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 AUTHORS:
Will Okoniewski - Will is a 4th-year medical student at the University of Pittsburgh
School of Medicine, and matched into pediatrics for residency. He plans to have a
career in Pediatric Pulmonology with a strong focus on clinical research. When he
isn’t busy being one of the country’s foremost experts on the MCAT CARS section,
he also loves driving cars as well!

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Jessica D’addabbo - Jessica is a 1st-year medical student at the Washington
University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She is originally from the California
Bay area. She went to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo for her undergraduate education
and took a few gap years to pursue research at Stanford in cardio-immunology,
examining the role of T-cells in human heart samples. She is currently interested in
going into pediatric oncology.

Nick Zehner - Nick is a 5th-year medical student at the Stanford University

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School of Medicine where his research interests include the development of
clinical immunity to malaria in early childhood and the roles maternally derived
anti-malarial antibodies play in the health outcomes of children during their first
years of life. He plans to apply into internal medicine for residency and then hopes
to go on to someday specialize in infectious diseases.

Nick founded Testing Solutions in 2015, and since then, Testing Solutions has
helped over 5,000 pre-meds achieve their MCAT goals. Testing Solutions focus is
helping students go from pre-med to med student. His role in the development of
this guide was primarily editorial, and he is grateful and proud of Will and Jessica’s
excellent work.
WHAT THIS IS......................................................................................................... 2

PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE BEGINNING............................................................... 3

HOW TO FIND YOUR MCAT WEAKNESSES............................................................. 4

CH 1. CHEM/PHYS
01 - 10.............................................................................................................. 8
11 - 20............................................................................................................ 12
21 - 30............................................................................................................ 18
31 - 40............................................................................................................ 21
41 - 50............................................................................................................ 25
51 - 60............................................................................................................ 29
61 - 70............................................................................................................ 35
71 - 80............................................................................................................ 40
81 - 80............................................................................................................ 43
91 - 100.......................................................................................................... 48
CH 2. BIO/BIOCHEM
01 - 10............................................................................................................ 55
11 - 20............................................................................................................ 57
21 - 30........................................................................................................... 65
31 - 40........................................................................................................... 68
41 - 50............................................................................................................ 74
51 - 60............................................................................................................ 78
61 - 70............................................................................................................ 84
71 - 80........................................................................................................... 90
81 - 80........................................................................................................... 96
91 - 100........................................................................................................ 101
CH 3. PSYCH/SOC
01 - 10.......................................................................................................... 109
11 - 20.......................................................................................................... 114
21 - 30.......................................................................................................... 116
31 - 40.......................................................................................................... 120
41 - 50.......................................................................................................... 125
51 - 60.......................................................................................................... 127
61 - 70.......................................................................................................... 131
71 - 80.......................................................................................................... 135
81 - 80.......................................................................................................... 138
91 - 100........................................................................................................ 140
APPENDIX I: AMINO ACID STRUCTURE.............................................................. 147

APPENDIX II: THE 7 CARS MISTAKES AMOST EVERYONE MAKES....................... 149

CONTACT US...................................................................................................... 156
 WHAT THIS IS...
As current medical students and former Everyone involved in this document’s
pre-meds, everyone here at Testing creation recently scored in the 99th
Solutions knows how costly and time percentile or better on the MCAT, is
consuming preparing for the MCAT can a current medical student, and has
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HOW TO FIND YOUR MCAT
WEAKNESSES:
The time and energy you have to study for the MCAT is limited. It is critical that
you maximize your gains and ensure that every minute you spend studying for
the MCAT is actually moving you closer towards your goal score.

But each year thousands of pre-meds, despite making incredible sacrifices and
investments of time, energy, and money, don’t get the results their hard work
and sacrifices deserve. Why does this injustice happen?

Hard Truth: It happens, because these students are studying, reviewing, and
practicing the wrong things. All their time studying isn’t actually helping them...

Whether you’re taking the MCAT in one month or in six months, the key to
making the biggest gains possible in the shortest amount of time is:

Targeting Your Study and Practice to Your High-Yield Topic Weaknesses.

The problem we all face, though, is that this is far, far easier said than done. The
truth is that we all are pretty terrible at subjectively evaluating and identifying
our own weaknesses. Subjectivity = error when it comes to the MCAT.

The key to ensuring you never waste your time or energy again is by using data
and analytics to identify your MCAT weaknesses. If you’re able to harness your
past performance using objective, data-driven analysis, you’ll never worry about
studying the wrong, low-yield material again.

If you use data to drive your study schedule, you’ll ensure that in every single
MCAT study session, you’ll always be studying the highest-yield, highest-impact
material possible, customized to your particular strengths and weaknesses.

“This all sound great...” you might be saying, “but how exactly do I gather the
data?” That is the exact reason we created the MCAT Weakness Finder.

The MCAT Weakness Finder is an analytics powerhouse that uses your

performance on the 2,000+ Official AAMC questions to pinpoint your exact,
individualized weaknesses.

We tell you exactly where your weaknesses are on the official AAMC content
outline down to the smallest level of detail so you can target your study to your
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Take 30-seconds right now and see how the MCAT Weakness Finder can
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USING CTRL + F
With 300 questions in the section bank resource, you’ll be using this document
frequently. In order to save time, we strongly recommend you use CTRL + F to
quickly locate the particular question that you’re studying.

The questions are numbered and also are labeled with their section. So if you
wanted to quickly jump to question 23 of the Bio/Biochem section you’d search:

BB23
CCHHAAPPTTE ERR 11 - - CCHHE EMM/ /PPHHYYS S
CHAPTER 1 - CHEM/PHYS

CP CONTENT NOTES
CP1) The formula needed to calculate the answer to this problem is

Electric field (E) = Voltage (V) / distance (d).

E=V/d

NOTE: This formula can ONLY be used when the electric field is uniform.

Strategy tip: Onew way to check your answers with calculation questions is to make sure the units
associated with the numbers used to calculate the solution match the units that are in the answer
choices.

For this question, we see that all of the answer choices have units of kV/m. Therefore, we can
“double check” our input values for the calculation by ensuring that voltage (4.5 kV) is being divided
by the distance (0.5 m). When we divide 4.5 kV/ 0.5 m, the result is 9 kV/m, which matches the
correct answer (D) both numerically and with the resulting units for electric field. Sometimes,
knowing the units needed to calculate the answer can be just as valuable as knowing the formula.

CP2) To get to the correct answer for this question, it is important to know what the reactions of
carboxylation, oxidation, reduction, and hydroxylation do, and also to know the structures for
hydroquinone and benzoquinone. Here is a brief overview of these concepts/structures.

Carboxylation: A chemical reaction that produces a carboxylic acid.

CO2
O

R H R C
Carboxylase
OH

Reduction: Gain of electrons

Hydroxylation: a chemical reaction that adds a hydroxyl group (-OH) to an organic compound

H OH
CH3

KMNO4 OH

Cold, -OH

SYN ADDITION
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 BE AT THE MC AT. GO TO MED SCHOOL .
CHAPTER 1 - CHEM/PHYS

OH O

OH O
Hydroquinone Benzoquinone

After examining these reactions and structures, it becomes clearer that the reactant was
hydroquinone because of the similarity of hydroquinone with DHB, and that hydroquinone was
carboxylated because of the addition of a carboxylic acid to hydroquinone to form DHB.

You definitely don’t need to memorize the table below, but we’re providing it so you can be roughly
familiar with the priority order, and most importantly, know that carboyxlic acids have the highest
priority number

GROUP PREFIX SUFFIX EXAMPLE

HAIGHEST
PRIORITY
CARBOXYLIC ACID CARBOXY CARBOXYLIC ACID ETHANOIC ACID
OIC ACID

ESTER XYCARBONYL OATE METHYL ETHANOATE

ACID CHLORIDE HALOCARBONYL OYL HALIDE ETHANOYL CHLORIDE

AMIDE CARBAMOYL CARBOXAMIDE ETHANAMIDE

AMIDE

NITRILE CYANO NITRILE ETHANONITRILE

ALDEHYDE FORMYL AL ETHANAL

CARBALDEHYDE

KETONE OXO ONE PROPANONE

ALCOHOL HYDROXY OL METHANOL

THIOL MERCAPTO THIOL METHANETHIOL

AMINE AMINO AMINE METHYLAMINE

ALKENE ALKENYL ENE PROPENE

ALKYNE ALKYNYL YNE BUTYNE

ALKANE ALKYL ANE BUTANE

ALKOXY ALKOXY ANE METHOXY METHANE

ALKYL HALIDE HALO ANE BROMOMETHANE

NITRO NITRO ANE NITROMETHANE

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CCHHAAPPTTE ERR 11 - - CCHHE EMM/ /PPHHYYS S
C HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
CH RRR1 11- -C CCH
- H EEM
EHM /MP/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

CP3) Velocity = distance/time

Strategy tip: The best way to determine the answer to this question is by process of elimination and
careful reading of the passage. We have to determine which answer choice allows us to distinguish
among the ions; therefore, answer choices that state something common to all of the ions can be
eliminated.

As the AAMC explanation states, answer choice (A) can be eliminated because the ions all travel the
same distance (0.5 m) within the electric field.

Answer choice (B) looks promising because the mass-to-charge ratio of each ion is unique to each
ion.

Answer choice (C) is incorrect because time of travel is actually proportional (not inversely
proportional!) to the ion’s mass-to-charge ratio, because the smaller ions travel faster (i.e. the
travel time is smaller) and the larger ions travel slower (i.e. the travel time in longer).

Finally, answer choice (D) is incorrect because although it is true that the electric field is uniform,
this does not allow us to distinguish among the ions. With process of elimination we can conclude
that the correct answer choice is B. It is important to note from this question that even if an answer
choice lists something that is true, that does not necessarily mean that it will answer the question!

CP4) c = fλ; speed of light = frequency x wavelength

To answer this question, we have to locate the information in the passage that is needed to do
calculations.

Table 1 describes the wavelength, power, and pulse duration for two different settings for the
MALDI technique. Because the table only lists characteristics for power as 1.5 mW and 2.2 mW,
and the answer choices list answers for 1.2 mW and 1.5 mW, we can immediately eliminate answer
choices (A) and (B) because we do not have conditions to determine an answer for 1.2 mW of
power.

Now, because we are using the conditions for 1.5 mW of power, we know we will be using 266
nm for the wavelength. Frequency and wavelength are inversely proportional to each other
(determined by the formula c=fλ), so the wavelength used when the frequency is doubled would be
532 nm.

CP5) Energy = Power x Time; unit for power is Watts

For this question, it is important to keep in mind the formula for power as well as the units. The
formula for power is Power= Energy/time, and the units for power are 1 W = 1 J/s.

After rearranging the formula, we can plug in the values for each of the two conditions to find
which is the correct answer. Energy (in µJ)= 1.5 mW x 5 ms and Energy (in µJ)= 2.2 mW x 2 ms. We
see that the units for mW and ms produce an answer in µJ (10-3 x 10-3 = 10-6 = µ), so (C) must be
the correct answer. If you are ever unsure of a formula, you can often get the correct answer by
knowing the unit conversions!

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CP6) Information from the passage states that the proteins must be subjected to proteolytic
cleavage prior to analysis, so we need to be able to recall what proteolytic cleavage is, and what
reaction takes place for this to happen.

Proteolytic cleavage is breaking down a peptide bonds, this is done by hydrolysis

N-terminus N-terminus

NH NH
R1 R1
O O

H2O HN OH
R2
H2N
O C
R2
C-terminus
O C
C-terminus

CP7) The answer to this question can be found from information in the passage, as well as from a
little background in classic calorimetry.

Classic calorimetry measures the overall heat of the system, rather than the local temperature
increase that can be detected by PAC according to paragraph 2 of the passage. The other three
answer choices could possibly be true, but because there is no information in the passage about
them, we cannot conclude them to be the best answer choice.

CP8) As the explanation states, the equation needed to answer the question can be found in the
passage.

Because we are looking for the energy meter reading for a specific bond that is dissociated with
the appropriate laser, we can assume that the laser pulse energy (Em) and heat detected (ΔHnr) are
equal. We can conclude that these values are equal because we can assume that an appropriate
laser would emit exactly the right amount of energy to break the bond. The difference between
these numbers are what we are reading out on the energy meter, which leads us to the answer of
0.

11
CHAPTER 1 - CHEM/PHYS
CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
- H
CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

CP9) The last sentence of the last paragraph of this passage tells us the three compounds being
studied are phenols, thiophenols, and alkylbenzenes.

S CH3

Benzene Phenol Thiophenol Alkylbenzene

An aromatic ring is common among all of these structures. Only the alkylbenzene has an alkyl
group (-CH3), none of the three have a carboxylic acid (-COOH) nor a carbonyl (-C=O).

CP10) Energy = Planck’s constant (h) x frequency, h= 6.63 x 10 -34 J·s

Looking at Table 1, we see that the difference between laser A and laser C is that laser A breaks
O-H bonds, which has a higher bond dissociation energy than S-H bonds (broken by laser C). This
means that laser A breaks higher energy bonds than laser C.

Based on the equation E=h*f, h= 6.63 x 10-34 J·s, we know that energy and frequency are directly
proportional to one another (i.e. higher energy = higher frequency).

We also know that frequency and wavelength are inversely proportional to one another based on
this equation c=fλ, because c is the speed of light, 3.0*108, which is a constant.

Therefore, we know that laser A must have a higher frequency and a shorter wavelength than laser
C. Answer choices A and D are irrelevant to the question.

CP11) 1/f = 1/di + 1/do

P=1/f (m)
Focal
length
object
f

image

Note:
object ff
distance
normally o=object distance i=image
negative. distance

The thin lens formula is 1/f = 1/di + 1/do, where f is the focal length, di is the image distance, and
do is the object distance. The object is 12 cm away (the laser) and the image distance is 4 cm (the
sample). Rearranging the formula will get you to the formula found in the AAMC explanation, and
results in the answer of 3 cm.

12
 BE AT THE MC AT. GO TO MED SCHOOL .

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CP12) E = hf – Φ (work function)

The question provides a value to use for h because we are calculating energy in eV, not J!

Using the equation E=hf, we get E= 4.1 × 10–15 eV•s * 5.0 × 1015 Hz = 20.5 eV. However, this is not
the answer because we have to account for the work function of 3.4 eV.

The work function is the amount of energy to overcome the barrier of removing the electron. The
equation for the kinetic energy of the photoelectron is KE= E- Φ, where Φ is the work function.

CP13) Substitution is a common organic chemistry reaction to know for the MCAT i.e this is
high-yield. SN1 involves a carbocation, which will be most stable with a tertiary substrate

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/organic-chemistry/substitution-elimination-reactions/
sn1-sn2-tutorial/v/sn1-vs-sn2-summary?modal=1

SN1 reactions differ from SN2 reactions primarily by the starting material for the reaction. SN1
reactions are fastest with tertiary carbons, because the first step in this reaction is the loss of the
leaving group (in this case the loss of water because we are in acidic conditons).

Because the leaving group leaves first in these types of reactions, the reaction is more likely to
happen if the resulting carbocation is the most stable.

Tertiary carbocations are more stable than secondary and primary carbocations, because the
three carbon groups donate electron mass to the center carbon, which makes the cation more
stable (positive charges like electrons).

SN2 reactions do NOT have a carbocation intermediate, so they are more likely to happen in
primary carbons because the nucleophile has easier access to the carbon.

CP14) Charged = aqueous layer, uncharged = ether layer

A carboxylic acid is acidic, so reacting the carboxylic anhydride with a base (NaOH) will quench the
excess compound in the solution.

The product of this reaction will go into the aqueous layer because it will remain charged, and
charged substances will go into the aqueous layer, not the “organic layer.”

For liquid-liquid extractions, the organic product will go into the organic layer (usually ether), and
the biproducts will usually go into the aqueous layer.

13
CCHHAAPPTTE ERR 11 - - CCHHE EMM/ /PPHHYYS S
CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
- H
CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

CP15) V=IR

V=IR is the formula needed to answer this question. This formula shows us that I (current) and
R (resistance) are inversely proportional (as I increases, R must decrease if V is held constant).
Knowing this, we must identify the maximum current from the graph, because we know this must
mean the resistance is at its minimum.

The graphs maximum current is 400 x 10-12 A. Using the formula described in the explanation, we
can calculate the minimum resistance as 200 MΩ.

Regarding the SI prefixes, we recommend memorizing from peta to femto. We know this sucks...
but it will be worth it when you put that whitecoat on for the first time, we promise!

SI Prefixes

Number Prefix Symbol Number Prefix Symbol

101 deka- da 10 -1 deci- d

10 2
hecto- h 10 -2
centi- c
103 kilo- K 10 -3 milli- M
10 6
mega- M 10 -6
micro- μ
109 giga- G 10 -9 nano- n
1012 tera- T 10 -12 pico- p
10 15
peta- P 10 -15
femto- f

CP16) An easy way to convert between decibel units and intensities is to divide the decibel number
by 10 (dB/10 = x). The intensity is 10 raised to the x power (10x).

As an example, 80 dB/10= 8, and the intensity is 108.

CP17) The answer to this question can be found by manipulation of Ohm’s Law, V=IR. Voltmeters
measure the voltage drop, while an ammeter measures the current.

Variable resistors are those that allow the current to change from 0 to a maximum value that can
be controlled by the experimenter.

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CP18) Triacylglycerols, pyrophosphates and phosphonic acids all have slightly different structures.

Phosphatides are similar to triacylglycerols. This is their general structure:

O
CH2 O C R1
O
R2CO CH
O
CH2 OP X
O
+
NH3
+ +
X= OCH2CH2N(CH3)3 X= OCH2CH2NH3 X= OCH2CH
CO2-
Phosphatidylcholine Phosphatidylethanolamine
(Lecithin) (Cephalin) Phosphatidylserine

HO OH
O
O
X= P X= OCH2CHOHCH2OH X=
R OH HO
OH
OH
HO
Phosphonic acid Phosphatidylglycerol Phosphatidylinositol

O
4-
O O
O
O
X=
X= O O P O P O
O O O
O

Triacylglycerol Pyrophosphate

15
CCHHAAPPTTE ERR 11 - - CCHHE EMM/ /PPHHYYS S
CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
- H
CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

CP19) Liposomes have a phospholipid bilayer with a hydrophilic pocket in the center.

The second paragraph of the passage discusses the experimental procedure, where fluorescent
dye was agitated with the formed liposomes.

