdown? Are we talking 8 bad or 10 bad?

Okay well,

First thing - in the past couple months I've heard a lot of different people say that bio was revamped and now it's more like a harder verbal reasoning. This completely goes against the notion that more biology courses are required because more of the info is discerned directly from the passage, rather than from your memory. This includes organic chemistry - what I've heard is that recently you don't even have to have taken orgo in terms of the memorization of facts.

However, it is important to note that courses like cell bio, animal phys, biochem, maybe orgo, not so much genetics, are important to develop intuition and a strong foundation to do well in this section.

Taking courses like orgo would help because if you can't figure something out from the passage you have like a 75% chance of getting it right just because you went so in depth in the two orgo courses you took.

Same thing for the biology aspect.

And I happen to be the same way, my bio is usually the lowest on my practice while my orgo, gen chem and physics are higher.
I don't really suggest taking it in August, because what more can you do at this point in time?

More questions to help you out - if you don't mind, can you share what you consider "bad" or "poor"? Less than 10? 9? 8? How long did you study? How many AAMC FL did you do? What textbook(s) did you study from?

Originally Posted by hyvaa

I would go against what one of the members said above - use one of prep books to prepare for BS. I absolutely have no orgo background but I am now pretty comfortable with it after going through the book and doing some questions.
You can use TPR, which explains concepts pretty thoroughly.
You do not need to know all the principles and what not to do well in mcat... it tests your critical thinking abilities rather than pure knowledge.

Just try to find lots of practice tests or questions. TPR science workbook (if you can get hold of it) will be of great help.

It's true that the MCAT tests your critical thinking and your ability to use the passages to answer the questions, however, covering the material on your own in a one-month period (if you write it in August as you plan to), is not the same as spending 4 months on a course and really going in-depth into the material. Bio may be pretty straight-forward to cover but with things like Orgo, as Kamran mentioned, taking the courses just makes you much more comfortable with the material, with enough depth that you can answer the question due to your knowledge beforehand. Overall, it really can only contribute to a higher score.

Also, in addition to the EK books, I've heard that the Kaplan books are good from a couple of friends. Haven't used them myself though.

Originally Posted by ~*Sara*~

If I were you, I'd wait until next summer. You've had the experience, but it's such short notice to believe that you can do better in a month, especially since you haven't taken Orgo or Bio either! I know you might want to get it over with, but now that you've been through it once, you should even more prepared after your second year!

I disagree. I think that having put so much effort into it already THIS summer, you should just work your butt off for the next month and get it done! Since you did well in the other sections, they will no doubt stick with you for another month. Also, MCAT passages are unpredictable, maybe next time you will get less orgo passages? You never know. I think you should still give it a shot. It doesn't hurt and if you do well it saves you another summer of studying . If not, just think of it as preparation for your 2nd year classes.

Originally Posted by paperplanes

I disagree. I think that having put so much effort into it already THIS summer, you should just work your butt off for the next month and get it done! Since you did well in the other sections, they will no doubt stick with you for another month. Also, MCAT passages are unpredictable, maybe next time you will get less orgo passages? You never know. I think you should still give it a shot. It doesn't hurt and if you do well it saves you another summer of studying . If not, just think of it as preparation for your 2nd year classes.

To each his own. Sure, all the effort this summer paid off, but it's not like that experience will be gone a few months. It would be a relief to get it over with and I understand that, but there's always the chance that the second score won't be ideal especially since he/she will only get a month of studying to cover Bio & Orgo which can be a handful. Also, MCAT passages are definitely unpredictable but you can't go in on the assumption that the passages will be "easier" and with less orgo passages. It's better to be 1000% prepared that to wait on circumstances. I personally wouldn't throw the money away for another chance until I know I'm 120% prepared and ready.

I think you should go with whatever is more comfortable for you, whether it is writing it again this summer or putting it off until next summer.
Each person is different in terms of study habits. I know someone who studied 3 weeks straight to re-take the mcat and did really well on it afterwards. It depends on the person.

Taking orgo is absolutely not essential to doing well on the MCAT There was a thread full of upper years in my program that said how useless and non-relevant it was. I definitely think doing the readings of only the specific topics covered in the MCAT is a better strategy then taking full year orgo chem..

Yes, taking orgo is not absolutely essential for doing well in the BS section. Remember, organic chemistry only encompasses 25% of the BS material, the other 75% is all Biology. It used to be about a 50/50 split, but know the 25% has gone from orgo straight towards the Genetics section in biology. You should have a solid understanding of orgo, but definately focus your time on the Biology concepts, especially genetics (punnette squares, recombonation frequencies, pedigree charts, etc...

Originally Posted by R633

Yes, taking orgo is not absolutely essential for doing well in the BS section. Remember, organic chemistry only encompasses 25% of the BS material, the other 75% is all Biology. It used to be about a 50/50 split, but know the 25% has gone from orgo straight towards the Genetics section in biology. You should have a solid understanding of orgo, but definately focus your time on the Biology concepts, especially genetics (punnette squares, recombonation frequencies, pedigree charts, etc...

Agreed. Taking Bio 2C03 would help alot!