Posts tagged #mcatthailand

MCAT Myths EP.2

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Let’s continue our “MCAT Myths” clarification episode.

3 You need knowledge of upper-division sciences to do well on the MCAT

You do not need to be an expert in every science subject! In fact, according to AAMC, only introductory level of knowledge is needed for biology, biochemistry, physics, chemistry, psychology and sociology. Of course, you might encounter some advanced topics especially in the passages, but upper-division knowledge is not required to answer the questions correctly. So having strong basics and background in each subject is very crucial.

4 The MCAT tests you science skills, so you don’t need to worry about CARS

Reading skills is very important in MCAT even in the science section. There is a reason why CARS actually takes up ¼ of your MCAT score. This section will assess your reading skills, comprehension, critical thinking and reasoning skills. This is not something that can develop overnight. Make sure you practice active reading, while doing so, identify the main points, arguments and conclusions. Remember that CARS section is as important as other fundamental sciences.


Now that the MCAT Myths are cleared, you should be able to do well on the MCAT if you start early on your preparation. Your MCAT score is decided by your performance on test day, but your performance is decided by your effort and work that you put in prior to the test day.
Jane

MCAT Myths EP.1

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Ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu wrote in his book The Art of War, “know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril”. This quote is absolutely suitable for those who are trying to conquer MCAT. So before entering this MCAT battle, we should clear up the so-called “MCAT Myths”, which are the general misconceptions that students have.

1: There is a shortcut for MCAT

This usually happens to students who try to cram everything in the last minutes. MCAT is not your midterm or final exam!!! Once you are sure that you are going to take MCAT, start early for your preparation. You need at least 6 months for study and doing all the necessary practices e.g. questions banks from different platforms. If there’s a shortcut for MCAT, all those publishers selling the MCAT preparation books would be out business by now! Remember, MCAT is a marathon, rather than a sprint.

2: You can take MCAT as many times as you want

That’s a big NO!!! You can take MCAT:
• Up to 3 times per year
• Up to 4 times during two-consecutive year period
• Up to 7 times over a lifetime
In fact, MCAT is a very stressful and expensive test, so you want to get everything right the first time. Invest your best effort, time and energy once you decide to take the MCAT. That way you won’t have to go through the same ‘pain’ again, but go fulfilling your dream of becoming a physician/doctors!!
That’s it for the first episode of MCAT Myths. There are a few more myths to be told, stay tune for the second episode!
Jane

MCAT Warm Up Tips

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Happy New Year 2025!!! It’s time to enter the MCAT race! It’s a race against yourself and time once you have registered to do this exam. Just like running a marathon, you need a good warmup and efficient training to get an extraordinary performance. So, to start off 2025, we will provide you with MCAT warmup tips to help you with MCAT race.
• At the beginning of the MCAT I course, we will provide you with a schema development. Please finish reading the passages included. This is where you can self-assess your English reading skills and know where you need to improve e.g. vocabulary, comprehension etc.
• The reason that we emphasize that you finish reading the schema is that this is an applicable skill for all subjects in MCAT. What you are doing in the exam is basically reading the exam questions and try to answer them correctly. In order to do this, you need to at least understand what you are reading. After understanding the content, then you can proceed to critical thinking.
• Another skill that you might want to work on is your mental math. A lot of questions in the science sections involve quick calculations. Also, you need to familiarize with the math fundamentals e.g. arithmetic, algebra, logarithms and exponents.
• The last tip for the warmup is to attend all the classes!!! Needless to say that interaction during the classes will help you study more efficiently. You can tackle any question you have right away.
Remember these are just warmups. The real workout is yet to come. This will require your full effort and input into MCAT study journey. So get ready for the race!!!
Jane

High Yields MCAT Topics: Biochemistry

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After high yields MCAT topics for biology, it’s time for biochemistry! These two topics are tested together in the same section so your challenge is to integrate your knowledge in these two areas to answer the questions correctly. For example, you will be provided with a passage about a certain disease that involves a defective protein; the questions can be about inheritance pattern, gene expression, and protein structure. Let’s take a look at these high yields topics!

1. Structures of macromolecules (carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, proteins)

• Glucose structure in both straight and cyclic forms appear the most.

• Lipids might not come up as much, but do know their general structures and general properties e.g. structural vs storage lipids.

• Emphasis on the proteins, particularly the amino acids. Make sure you know their names, properties and abbreviation. Levels of proteins structures come up quite often, regarding bond types associated with each level.

• For DNA, it can be very useful if you remember the structures of A, T, C, G. Bonds types associated each level is a must know as well.

2. Enzyme kinetics

• Formulas, interpretation of Michaelis-Menten and Lineweaver-Burk plots

• Different types of enzyme inhibition and regulation 3. Gene expression and expression control

• DNA replication, transcription and translation. Know the role of different protein and enzymes involved in each process e.g. transcription factor, DNA/RNA polymerases etc.