The agitation of the liposomes allowed small pockets to form and allow the fluorescent dye to pass
through the lipid bilayer into the hydrophilic pocket. This leads us to the correct answer, B.

Liposome

Micelle

Bilayer sheet

16
 BE AT THE MC AT. GO TO MED SCHOOL .

CP20)

Irreversible reactions are under kinetic control.

Reversible reactions are under thermodynamic control.

Liposomes formed from Compound 1 were under kinetic control because the liposome formed was
stable to mixing, which likely means that it was formed from an irreversible reaction. Irreversible
reactions are under kinetic control.

Liposomes formed from Compound 2 were under thermodynamic control because they rearranged
to form a new liposome, meaning that there were likely reversible reactions happening that
allowed this liposome to form. They also formed with an average size, which is a characteristic of
thermodynamic control.

Kinetic control Thermodynamic control

transition state

transition state

intermediate G G
Energy (J)

intermediate

starting
G0 materials G0

kinetic
product

thermodynamic
product

Extent of Reaction

17
CCHHAAPPTTE ERR 11 - - CCHHE EMM/ /PPHHYYS S
CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
- H
CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

CP21) This question has no actual calculations in it. We can reach the correct answer by estimation.

We have to use the table provided in the question along with Figure 1 from the passage. As the
AAMC explanation states, we can conclude that a diameter of 250 nm would use less volume than
the others because it is the largest, and would therefore be first on the graph in Figure 1.

Each peak in Figure 1 has decreasing concentrations of lipids needed as the volume gets larger, so
we need to look for an answer choice that is larger than 0.2 mM.

CP22) The beginning of paragraph 2 states that the liposomes were formed in 1 mL, which is key
information because Figure 2 shows the concentrations for each liposome.

The units for concentration for this problem are in mM, which is 10-3 M. The units for molarity are
M, which are mol/L. Therefore, we have all of the information needed to calculate the answer to
this question using dimensional analysis.

0.1mM = x mol/ 1 mL, x mol= 0.1 x 10-3 M* 1 x 10-3 L = 0.1 x 10-6 mol

800 g/mol= x grams/0.1 x 10-6 mol, x grams= 8 x 102 g/mol * 0.1 x 10-6 mol= 8 x 10-5 g.

CP23) In size-exclusion chromatography, larger particles will elute faster.

This means that the large peak that is eluted between 30 and 40 mL is likely very small liposomes
formed, and that it will appear in all concentrations of solution. 0.1 mM and 0.2 mM averaged forms
0.15 mM, so we can conclude the first peak will be just before 20 mL of elution volume and that the
peak between 30 and 40 mL will still be present.

Large particles can not enter the pores of

stationary (elute faster)

Small particles may enter the pores of

stationary phase (elute slower)

chromatogram

flow time
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 WWW.MYTESTINGSOLUTION.COM

CP24) ΔG° = -RTln(keq )

Test trick: if you get to a question where you don’t remember the formula, you can sometimes get
to the correct answer by canceling out units. I don’t recommend this as the best strategy because
knowing formulas are a sure way to get the correct answer, but it can help out if you have forgotten
a formula on test day.

By noticing that ΔG’° and RT have the same units, we can divide 30/2.5 to get 12, which appears in
answer choice D.

NOTE: This only worked for this problem because of the original parameters set in the question
stem, and this is not a full proof method to getting to the correct answer. It may help in some
questions as a last resort way to get to the correct answer. formed, and that it will appear in all
concentrations of solution. 0.1 mM and 0.2 mM averaged forms 0.15 mM, so we can conclude the
first peak will be just before 20 mL of elution volume and that the peak between 30 and 40 mL will
still be present.

CP25) With ions, remember to account for any electrons lost or gained!

1s1 1S2

2s1 2s2 2p1 2p2 2p3 2p4 2p5 2p6

3s1 3s2 3p1 3p2 3p3 3p4 3p5 3p6

4s1 4s2 3d1 3d2 3d3 3d5 3d5 3d6 3d7 3d8 3d10 3d10 4p1 4p2 4p3 4p4 4p5 4p6

5s1 5s2 4d1 4d2 4d4 4d5 4d5 4d7 4d8 4d10 4d10 4d10 5p1 5p2 5p3 5p4 5p5 5p6

6s1 6s2 5d2 5d3 5d4 5d5 5d6 5d7 5d9 5d10 5d10 6p1 6p2 6p3 6p4 6p5 6p6

7s1 7s2 6d2 6d3 6d4 6d5 6d6 6d7 6d8 6d10 6d10 7p1 7p2 7p3 7p4 7p5 7p6

5d1 4F1 4F3 4F4 4F5 4F6 4F7 4F7 4F9 4F10 4F11 4F12 4F13 4F14 4F14

6d1 6d2 5F2 5F3 5F4 5F6 5F7 5F7 5F9 5F10 5F11 5F12 5F13 5F14 5F14

Co (II) is another way to write Co2+, which means there were 2 electrons lost. Electrons are lost
from the 4s shell before they are lost from the 3d shell because the 4s shell is farther away.
Although 4s electrons are added prior to 3d electrons, the 4s shell is the first to go.

To write the electron configuration for an element, we start with the noble gas in the previous
row, which is Argon, and then write the electrons that appear, which are 2 electrons in 4s, and 7
electrons in 3d.

[Ar]4s23d7. Then, we have to remove 2 electrons because we are writing the electron configuration
for Co2+, and we remove the 4s electrons, leaving us with [Ar]3d7.

19
 CCHHAAPPTTE ERR 11 - - CCHHE EMM/ /PPHHYYS S
CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
- H
CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

CP26) This question uses dimensional analysis, and you can get to the correct answer by keeping
units on the correct side and knowing the conversion of micro- (μ= 10-6) and milli- (m= 10-3).

CP27) The reason that CO2+ is a good replacement for Fe2+ is that both have a +2 charge. CO2+ is
a better choice than Mg2+ because cobalt is a transition metal like iron, whereas magnesium is an
alkaline-earth metal.

Periodic table of the elements

Alkali metals Halogens

group
Alkaline-earth metals Noble gases
period

1* Transition metals Rare-earth elements (21, 39, 57-71)

1
Other metals and lanthanoid elements (57-71 only) 2
1
H 2
Other nonmetals Actinoid elements
He
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Li Be B C N O F Ne
2

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
3
Na Mg AI Si P S CI Ar
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36
4
K Ca Sc Ti v Cr Mn Fe Co Ni Cu Zn Ga Ge As Se Br Kr
37 38 39 40 42 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54
5
Rb Sr Y Zr Nb Mo Tc Ru Rh Pd Ag cd In Sn Sb Te I Xe
55 56 57 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86
6
Cs Ba La Hf Ta W Re Os Ir Pt Au Hg TI Pb Bi Po At Rn
87 88 89 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118
7
Fr Ra Ac Rf Db Sg Bh Hs Mt Ds Rg Cn Nh FI Mc Lv Ts Og

58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71
lanthanoid series 6
Ce Pr Nd Pm Sm Eu Gd Tb Dy Ho Er Tm Yb Lu
90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103
actinoid series 7
Th Pa U Np Pu Am Cm Bk Cf Es Fm Md No Lr

CP28)

Transferase = any enzyme which catalyzes the transfer of a functional group.

Oxidoreductase = oxidation and reduction reactions.

Hydrolase = cleaves bonds, using water.

Ligase = links molecules together.

20
 BE AT THE MC AT. GO TO MED SCHOOL .

CP29) Molecules with alternating single and double bonds are called conjugated systems,
and have delocalized electrons, meaning the electrons are not localized to only one bond. In
conjugated systems, the electrons can easily move between the other bonds.

Molecules which are extensively conjugated will be intensely colored. A

romatic rings are a common example of conjugated systems. Compound 2b is more intensely
colored than Compound 2a because the double bonds alternate throughout the “top” three rings,
whereas Compound 2a does not have continuous alternating double bonds through the ring that
has oxygen.

Also, in Compound 2a the bottom aromatic ring cannot participate in the aromatic system of the
top rings because there is a quaternary carbon, meaning it cannot have a double bond.

CP30) Michaelis-Menten Equation:

Vo= Initial velocity (moles/times)

Vmax [S] [S]= substrate concentration (molar)
Vo= vmax= maximum velocity
km+[S] km= substrate concentration at half Vmax

Michaelis- Menten’s equation can be used to calculate several parameters in enzyme kinetics,
but it is not needed in this question because we have a graph showing initial velocity vs substrate
concentration for the WT enzyme.

Anytime we have this graph, we can find Vmax (the value of the velocity at the plateau) and KM (the
substrate concentration at half of the Vmax).

Vmax in this case is around 1.6 nM/s, so the KM is the substrate concentration when the velocity is
around 0.8 nM/s. This correlates to the 4th data point from the left, which looks to be slightly over
1 µM.

CP31) Steric effects = effect of size.

The variants listed are in Table 1. As stated in the AAMC explanation, the substitution went from a
hydrophobic side chain (valine, methionine, leucine and isoleucine) to alanine.

Answer choice D is the only answer that describes the change from a large non-polar side chain
to a small non-polar side chain. Knowing the one letter abbreviations for the amino acids is key to
answering several questions on the MCAT!

Click here to see the Appendix on Amino Acid Structure for more detail!

21
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CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
- H
CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

CP32) It is helpful to know a little information about BSA and other common laboratory compounds
prior to the MCAT, because the test writers often discuss common laboratory procedures and ask
for the purpose of a compound.

Without knowing too much about BSA, we can still arrive at the correct answer by process of
elimination. It is unlikely that BSA is a co-catalyst, because it does not have enzymatic functions.

BSA is not the buffer in this problem, but rather phosphate buffered saline, PBS. PBS is a very
common buffer that is often used in biochemistry techniques.

Finally, we have no information to support the answer choice D stating that BSA was added as a
non-specific target for protease contaminants. Answer choice B is factually correct and there is
context for this answer choice in the passage. BSA is often added to any reaction in a 96-well plate,
such as an ELISA, to prevent the key enzymes from binding to the walls.

CP33) Catalytic efficiency = kcat/Km

Strategy Tip: The answer to this question can be quickly estimated without actually calculating the
answer.

Catalytic efficiency is a ratio of Kcat and KM as the AAMC explanation states. If there is a choice
that has the smallest Kcat and the largest KM, we can immediately pick that answer choice because
dividing the smallest numerator by the largest denominator will always yield that smallest answer.
Variant I276A should immediately draw your attention because 6.4 x 10-4-s is the smallest Kcat,
and 170 µM is the largest KM.

Before immediately jumping into calculations, first look to see if an estimation can get you to
the correct answer. This method will save a lot of time on questions that don’t need written out
calculations!

CP34) With all of the answer choices having the same numbers but different decimal placements,
it is highly important to focus on the correct scientific notation. The answer to this question can be
found with dimensional analysis, and knowing the conversions for milli- (m) as 10-3 and micro- (µ)
as 10-6.

CP35) A nucleophile is a chemical species that donates an electron pair to form a chemical bond in
a reaction. Electrophiles accept the electron pairs from nucleophiles.

Deprotanation of water makes it more nucleophilic because removing the hydrogen (H+) causes the
remaining oxygen molecule to have more electron density and a negative charge. “Nucleophilic”
molecules are usually defined as those that are attracted to the nucleus, which is positively
charged. Therefore, strong negative charges are considered nucleophilic because they are more
attracted to the nucleus than weak negative charges, neutral molecules, and positive charges.

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/organic-chemistry/substitution-elimination-reactions/
sn1-sn2-tutorial/v/nucleophile-electrophile-and-the-schwartz-rules

22
 WWW.MYTESTINGSOLUTION.COM

CP36) Amino acids with a hydroxyl (OH) group on the side chain can be phosphorylated.

Table 1 shows us that alanine was used as a replacement at each of the single site variants
because each variant ends in “A.” The first letter in the variant is the amino acid that was in the
wild type protein structure, and numbers are the location of this amino acid (i.e. 113 means the 113
amino acid from the amino terminal), and the last letter is the new amino acid that is replacing the
old one.

Each of the six variants originally had a charged side chain (H= histidine, positive charge), (D=
aspartate, negative charge), (E= glutamate, negative charge), while alanine has no charge.

Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that alanine was used in all of the variants in order to reduce
the side chain interaction at the active site because alanine will not be able to interact with the
charged molecules in the active site.

Although answer choice A seems promising because it mentions charge, it is incorrect because
reducing the net charge on the bimetallic center is not the only purpose of alanine in this
experiment.

Click here to see the Appendix on Amino Acid Structure for more detail!

CP37) Catalysis is represented by kcat; conformational stability is represented by Tm.

H80 and E148 interact with ZnA, and E175 and H373 interact with ZnB. Therefore, we should
examine the variants produces by the mutations at these sites to determine the difference or
similarity in the purpose of ZnA and ZnB.

Tm in the context of proteins is defined as the temperature where there are equal amounts of
both folded and unfolded states of the protein. A higher Tm means that the protein is more stable
at higher temperatures, and a lower Tm means that the protein will unfold more rapidly at higher
temperatures. All of the Tm for the four variants described above have a lower Tm than the wild
type, which means that the mutations all negatively impact the conformational stability of the
protein.

kcat is the turnover rate, and is proportional to the rate of reaction. A higher kcat means the
enzyme is faster, and a lower kcat means the enzyme is slower. The kcat for all four variants we are
examining is much lower compared to the wild type, which means that all of the mutations had a
negative effect on the catalysis.

Because all four mutations had a role on both the conformational stability and the turnover rate,
we can conclude the both of the metal centers are important for both roles.

23
CCHHAAPPTTE ERR 11 - - CCHHE EMM/ /PPHHYYS S
CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
- H
CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

CP38) The answer to this question can be reached by process of elimination.

Glutamic acid (E) and Aspartic acid (D) are both negatively charged, so choice B can be eliminated
because there is no net change in the charge in this variant.

Figure 1 shows us the amino acids in the active site. E147 is not in the active site, so answer
choice C can be eliminated because the increased steric hindrance would not affect the active site
directly.

Answer choice D can also be eliminated because both Glutamic acid (E) and Aspartic acid (D) are
strong bases with a negative charge, so we can assume that the E147D variant would not act in this
way.

Click here to see the Appendix on Amino Acid Structure for more detail!

CP39) Catalytic turnover is represented by kcat; substrate binding is represented by Km.

The values for these numbers can be found in Table 1, which shows us that both the kcat and kM
are affected by the mutation in each variant.

CP40) This is peptide bond hydrolysis. As you can see, the carbon discussed in this question starts
off as sp2 hybridized, meaning that it only has 3 other atoms/molecules bound to it (the oxygen
from the double bond and the nitrogen and other carbon from the single bonds).

The nucleophilic attack from OH- makes the center carbon sp3 hybridized, because it is now
bound to 4 atoms/molecules. It returns to sp2 hybridized when the amino group leaves.

R H OH

H
N COOH
H2N C
sp 3 sp 2
H R H3C O
O sp 3 sp sp
H O C C CH3
C H 2C
C C
sp 2
H2C sp 2 C sp 3
H2 sp 3 C NH
H H H2C H
C
R R
sp 3
OH H2
H2N C H2N COOH

24
 BE AT THE MC AT. GO TO MED SCHOOL .

CP41) Saccharides are connected by glycosidic bonds.

Peptide bonds are found in proteins.

Phosphodiester bonds are found in DNA/RNA.

Pyrophosphates are multiple phosphates linked together, such as in ATP.

CP42) ΔG=ΔH-TΔS
ΔG- Gibbs Free Energy, or “available energy’
ΔH- Enthalpy change
T- Temperature in Kelvin
Δs- Entropy change

CP43) Hydrogen bonding is a type of intermolecular force where a hydrogen that is bonded to
oxygen (O), nitrogen (N) or fluorine (F) forms an intermolecular bond with an oxygen, nitrogen, or
fluorine that has a lone pair of electrons.

H H

O H O
H

Alanine is the only amino acid that does not have an oxygen, nitrogen, or fluorine in its side chain.

Click here to see the Appendix on Amino Acid Structure for more detail!

25
CCHHAAPPTTE ERR 11 - - CCHHE EMM/ /PPHHYYS S
CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
- H
CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

CP44) Although these are not typically the axis labels we see for titrations, the concept is the same,
with the equivalence point being at the place where there is the steepest slope.

This occurs at a molar ratio of 1, meaning that for every 1 mL of 0.1 mM of HEW lysozyme that was
added, there was also an equivalent molar ratio of NAG3 added.

The dimensional analysis shown in the AAMC explanation shows us that there was 100 nmol of
HEW lysozyme added, meaning there was also 100 nmol of NAG3 at the equivalence point.

12
4
10

pH of the Na OH titrant
8
Analyte Equivalence Poin

Solution
3
6

4
2
2 1

25 50 75
HCl analyte
Volume of Titrant Added

CP45) Plugging numbers from the graph into the equation can help you easily solve for the value
of KNAG.

I used the last point on the graph because it is clear that KNAG3/Kapp= 2, and [NAG]= 0.020 M.
Using the equation given in the passage, we get

2= 1 + KNAG * 0.020

After rearranging and dividing, we get KNAG = 50 M-1

CP46) When a competitive inhibitor is present but at too low of a concentration, it will not make
a measurable difference.

We can reason through this answer by using process of elimination. Diluting all solutions will not
produce any measurable heat differences because all molecules are present in the same ratio,
only the ratio of water has increased.

Increasing the concentrations of Compound 1 and Protein A in both concentrations will only
increase the amount of starting material in equal ratios, which will not produce a measurable
difference. Changing 1 variable (Compound 2) in one titration creates an opportunity for heat
differences because it will now compete with Compound 1.

26
 WWW.MYTESTINGSOLUTION.COM

CP47) According to the induced fit model, the binding between an enzyme and its substrate
causes a change in shape or "confirmation" of both the enzyme and substrate.

This conformational change brings the substrate closer to a higher energy transition state that
is needed for the reaction to occur. Such a conformational change can weaken bounds so that
reactions are more likely to occur or it can causes reactions to speed up.

Induced fit

Substrate

ES complex

Enzyme

Transition state model (or transition state theory) describes the transition state between the
reactants and products, and has nothing to do with a substrate binding and changing the shape of
the enzyme.

Active site model describes the active site of an enzyme as the place that a substrate binds, but
does not state anything about the active site changing shape.

