yet another course planning advice thread

[dmf2682]

Alright. So like a lot of us I work full time while taking post bac classes at night. I was going to not take classes this fall and focus on mcat prep, but there has suddenly appeared in the course listing biochemistry in the fall, at night. This seems almost serendipitous because pretty much nothing upper level is offered at night and I'm finishing up the orgo sequence right now. But I've heard that the mcat deserves a semester of studying on its own and I know a won't be able to devote as much time to it with biochem.

So thoughts? I should add that I'm planning on applying for fall 2014 matric

Thanks in advance

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[theseeker4]

Alright. So like a lot of us I work full time while taking post bac classes at night. I was going to not take classes this fall and focus on mcat prep, but there has suddenly appeared in the course listing biochemistry in the fall, at night. This seems almost serendipitous because pretty much nothing upper level is offered at night and I'm finishing up the orgo sequence right now. But I've heard that the mcat deserves a semester of studying on its own and I know a won't be able to devote as much time to it with biochem.

So thoughts? I should add that I'm planning on applying for fall 2014 matric

Thanks in advance

If you can take Biochem in the fall, study for and take the MCAT in the spring, you should be good for applying early 2013/14 cycle, right? Do you have something planned for the winter 2013 semester that you can't bump?

 

[Chip N Sawbones]

One class shouldn't take too much time away from MCAT studying. Have you tried taking a practice MCAT to see how much you already know? If you've recently done a postbac with most or all of the prereq classes, the MACT material should still be fresh in your mind, and you won't need as much study time as you think.

 

[grt398]

Most schools don't require biochem so check and see if you even need it. A good MCAT score can go a long way towards getting you to the interview stage and I'd suggest focusing completely on maximizing your performance on the MCAT. Why take the risk?

 

[dmf2682]

If you can take Biochem in the fall, study for and take the MCAT in the spring, you should be good for applying early 2013/14 cycle, right? Do you have something planned for the winter 2013 semester that you can't bump?

Well, that's a really good point. The only thing, I guess, that led me to a Jan 13 exam was having the ability to retake if things went sour, and then still being able to apply in my intended cycle.

I've looked around and it looks like my flagship state school (Ohio State) needs it, so I may as well take it since unfortunately OSU is probably the best school I have a good shot at.

As far as taking it at the same time as biochem, my fiancee thought that this one probably wouldn't be an issue, but the majority of sdn material seems to say otherwise. The fancy 3 month plan floating around in the mcat forum says studying while having a part time job is impossible, let alone a full?

Maybe taking a practice exam is a good idea. I've been really tempted to try one out to see where I stand but I don't really want to "waste" one. As far as having just completed pre-reqs, the only one that I've completed recently was orgo (this coming june, anyway). I'm completing a sequence in A&P this summer (again, OSU req) to help with the bs stuff. Other than that I'm pretty cold in the PS stuff minus what I use in my job.

Any other thoughts?

 

[dmf2682]

so I just took the free practice (no. 3) and got a balanced 29. I suppose that means I should study hard for the real thing then? That is the easiest of all of them right?