Memorizing Cell and Molecular Biology Details

Flash cards can work for memorization, but I consider them a waste of time. The amount of time you spend making them could be better used working to understand the big picture of what’s going on with metabolism.

The MCAT is not about memorization. The MCAT is about critical thinking. You must UNDERSTAND the equations and concepts, not merely memorize them.

All the concepts that are tested on the MCAT are fairly simple, but the MCAT will ask you questions in such a way that if you don’t have a rock solid understanding of the concepts, and have merely memorized them, you will not be able to answer them.

You have to know very little about metabolism for the MCAT anyway, so there would be hardly anything to memorize. Just know the big picture, and the details you need to know will be easy to remember! They’re crucial to the big picture!

So how to do this? Review books by Kaplan and TPR will give you tons more info than you really need, but they can help you to understand what’s really going on with metabolism, or whatever you’re studying. You just have to be able to let go of all the minutiae, which can be hard for those of us who tend to get bogged down in details. EK can give you a solid, bare-bones review. You DO have to know pretty much everything they tell you. It’s up to you!