Lock-and-key model describes a theory that states that the substrate and binding site fit together
perfectly, without any movement, such as a lock and key fitting together. This is the opposite of the
induced fit model, because it describes the active state as static.

CP48) kcat is the turnover number, the number of times each enzyme site is capable of
converting substrate to product per unit time.

The turnover rate is best measured when the enzyme is completely saturated, because it will be at
its peak efficiency, with every enzyme having a substrate in its active site.

27
CCHHAAPPTTE ERR 11 - - CCHHE EMM/ /PPHHYYS S
CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
- H
CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

CP49) Michaelis-Menten Kinetics

Vmax
Reaction rate

½ Vmax

KM

Substrate concentration

Hyperbolic
Vmax [S]
Vo=
Linear km+[S]

Vo= Initial velocity (moles/times)

Sigmoidal [S]= substrate concentration (molar)
vmax= maximum velocity
km= substrate concentration at half Vma
Parabolic

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the 2,000+ Official AAMC questions to pinpoint your exact, individualized weaknesses.

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28
 BE AT THE MC AT. GO TO MED SCHOOL .

CP50) In uncompetitive inhibition, the inhibitor only binds to the enzyme-substrate complex.

The Vmax decreases in uncompetitive inhibition because some of the enzyme no longer
participates in the enzymatic reactions because it is unable to bind new substrate.

The KM also decreases in uncompetitive inhibition because the uncompetitive inhibitor is

“removing” substrate from the volume of solution that is participating in reactions, which makes
the effective substrate concentration in solution lower.

This decreases KM (substrate concentration at ½ VMax) because the enzyme now will work more
optimally to react with the remaining substrate.

3-Uncompetitive Inhibition

1 - No inhibitor
The Lineweaver-Burk plots for inhibition
2 - Uncompetitive
Inhibitor

ν
1 1/V 2

2
1
VMAX
2
VMAX
2

Km ι Km [S] 1/[S]

Uncompetitive inhibition lowers Km and Vmax

CP51) Elution from an anion exchange column requires higher NaCl concentrations for stronger
negative charges.

Test tip: For questions that ask you to calculate the charge, I recommend that you write all of the
charges for that peptide next to the answer choices so that you can quickly reference it to answer
the questions.

I don’t recommend calculating it in your head because that can lead to error and confusion! Also,
although histidine is often referred to as an amino acid that is “positively charged,” we have to
remember that the pKa of the side chain is 6.0, meaning that at pH 7 it is only partially protonated.

29
CCHHAAPPTTE ERR 11 - - CCHHE EMM/ /PPHHYYS S
CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
- H
CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

CP52) The color seen is the color which is reflected; the complementary color is absorbed.

200 nm of light is outside of the visible spectrum of light, so its absorbance would not reflect any
visible color.

en Yellow

primary

Or
Gre

an
ge
complementary complementary

primary primary

Re
complementary
e
Blu

Purple

The visible light spectrum is the section of the electromagnetic radiation spectrum that is visible to
the human eye.

740-625 625-590 590-565 565-520 520-500 500-435 435-380

Wavelength (nanometers)

30
 WWW.MYTESTINGSOLUTION.COM

CP53) The first paragraph describes this reaction. Reading carefully, we can see that the labeled
oxygen molecule will only end up in galactose because the glucose molecule was released prior
to the nucleophilic attack of water.

OH OH

H HO
H H H O
O OH
HO
H OH
H OH C O
HO H H
galactose glucose
H H
lactose

CP54)
Acid Base

Archenius H+ in H2O OH- in H2O

Bronsted - H+ donor Accepts H+

Lowry

Lewis Accepts e- pair e-pair donor

H H H H
- R C o + X C R + o
X
H H H H

(protonated 1o alcohol or methanol) (A good leaving group)

31
CCHHAAPPTTE ERR 11 - - CCHHE EMM/ /PPHHYYS S
CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
- H
CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

CP55) Michaelis-Menten Kinetic

Vmax
Reaction rate

½ Vmax

KM

Substrate concentration

Hyperbolic
Vmax [S]
Vo=
km+[S]
Linear

Vo= Initial velocity (moles/times)

Sigmoidal [S]= substrate concentration (molar)
vmax= maximum velocity
km= substrate concentration at half Vma
Parabolic

Lineweaver-Burk Plot

1/v0

1 Km 1
= +
V0 Vmax [S] Vmax Km/Vmax

1/Vmax
Y = mx + c
1/Km 1/[S]

32
 BE AT THE MC AT. GO TO MED SCHOOL .

CP56)
The Lineweaver-Burk plots for inhibition

inhibitor inhibitor inhibitor

1/ V no inhibitor 1/ V no inhibitor 1/ V no inhibitor

1/ Vmax -1/ KM
slope= KM/Vmax

1 / [S] 1 / [S] 1 / [S]

Competitive Uncompetitive Noncompetitive
inhibition inibition inhibition
KM increased KM reduced KM Unaffected
Vmax unaffected Vmax reduced Vmax reduced

1/v0

1 Km 1
= +
V0 Vmax [S] Vmax Km/Vmax

1/Vmax
Y = mx + c
1/Km 1/[S]

CP57) We know that the solution was originally diluted 1 -> 250 because the experimenters added
0.1 mL of commercial preparation in 25 mL of water, which is a 1:250 dilution.

The second dilution is when the experimenters added 1 mL of substrate to 1 mL of enzyme

solution, which is a 1:1 dilution, and gives a dilution factor of 2. Both of these dilutions together
give an overall dilution of 1:500, so the expression of [E]T × 500 accurately reflects this.

CP58) A tetramer means there are 4 units of something, and the prefix homo- means that they are
the “same.”

The gel revealed 1 band at 35 kDa, which is expected because we would assume that there would
be only one band because all 4 units are the same.

Multiplying 35 by 4 gives 140 kDa, which is molecular weight of this protein.

33
CHAPTER 1 - CHEM/PHYS
CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
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CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

CP59) Nucleotide structure

Purines Pyrimidines
NH2 O NH2 O O
H3C
N7 N7 H H H
5
6
1
N 5
6
1
N 5
4
3
N 5
4
3
N 5
4
3
N
8 8
4 2 4 2 6 2 6 1 2 6 1 2
N N
9 3 9 3 1

N N NH2 N O N O N O
R R R R R
Adenine Guanine Cytosine Uracil Thymine

NH2
N N
5’ end H Adenine
photosphate N H
N
- - =

O
O O CH2 O O
Purine bases

O
H H N NH
H H Guanine
H H N NH2
N
- - =

deoxyribose O
O O CH2 O NH2
O
H H H N Cytosine
H H H
H N o
- - =

O Pyrimidine
HOCH2 O OH O O CH2 O O bases
O CH3 H
H H N Thymine
H H H (in DNA)
HO OH H H N O
- - =

O
Ribose (in RNA) O O CH2 O
O O
H H H
H N
H H
H
N O
H
Uracil (in RNA)

CP60) Half-life = the amount of time it takes half of a sample to decay.

Therefore, at one half-life cycle, only ½ of the sample will remain; at two half-life cycles, only ¼ of
the sample will remain, and at three half-life cycles, 1/8 of the sample will remain.

34
 WWW.MYTESTINGSOLUTION.COM

CP61) SDS gives all proteins a negative charge

Isoelectric focusing separates based on isoelectric point

Separation of protein molecules by isoelectric focusing

4 At low pH,
the protein

5 is positively
charged
Stable pH gradient

At the isoelectric point

6 the protein has no net
charge and therefore
no longer migrates in
7 the electric field;
fir the protein shown
the isoelectrc pH is 6.5
8
9 At high pH,
the protein
is negatively
10 charged

Ion-exchange chromatography includes anion and cation exchange chromatography. Both use
NaCl to elute bound ions from the column.

Anion exchange: Binds anions; chromatography column itself is positively charged.

Cation exchange: Binds cations; chromatography column itself is negatively charged.

Affinity chromatography is a class of chromatography which separates based on highly specific

interactions

In size-exclusion chromatography, larger particles will elute faster.

Large particles can not enter the pores of

stationary (elute faster)

Small particles may enter the pores of

stationary phase (elute slower)

chromatogram

flow time 35
CHAPTER 1 - CHEM/PHYS
CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
- H
CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

CP62) Biotinylated substrate would still be bound, because “biotinylated” means by definition
that biotin has bound to something (in this case avidin). Non-biotinylated substrate would NOT be
bound, because this means by definition that it has not bound to avidin. Methylated cytosine is not
relevant to the column experiment that this question is describing.

+ =
B B B
B

B
4

Avidin Biotin conjugate Avidin-Biotin Complex

CP63) To simplify the AAMC explanation, the answer to this question is C because Figure 1 shows
that condition 1 in the 509mer fiber had a methylation rate that was around 3 times higher than in
the 30mer strand.

Condition 1 was described in the paragraph above, stating that Dnmt3a was pre-incubated with a
biotinylated DNA substrate after which, non-biotinylated DNA substate was added.

The biotinylated DNA substrate in this experiment serves to show us what the peak performance
for Dnmt3a would be, because this substrate would also bind to the avidin coated plates.

Therefore, examining condition 1 the closest can show us the major difference between the 30mer
and 509mer strands.

CP64)

Native conditions = unchanged

Reducing = breaks disulfide bonds

Denaturing = disrupts all subunit interactions EXCEPT disulfide bonds

Note that reducing and denaturing are independent and can also be combined

Covalently-linked = Disulfide bonds between subunitsAffinity = Kd

36
 BE AT THE MC AT. GO TO MED SCHOOL .

CP65)

NADH is a reducing agent, which break disulfide bonds. NADH provides 2 electrons per mole.

NAD+ is an oxidizing agent, which will not break disulfide bonds. NAD+ receives 2 electrons per
mole.

CP66)

Peptide hormones have several polar atoms throughout the molecule, making it an overall polar
and hydrophilic molecule. Because of this, peptide hormones do not require transport proteins.

Steroid hormones, such as estrogen, are comprised of carbon, making them nonpolar and
hydrophobic. Because of this, steroid hormones are insoluble in blood, and thus, they require
transport proteins.

Ugly Peptide Hormone Example

OH

H H
HO
Estrogen - Steroid Hormone

CP67) Elution from an anion exchange column requires higher NaCl concentrations for stronger
negative charges.

37
CHAPTER 1 - CHEM/PHYS
CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
- H
CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

CP68) Memorize structures and numbering.

Purines
NH2 O
N7 N7 H
5
6
1
N 5
6
1
N
8 8
4 2 4 2

N
9
N
9 3 3

N N NH2
R R
Adenine Guanine

Pyrimidines
NH2 O O
H3C
H H
5
4
3
N 5
4
3
N 5
4
3
N
6 2 6 1 2 6 1 2
1

N O N O N O
R R R
Cytosine Uracil Thymine

Test Tip: Start by counting one of the categories, and see if you can narrow down your answer
then. In this case, I started by counting all of the purines, which was 17.

Once I saw that only answer choice A had 17 purines, I was able to select the correct answer.
Working efficiently on the MCAT will allow you to save time on the easier questions so that you
have more time on the harder ones.

CP69) Gel electrophoresis separates based on size.

Native gel electrophoresis does not denature the RNA, so the gel will run RNA in its natural
structure. Therefore, even if the molecular weight is the same, more compact structures will travel
through the gel faster, and less compact structures will move through the gel slower.

In denaturing gel electrophoresis, only the base pair number of the RNA will affect the travel
distance.

38
 WWW.MYTESTINGSOLUTION.COM

CP70) GC pairings have 3 H bonds, AT (and AU) have 2 H bonds.

H bonds (or hydrogen bonds) are intermolecular bonds that increase the stability of the structure.

Therefore, GC pairs increase the stability, and increase the melting temperature of DNA structures
because of the extra H bond for each pair.

Purines
Pyrimidines H

N O H N

N
N H N

N N

N H O

H
Guanine Cytosine
C5 H5 N5 O C4 H5 N3 O

N N H O

N
N H N

N N

O
Adenine Thymine
C5 N5 N5 C5 H6 N2O2

39
CHAPTER 1 - CHEM/PHYS
CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
- H
CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

CP71) Tm (melting temp) is defined as the T at which half of the molecules are unfolded.

Therefore, looking at the graph we can see that at the inflection point, where the y axis has 0.5 for
fraction unfolded.

The graph shows that this temperature is somewhere in between 50°Cand 60°C

CP72) RNA with a higher Tm is more stable than RNA with a lower Tm.

The graph shows that 100 mM of KCl has a lower Tm than the other three conditions, which roughly
seem to have the same Tm.

Answer choice B can be eliminated because Cl- is present in all conditions. Answer choice A can be
eliminated because the three conditions that have K+ present have different Tm, meaning that K+ is
not likely the cause of the stability differences.

Answer choice D can be eliminated because as the explanation describes, a higher molar ratio of
Na+ was used compared to Mg2+, meaning that Mg2+ is a more effective ion at stabilizing the RNA
complex.

CP73) With careful dimensional analysis, you can get the correct answer to this question. The
passage has the amount of MgCl2 located in the legend of Figure 3, where it shows the two
conditions that utilize this salt. 10 mM= 10 x 10-3 M = 10-2 M. 1 M = 1 mol/ L, so 10-2 M= 10-2 mol/L

The dimensional analysis equations looks like the following:

10-2 mol/L * 100 g/mol * 1 mg/ 10-3 g = 1000 mg/L

1 L/ 1000 mg (doing the inverse so that volume ends up on top) * 0.5 mg= 5 x 10-4 L

= 500 uL.

CP74) You must know your amino acid structures and what group they belong to! The MCAT will
have plenty of questions to test this, so it is a must know for test day. There are very few topics
that are as high of yield i.e. worth your time studying.

Click here to see the Appendix on Amino Acid Structure for more detail!

CP75) Catalytic efficiency = kcat/Km.

You can quickly answer this question with mental math to find out which of the options will have
the largest kcat and the smallest Km.

40
 BE AT THE MC AT. GO TO MED SCHOOL .

CP75) Catalytic efficiency = kcat/Km.

You can quickly answer this question with mental math to find out which of the options will have
the largest kcat and the smallest Km.

CP76)

* CH=O CH₂OH
OH
H C OH CH2OH * C=O
O OH CH2 O
HO C H HO C H
or OH or HO
* *
H C OH H C OH
HO HO CH2OH
H C OH OH H C OH
OH
CH2OH CH2OH

D-glucose D-fructose
an aldose a ketose
an aldohexose a ketohexose

If the cyclic form has two-CH2OH groups, it is a ketose

If the cyclic form has one-CH2OH groups, it is an aldose

CP77) Km is the [S] needed to reach ½ Vmax.

The AAMC explanation does a great job at explaining how to reach the correct answer through
process of elimination. Here is a visual diagram to show that Km decreases when the Vmax
decreases.

ν
1

2
VMAX
2
VMAX
2

Km ι Km [S] 41
CHAPTER 1 - CHEM/PHYS
CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
- H
CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

Make Sure You're Using the Most Up to Date Version of This Document
www.mytestingsolution.com/sb-update

CP78) Pyruvate kinase is the enzyme the catalyzes the final step in glycolysis. PEP is converted to
pyruvate, with ATP being produced through substrate level phosphorylation.

Pyruvate Kinase

ADP ATP

PEP Pyruvate

Pyruvate kinase is one of the 3 irreversible reactions in glycolysis. The other two being:

1) Hexokinase or Glucokinase turning Glucose into Glucose-6-phosphate

2) Phosphofructokinase (PFK) turning Fructose-6-phosphate into Fructose-1-6-bisphosphate.

CP79) OIL RIG

Oxidation Is Loss of electrons (gaining a + charge or becoming less –).

Reduction Is Gain of electrons (gaining a – charge or becoming less +).

If NADH concentration is decreasing, that means that NAD+ concentration is increasing.

The only way this would happen with these reactions is if NADH was being oxidized. As the AAMC
explanation reminds us, oxidation-reduction reactions come in pairs, so something MUST be
reduced if NADH is being oxidized.

42
 WWW.MYTESTINGSOLUTION.COM

CP80)

H bond donors = Hydrogen

H bond acceptors = Nitrogen and Oxygen

H bonds (or hydrogen bonds) are intermolecular bonds.

Purines
Pyrimidines H

N O H N

N
N H N

N N

N H O

H
Guanine Cytosine
C5 H5 N5 O C4 H5 N3 O

N N H O

N
N H N

N N

O
Adenine Thymine
C5 N5 N5 C5 H6 N2O2

43
CHAPTER 1 - CHEM/PHYS
CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
- H
CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

CP81) pH can affect stability by protonating or deprotonating structures.

Longer DNA strands have more paired bases between them = more stability.

Ions in a solution can help or hinder other binding interactions.

Purines Pyrimidines
NH2 O NH2 O O
H3C
N7 N7 H H H
5
6
1
N 5
6
1
N 5
4
3
N 5
4
3
N 5
4
3
N
8 8
4 2 4 2 6 2 6 1 2 6 1 2
N N
9 3 9 3 1

N N NH2 N O N O N O
R R R R R
Adenine Guanine Cytosine Uracil Thymine

CP82)

Deoxyguanosine Guanosine

CP83) But even without knowing that Lysine can form isopeptides with its side chain, you can still
get the right answer by looking for the amino acid that is the most different. Lysine is the only
amino acid listed in the answer choices that is charged. Charged amino acids usually can form
bonds because they are reactive and polar. The three other amino acids are nonpolar, so it is
unlikely that they would be able to form bonds.

Click here to see the Appendix on Amino Acid Structure for more detail!

Peptide Bond

R1 O
H
Cα N
H2N Cα OH

O R2
44
 BE AT THE MC AT. GO TO MED SCHOOL .

CP84) The pI of a protein, also known as its isoelectric point, is a function of the pKa’s from the
amino acids that contribute to it.

It is the pH at which the AA has no net charge.

The pKas of the asic/positively charged amino acids are larger than the pKas of acidic/negatively
charged amino acids. acids.

For reference, the pKa of the side chain for the charged amino acids are the following:

Aspartic acid= 3.65

Glutamic acid= 4.25
Lysine= 10.53
Arginine= 12.48
Histidine= 6

CP85) Any sugar containing a hemiacetal is a reducing sugar. Be sure you understand the
difference between hemiacetals and acetals.

