mcat biology practice questions. The ultimate guide from tomtanews

mcat biology questions 

Today, 

I we’ll discuss strategies for tackling the MCAT Biologyand Biochemistry section.

 mcat biology practice questions.

 The MCAT Biology/Biochemistry section often includes the most experiment-basedpassages on the exam,

 so it is important to be able to interpret figures, graphs, and tables.

 
 I’ll share the exact strategies I used to ace the MCAT Biology and Biochemistry section.

 I’ll tell you what topics are on the exam, mcat biology questions

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 a formula for how to readfigures, graphs,

 and tables, and some helpful study tips you can use to improve your MCAT score.

mcat biology practice questions :

 So, let’s get started. In mcat biology practice questions
 What’s actually on theBiology/Biochemistry section of the MCAT? mcat biology practice questions
 The MCAT Biology/Biochemistry section will test your knowledge of key concepts in the fields of Biology and Biochemistry as they relate to the human body.
 Like the Chemistry/Physics and Psychology/Sociologysections of the exam,
 the Biology/Biochemistrysection contains 59 questions that you must answer in 95 minutes.

 44 of these questionsare based on 10 passages while 15 questions are standalone.
 The American Association ofMedical Colleges, or AAMC,

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 writes the MCAT and they break down what’s actually going to be on your exam.

 According to the AAMC, the Biology/Biochemistrysection of the MCAT is composed of 25% firstsemester Biochemistry,
 65% introductory Biology,

 5% General Chemistry,and 5% Organic Chemistry.

mcat biology practice questions
For example,
 do youknow what a ligase does? Topic number two is thecentral dogma of Biology in which DNA is replicated to DNA,

 transcribed to RNA, andtranslated into protein. Topic number three covers Genetics,

 such as mitosis,
 meiosis,and Mendelian inheritance.

 A question may ask about the difference between mitosis and meiosis.

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 Topic number four covers metabolism, which includes topics such as glycolysis, gluconeogenesis,the Krebs cycle, and the electron transportchain, among others. Topic number six covers thenervous and endocrine systems,
 and topic number seven coversthe structure and function of main organ systems suchas the kidney or liver.
 Many students worry that theyhave not yet taken Physiology, and if that is thecase, you are not alone.

mcat biology practice questions
 Using the building blocks from your introductory undergraduate Biology class,

 you will be able to learn the level of detail tested on organsystems for the MCAT.
 Now that you know whatyou’re gonna be tested on,
 let’s go over tips andstudy strategies you can use to score a 132 on the Biologyand Biochemistry section.
 MCAT Biology/Biochemistry Tip number one,

 practice interpretinggraphs, figures, and tables using the TAID P method.

Also read

mcat biology practice questions
 If you can identify these elements in a graph,

 figure,
 or table, you’ll be able to understandwhat the data is telling you. Let’s look at this exampleusing the TAID P method.

 The title, T, states,

 “Effectof Drug on Cell Survival.” So, we can determine that the researchers are treating cells with a drugand measuring cell survival.
 Now, let’s look at the axes, 

or A. The x-axis shows increasing concentrations of drug in micromolar,
 while the y-axis measuresthe percentage response, which we know from the title has something to do with survival. When we look at the graphs,

 the axes make it easy to determine the independent and dependent variables,

 which are I and D in the TAID P method. First, what do the independent and dependent variables measure?
 The independent variable is something that you change on purpose while the dependentvariable is the response. The independent variable isalso shown on the x-axis,

 so we know here that drug concentration is our independent variable.

 The dependent variable, on the other hand, is shown on the y-axis,
 so we know that drug responseis our dependent variable. Finally, let’s look at the patterns,
 or P, Are there any patterns in this curve?

 At what drug concentration do we see the greatestpercentage response?

 There seems to be a sharp transition between seven and eight micromolar in that drug concentrations above eight micromolar lead toa favorable percent response.

 Now that we have completed this exercise, we are ready to approach any questions.

 You should aim to identifythe TAID P elements for any given figurewithin 15 to 20 seconds. The goal is to understand the big picture without getting lost in any small details.

mcat biology practice questions
 The reason you should not spend too much time on any given figure during your first reading of the passage is that there may not evenbe a question on that figure.

 For example, if an MCATBiology/Biochemistry passage has three figures, they may only ask aquestion about two of them,

 so you don’t want to waste a minute understanding the figure in great detail if they’re not even gonnaask a question about it.
 So, how do you get faster atapplying the TAID P method?
 MCAT Biology/Biochemistry Tip number two, when you review a Bio/Biochem figure while going over your mistakes,

mcat biology practice questions
 study every small detailof each figure carefully. Anytime you take an MCATBiology/Biochemistry passage that has a figure,
 you should come back afteryou have submitted the answers and thoroughly review itduring your test review.
 Why should you do this? By practicing applying the TAID P method under no time constraints,

 you will get better at being able to quickly and accuratelyinterpret figures. By the time you have completed several full-length practice exams,

 you will have taken almost a hundred MCAT Biology/Biochemistrypractice passages. If you spend the time to review the figures on each of those,

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 there are very few figures that you will encounter on your MCAT that you would not have seen at least some variation of before.