• Operon model (induced vs repressed)

• Types of mutation e.g. silent, missense, frameshift mutations.

4. Metabolism basics (important enzymes/substrate names & functions)

• Glycolysis, especially irreversible steps • Gluconeogenic-specific enzymes

• TCA cycle enzymes and substrates in order e.g. which ones produce what byproducts

• ETC

5. Lab techniques (DNA, RNA and proteins)

• Know the main purposes and overall interpretation of the results presented.

I know it’s quite a lot for biochemistry, but if you plan out your study accordingly, I’m sure you will master your these topics soon enough before the actual MCAT exam. We still have two more subjects to go!!!

Have fun studying!

Jane

High Yields MCAT Topics: Physics

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We are still on our “high yields MCAT topics” series. Let’s us move to topics for physics, which is one of the ‘unfavorable’ topics in MCAT. Lots of students find physics very difficult to understand because it involves lots of calculations and memorizing lots of equations.

To help you studying for physics, these are the high yields topics suggested by Aj. Karan, our physics teacher at Learning Hub.

1. Mechanics – forces – motion – energy conversions Questions about energy like kinetic energy, potential energy, power tend to appear a lot in the MCAT. Forces and motion is a basic knowledge that will be applied to questions from other topics as well so cannot be left out.

2. Waves – doppler effect, sound intensity, light and lenses, interference These are generally quite important

3. Electricity and charges, circuit resistance circulations are important. Basic understanding of charge attraction and repulsion also tend to appear on the MCAT

4. Nuclear physics – half lives and radioactive decay

5. Fluids – topics on fluids may not appear as much but they do pop up once in a while

6. Thermodynamics will show up more as a chemistry question but the knowledge is still quite important.

In regards to skills in Physics, students should be able to manipulate formulas or combine them. I recommend students to brush up their mental math skills as in the MCAT, no calculators are allowed. Lastly, units conversion. A lot of MCAT questions provide answers that are of different units than the questions; for example, the question asks in mMol but answers in Mol. Students tend to disregard the change and get the question wrong.

And of course, as with all other MCAT subjects, practicing question bank is key.

Stay tune for the next high yield topics blog!

Jane

High Yields MCAT Topics: Biology

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Studying for MCAT can be very daunting and requires lots of effort and time. One way to help you study is to focus on ‘high yield’ topics, which are the frequently asked on the MCAT exam. This will save your study time and help you prepared for MCAT more efficiently.

For this blog, we will start off with Biology!

• As you might guess, questions about body systems will come up the most since it covers more than half of Biology. Nervous and endocrine systems are definitely going to show up in either in a passage or independent questions since they are the systems that control other systems. So by studying these two systems thoroughly, you are basically going through the other systems as wells

• Genetics and evolution are the ones not to be missed and luckily, they are actually not that difficult. They are usually asked in independent question and sometimes asked in a passage, especially when it is about a disease or a genetic disorder. Be sure to practice genetic questions by doing Punnett square as well as applying multiplication and addition rules. This is where you can grab as many points as possible!

• Lastly, it’s not biology if there isn’t question about cell. Make sure you know the differences and similarities between prokaryotic cells and eukaryotic cells. This includes overall structures and gene expressions. Questions about viruses are often asked along as well since they can attack both prokaryotes and eukaryotes! Learn how different types of viruses replicate can be very useful.

Focusing on high yield topics is for efficiency, so don’t neglect other areas that I didn’t mention; after all, if you don’t have the necessary basics, you won’t be able to apply your knowledge and draw a right conclusion. That’s all for Biology. See you next blog for high yield topics for Biochemistry!

Jane

Critical Thinking & Scientific Reasoning Skills for MCAT

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One of the most important skills being tested in MCAT is your critical thinking, which involves skill sets such as problem solving, analysis and inductive reasoning. These skills will be tested in both scientific (e.g. biology, biochemistry, physics and chemistry) and non-scientific (e.g. CARS) settings. So what must be done to perfect such skills?!

The first thing you have to do is study and memorize all the contents that are required for all subjects. This is an inevitable challenge, of course, otherwise, you won’t be able to apply what you know to answer the questions correctly. As the quote from Benjamin Franklin, “Practice makes Perfect”. This is absolutely true for MCAT. Since such skills can’t be improved overnight, this is what you have to do.

At Learning Hub, we will provide you with tons of questions from various sources. You will be familiarized with different types of research-based passages, data, graphs and styles of questions you will see in the actual MCAT. And through this question bank, you will develop and improve your comprehension within and beyond the text MCAT given to you. This is what MCAT is assessing you because these are skills for a good physician!

Jane