HO O-R R-O O-R

R H R H
Hemiacetal Acetal
One OH group and one O-R group Two O-R groups attached
attached to same carbon to same carbon

Examples:

CH2OH hemiacetal
CH2OH
hemiacetal
H O H H O H
H H
OH H OH H
HO O OH
H OH H OH
Maltose
(Glucose + Glucose)

CH2OH
hemiacetal
CH2OH O H O H
H
H HO OH H
HO CH2OH OH OH
hemiacetal
OH H H OH

D-Fructose α-D-glucose
45
CHAPTER 1 - CHEM/PHYS
CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
- H
CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

Monosaccharides
CH2OH CH2OH
O H O O H
H HOCH2 OH HO
H
OH H OH H OH H
HO OH H CH2OH H OH
H OH OH H H OH
Glucose Fructose Galactose

Disaccharides
CH2OH CH2OH CH2OH CH2OH CH2OH
O O H
H O H HOCH2 OH HO O H H O H H O H
H H H H H
OH H OH H OH H O OH H OH H OH H
HO CH2OH H H OH HO O OH
O
H OH OH H H OH H OH H OH H OH
Sucrose Lactose Maltose
(Glucose + Fructose) (Galactose + Glucose) (Glucose + Glucose)

Polysaccharides
CH2OH H OH CH2OH H OH
H O H H O H
H O H H
OH H O H H
OH
Cellulose OH H OH
H H OH H OH
H H
HO H H O H H
O O OH
H OH CH2OH H OH CH2OH

CH2OH CH2OH CH2OH CH2OH

H O H H O H H O H H O H
Starch H H H H
OH H O OH H O OH H O OH H
HO OH
H OH H OH H OH H OH

CH2OH CH2OH CH2OH CH2OH

H O H H O H H O H H O H
H H H H
Glycogen OH H OH H OH H OH H
O O O
HO OH
H OH H OH H OH H OH

46
 WWW.MYTESTINGSOLUTION.COM

CP86) Specific activity for enzymes is the number of enzyme units per mL divided by the
concentration of the protein (mg/mL).

It describes the activity of the enzyme per mg of total protein. Using both the total protein and
specific activity from Table 1 allows us to find the purification yield, because it allows us to find the
specific yield per unit.

CP87) Salt-bridge interactions – ionic (charged) interactions

Lysine Lysine
O O
Electrostatic Hydrogen
Interactions NH Bonding NH

O O H
H 3N N
HN O HN O H H

O O
Glutamic Acid Glutamic Acid

Hydrogen bonds –

H H

O H O
H

Check out "The 7 CARS Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes" in Appendix II of this Document
Click Here to Go to Appendix II

47
CHAPTER 1 - CHEM/PHYS
CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
- H
CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

Covalent Bond: The sharing of electrons

The goal is to achieve a set of 8 valence electrons

F F F F

Each fluorine atom has 7 valence electrons. A covalen bond completes the octet for both.

O
H O H
H H

Oxygen has only 6 valence electrons. It can make 2 covalent bonds.

Causes of Hydrophobic Interaction

The non-polar substance like fat molecules tend to clump up together rather
than distributing itselt in a water medium, because this allow the fat molecules
to have minimal contact with water.

+
Hydrophobic

Hydrophylic
Water Molecule

48
 BE AT THE MC AT. GO TO MED SCHOOL .

CP88) Serine and tyrosine are two of the amino acids that can form hydrogen bonds, so they are
most knows for test day. We keep saying this over and over again, so hopefully that drives the point
home: KNOW the Amino Acids cold!

Click here to see the Appendix on Amino Acid Structure for more detail!

CP89)

pH < pKa = deprotonated; as you move to a lower pH, groups will be deprotonated

pH > pKa = protonated; as you move to a higher pH, groups will be protonated

Glutamic Acid Glutamate

H O H O
H H
N C C OH -H+ N C C OH
H H

C=O C=O
OH O -1

CP90) The pH of a solution is equal to the negative log of the hydrogen ion concentration.

pH= -log[H+]

Thus, each increase by 1 for pH is a 10 times difference in [H+].

Ex: pH 4 vs 6 = 10^2 = 100; pH 3 vs 8 = 10^5 = 100,000

CP91)
OH
HO OH
Glycerol

49
CHAPTER 1 - CHEM/PHYS
CCH
HHAAAPPPTTTEEE
RRR1 11- -C
- H
CCH
EHM
EEM
/M
P/H
/PPYHH
S YYSS

CP92)

Native conditions = unchanged

Reducing = breaks disulfide bonds

Denaturing = disrupts all subunit interactions EXCEPT disulfide bonds

(Note that reducing and denaturing are independent, but can also be combined)

CP93) Disulfide bonds are a form of covalent interactions.

Covalent Bond: The sharing of electrons

The goal is to achieve a set of 8 valence electrons

F F F F

Each fluorine atom has 7 valence electrons. A covalen bond completes the octet for both.

O
H O H
H H

Oxygen has only 6 valence electrons. It can make 2 covalent bonds.

Aromatic interactions are a noncovalent attractive force between two aromatic rings. Alignment
of positive electrostatic potential on one ring with negative electrostatic potential on another ring
forms an offset stack, or in pure benzene, a T-shaped stack.

50
 WWW.MYTESTINGSOLUTION.COM

Also included as a review:

Hydrogen bonds – H H

O H O
H

Causes of Hydrophobic Interaction

The non-polar substance like fat molecules tend to clump up together rather
than distributing itselt in a water medium, because this allow the fat molecules
to have minimal contact with water.

+
Hydrophobic

Hydrophylic
Water Molecule

CP94) Function comes from structure!

We can see from Table 1 that H232R has increased activity when compared to GK-P. The
phosphorylated version of this enzyme has increased activity compared to GK, meaning that both of
these modifications improved activity.

This immediately eliminates D because it is very unlikely that monomerization would increase activity.
B is the correct answer because this modification was likely a structural change because the passage
clearly states that there is a large distance between the Arg and cleft, meaning it is likely not directly
involved in catalysis.

51
CHAPTER 1 - CHEM/PHYS
CCHHAAPPT TE E
R R1 1- C
- HCEHME/M
PH/ PY H
S YS

CP95) Because the y axis is the inverse of velocity, the slope for enzymes with higher activity should

The Lineweaver-Burk plots for inhibition

inhibitor inhibitor inhibitor

1/ V no inhibitor 1/ V no inhibitor 1/ V no inhibitor

1/ Vmax -1/ KM
slope= KM/Vmax

1 / [S] 1 / [S] 1 / [S]

Competitive Uncompetitive Noncompetitive
inhibition inibition inhibition
KM increased KM reduced KM Unaffected
Vmax unaffected Vmax reduced Vmax reduced

CP96) Ternary complex: complex made of 3 molecules

Ordered mechanism: a mechanism or reaction in which the order that substrates bind matters

Random order mechanism: any substate can bind first

CP97) Disulfide bonds are a form of covalent interactions.

Covalent Bond: The sharing of electrons

The goal is to achieve a set of 8 valence electrons

F F F F

Each fluorine atom has 7 valence electrons. A covalen bond completes the octet for both.

O
H O H
H H

Oxygen has only 6 valence electrons. It can make 2 covalent bonds.

Cysteine is the only amino acid that can form disulfide bonds. When 2 cysteine residues form a
disulfide bond, it is called cystine. Methionine is another amino acid that contains sulfur, but it
cannot form disulfide bonds.

52
 BE AT THE MC AT. GO TO MED SCHOOL .

CP98) Michaelis-Menten Kinetics

Cooperativity always leads to a sigmoidal curve because one interaction influences the rate of the
next reaction.

Vmax
Reaction rate

½ Vmax

KM

Substrate concentration

Hyperbolic

Linear

Sigmoidal

Parabolic

CP99) Catalytic efficiency = kcat/Km

CP100) Directly proportional means that as one variable increases, the other variable increases at
the same rate.

Graph C shows that as the diameter of the blood vessel increases, the coefficient of viscosity also
increases.

53
THE MCAT WEAKNESS FINDER
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transform your MCAT study.

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CHAPTER 2 - BIO/BIOCHEM
CHAPTER 2 - BIO/BIOCHEM

BB CONTENT NOTES
BB1)

Phosphorylases and Kinases = add ATP

Phosphatase = removes ATP

Synthase- type of ligase that catalyzes the synthesis of new molecules

The last two sentences of the second paragraph say that phosphorylation of LC20 is important in
the CBC. Therefore, dephosphorylation of LC20 through a phosphatase would suppress the CBC.

BB2)

Vasoconstriction = decrease in blood vessel diameter

Vasodilation = increase in blood vessel diameter

To answer this question correctly, you need to be able to recognize trends in the data as well as
know what the data is suggesting. As the explanation states, the amount of G-actin is inversely
correlated with that amount of F-actin because the G-actin decreases in order to form F-actin.
Therefore, it is clear that as the arterial diameter decreases (vasoconstriction), F-actin increases
(measured by decreasing G-actin).

BB3) The role of latrunculin B can be found in the last sentence of paragraph 3, where it states
actin depolymerization is induced by latrunculin B. Therefore, F-actin would depolymerize into
G-actin, so G-actin would increase and F-actin would decrease. No other variables would be
affected.

BB4)

Sympathetic = “Fight or Flight” – increases BP

Parasympathetic = “Rest and Digest” – decreases BP

Answer choice A is incorrect because we would not want blood pressure in the cerebral resistance
vessels to be the same as in the aorta because the cerebral resistance vessels would not be able
to withstand that high of pressure. The purpose of being able to dilate and further constrict is to
moderate blood flow under changing temperature.

Therefore, during sympathetic stimulation when blood flow to the brain has increased, the cerebral
resistance vessels would need to accommodate this change in pressure in order to continue
functioning.

55
 WWW.MYTESTINGSOLUTION.COM

BB5)

Microtubules: structural support & cell movement, most likely to be referenced in context of cell
division

Microfilaments: Actin

Intermediate filaments: various types including keratin, desmin, lamins. This is the most
ambiguous of the 4 choices in this high-yield answer set, eliminate around this one.

Thick filaments: Myosin

BB6) The second to last sentence in the second paragraph says that LC20 is phosphorylated.
Therefore, we would expect an amino acid with a hydroxyl group to be there because these are
the only amino acids that can be phosphorylated. These amino acids include serine, threonine and
tyrosine.

Click here to see the Appendix on Amino Acid Structure for more detail!

BB7) Answer choices A and D can be eliminated because the weight of the Gpcr43 -/- should be
higher than the WT when fed a high fat diet according to Figure 1. As the explanation states, the
germ-free mice would gain more weight than conventional mice for the WT strain, but not for the
Gpcr43 -/-.

BB8) Transmembrane = hydrophobic

Click here to see the Appendix on Amino Acid Structure for more detail!

BB9) Gpcr43 knock out mice have been shown to have a higher body weight than WT mice in Figure
1. Therefore, one could expect that overexpressing Gpcr43 would lead to LESS body fat compared
to WT mice. Therefore, we would expect mice with this phenotype to remain leaner when fed a
high fat diet.

BB10) The bars for WT and Gpcr43 -/- when insulin is present (the last 4 bars) show the reason for
the correct answer. Bar 5 and bar 6 show a significant decrease in radioactive glucose uptake when
acetate is present for the WT mice, but bars 7 and 8 show no significant difference in the Gpcr43 -/-.

56
CHAPTER 2 - BIO/BIOCHEM
CH
H AA PPTTEERR 2 2 - -B B
I OI /OB/ IBOICOHCEH
ME M

Make Sure You're Using the Most Up to Date Version of This Document
www.mytestingsolution.com/sb-update

BB11) The first sentence from the third paragraph says that GPCR43 is expressed in the WAT but
not in the muscle or liver. Therefore, we would expect no difference between the two conditions in
the liver, eliminating choice C and D.

Figure 2 shows that when insulin is present with acetate, there is decreased glucose uptake
compared to when acetate is not present. We expect insulin signaling with Akt to be correlated with
radioactive glucose uptake, so answer choice B is the correct answer choice here.

BB12) Adipocytes are fat cells.

Use of antibiotics would create a similar effect as the mice living in a germ-free environment due to
the lack of bacteria.

Therefore, we would expect these mice to have an increased body weight, and an increase in the
volume of adipocytes.

BB13) Click here to see the Appendix on Amino Acid Structure for more detail!

57
 BE AT THE MC AT. GO TO MED SCHOOL .

BB14)

Enantiomers = stereoisomers that are mirror images (differ at all chiral centers)

Diastereomers = stereoisomers that are not mirror images (differ at one or more chiral centers)
enantiomers

H OH O O HO H
HO S OH
R R H H S
HO H H OH

diastereomers
diastereomers

D-crythrose L-crythrose

O HO H
H OH O
HO R OH
R S H
H S

HO H OH
H
D-threose L-threose

enantiomers
Epimers = diastereomers that differ at exactly one chiral center; classic example is sugars

Anomeric carbon = the hemiacetal carbon of a cyclic sugar; this is the carbon which is bonded to
2 oxygens. Alpha and beta designate the two possible configurations around the anomeric carbon.
6
CH2OH CH2OH
5
O O
H H OH
H
4 1
OH H
OH OH
HO OH
3 2
H OH OH

α-D-Glucopyranose β-D-Glucopyranose

BB15) Osmotic pressure is due to the number of particles found in the solution

Concentration (M) x # ions formed

MgCl2 would generate 3 ions, which would lead to a 0.3 M solution

NaCl would generate 2 ions, which would lead to a 0.4 M solution
CaCl2 would generate 3 ions, which would lead to a 0.6 M solution
Glucose would cannot generate any ions, so it would have 0.5 M solution

58
CHAPTER 2 - BIO/BIOCHEM
CH
H AA PPTTEERR 2 2 - -B B
I OI /OB/ IBOICOHCEH
ME M

BB16) Neurons and muscles phsyiology are high-yield and well worth your time to memorize!

Action potential
+40
+
Na ions in
3

Repolariz
tion a
0 2

lariz
Voltage (mV)

+
K ions out

ation
Depo
Threshold Failed
-55 5
initiations
Resting state
-70
5 Stimulus
1
4

Hyperpolarization
0 1 2 3 4 5
Time (ms)

Action potential
Depolarization

2 Na + Axon
segment

Action potential
K+
Repolarization

K+

K+ Action potential
Resturn to Resting
State

5 Na +

K+
59
 WWW.MYTESTINGSOLUTION.COM

1 ACTION POTENTIAL 2 DEPOLARIZATION OF 3 Ca2+ TRIGGERS RELEASE 4 NEUTRANSMITTER BINDS

REACHES PRESYNAPTIC PRESYNAPTIC TERMINAL OF NEUROTRANSMITTER TO RECEPTOR SITES ON
TERMINAL. OPENS ION CHANNELS, FROM VESICLES. POSTSYNAPTIC MEMBRANE
ALLOWING Ca2+ INTO CELL.

POSTSYNAPTIC
CHANNEL
RECEPTORS

ACTION POTENTIAL
5 OPENING AND CLOSING OF
CHANNELS CAUSE CHANGE
Ca2+ IN POSTSYNAPTIC
MEMBRANE POTENTIAL
PRESYNAPTIC
VESICLE FUSED
CELL WITH MEMBRANE
NEUTRANSMITTER ACTION POTENTIAL
FILLED VESICLE

PRESYNAPTIC
TERMINAL
POSTSYNAPTIC
MEMBRANE
NEUROTRANSMITTER
REUPTAKE
NEUROTRANSMITTER
ENZYME DEGRADATION
6 ACTION POTENTIAL
PROPAGATES THROUGH
NEXT CELL

POSTSYNAPTIC 7 NEUTROTRANSMITTER
IS INACTIVATED OR
CELL TRANSPORTED BACK INTO
PRESYNAPTIC TERMINAL

Mitochondria

Sarcolemma

Nucleus

T tubule

Terminal cisterna

Triad

Sarcoplasmic Retriculum

60
 CHAPTER 2 - BIO/BIOCHEM

Nerve Action Potential

2
ACh diffuses across the cleft, binds to it’s
receptors in the motor end plate, and triggers
the muscle action potential (AP)
Muscle
Action Potential

3 Muscle AP traveling along T tubule

ACh opens Ca2+ release channels in
the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR),
which allows calcium ions to flood
out of the SR into the sarcoplasm.

1 Nerve impulse arrives at axon

terminal of motor neuron
2+

and triggers release of

acetylcholine (ACh).

T-Tubule
ACh receptor T-Tubule
Troponin
Thin Actin Filament
4 Calcium binds to troponin, causing a
Ca2+ Binding Site
conformational change in tropomysoin
revealing the myosin-binding site on
the thin actin filaments, allowing the
thick myosin head to bind

Tropomyosin Ca2+
Myosin Binding Site

5
1) Myosin head attaches to actin
2) Myosin head pivots pulling on actin
Elevated
3) Myosin head detaches from actin
4)
+2 ATP splits, cocking the myosin head
Ca 1

6 Ca 2+release cannels in SR close and

Ca2+ active transport pumps use ATP
to restore low level of
calcium ions in sarcoplasm
Myosin head ADP
(high-energy
configuration) P
1

Myosin Binding Site P

Thin Actin Filament (ino anicP
1

ADP and
Tropomyosin (ino ce)
1

re
1

e)
relesed
1

ADP Thick Myosin Filament ADP ADP and P

ATP (inorganic
1

hydrolysis P P phosphate)
released
1
1

P
ATP
P
ATP ATP
Myosin head
ATP (low-energy
configuration)

61
 BE AT THE MC AT. GO TO MED SCHOOL .

Sarcomere

A Band

M Line Titin
Thick Myosin Filament
Thin Actin Filament

Z Disc M Line Z Disc

MYOFIBRIL

I Band A Band I Band

62
 CHAPTER 2 - BIO/BIOCHEM
CH
H AA PPTTEERR 2 2 - -B B
I OI /OB/ IBOICOHCEH
ME M

Troponin
Thin Actin Filament
Ca2+ Binding Site

Ca2+ binds to the Ca2+ Binding Site on

Troponin, causing a conformational
change in Tropomyosin that reveals
Myosin Binding Sites on the Thin Actin
Tropomyosin Ca2+ Filament. Once the Myosin Binding
Myosin Binding Site
Sites are revealed, the Myosin Heads
are able to bind to the Myosin Binding
Sites on the Thin Actin Filament
allowing contraction to begin.

