HOW THE MCAT TESTS - Radioactive Decay, IR Spectroscopy, & Periodic Table Trends

[@lauraa2778]

Happy New Year J & M and your viewers! I am sharing this vid with a number of my non-trad pre-med friends, and they are so appreciative so thank you yet again John and Maggie!!

[@Kayla-qs8rh]

Yes I agree John yayayya! im going to smack this test!!

[@THuuDo]

Paused the video and made the flashcard just before you guys mentioned it. :p

[@tinadaoud5275]

@IFD This was GOLD as usual thank you! I've told allll my friends about you guys! I noticed you guys mentioned a content guide and reviewing things in chapters, is this from AAMC? Any possible way you guys would do a High Yield session for orgo as a general topic? (completely understand if that would be too much) I hear orgo is only 5-10% of the exam but still has a lot of possible content or are there any topics you could list out that especially stand out to you (newman projections, various reaction mechanisms?) Quick Physics question: How would you guys rank Light and Sound for things like (harmonics, sound waves, polarization of light, single slit diffraction, electromagnetic radiation, snells law) as a Topic in terms of high yield/low yield? Other than anki (caveat I've been using anki for psych/soc and chem/phys and drilling passage based questions--esp to practice with the strategies) How would you guys advise/ if either of you happened Not to use use anki when you took the mcat how did you keep yourself from forgetting certain details in general? Wow okay sorry that was a lot! Seriously thank you thank you!

[@InformingFutureDoctors]

Thank you for the kind words! I'll try to answer your questions to the best of my ability :) The content guide we reference in these "How the MCAT Tests" videos was for the MCAT program that we ran last year. We don't have any plans to pursue "sciencey" videos in the near future, but it's a pretty popular request so we'll definitely consider it. However, there are a lot of talented ppl online that already have those videos like Khan Academy, Ninja Nerd, etc (that's why we have shyed away from that series). The more common OChem topics are the ones that can be tested in the realm of biochemical pathways - think hydrogen bonds, peptide bonds, intermolecular forces, etc. However, some of the more "pure" Ochem topics that you see frequently are sub/elim reactions, resonance, and what I call "applied understanding of electronegativity" which is essentially electron pushing (AKA Ochem reactions). However, the rxns on the MCAT are pretty easy so you should focus on understanding the fundamentals that govern electron pushing rather than memorizing a bunch of reactions. For your physics questions, most of those fall in the realm of "mid-yield" with the exception of harmonics which is low yield. However, EMR (things like light and how it travels) is pretty high-yield and can pop up as a physics question or a gen chem question so be on the lookout for that. We both used Anki for our MCAT studies and I haven't looked back since. I'm not saying that it's the only way to do it, but it seems to be the most repeatable so I'd definitely stick with Anki if you can because it's hard to fake your way through recall. I hope this helps! - John

[@tinadaoud5275]

@@InformingFutureDoctorsThanks that helps a lot! I appreciate you taking the time to go in and answer all parts of my book of a question haha helped clear up a lot!

[@medicalminutia]

On the MCAT, do we need to know what about the molecular compounds contributes to the Transmittance (%), the y-axis variable and noting that high-yield functional groups such as R-OH, alcohols, and R-C=O, carbonyls, often display very high transmittance %'s

[@InformingFutureDoctors]

If you’re talking about IR spec you really just need to know the typical ranges of absorption (like 1700 for carbonyl) and if it’s sharp/deep/broad etc.

[@medicalminutia]

Thank you ! @@InformingFutureDoctors

[@Kayla-qs8rh]

lol that water is too cold🤣

[@goddaniel9478]

I'm willing to pay for private tutoring. What is the email?

[@InformingFutureDoctors]

We don’t private tutor anymore due to the time constraints of medical school