Ken

MCAT Prerequisites

MCAT Prerequisites -magoosh
According to The MCAT Essentials (PDF) there are no formal MCAT prerequisites. That being said, it’s not wise to take the exam without sufficient preparation. Here, we’ll describe the informal MCAT prerequisites that students should aim to complete.

Informal MCAT Prerequisites: Recommended Courses

Here are some courses that will help prepare you for the MCAT — and fulfill general medical school admissions requirements!

  • Chemistry (Biochemistry, general chemistry, and organic chemistry): a total of four semesters equivalent of chemistry that must include general chemistry, organic chemistry, and biochemistry. You may choose how to divide up the four semesters so long as you take at least one semester of each. For example, you could take two semesters of organic chemistry and one semester each of general chemistry and biochemistry. General chemistry and organic chemistry should also be taken with laboratory components.
  • Introductory biology: two semester equivalents of general biology with laboratory components
  • Introductory physics: two semester equivalents of physics with laboratory components
  • Introductory psychology: one semester equivalent of introductory psychology
  • Introductory sociology: one semester equivalent of sociology

Of course, these are all informal MCAT prerequisites — the admissions requirements for medical schools vary with each school. For example, the subjects that were introduced on the new MCAT (biochemistry, psychology, and sociology) aren’t currently required by most medical schools. This is likely to change in the future though. These subjects are still tested on the new MCAT and taking these classes is helpful preparation. However, it is up to you how many of these classes you want to take before your MCAT. Generally, the more classes you take, the more prepared you are for the exam.

Click here for Magoosh's free MCAT practice test

Additional Courses That Can Help:

With four years in college, you’ll definitely have space in your schedule to take many more classes than what we’ve included in our list. If you want to take additional classes to help with the MCAT, consider taking more advanced biology classes. These include physiology, genetics, cell biology, microbiology, molecular biology, cancer biology, endocrinology, and more.

Your general biology classes will cover these topics but only briefly. Taking advanced classes will give you a much better understanding of the material, which will help with the MCAT. This is also true of the other subjects tested on the exam but is particularly effective for biology.

Besides these formal courses, there are many online resources, like Magoosh’s MCAT prep, to help you prepare.

Click here for Magoosh's free high-yield MCAT videos

Happy Studying! 🙂

Author

  • Ken

    Ken is a former blog writer for Magoosh who left to focus on developing novel and effective ways to help students achieve success on the MCAT exam.

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