1
Myosin cross bridge attaches
to the action myofilament

Myosin head ADP

(high-energy
configuration) P
1

Myosin Binding Site

Thin Actin Filament
Tropomyosin

ADP Thick Myosin Filament ADP ADP and P

ATP (inorganic
1

hydrolysis P P phosphate)
released
1
1

4 2 Working strokes - the myosin

As ATP is split into ADP and P, head pivots and bends as it pulls
cocking of the myosin head occurs on the actin filament sliding
it toward the M line

ATP
Myosin head
ATP (low-energy
configuration)

3 As new ATP attaches to the

myosin head, the cross bridge
detaches

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BB17) Restriction enzymes cut at palindromic sequences, which are the sequences that will be
the same when read 5’ to 3’ on complementary strands (note: these are NOT the same as regular
palindromes)

Answer choice B does not have a point mutation in it so it can be eliminated. Answer choices C and
D do not result in the change in a palindromic sequence, so they can be eliminated.

A Southern blot is a technique used to analyze DNA, and the DNA must be digested into fragments
with restriction enzymes in order to have the DNA in small enough fragments to analyze.

BB18) Nucleotides are connected by the “sugar-phosphate backbone”

All of the answer choices for this question have phosphorus as the first element in the bond,
therefore we must assume the enzyme is cleaving part of the phosphate bond. As shown in the
diagram, phosphorus is bonded to oxygen on all sides, so the correct answer must be D.

NH2
N N
5’ end H Adenine
photosphate N H
N
- - =

O
O O CH2 O O
Purine bases

O
H H N NH
H H Guanine
H H N NH2
N
- - =

deoxyribose O
O O CH2 O NH2
O
H H H N Cytosine
H H H
H N o
- - =

O Pyrimidine
HOCH2 O OH O O CH2 O O bases
O CH3 H
H H N Thymine
H H H (in DNA)
HO OH H H N O
- - =

O
Ribose (in RNA) O O CH2 O
O O
H H H
H N
H H
H
N O
H
Uracil (in RNA)

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BB19) HIV is a retrovirus, which uses reverse transcriptase to convert its RNA genome into
vDNA

Retroviruses have RNA genomes, and are able to replicate through RNA -> DNA -> RNA -> protein.
Therefore, we can conclude that the original viral genome would be the same sequence as the
transcribed mRNA because vDNA is made from the original RNA sequence, then mRNA is made
from that vDNA.

BB20) Other than knowing the principles that apply to competitive inhibitors, one lesson we can
learn from this question is the importance of keeping information from the passage clear!

With so many acronyms in this question, it would be smart to write out what each one means prior
to trying to answer the question, such as:

ODN= competitive inhibitor

vDNA= substrate
IN= enzyme

After writing these out, we know that we can test how inhibitors work by keeping the enzyme
concentration constant, then vary the substrate concentration in the presence and absence of
the inhibitor. This will provide information about how the Km and Vmax change, which can help
identify the type of inhibitor, as listed below.

The Lineweaver-Burk plots for inhibition

inhibitor inhibitor inhibitor

1/ V no inhibitor 1/ V no inhibitor 1/ V no inhibitor

1/ Vmax -1/ KM
slope= KM/Vmax

1 / [S] 1 / [S] 1 / [S]

Competitive Uncompetitive Noncompetitive
inhibition inibition inhibition
KM increased KM reduced KM Unaffected
Vmax unaffected Vmax reduced Vmax reduced

Check out "The 7 CARS Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes" in Appendix II of this Document
Click Here to Go to Appendix II

65
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BB21) Refer to the amino acid figure for the structures of aspartate and glutamate.

Knowing the single letter abbreviations for amino acids as well as the structure category is
absolutely essential for getting several questions correct for the MCAT!

Click here to see the Appendix on Amino Acid Structure for more detail!

BB22) Tetramer = 4 subunit protein

The average amino acid residue weighs 110 Da.

For a quick approximation for converting between amino acid residue numbers and molecular
weight, move the decimal place over from the amino acid residue number to the left one space.

For example, a subunit with 288 amino acid residues is approximately 28.8 kDa. This is a rough
approximation, but it will help you eliminate answer choices that are not within range of the
correct answer. As stated, a tetramer contains 4 subunits, so multiplying 28.8 by 4 gives you an
estimate of 115.4 kDa, which is closest to 128 kDa.

BB23)

Native conditions = unchanged

Reducing = breaks disulfide bonds

Denaturing = disrupts all subunit interactions EXCEPT disulfide bonds

(Note that reducing and denaturing are independent, and can also be combined)

BB24) siRNAs inhibit translation by binding to mRNA

BB25) Answer choice A can be eliminated because LRAT does increase STRA6 activity, although it is
not absolutely required. Answer choice B can be eliminated because the conditions with STRA6 had
higher retinol uptake than the control by itself.

Answer choice D can be eliminated because the STRA6 only condition was the third highest for
relative retinol uptake.

BB26) Typically, independent variables are those measured on the x axis and dependent variables
are those measured on the y axis. Relative retinol fluorescence is on the y axis, so we can conclude
this is the dependent variable.

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BB27) As the explanation states, the activity of STRA6 would be only slightly better than the
control without intracellular binding proteins such as LRAT and CRBP-I. We know this because we
can see in Figure 1 the marked increase in retinol uptake activity in STRA6/LRAT and STRA6/CRBP-I
compared to STRA6 alone.

BB28) Figure 2 shows this data by the large difference in relative retinol fluorescence in the STRA6/
LRAT and STRA6 conditions at 4 uM holo-RBP, and less of a difference when the concentration is
0.5 uM.STRA6 alone.

BB29) The liver detoxifies drugs! This is probably the highest yield organ factoid to know.

BB30) If two red beetles are crossed and we have approximately a 3:1 ratio of dominant to
recessive phenotypes, we can assume that two heterozygous individuals were crossed (Rr x Rr) to
produce 1:2:1 ratio of RR:Rr:rr.

If two red beetles are chosen randomly, we have a 1/3 chance of choosing a homozygous
dominant red beetle (RR) and a 2/3 chance of choosing a heterozygous red beetle (Rr), because we
have a 1:2 ratio of RR:Rr for RED beetles.

We can only get brown beetles from the cross if both of the beetles chosen were Rr, which would
lead to a probability of 2/3 x 2/3= 4/9.

Y y
YY Yy
Y

y Yy yy

Phenotypic Ratio

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BB31) cDNA is complementary DNA, which is reverse transcribed from mRNA (meaning it has
had the introns removed)

Answer choice B is incorrect because exon 3 would only be in one of the isoforms, and the
question asks us which technique will test for both isoforms.

Answer choice C is incorrect because genomic DNA will contain introns, which would not be helpful
for this question because we are looking specifically at exons.

Answer choice D is incorrect because a restriction digest against a portion of exon 2 would only
allow us to test for that one exon, and not exon 3 as well.

BB32) Kd is the dissociation constant, which is inversely related to the binding affinity (i.e. smaller
KD means a stronger binding affinity).

Affinity = 1/Kd

Reaction velocity = kcat

Nothing on this graph tells us anything about the molecular weight for the enzymes.

Isoelectric point is the pH at which the protein carries no net electrical charge.

Cooperativity = Hill coefficient.

A Hill coefficient >1 indicates cooperativity, whereas normal binding will have a Hill coefficient of
1. The classic example of cooperative binding is between oxygen and hemoglobin.

100%

80%
percent saturation

60%

40%

20%

0%
01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0 100
Po2 (mm Hg)

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Make Sure You're Using the Most Up to Date Version of This Document
www.mytestingsolution.com/sb-update

BB33) Lineweaver-Burke plots will frequently show up on the MCAT, so we recommend being
comfortable with how different inhibitors change the shape of the plot! We have the three main
types here for a quick reference.

The Lineweaver-Burk plots for inhibition

inhibitor inhibitor inhibitor

1/ V no inhibitor 1/ V no inhibitor 1/ V no inhibitor

1/ Vmax -1/ KM
slope= KM/Vmax

1 / [S] 1 / [S] 1 / [S]

Competitive Uncompetitive Noncompetitive
inhibition inibition inhibition
KM increased KM reduced KM Unaffected
Vmax unaffected Vmax reduced Vmax reduced

BB34) There are several pieces of information in the passage and figure that can help you answer
this question correctly. First, we know this is an intracellular bacteria because the first sentence in
the paragraph says that it can gain entry into host cells.

As the explanation states, the purpose of the antibiotic is to kill bacteria that did not enter the host
cells after 2 hours had passed.

Answer choice B is incorrect because nothing in the passage would lead us to believe 5 hours after
collection optimal infection time.

Answer choice D is incorrect because new bacteria would not be entering the cells due to the
antibiotic in the media that would kill bacteria that are not inside of the host cells.

BB35) Click here to see the Appendix on Amino Acid Structure for more detail!

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BB36) Answer choice A may seem similar to answer choice C, but there is only one single best
answer for the MCAT!

The passage describing experiment 1 says that the cells were incubated for two hours, and then
data collection began after the new media was added. Therefore, the experimenters are measuring
the time when samples are collected, and not the time that the bacteria were exposed (which is
technically two hours longer than the time points on the graph in Figure 1).

Independent and Dependent

Variables

y ρ δ
A Lε
α
R G
μ
ν
B ι E
dependent

independent

On a graph -
The independet variable is on the horizontal or x-axis.
The dependent variable is on the vertical or y-axis.

In experiments -
The independet variable is what researchers are changing
- The runner’s training program.
The dependent variable is what is being measured
- How fast a runner completes the marathon.

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BB37) Click here to see the Appendix on Amino Acid Structure for more detail!

BB38) Western blot analysis uses specific antibodies against proteins to test for the presence of
them in solution. Western blot analysis can also be quantitative, meaning we can measure the
amount of protein present (as long as the detector is not “saturated”).

Aldolase is a loading control, meaning it can show us if the same amount of sample was loaded
into each well before the sample was run. The loading controls should always have the same
amount, and if those differ the experiment is invalid. The top band, “GTP-Rac” is the specific
variant that we are testing for.

The “Total Rac” can tell us if Rac expression is affected by a specific mutant being present, and we
would expect there to be the same amount in each lane if expression does not change based on
which variant is there.

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BB39) One trick that I have for remembering the structures of the deoxynucleotides uses
carbon 6 for the purines, and carbon 4 for the pyrimidines (usually the carbons at the top of the
six-membered ring for each base type).

Adenosine comes before Guanosine in the alphabet, and Nitrogen comes before Oxygen in
the alphabet. Therefore, adenosine is the base the has nitrogen in the carbon 6 position, and
guanosine is the base that has oxygen in the carbon 6 position.

Cytosine comes before Thymine in the alphabet, and Nitrogen comes before Oxygen in the
alphabet. Therefore, cytosine is the base the has nitrogen in the carbon 4 position, and thymine is
the base that has oxygen in the carbon 4 position.

Because the MCAT usually does not put fictional structures on their exams, and you only need to
recognize the structure, not recall, this is a quick way to memorize the structures well enough for
the MCAT!

Purines Pyrimidines
NH2 O NH2 O O
H3C
N7 N7 H H H
5
6
1
N 5
6
1
N 5
4
3
N 5
4
3
N 5
4
3
N
8 8
4 2 4 2 6 2 6 1 2 6 1 2
N N
9 3 9 3 1

N N NH2 N O N O N O
R R R R R
Adenine Guanine Cytosine Uracil Thymine

NH2
N N
5’ end H Adenine
photosphate N H
N
- - =

O
O O CH2 O O
Purine bases

O
H H N NH
H H Guanine
H H N NH2
N
- - =

deoxyribose O
O O CH2 O NH2
O
H H H N Cytosine
H H H
H N o
- - =

O Pyrimidine
HOCH2 O OH O O CH2 O O bases
O CH3 H
H H N Thymine
H H H (in DNA)
HO OH H H N O
- - =

O
Ribose (in RNA) O O CH2 O
O O
H H H
H N
H H
H
N O
H
Uracil (in RNA)
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BB40) Isoelectric focusing uses protein samples, not nucleic acid samples, so PCR would not be a
technique used for this question, eliminating answer choice A.

In isoelectric focusing, we want the proteins to run in their native configuration and native charge,
eliminating answer choices C and D.

The stable pH gradient would allow the protein to travel to the pH that is the same as the protein’s
pI (isoelectric point), so answer choice B is the correct answer.

SDS gives all proteins a negative charge

Isoelectric focusing separates based on isoelectric point

Separation of protein molecules by isoelectric focusing

4 At low pH,
the protein

5 is positively
charged
Stable pH gradient

6
7
8
9 At high pH,
the protein
is negatively
10 charged

Ion-exchange chromatography includes anion and cation exchange chromatography. Both use
NaCl to elute bound ions from the column.

Anion exchange: Binds anions; chromatography column itself is positively charged.

Cation exchange: Binds cations; chromatography column itself is negatively charged.

Affinity chromatography is a class of chromatography which separates based on highly specific

interactions

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BB41) In both of these experiments, the experimenters are testing specifically for the presence
of phosphorylated CREB327WT, with specific antibodies (for the SDS-PAGE in Figure 1) and
radiolabeled ATP (for isoelectric focusing in Figure 2) that will only show the presence of the protein
if it has been phosphorylated.

Because of this, we know that a band means that CREB327WT was phosphorylated. In both
figures, we only see a band in PKA, and PKA + GSK-3, meaning that PKA must be present in order
for phosphorylation by GSK-3 to happen.

BB42) Both tyrosine and threonine are able to be phosphorylated, so these substitutions would
not be useful for the experimental purposes. Although glutamate cannot be phosphorylated, it
adds a negative charge to the protein due to its side chain, and this could impact the overall charge
and behavior of the protein. Alanine is neutral and non-polar, making it the perfect substitute for
an experiment attempting to remove a phosphorylation site.

Click here to see the Appendix on Amino Acid Structure for more detail!

BB43) Alternative splicing generates isoforms of proteins from the same gene, by using different
combinations of exons. Introns are always spliced out.

Exon Exon Exon Exon

DNA 1 2 3 4

Transcription mRNA 1 2 3 4

Alternative Splicing

mRNA - V1 mRNA - V2

1 2 3 2 3 4

Translation
Protein V1 Protein V2

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BB44) For this question, it is important to remember what each variant of CREB327 represents.
CREB327WT is the wildtype variant, meaning that both sites for phosphorylation are available.
CREB327115 means that the serine residue at 115 was changed to a site that cannot be
phosphorylated by GSK-3. CREB327119 means that the serine residue at 119 was changed to a site
that cannot be phosphorylated by PKA. Knowing this, we can compare the activity of each variant.

We expect the wildtype to have the highest activity, because both sites available for
phosphorylation. The control means no CREB327 was present, and represents the conversion
activity of Chl to Chl-A in the absence of enzyme. Because CREB327119 has activity close to the
control value, and CREB327115 is partially activated, we can assume that PKA at least partially
activates CREB327, whereas GSK-3 cannont.

BB45) The question stem says that PKA and GSK-3 are known to autophosphorylate, not CREB327
autophosphorylation (which would be answer choice A).

Answer choice C is incorrect because without ATP present there would be no way of adding a
phosphate group. 13

Answer choice D is incorrect for the same reasons as above.

BB46)

There are four main types of tissue in the human body:

Epithelial - cover body surfaces, line internal cavities, and form glands.

Connective – provides support by binding cells and organs together.

Muscle – provides body movement.

Nervous – allows transmission of electrical signals.

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BB47) The scale of a graph is important to remember to look at, because certain conditions can
appear higher just because of the difference in scaling. Graph A’s maximum y value is 4, whereas
graph B’s maximum value is 0.7.

Therefore, we cannot conclude that IgG has a higher affinity for either one because the difference
in scale changes the size of the bars (making answer choice B incorrect).

Saturation would mean there is no more increase in fluorescence even with an increase in
concentration. Because fluorescence increased between 5 ug and 10 ug for FSH binding FSH-Ab,
we cannot conclude the binding site was saturated, making answer choice C incorrect.

The affinity of FSH for FSH-Ab is lower than the affinity of FSHpep for FSH-Ab, as indicated by the
higher values for fluorescence for all concentrations, making answer choice D incorrect and answer
choice A correct.

Dissociation Constant Kd

P + L PL

1 [P] [L]
Kd = =
Ka [PL]

the higher the binding affinity, the smaller Kd

Example: Ka=106 M-1 Ka=10-6 M

MAKE EVERY MCAT STUDY SESSION HIGH-YIELD.

The MCAT Weakness Finder is an analytics powerhouse that uses your performance on
the 2,000+ Official AAMC questions to pinpoint your exact, individualized weaknesses.

It will tell you exactly where your weaknesses are on the official AAMC content outline
down to the smallest level of detail so you can target your study to your weakest,
high-yield areas. This is the literal definition of studying smarter, not harder.

www.mytestingsolution.com/mcat-weakness-finder

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BB48) Because we know that FSH-Ab binds FSHpep with higher affinity than FSH, we need to look
for an answer choice that would either explain why FSHpep is better, or why FSH is worse.

Answer choice A is incorrect because we have no reason to assume that the antibody would bind
non-specifically to the peptide and not the fully folded protein.

Answer choice B is incorrect because IgG and FSH-Ab are not added to the same tubes so they
cannot be competitive inhibitors for each other.

Answer choice C is incorrect because a cooperative binding would improve the binding affinity, and
we know that FSH has worse binding affinity than FSHpep.

Amino acids

Primary protain structure

sequence of a chain of
animo acid

Alpha helix

Pleated sheet Secondary protain structure

hydrogen bonding of the
peptide backbone causes
the amino acids to fond into
a repeating pattern

Tertiary protein structure

three-dimensional folding
pattern of a protein due to
side chain interactions

Quaternary protein structure

protein consisting of more
than one amino acid chain

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BB49) One quick way to assess amino acid substitutions is to find which answer choice is different
than the others. All of the other answer choices substitute one category of amino acid (such as
acidic, basic, nonpolar, or polar), with another of the same category.

Answer choice B is the only one to substitute one category of amino acid for another. Without even
knowing what effect this amino acid substitution could have on the protein, we still know this is
the only one that is different from the others. After identifying the different answer choice, we
can then read the question stem again to make sure that the answer choice makes sense with the
context of the question, which it does.

Click here to see the Appendix on Amino Acid Structure for more detail!

BB50) Treatment effectiveness can only be measured in clinical trials.

Creating peptides of certain portions of proteins can help experimenters validate their
experiments, because it acts as a positive control for the binding region if the experiment is
working properly. As the explanation states, there would be no value for determining treatment
because the fully folded protein is the protein we would have in our bodies, not the positive control
peptide version.