 MCAT Biology/BiochemistryTip number three. Know the one-letter code,three-letter code, structures,

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 and chemical propertiesof all 20 amino acids. This tip is one of the mostimportant tips you will receive as it is virtually guaranteed that you will see aminoacid questions on both the MCAT Biology/Biochemistry and Chemistry/Physics sections.

 It is not enough tomemorize the structures,
 but you should know what properties different structuresprovide the amino acids.

 For example, princeton review mcat biology
 would you be morelikely to see an arginine, which carries a positive charge, or a valine,

 which is hydrophobic,

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 on the exterior of a protein.

 The exterior of a protein is usually composed ofhydrophilic residues since it interacts with water, so we would be much more likelyto see the charged arginine,
 which can interact with water.

 Let’s go through an example of an MCAT-style Biologyand Biochemistry question.

 Which of the following aminoacids is most likely located at the junction of two alphahelices in a protein domain? A, proline,

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 b, tryptophan,c, serine, and d, glutamine. There are two amino acids that are known to introduce flexibility andkinks into peptide chains.

mcat biology practice questions
 These are proline and glycine.

 We are likely to see an amino acid that changes the direction of the chain by introducing flexibility at the junction of two alpha helices,

 so answer choice a is correct.

mcat biology practice questions
 Notice that the question did not ask us what the structure of proline is, mcat biology practice questions

 but rather it asked us to identify which amino acid side chainhas the necessary properties to be located at the junctionof two alpha helices.

 Let’s now look at MCATBiology/Biochemistry Tip number four.
 Understand the integration of metabolism by focusing on rate limitingsteps and big picture ideas. Many students oftenassume that they will need to memorize every enzyme,reactant, product,
 and how to draw the reactants or products in metabolic pathways such as glycolysis.

 Your time and effort,however, is very valuable while studying for the MCAT and is probably better spent elsewhere on high-yield material. mcat biology practice questions
 

What is high yield from glycolysis? Instead of memorizing everyreactant, product,

 and enzyme,

 memorize the rate limiting enzymes that control movement through the pathway. What are the non-reversibleenzymes in glycolysis,
 and how does the bodyregulate these enzymes in order to control our metabolism? Let’s look at an example.
 Phosphofructokinase-1,

 or PFK-1,

 is the rate limiting step of glycolysis. This means that theentire glycolysis pathway can only move as quickly as PFK-1.

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 Why does the body do this?

 Rate limiting steps are often very important regulatorypoints within metabolism and biological pathways in general.
 Let’s say we eat a large meal and have a lot of glucosein our bloodstream.
 We want to process this glucose and either use it as immediate energy or store it for future use. In order to do this,
 we needto carry out glycolysis. After we eat the large meal, insulin is also releasedin our bloodstream.
mcat biology practice questions
 Insulin,

 through a series of steps, upregulates PFK-1 so thatit works more quickly,

 allowing glycolysis toalso occur more quickly. This is an example of the level at which you should understanda given metabolic pathway

mcat biology practice questions
 The metabolic pathways you should know are glycolysis, gluconeogenesis,glycogenesis, glycogenolysis,

 Krebs cycle, electron transportchain and ATP synthesis, fermentation, the pentosephosphate pathway, fatty acid synthesis,

mcat biology practice questions
 and fatty acid oxidationalso known as beta-oxidation. Finally, MCAT Biology/BiochemistryTip number five. Be familiar with experimental techniques.

 Experimental techniques on the MCAT Biology/Biochemistrysection include PCR, Western blot,

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 Southernblot, Northern blot,

 gel electrophoresis, SDS-PAGE and reducing gels versusnative gels, molecular cloning, and transformation,

conjugation, and transduction.

 You will encounter these techniques in Biology/Biochemistry passages and by applying strategies one and two,

 you will be able to workyour way through them. Here, we’ll go over what each technique does at a high-level.

mcat biology practice questions
 So let’s start with PCR.

 This technique can amplifysmall amounts of DNA and is useful in modernapplications such as sequencing or determining cellular mRNA levels. 

Western blot, this techniquemeasures protein levels in a sample using antibodies.
 Southern blot, thistechnique detects DNA levels. Northern blot, thistechnique detects RNA levels.
 Gel electrophoresis,

 thistechnique separates molecules on the basis of size and charge.

 SDS-PAGE/reducing gels, this technique separatesdenatured proteins on the basis of size.
 Native gels, this techniqueseparates proteins in their native conformation that allows subunits to remain intact.

mcat biology practice questions
Transformation, conjugation,and transduction. These techniques are used to transfer genetic informationinto bacterial species.
 And that’s how to master the MCAT Biology and Biochemistry section.

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 Now, you have a toolboxof study strategies to attack your practice problems, so you can achieve your highest score on the MCAT