BB51)

Peptide hormones are hydrophilic and soluble in blood; they do not require transport proteins.

Steroid proteins are hydrophobic and insoluble in blood; they require transport proteins.

BB52)

Native conditions = unchanged

Reducing = breaks disulfide bonds

Denaturing = disrupts all subunit interactions EXCEPT disulfide bonds

(Note that reducing and denaturing are independent, and can also be combined)

BB53) Phosphodiester bonds are found in nucleic acids. All others are found in proteins.See C/P 87.

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BB53) Phosphodiester bonds are found in nucleic acids. All others are found in proteins.

NH2
N N
5’ end H Adenine
photosphate N H
N

- - =
O
O O CH2 O O
Purine bases

O
H H N NH
H H Guanine
H H N NH2
N

- - =
deoxyribose O
O O CH2 O NH2
O
H H H N Cytosine
H H H
H N o
- - =
O Pyrimidine
HOCH2 O OH O O CH2 O O bases
O CH3 H
H H N Thymine
H H H (in DNA)
HO OH H H N O
O - - =
Ribose (in RNA) O O CH2 O
O O
H H H
H N
H H
H
N O
H
Uracil (in RNA)

Salt-bridge interactions – ionic (charged) interactions

Lysine Lysine
O O
Electrostatic Hydrogen
Interactions NH Bonding NH

O O H
H 3N N
HN O HN O H H

O O
Glutamic Acid Glutamic Acid

Hydrogen bonds –

H H

O H O
H
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Covalent Bond: The sharing of electrons

The goal is to achieve a set of 8 valence electrons

F F F F

Each fluorine atom has 7 valence electrons. A covalen bond completes the octet for both.

O
H O H
H H

Oxygen has only 6 valence electrons. It can make 2 covalent bonds.

Causes of Hydrophobic Interaction

The non-polar substance like fat molecules tend to clump up together rather
than distributing itselt in a water medium, because this allow the fat molecules
to have minimal contact with water.

+
Hydrophobic

Hydrophylic
Water Molecule

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BB54) Mixed inhibition will always decrease Vmax, but can increase or decrease Km.

One simple mnemonic that I have for remembering what effect uncompetitive inhibitors have on
the Vmax and Km is that uncompetitive inhibitors lead to both variables being “under” for both,
meaning lower for both.

If both the Vmax and Km decrease, then the slope for the Lineweaver-Burk plot would be
unchanged because the decrease is proportional.

The Lineweaver-Burk plots for inhibition

inhibitor inhibitor inhibitor

1/ V no inhibitor 1/ V no inhibitor 1/ V no inhibitor

1/ Vmax -1/ KM
slope= KM/Vmax

1 / [S] 1 / [S] 1 / [S]

Competitive Uncompetitive Noncompetitive
inhibition inibition inhibition
KM increased KM reduced KM Unaffected
Vmax unaffected Vmax reduced Vmax reduced
3-Uncompetitive Inhibition

1 - No inhibitor
The Lineweaver-Burk plots for inhibition
2 - Uncompetitive
Inhibitor

ν
1 1/V 2

2
1
VMAX
2
VMAX
2

Km ι Km [S] 1/[S]

Uncompetitive inhibition lowers Km and Vmax

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BB55)

I: Competitive inhibitors would benefit from the substrate concentration being decreased, because
that would mean there is more opportunity for the inhibitor to bind to the active site rather than
the substrate.

II: Uncompetitive inhibitors would benefit from the substrate concentration being increased
because the inhibitor binds to the ES complex, so more ES is formed with the substrate
concentration is increased.

III: All inhibitors will benefit from the inhibitor concentration being increased.

How an enzyme-catalyzed reaction’s supposed to go

find it bind it change it let it go do it again
E+S ES EP E+P E+S

How enzyme inhibitors get in the way

Competitive Inhibitor Irreversible inhibitor
kon kcat kon kcat
E+S ES E+P E+S ES E+P
koff koff

EI EI

I binds E - competes for No 2-way arrow here-with

substrate, but can fall out an irreversible inhibitor,
&let substrate bind there’s no going back!

Noncompetitive inhibitor Uncompetitive inhibitor

kon kcat kon kcat
E+S ES E+P E+S ES E+P
koff koff

EI ESI ESI

Binds E or ES Binds ES but NOT E

Noncompetitive and Uncompetitive inhibitors do not bind the active site, so there is
no competition, but they do keep the enzyme from turning the substrate into product
They can fall off too so you can dilute them out, unlike an irreversible inhibitor

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BB56) Transmembrane = hydrophobic. See amino acids.

Amino acid structures will come up several times on the MCAT, so know your structures and
categories to score a large portion of your points! It is absolutely essential to have these
memorized to have a high score.

Click here to see the Appendix on Amino Acid Structure for more detail!

BB57) Apoptosis is inversely proportional to tumor growth.

Rb-/- means there is no Rb present, because the gene was knocked out. pRB basal means that Rb is
at normal levels, and pRB means that Rb expression is higher than expected.

For this reason, we can immediately eliminate answer choices A and D because we would expect
the graph to be either increasing across the conditions or decreasing across the conditions because
expression of Rb increases as we go from Rb-/- to pRB basal to pRB induced.

Now we just need to determine if increasing Rb expression will increase or decrease tumor size.
Figure 2 shows that pRB basal has lower apoptosis compared to pRB induced by looking at the first
two bars.

As the explanation states, increased apoptosis would lead to decreased tumor size because this
is an inverse relationship. Therefore, we know that answer choice C is correct because it shows a
decreasing trend with increased expression of Rb.

BB58) Several of these answer choices in this question can be eliminated because they are either
not relevant or they are beyond the scope of MCAT knowledge. We have no reason to assume
that pRB would be translocated to the mitochondria based on the experiments performed in this
passage.

The passage does not discuss the intrinsic vs extrinsic apoptotic pathway and this is not required
MCAT knowledge so this question is beyond the scope of the test.

Answer choice C is incorrect because TNF-α- stimulated apoptosis correlated positively with
induced pRB levels in Bak-/- cells, as shown by the larger bar for induced pRB compared to basal
pRB for the TNF-α stimulated cells.

BB59) Answer choice A could help determine localization because the cells can be visualized with
microscopy and the fluorescent tag can be identified.

Answer choice C could be used because cellular fractionation is a common technique for
determining specific proteins in organelles.

Answer choice D could be used because knowing what pRB binds to could help identify the location
of its localization, because organelles contain unique, identifiable proteins.

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BB60) One tactic to use for questions that require scientific reasoning is to first eliminate answer
choices, and then apply scientific reasoning to the remaining answer choices. I find this to be easier
because it requires less variables to consider and can also be a quicker way to the answer! Being a
smart test taker can be just as valuable as having the knowledge for how to answer questions.

Test taking logic:

Questions that ask for the highest or lowest level of anything will almost always have a correct
answer that is also the highest or lowest level of its group. For example, we know that we have
to look at figure 2 for this question because all of the answer choices are factors that are on the
x-axis of figure 2. RB_N and RB_C are both the lowest values on the graph and are not statistically
different, so the answer is likely not either of these because there is no difference between the two
and we can only select one answer choice. RB_SP has the highest value for percent apoptosis on
the graph, giving us a clue that it may be the correct answer.

Now that you have identified an answer choice that is on one of the “poles” (i.e., either the highest
or lowest variable), you can apply your scientific knowledge to see if the answer choice makes
sense. Rhodamine 123 identifies polarized membranes, so we would expect its level to be lowest
in depolarized membranes. All membranes are normally polarized at equilibrium, so we would
expect membranes to be depolarized under different conditions. Apoptosis is a condition that is
not normal equilibrium for the cell, so it makes sense that during high levels of apoptosis, we would
see high levels of depolarization meaning low levels of rhodamine 123. Answer choice C still makes
the most sense when we apply our scientific logic, so we know it is the correct answer!

https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/cells/cellular-development/v/
mitochondria-apoptosis-and-oxidative-stress

BB61) Paragraph 1 states that the caspase activator is cytochrome c. This is a protein in the
electron transport chain, so the correct answer choice is D because its function is electron
transport

https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/cells/cellular-development/v/
mitochondria-apoptosis-and-oxidative-stress

BB62) https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/cells/cellular-development/v/
mitochondria-apoptosis-and-oxidative-stress

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BB63)

Nuclear localization domain = sends protein to the nucleus.

Signal sequence domain = allows proteins to enter the rough endoplasmic reticulum, in order to
be involved in the cell’s membrane system or be secreted from the cell.

As the passage states, this protein is located in the nucleus, so it would need a specific sequence
for it to “locate” there. It would not need a “signal sequence” because this would signal for it to
locate to the rough ER! Proteins will likely not have both a nuclear localization domain as well as
a single sequence because these sequences are in conflict with each other as they signal for the
protein to be transported to two different locations within the cell.

BB64) For this question, we have to identify a mutation that would potentially lead to upregulation
of leptin signaling. Most of the time, a mutation would lead to a downregulated signal if a binding
site is removed, and most of these amino acid locations appear to be crucial binding sites.
Therefore, we should look for which protein causes negative regulation of the pathway, because
interrupting this process would lead to upregulation of the pathway.

The final paragraph says that LEPRb blocks recruitment of STAT3, which is the important nuclear
factor in this pathway.

Therefore, removing the binding site in LEPRb would actually cause an increase in leptin signaling,
because we removed the negative regulator of the pathway. Y985 is said to be the amino acid
critical for this protein, making answer choice C the best answer choice.

Click here to see the Appendix on Amino Acid Structure for more detail!

BB65) Cell differentiation is a result of different cell types having unique expression of genes, such
as those which encode transcription factors. All cells share the same genomic DNA. Therefore, all
cells would have the ob gene, the promoter for the ob gene, and the enhancers for the ob gene.

BB66) An amino acid that has the same chemical properties as the original amino acid is likely to
have the least impact on the protein function if it was substituted. Glutamine and asparagine are
both polar, uncharged amino acids that differ only by one extra carbon. Therefore, answer choice C
is the correct answer.

Click here to see the Appendix on Amino Acid Structure for more detail!

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BB67) In addition to the reasons given in the AAMC explanation, there are unlikely to be positively
charged amino acids (C) or negatively charged amino acids (D) at the dimerization interface of any
protein, because positively charged amino acids would repel other positively charged amino acids,
and likewise for negatively charged amino acids.

Salt-bridge interactions – ionic (charged) interactions

Lysine Lysine
O O
Electrostatic Hydrogen
Interactions NH Bonding NH

O O H
H 3N N
HN O HN O H H

O O
Glutamic Acid Glutamic Acid

Hydrogen bonds –

H H

O H O
H

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Covalent Bond: The sharing of electrons

The goal is to achieve a set of 8 valence electrons

F F F F

Each fluorine atom has 7 valence electrons. A covalen bond completes the octet for both.

O
H O H
H H

Oxygen has only 6 valence electrons. It can make 2 covalent bonds.

Causes of Hydrophobic Interaction

The non-polar substance like fat molecules tend to clump up together rather
than distributing itselt in a water medium, because this allow the fat molecules
to have minimal contact with water.

+
Hydrophobic

Hydrophylic
Water Molecule

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BB68) Different isoforms of the same protein are almost always made due to alternative splicing,
which uses different exons from the same gene to create different forms of the same protein. This
gene has one promoter because it is still considered one gene.

Exon Exon Exon Exon

DNA 1 2 3 4

Transcription mRNA 1 2 3 4

Alternative Splicing

mRNA - V1 mRNA - V2

1 2 3 2 3 4

Translation
Protein V1 Protein V2

BB69) Covalently-linked = Disulfide bonds between subunits

Affinity = 1/Kd

The covalently linked bond mentioned in answer choice C is a disulfide bond. This kind of bond is
broken during reducing conditions of SDS-PAGE but not during non-reducing conditions. Therefore,
it is reasonable to assume that the variant form of the protein contained disulfide bonds between
www.mytestingsolution.com/sb-update
the 50 and 20 KDa subunits, which is what lead to the ~70 kDa single band in the variant lane of Gel
A.

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BB70) SDS gives all proteins a negative charge, and therefore only separates proteins based on
size because their relative charge should all be the same!

Isoelectric focusing separates proteins based on charge. It separates the proteins based on the
isoelectric point, which is where the pI of the protein= pH of solution. The pI is dependent on the
charged groups of the proteins.

Separation of protein molecules by isoelectric focusing

4 At low pH,
the protein

5 is positively
charged
Stable pH gradient

6
7
8
9 At high pH,
the protein
is negatively
10 charged

Ion-exchange chromatography includes anion and cation exchange chromatography. Both use
NaCl to elute bound ions from the column.

Anion exchange: Binds anions; chromatography column itself is positively charged.

Cation exchange: Binds cations; chromatography column itself is negatively charged.

Affinity chromatography is a class of chromatography which separates based on highly specific

interactions

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BB71) The Krebs || Tricarboxylic Acid (TCA) || Citric Acid (CAC) Cycle

O
C
Mitochondria
H₃C SCoA
CoASH
Acetyl-CoA

Citrate synthase
H2O
Oxaloacetate Citrate

NADH +H+
H2O
NAD+ Malate Aconitase
dehydrogenase

Malate Aconitate

H2O

Tricarboxylic
Fumarase Aconitase
H2O

Fumarate
Acid Cycle Isocitrate

Succnate Isocitrate NAD+

FADH2 dehydrogenase dehydrogenase
NADH+H+
CO2
FAD

Succinate α-Ketoglutarate
Succinyl-CoA α-ketoglutarate
Synthetase dehydrogenesa
NAD+
GTP
Succinyl-CoA CO2 NADH+H+
GDP

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BB72)

Oxidative Stage of the Pentose

Phosphate Pathway
Glucose

NADP NADPH NADP NADPH + CO2

Glycolysis

Glucose-6-photosphate 6-Phosphogluconolactone 6-Phosphogluconate Ribulose-5-Phosephate

Fructose-6-photosphate Non-oxidative
reactions
Cytosol

Cytosol Glucose

ATP Glycogenolysis
Hexokinase | Glucokinase
ADP Pi

Glucose-6-photosphate Glucose-1-photosphate Glycogen

Phosphoglucomutase Glycogen
Glycolysis

Phosphorylase

Lactate Alanine

NAD++Pi LDH ALT

NADH+H+

Pyruvate
Outer Membrane

Inner Membrane
Pyruvate
Pyruvate
Dehydrogenase

Acetyl-CoA

Mitochondria TCA Cycle

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BB73) Catalytic efficiency = kcat/Km

In addition to knowing the equation for catalytic efficiency, you can also double check your work
with ensuring you have the correct units.

If you divide Vmax by KM, your units would be mol*min-1/M. Written out this would be: mol/min *
L/mol, giving us L/min when you cross out the mol units.

Catalytic efficiency is a measure of the amount of conversion per time, so these units would work
for catalytic efficiency.

If you had KM as the numerator and Vmax as the denominator, the units would have been min/L,
which would not have made sense.

BB74)

Kd is a measure of the tendency to dissociate from an enzyme or receptor, and in this case, we are
talking about a receptor.

A higher Kd means that it is more likely to dissociate, and a lower Kd means it is less likely to
dissociate.

In this question, we are looking for which variants lead to a different Kd than the wild-type,
because this would mean an amino acid change has led to weaker or tighter binding. W140L,
D201N, and A269K all lead to a large change in the Kd compared to the WT, so we can assume
those amino acid residues are important to binding to prorenin.

BB75)

The Lineweaver-Burk plots for inhibition

inhibitor inhibitor inhibitor

1/ V no inhibitor 1/ V no inhibitor 1/ V no inhibitor

1/ Vmax -1/ KM
slope= KM/Vmax

1 / [S] 1 / [S] 1 / [S]

Competitive Uncompetitive Noncompetitive
inhibition inibition inhibition
KM increased KM reduced KM Unaffected
Vmax unaffected Vmax reduced Vmax reduced

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BB76)

Strategy tip: Knowing how certain drugs work is not the purpose of this question. Instead, the
MCAT wants to test your reasoning skills by seeing if you can understand the mechanism of a
new concept through the passage, then apply it to a set of data to see if you understand the
relationships. In questions like this, I highly recommend writing on a scratch paper the function
of all of components needed to answer a question so that you can keep everything clear when
you are ready to answer the question. This question requires us to understand quite a few
components related to figure 1. An example of what I would write on my scratch paper is:

Empty vector= control

WT-PRR= overexpressed PRR

Control= PBS only

Losartan= angiotensin II receptor INHIBITOR

Prorenin= binds to PRR

ROS level= directly correlated to hypertension

Next, I would systematically look at the differences in each of the bars, and write a statement
about what it means. The AAMC explanation points out the important data to focus on that leads
to the correct answer choice of D.

Angiotensin I Angiotensin II

Angiotensinogen
Lungs
Acts on
Angiotensin converting
Liver Renin Enzyme (ACE) ADrenals

Aldosterone
Sodium & Water
Retention

Heart
Kidney Increased BP

Arteries
Vasoconstriction

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BB77) The amino acid D is aspartate, which has a negative charge. Negatively charged amino acids
tend to interact with positively charged amino acids. Therefore, we can assume that aspartate
would interact with a positively charged amino acid, and the only answer choice that is a positively
charged amino acid is arginine.

BB78)

DNA pol elongates DNA, used in cloning

RNA pol elongates RNA

DNA ligase connects fragments of DNA, used to attach cloned DNA into vectors

Reverse transcriptase uses an RNA to make DNA, used to make cDNA

BB79) Aromatic amino acids have delocalized pi electrons.

The amino acid W is tryptophan, which is one of the aromatic amino acids. Aromatic amino acids
have an aromatic ring, which has a special intermolecular force called pi stacking.

Tryptophan does not have a charge, so answer choice B is incorrect. Leucine is a hydrophobic
amino acid like tryptophan, so the addition of leucine does not add a hydrophobic interaction
because both tryptophan and leucine are hydrophobic.

H H
H H
H H
H H
H H
H H

6 p-orbitals delocalized

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BB80)

Glucose

G6Pase Pi

Glucose-6-photosphate

PGI

Gluconeogensis
Fructose-6-photosphate

F1,6BPase Pi

Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate

Adolase A

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate

(2) Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate
NAD++Pi
GAPDH
NADH+H+
(2) 1,3-Bisphosphoglycerate
ADP
PGK1
ATP
(2) 3- Phosphoglycerate

PGAM1

(2) 2- Phosphoglycerate
Glycolysis
Enolase

Glycogenolysis
(2) Phosphoenolpyruvate
GDP + CO2
PEPCK
GTP Lactate Alanine
Oxaloacetate
NAD++Pi LDH ALT
Malate
Dehydrogenase
NADH+H+
Malate Pyruvate
Outer Membrane Cytosol

Inner Membrane
Malate ATP + CO2 Pyruvate Acetyl-CoA Mitochondria
Pyruvate
Dehydrogenase

Malate Pyruvate
Dehydrogenase Oxaloacetate Carboxylase
TCA Cycle

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Cytosol Glucose

ATP Glycogenolysis
Hexokinase | Glucokinase
ADP Pi

Glucose-6-photosphate Glucose-1-photosphate Glycogen

Phosphoglucomutase Glycogen

Glycolysis
Phosphorylase

Lactate Alanine

NAD++Pi LDH ALT

NADH+H+

Pyruvate
Outer Membrane

Inner Membrane
Pyruvate
Pyruvate
Dehydrogenase

Acetyl-CoA

Mitochondria TCA Cycle

BB81) Acetyl-CoA cannot be used in gluconeogenesis (Pyruvate Dehydrogenase catalyzes an

irreversible reaction)

Cytosol

Gluconeogenesis

Pyruvate
Outer Membrane

Inner Membrane
Malate ATP + CO2 Pyruvate Acetyl-CoA
Pyruvate
Dehydrogenase

Malate Pyruvate
Dehydrogenase Oxaloacetate Carboxylase
TCA Cycle

Mitochondria
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BB82) Adenylate cyclase is the enzyme that makes cAMP, so an increase in one would also lead to
an increase in the other! cAMP is what stimulates protein kinase A, so an increase in cAMP would
also increase protein kinase A. Therefore, the answer choice has to be A because answer choices
B-D all would either increase or decrease together.

GDP GTP

Active G protein
Inactive G protein

GTP GDP

Intracellular
response

BB83)

Insulin = decreases blood sugar

Glucagon = increases blood sugar

In addition to the reasoning given by the AAMC, the passage says that a higher level of insulin
ultimately damages the brain. Glucagon “opposes” insulin, leading to the opposite effect.
Therefore, we can assume that if insulin is damaging, glucagon may have a protective effect.

Check out "The 7 CARS Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes" in Appendix II of this Document
Click Here to Go to Appendix II

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BB84) Glycogenolysis would occur during the first 12 hours.

Cytosol Glucose

ATP Glycogenolysis
Hexokinase | Glucokinase
ADP Pi

Glucose-6-photosphate Glucose-1-photosphate Glycogen

Phosphoglucomutase Glycogen

Glycolysis
Phosphorylase

Lactate Alanine

NAD++Pi LDH ALT

NADH+H+

Pyruvate
Outer Membrane

Inner Membrane
Pyruvate
Pyruvate
Dehydrogenase

Acetyl-CoA

Mitochondria TCA Cycle

BB85) Glycogen linkages:

CH2OH CH2OH
O O
α-1,6 LINKAGE

O O

CH2
CH2OH CH2OH

O O O

O O O

α-1,4 LINKAGE

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BB86) The major substrates of gluconeogenesis are lactate, glycerol, and glucogenic amino
acids. Any intermediate of the Krebs cycle which has passed the rate-limiting step and can proceed
to form oxaloacetate can also be used.

Cytosol
Gluconeogensis
Glucose

Dihydroxyacetone Glycerol-3-
Fructose-1,6-bisphosphate phosphate phosphate

Adolase A

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate Glycerol

Glucose
Proplonyl-Coa
Glycogenolysis
Glycogen
(2) Phosphoenolpyruvate
Glycolysis
Methylmalonyl-CoA GDP + CO2
PEPCK
GTP Lactate Alanine
Succinyl-CoA Oxaloacetate
NAD++Pi LDH ALT
Malate
Dehydrogenase
NADH+H+
Malate Glucogenic Pyruvate
Amino Acids
Outer Membrane

Inner Membrane
Malate ATP + CO2 Pyruvate Acetyl-CoA
Pyruvate
Dehydrogenase

Malate Pyruvate
Dehydrogenase Oxaloacetate Carboxylase
TCA Cycle
Mitochondria

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Oxidative Stage of the Pentose

Phosphate Pathway
Glucose

NADP NADPH NADP NADPH + CO2

Glycolysis

Glucose-6-photosphate 6-Phosphogluconolactone 6-Phosphogluconate Ribulose-5-Phosephate

Fructose-6-photosphate Non-oxidative
reactions
Cytosol

BB87)

Phosphorylase- an enzyme that catalyzes the addition of a phosphate group from an inorganic
phosphate (HPO4)

Kinase- an enzyme that catalyzes the addition of a phosphate group from ATP

Phosphatase- an enzyme that removes a phosphate group

Cyclase- an enzyme that catalyzes a reaction to form a cyclic compound

Acetylase- an enzyme that accelerates the synthesis of acetic esters

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BB88) The name of succinyl-CoA synthetase is misleading! At physiological conditions, succinyl-CoA

synthetase catalyzes the reaction of succinyl-CoA to succinate and GTP. Here is a diagram of the
citric acid cycle as a reminder of the pathway.

The Krebs || Tricarboxylic Acid (TCA) || Citric Acid (CAC) Cycle

O
C
Mitochondria
H₃C SCoA
CoASH
Acetyl-CoA

Citrate synthase
H2O
Oxaloacetate Citrate

NADH +H+
H2O
NAD+ Malate Aconitase
dehydrogenase

Malate Aconitate

H2O

Tricarboxylic
Fumarase Aconitase
H2O

Fumarate
Acid Cycle Isocitrate

Succnate Isocitrate NAD+

FADH2 dehydrogenase dehydrogenase
NADH+H+
CO2
FAD

Succinate α-Ketoglutarate
Succinyl-CoA α-ketoglutarate
Synthetase dehydrogenesa
NAD+
GTP
Succinyl-CoA CO2 NADH+H+
GDP

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BB89) Always remember that the P in NADPH stand for pentose phosphate pathways (PPP)
because this is how it is made! Here is a diagram of the pentose phosphate pathway as a reminder.

NADPH is the reduced form (oxidized form is NADP+) and is used as a reducing agent, primarily
for biosynthetic reactions and protecting against reactive oxygen species.

Oxidative Stage of the Pentose

Phosphate Pathway
Glucose

NADP NADPH NADP NADPH + CO2

Glycolysis

Glucose-6-photosphate 6-Phosphogluconolactone 6-Phosphogluconate Ribulose-5-Phosephate

Fructose-6-photosphate Non-oxidative
reactions
Cytosol

BB90) Mixed inhibition will always decrease Vmax, but can increase or decrease Km.

Competitive inhibitors are unique in that they do not alter the Vmax! This is because at high
The Lineweaver-Burk plots for inhibition
enough concentrations of substate, the inhibitor will be in low enough concentration that the

inhibitor inhibitor inhibitor

1/ V no inhibitor 1/ V no inhibitor 1/ V no inhibitor

1/ Vmax -1/ KM
slope= KM/Vmax

1 / [S] 1 / [S] 1 / [S]

Competitive Uncompetitive Noncompetitive
inhibition inibition inhibition
KM increased KM reduced KM Unaffected
Vmax unaffected Vmax reduced Vmax reduced

BB91) Even though these graphs do not show causation, we can predict that the decreasing MMP
relates to the decreasing cell viability due to the timing of the decreases in both graphs. The relative
MMP decrease precedes the decreasing cell viability, so it is reasonable to assume that they are
likely related.

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BB92) Free radical scavengers protect against ROS.

Lipid peroxidation
Protein Protein

O2 - HO
ONOO
H2O2
Mitochondria

Protein Protein

Nucleus
Enzymes
inactivation DNA fragmentation

Enzymes inactivation
DNA Modification of functional
activuty of receptors
DNA fragmentation
Destruction of protein

BB93) siRNA are small interfering double stranded RNA that are used for RNA interference. The exact
mechanism of siRNA is not important to focus on for the MCAT, but it is important to know the RNA’s
major effect is to decrease RNA synthesis and thereby decrease protein synthesis of a specific target.
Commonly, you need several controls when using siRNA to ensure that:

(I) the siRNA actually affects protein synthesis

(II) the target is specific for the protein of interest

(III) ensure that it’s not only the presence of an siRNA that affects gene expression, but an siRNA
specifically for the target of interest. Even without memorizing this list, you should be able to identify
what sounds reasonable from a list of choices!

Remember the MCAT is not free response, so being able to identify what is reasonable is just as
important as being able to recall a memorized list.

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BB94) Pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDH or PDC) converts pyruvate into acetyl-CoA. It
requires multiple cofactors to function: thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP), lipoate, coA, FAD and
NAD+.

BB95) The third paragraph of this passage has the key information needed to answer this
question. The electron transport chain is a very important concept to know for the MCAT, and
knowing what gradient it creates is essential knowledge.

The ETC creates a high concentration of H+ ions in the mitochondrial intermembrane space
(low pH), so if this gradient was “dissipated” there would be a decrease in H+ ions in the inner
membrane space.

https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/cells/cellular-development/v/

BB96) Transcription and translation are incredibly high yield - please watch and thoroughly learn
from all videos under “DNA”: https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/biomolecules#dna

Videos under “Gene Control” are less important to memorize but are helpful in learning to think
about these processes the way the MCAT expects you to: https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/
mcat/biomolecules#gene-control

This question shows two graphs, and the major difference between these graphs is one measures
the mRNA level of mtKAS, and one measures the protein level of mtKAS.

We can see larger changes in the mRNA level of mtKAS as we increase the concentration of lipoic
acid compared to the protein level of mtKAS.

This leads us to conclude that the mRNA transcription is a larger contributing factor compared to
the translation of proteins, making choice C the best answer choice.

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EXAMPLE OF A NEGATIVE FEEDBACK LOOP

Body Body

-
temperature temperature

+
decreases increases

HEATING COOLING
PROCESS PROCESS
ACTIVATED ACTIVATED
(Shivering) (Sweating)

Body Body

+ -
temperature temperature
increases decreases

+
EXAMPLE OF A POSITIVE FEEDBACK LOOP

Brain stimulates
More oxytocin is pituitaryto secrete
secreted oxytocin

Contractions cause Oxytocin induces

release of prostaglandins contraction

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BB97) The Krebs || Tricarboxylic Acid (TCA) || Citric Acid (CAC) Cycle

O
C
Mitochondria
H₃C SCoA
CoASH
Acetyl-CoA

Citrate synthase
H2O
Oxaloacetate Citrate

NADH +H+
H2O
NAD+ Malate Aconitase
dehydrogenase

Malate Aconitate

H2O

Tricarboxylic
Fumarase Aconitase
H2O

Fumarate
Acid Cycle Isocitrate

Succnate Isocitrate NAD+

FADH2 dehydrogenase dehydrogenase
NADH+H+
CO2
FAD

Succinate α-Ketoglutarate
Succinyl-CoA α-ketoglutarate
Synthetase dehydrogenesa
NAD+
GTP
Succinyl-CoA CO2 NADH+H+
GDP

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BB98) NADPH is the reduced form (oxidized form is NADP+) and is used as a reducing agent,
primarily for biosynthetic reactions and protecting against reactive oxygen species.

Oxidative Stage of the Pentose

Phosphate Pathway
Glucose

NADP NADPH NADP NADPH + CO2

Glycolysis

Glucose-6-photosphate 6-Phosphogluconolactone 6-Phosphogluconate Ribulose-5-Phosephate

Fructose-6-photosphate Non-oxidative
reactions
Cytosol

BB99) The template strand is the template for transcription; the resulting RNA strand will be
similar to the coding strand (but with Us instead of Ts).

A T G A T C T C G T A A
T A C T A G A GC A T T
DNA

A T G A T C T C G T A A Coding strand
Transcription
AU GA U C U
T A C T A G A GC A T T Template strand

A U G A U C U C G U A A Transcript
(RNA)

Translation
Met Ile Ser Polypeptide

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BB100) SNoW DRoP

Southern Blot = DNA

Northern Blot = RNA

Western Blot = Protein

RT-PCR uses reverse transcriptase to create DNA, from RNA which has been spliced for
expression.

Analyzing genomic DNA can never tell you about gene expression, as transcription and
translation have not yet occurred.

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$OC
CHAPTER 3 - PSYCH/SOC

PS CONTENT NOTES
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PS1)

Repression: when the subconscious mind blocks the conscious mind from recalling memories,
especially those that are traumatic

Recall: the mental process of retrieval of past information. “Remembering memories”

We can find the relevant information from the passage in paragraph 3, where they discuss “phase
1” of the research study. Shadowing in this context means to listen to one input and repeat it back
immediately.

Therefore, answer choice A is correct because the participants in this study had to listen to input
from one ear and then immediately repeat it back. Recall is the mental process of retrieval of past
information, which is incorrect because they are only having to repeat information the subjects
immediately heard.

Answer choice D may seem like a good option, but it does not best answer the question. The
question asks what the researchers instructed them to do, which is to shadow the attended ear.
The researchers did not say to repress the information in the unattended ear.

PS2) The last sentence in paragraph 3 states that most errors were when participants were
attending to the left ear, meaning that we should eliminate answer choices A and B because we are
looking for something that could explain why there were more errors from left ear attenuation.

Auditory processing occurs in the contralateral hemisphere of the hearing ear, meaning sound is
processed in the right hemisphere from sounds one hears in their left ear. F

inally, as the AAMC explanation notes, the language hemisphere is the left side of the brain (in
most people). Answer choice D is the only answer choice that correctly explains this pathway.

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AUDITORY CORTEX

MEDIAL MEDIAL
GENICULATE GENICULATE
BODY BODY

INFERIOR INFERIOR
COLLICUPUS COLLICUPUS

COCHLEAR SUPERIOR SUPERIOR COCHLEAR

NUCLEUS OLIVE OLIVE NUCLEUS

COCHLEA COCHLEA

COCHLEA

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PS3) Validity: the extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure. It is also sometimes
called “Accuracy”

A negative correlation means that as one value increases, the other decreases. In this question, as
the number of errors decreases, the successful completion of the training program increases. Also,
it could mean that as the number of errors increases, the successful completion of the training
program decreases. There is not a causal relationship between these two values, as this is purely a
correlation study.

Low accuracy Low accuracy High accuracy High accuracy

Low precision High precision Low precision High precision

PS4) A direct relationship means that two variables do the same thing (i.e. if one increases the other
increases, or if one decreases the other decreases). An inverse relationship means that the two
variables do the opposite thing.

The last paragraph of the passage states that correlations were made using the information from
phase 2, so we can eliminate answer choices A and B.

As error rates increase, it would be logical that accident rates increase based on the findings of this
study. Therefore, this describes a direct relationship, which is answer choice C.

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PS5) Positive correlation vs negative correlation refers to the direction of the correlation (similar
to direct vs inverse).

The strength of a correlation refers to how closely the variables are associated.

Perfect positive High positive Low positive No Low negative High negative Perfect negative
corellation corellation corellation corellation corellation corellation corellation

1 0.9 0.5 0 -0.5 -0.9 -1

For this question, you have to pay close attention to what the question stem is asking. Although
answer choice B is a correct statement, it does not answer the question and is therefore incorrect.

Answer choice A is correct because the study solely wanted to assess which candidates could redirect
attention, which was shown to be accomplished based on the results in the last paragraph.

PS6)

Divided attention: Switching attention between two tasks or stimuli.

Selective attention: Focusing attention on something in particular, while ignoring other stimuli.

Sensory memory is a type of memory that focuses on what you receive from your senses. It is too
broad of a term for the scope of this question and does not focus on attention, which was the main
premise of this study.

Sensory coding is how you encode the sensory inputs into your working memory.

PS7) The table shows us several measures compared in the cocaine exposure group and the control
group, which were other low SES children. Therefore, answer choice C and D can be eliminated
immediately because these groups are not identified in Table 1.

Impulsivity scores were the only scores between the two groups that showed a statistically
significant difference (p < 0.05).

PS8) Often, researchers will compare subjects with similar backgrounds to reduce the variability due
to differences in factors. This is what these researchers did, because comparing the effect of cocaine
exposure to the general population would not take into consideration the differences in SES.

Answer choice A is too extreme of an answer, because it is impossible to eliminate every variable
that could create variability in the results.

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PS9) In a normal distribution, around 68% of the population will be within 1 standard deviation of the
mean. 95% will be within 2 standard deviations, and over 99% will be within 3.

The question asks for a property of a normal distribution, which is explained in answer choice A.

Answer choice B and C are incorrect statements regarding normal distribution.

Answer choice D is incorrect because it does not answer the question about normal distribution, and
also because it contains incorrect information. IQ scores are normalized and compared to subjects
of the same age group. An IQ of 100 is average for all age groups.
Probability Density

Normal distribution

34.13% 34.13%

μ -4 σ μ -3 σ μ -2 σ μ -σ μ μ+2σ μ+3σ μ+4σ

PS10) Frontal lobe: Higher cognitive processes including executive control (decision making/problem
solving), attention, social behavior and impulse control

Hippocampus: Memory

Thalamus: Sensory “relay-center”

Hypothalamus: Homeostasis and hormonal regulation

https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/organ-systems#biological-basis-of-behavior-the-
nervous-system

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PS11) This question asks us to make a prediction for which answer choice would be the best in
providing supporting evidence that cocaine is pharmacologically active. Therefore, the answer choice
would have to be something that could explain why cocaine is ACTIVE.

Answer choice A is the only answer that describes an observation that would mean cocaine is
psychologically active as described in the AAMC’s explanation.

PS12)
1 ACTION POTENTIAL 2 DEPOLARIZATION OF 3 Ca2+ TRIGGERS RELEASE 4 NEUTRANSMITTER BINDS
REACHES PRESYNAPTIC PRESYNAPTIC TERMINAL OF NEUROTRANSMITTER TO RECEPTOR SITES ON
TERMINAL. OPENS ION CHANNELS, FROM VESICLES. POSTSYNAPTIC MEMBRANE
ALLOWING Ca2+ INTO CELL.

POSTSYNAPTIC
CHANNEL
RECEPTORS

ACTION POTENTIAL
5 OPENING AND CLOSING OF
CHANNELS CAUSE CHANGE
Ca2+ IN POSTSYNAPTIC
MEMBRANE POTENTIAL
PRESYNAPTIC
VESICLE FUSED
CELL WITH MEMBRANE
NEUTRANSMITTER ACTION POTENTIAL
FILLED VESICLE

PRESYNAPTIC
TERMINAL
POSTSYNAPTIC
MEMBRANE
NEUROTRANSMITTER
REUPTAKE
NEUROTRANSMITTER
ENZYME DEGRADATION
6 ACTION POTENTIAL
PROPAGATES THROUGH
NEXT CELL

POSTSYNAPTIC 7 NEUTROTRANSMITTER
IS INACTIVATED OR
CELL TRANSPORTED BACK INTO
PRESYNAPTIC TERMINAL

PS13) Continuous reinforcement: reinforcement occurs in response to every correct behavior.

https://www.khanacademy.org/test-prep/mcat/behavior/learning-slug/v/operant-conditioning-
schedules-of-reinforcement

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PS14) Twin studies (nature vs nurture): adopted siblings demonstrate the influence of the
environment; biological siblings demonstrate the influence of inheritance.

If heredity was an important determiner of intelligence, we would expect that people who are
biologically related are more similar than those who are not biologically related. This is because
heredity describes the influence of genetics.

PS15)

Operant extinction: the decrease over time of a conditioned response if the reinforcement is
removed

Instinctual drift: the tendency of an animal to revert to unconscious and automatic behavior (which
interferes with a conditioned behavior)

Stimulus generalization: the tendency of a new stimulus to evoke a response similar to that elicited
by another stimulus

Partial reinforcement: only reinforcing behavior at certain intervals, but not continuously.

PS16)

Serial-position effect: The combination of the primacy effect and the recency effect

Primacy effect: The tendency to recall earlier items

Recency effect: The tendency to recall later items

Hindsight bias: the tendency of people to overestimate their ability to have predicted an outcome
that could not possibly have been predicted

Chunking: a memory technique in which you take small units of information and group them to aid
with memory

Decay: when memories fade over time

PS17) How memory is affected by age:

Stable – implicit memory (ex. riding a bike), and recognition.

Improves – semantic memories improve around age 60, so older adults have better verbal skills, as
well as crystallized IQ (ability to use knowledge and experience), and emotional reasoning.

Declines – recall, episodic memories (forming new memories is difficult, old memories stable),
processing speed, and divided attention. Prospective memory (remembering to do things in future)
is decreased.

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PS18) Memory declines with age, so we would expect memory function to worsen in older adults. The
reminiscence bump goes against this expectation because the older adults have enhanced memory
performance, which allows us to eliminate answer choices C and D.

Answer choice A can be eliminated because we would expect the retention function to decrease, not
increase.is decreased.

PS19)

Episodic memory – event-related memories (personal experiences).

Semantic memory - words, concepts, or numbers.

Implicit memory – unconscious memory, also called non-declarative.

Sensory memory- very brief memory that people have to remember sensory information around
them, usually decays quickly after the sensory input was removed

PS20) The last sentence in the last paragraph tells us that there was a positive correlation between
the number of personal memories associated with a song and whether they liked the song.

Answer choice B can be eliminated because although the article said that over time the participants
shifted towards listening to songs chosen by themselves and their peers, this comparison was not
directly made.

Answer choice C and D were never tested directly so those choices can also be eliminated.

PS21)

Agent of socialization: anything which functions to teach us how to interact with society.

Counterculture: a group with values that strongly disagree with mainstream societal values.

Social reproduction: reproduction of social inequalities throughout generations (due to limitations

on social mobility).

Material culture: the relationship between artifacts and social relations

Check out "The 7 CARS Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes" in Appendix II of this Document
Click Here to Go to Appendix II

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PS22)

Social network: network of individuals (such as friends, acquaintances, and coworkers) connected
by interpersonal relationships.

Social status: a person’s social position in society (can have more than one dimension).

Front stage self: how people behave in public settings.

Back stage self: how people behave in private settings.

PS23)

Culture lag: the concept that social problems can occur as culture takes time to catch up with
technological innovations.

Cultural assimilation: the process in which a minority group or culture comes to resemble a
dominant group.

Culture shock: feelings of disorientation, uncertainty, or fear when encountering unfamiliar

culture practices.

Cultural transmission: the process through which cultural elements are passed on.

PS24)

Proximal stimulus: the stimulus directly measured by an observer's sensory apparatus (i.e. light
photons hitting the retina)

Distal stimulus: the stimulus which produces a proximal stimulus, such as any physical object or
event in the external world that reflects light.

Incentive stimulus: a stimulus that has a high probability of eliciting a motivational or emotional
state

Sensory stimulus: an event or object that is received by the senses and elicits a response

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PS25)
GESTALT PRINCIPLES
These Principles determine how people naturally perceive
visual elements. If you understand them you understand
how to create a better UX.

1. PROXIMITY 2. CLOSURE
Elements which are close The human brain ignores
together seem to be a group gaps and tries to understand
the bigger context

3. SIMILARITY 4. COMMON REGION

Elements which look similar Elements which are close
seem to be a group together seem to be a group

5. CONTINUITY 6. FIGURE & GROUND

Elements which are ordered The human brain instinctively
in a line or curve seem to be recognizes if something is in
a group the fore- or background

7. SYMMETRY 8. COMMON FATE

Symmetric elements give the Elements which move in the same
human brain the feeling that direction seem to be a group
everything is ordered

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PS26)

Behaviorist - a theory of learning based on the idea that all behaviors are acquiredthrough
conditioning.

Gestalt – See PS25

Humanistic – a theory of healthy personality development which focuses on the conscious, and
says that people are inherently good and self-motivated to improve (towards self-actualization).

Cognitive - attempts to explain human behavior through understanding thought processes.

PS27) For this question, you need to identify the description that is different from the others and
does not relate to Gestalt principles.

Answer choice A is similar to panel A in the passage.

Answer choice B is the Gestalt principle of common fate.

Answer choice C is the Gestalt principle of continuity.

PS28)

Partial report technique: a memory recall technique where you ask the subject to report out only
a partial fraction of a list rather than the entire list.

Word association testing: a test in which a list of words is given to the subject and they are supposed
to say the first thing that comes to their mind.

Psychophysical discrimination testing: subjects are asked to differentiate between two stimuli.

Operational span testing: a test meant to assess the capacity of working memory. Participants
are asked to alternate between remembering a word and doing a math problem, after which the
participants are asked to report the words that they were asked to remember.

PS29)

Recall cues: cues that aid in memory

Context effects: the influence of external facts that influence the perception of a stimulus

Feature detectors: specialized cells in the brain that allow you to detect certain features of a stimulus

Practice effects: participants performance for an activity improve due to repetition rather than
from study manipulation

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PS30)

Recency effect – part of the serial position effect.

Flashbulb memory – highly vivid and emotional memories.

Spacing effect – the theory that learning is more effective when study sessions are spaced out
over time.

Repression – when the subconscious mind blocks the conscious mind from recalling memories,
especially those that are traumatic.

PS31) Answer choices A and B are purely based on correlation, and are not strong enough
evidence to disprove the theory. Answer choice C could provide evidence to confirm the theory
about the hunger drive, and should therefore be eliminated.

PS32)

Autobiographical memory: both semantic and episodic memories that are collected to form the
story of one’s life

False memory: inaccurate memories reported with a high level of confidence

Amnesia: memory loss

Recovered memory: a memory that was once inaccessible that is now accessible again

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PS33) (Note that exact age cutoffs for any P/S stages may vary by source)

Kholberg’s Theory of Moral Development

Level Three STEP

06
Postconventional Individual principles of
(11 years on) conscience

Level Three Conforms to maintain STEP

05
Postconventional communities. Emphasis
(11 years on) on individual rights.

Level Two Conventional STEP

04
Conforms to avoid
Level (7 to 11 years) censure by authorities

Good boy/girl morality. STEP

03
Level Two Conventional
Level (7 to 11 years) Conforms to avoid
disapproval by others

Naive hedonism. Conforms STEP

02
Level One Preconvemtional
(younger than six) to get rewards and to have
favors returned.

STEP

01
Level One Preconvemtional Obey rules to avoid
(younger than six) punishment

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PS34) Answer choice C is correct because you can find out how motivated a subject is by removing
something that you believe they are interested in. Simply observing their behavior over a long
period of time would not determine this because without changing the circumstances (i.e. taking
away a desired stimulus) it is difficult to determine how motivated a subject would be without it.

Both answer choices B and D can be eliminated because it is impossible to know if the subject is
truly happy because of the desired stimulus or another factor.

PS35)

Medicalization: when human conditions previously not considered pathological get defined as
medical conditions and viewed from a medical perspective (subject to studies, diagnosis, and
treatment)

Life course theory: aging is a social, psychological, and biological process that begins from time
you are born until the time you die. Includes the idea of a sensitive/critical period (see PS 39).

Socioeconomic gradient in health: the idea that health outcomes correlate with SES.

Social construction: a theory that people actively shape their reality through social interactions.
The value we place on things are constructed, not inherent, and represent the values of the society
that created them.

PS36)

Proactive interference: old information interferes with new memories.

Retroactive interference: new information interferes with old memories.

Source amnesia: inability to remember where information was learned.

Episodic memory: event-related memories.

Semantic memory: memories of facts, words, concepts, numbers.

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PS37) Monozygotic and dizygotic twins

Identical Twins Fraternal Twins

Single egg fertilized by single sperm, Single egg fertilized by

then splints in two separate sperm

Womb

Feature Share all of their genes Share only about halt their genes
Interpretation
Correlation with adopted parent is higher than correlation with Behaviour is partly due to nurture
biological parent (upbringing)

Correlation with adopted parent is lower than correlation with Behaviour is partly due to nature (genes)
biological parent

PS38)

Demographics: characteristics of people or populations such as age, sex, ethnicity, etc

Generalizability: the degree to which findings from the sample population apply to general
population.

Reliability: the consistency of the measure, does it repeatedly produce similar results.

Social capital: knowledge from the networks of people from a particular community/society that
allows for the proper functioning of that society

Cultural capital: intangible assets of a society that can be utilized for advancement of the society

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PS39)

Sensitive/critical period: a period early in development which has significant and lasting
implications.

Secure/Insecure attachment (all types other than secure are insecure):

Assimilation: the process in which a minority group is absorbed into the majority, or an individual
minority group member adopts the culture of the majority group.

Modeling: imitating observed behaviors.

High Proximity Seeking

Secure Preoccupied

High Anxiety of Abandonment

Low Anxiety of Abandonment

Dismissing Fearful

Low Proximity Seeking

PS40)

Social norms: the accepted standards of behavior of a social group, used to guide behaviors.

Ethnocentrism: evaluating other cultures according to the beliefs and values originating from one’s
own culture

Role conflict: two roles (either within one person or two different people) that compete for the same
resources that are in conflict with each other

Social capital: knowledge from the networks of people from a particular community/society that
allows for the proper functioning of that society

Cultural capital: intangible assets of a society that can be utilized for advancement of the society

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PS41)

Drive reduction theory: the theory that people act based on drives to reduce their lack of a
physiologic need, such as drinking when you feel thirsty because you’re dehydrated.

Humanistic theory: a theory that the basic motive of all people is the actualizing tendency
(towards self-actualization), an innate drive to maintain and enhance oneself.

Incentive theory: the theory that people associate positive meaning to behaviors when a reward
(intangible or tangible) is presented after an action. Results in positive reinforcement.

Psychoanalytic theory: a theory which asserts personality is shaped by a person’s unconscious

thoughts, feelings, and past memories (particularly in childhood).

PS42)

Exchange-rational choice: the application of rational choice theory (that people are rational and
will act in their own best interest) to social interactions.

Symbolic interactionism: a micro-level theory which focuses on the individual and significance
they give to objects, events, symbols, interactions, etc. in their lives

Social constructionism: a theory that people actively shape their reality through social
interactions. The value we place on things are constructed, not inherent, and represent the values
of the society that created them.

Social epidemiology: the branch of epidemiology concerned with the way that social structures,
institutions, and relationships influence health.

PS43)

Cultural relativism: the idea that a person's beliefs, values, and practices should be understood
based on that person's own culture, rather than be judged against the criteria of another.

Ethnocentrism: judging other cultures based on your own beliefs (opposite of cultural elativism).

PS44)

Cultural capital = the cultural assets of a person (education, intellect, style of speech, style of
dress, etc.)

Social capital = the social assets of a person (social networks, “who you know”)

Hidden curriculum = lessons which are taught, intentionally or unintentionally, during schooling.

Ascribed status = any status you can’t change, given from birth, such as being a prince or princess.

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PS45)

Cognitive dissonance: when 2 or more thoughts or behaviors conflict, leading to feelings of

discomfort. When actions and beliefs conflict, alterations to beliefs are more likely.

Self-fulfilling prophecy: the idea that beliefs or stereotypes can lead to behaviors that affirm the
original stereotypes.

Confirmation bias: the tendency to seek out facts which confirm what we already believe.

Fundamental attribution error: the tendency to believe that others in out-groups behave a
certain way based on intrinsic personalities/flaws. Focuses only on actions of others.

PS46) Social cognitive theory: theory of behavior change that emphasizes interactions between
people and their environment, with a focus on their thoughts.

Answer choice A is the only option that describes modeling, which is defined as learning through
observation. While the other answer choices are described in the passage, they do not best answer
the question.

PS47)

Intersectionality: the idea that different aspects and levels of discrimination interact and should
not be considered in isolation.

Intersectionality: the idea that different aspects and levels of discrimination interact and should
not be considered in isolation. Multiple identities that a person has can create an entirely new
identity that may have its own difficulties associated with it

PS48)

Symbolic interactionism: a micro-level theory which focuses on the individual and significance
they give to objects, events, symbols, interactions, etc. in their lives.

Functionalism: a macro-level theory which looks at parts of society and how they help keep
society stable.

Conflict theory: a macro-level theory which focuses on inequality between different groups,
power struggles, and how they lead to societal conflict.

Exchange-rational choice: interactions among people are done in a rational way that weighs the
benefits and punishments of interaction Exchange-rational choice- interactions among people are
done in a rational way that weighs the benefits and punishments of interaction.

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PS49) Looking-glass self – the idea that a person’s sense of self develops from interpersonal
interactions with others and imagining their opinions (may be accurate or inaccurate).

PS50) Population pyramids

Male Niger - 2010 Female Male Haiti - 2010 Female

95 95
90 90
85 85
80 80
75 75
70 70
65 65
60 60
55 55
50 50
45 45
40 40
35 35
30 30
25 25
20 20
15 15
10 10
5 5
0 0
3 2.4 1.8 1.2 0.6 0 0 0.6 1.2 1.8 2.4 3 3 2.4 1.8 1.2 0.6 0 0 0.6 1.2 1.8 2.4 3
Population (in millions) Population (in millions)

STAGE 1 STAGE 2
Expansive. Expansive.
Concave sides. Straigh sides.
High birth rate. Still high birth rate.
High death rate. Falling death rate.
Short life expectancy. Slightly longer life expectancy.
Rapid fall in each upqard Fall in DR so more people living
age group due to high DR. into middle age.

Male United States - 2010 Female Male Australia - 2010 Female

95
95
90
90
85
85
80
80
75
75
70
70
65
65
60
60
55
55
50
50
45
45
40
40
35
35
30
30
25
25
20
20
15
15
10
10
5
5
0
0
3 2.4 1.8 1.2 0.6 0 0 0.6 1.2 1.8 2.4 3 3 2.4 1.8 1.2 0.6 0 0 0.6 1.2 1.8 2.4 3
Population (in millions) Population (in millions)

STAGE 3 STAGE 4
Stationary. COntractive.
Convex sides. Convex sides.
Declining birth rate. Very low birth rate.
Low death rate. Low death birth rate.
long life expectancy. Low birth rate.
An increasing proportion longer life expectancy.
of the population is in the Higher dependency ratio.
65+ age group.

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PS51) Demographic transition model

Demografic Transition Model

Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5
People need fewer children
Girls education improves
Contraceptives available
Poor health care
Children take care
of parents
No contraceptive available

Old population
Increase quality health care High mortality rate
More hospitals
Vaccinations
Better doctors

Birth Rate Mortality rate Population size

PS52) MRI and CT both demonstrate brain structure (not function), so these two imaging
techniques would not allow the researchers to measure neural activation of specific brain regions.

PET and fMRI demonstrate structure AND function; however, fMRI is more popular, less
invasive, and PET scans need to be combined with another imaging modality to give detailed
structure. PET measures brain activity with radioactively labeled isotopes, whereas fMRI assesses
changes in blood flow.

PS53) Correlations don’t equal causation, but a controlled experiment gives evidence of a cause
and effect relationship.

This study design had adequate controls so the best answer choice is C because there is evidence
based on the last paragraph in the passage that inadequate sleep causes hunger.

Although answer choice B is also possible, it is not the BEST answer choice available.

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PS54) Recordings During Sleep

Awake

Stage 1
NREM Alpha

Stage 2
NREM Theta
(sleep spindles;
K-complexes)

Stage 3
NREM Delta

REM

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20

TIme (seconds)

PS55)

Piaget’s Theory
Stage Age Range Description

Sensorimotor 0-2 years Coordination of senses with motor response,

sensory curiosity about the world. Language used
for demands and cataloguing.
Object permanence developed

Preoperational 2-7 years Symbolic thinking, use of proper syntax and

grammar to express full concepts. Imagination
and intuition are strong, but complex abstract
thought still difficult. Conservation developed.

Concrete Operational 7-11 years Concepts attached to concrete situations.

Time, space, and quantity are understood
and can be applied, but not as
independent concepts

Formal Operations 11+ Theoretical, hypothetical, and counterfactual

thinking. Abstract logic and reasoning. Strategy
and planning become possible. Concepts learned
in one contect can be applied to another.

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PS56)

Nucleus accumbens: part of reward pathway, uses two major neurotransmitters (dopamine which
promotes desire and serotonin which affects satiety)

Hypothalamus: regulates homeostasis through effects on the pituitary gland

Cerebellum: coordinates voluntary movement

Amygdala: involved in emotions (especially fear).

PS57) Evolution occurs as a result of differential survival & reproduction.

Therefore, humans that were able to locate and eat high caloric food likely were able to have more
offspring which could influence evolution.

Fasting plasma glucose concentrations and activity in the anterior cingulate cortex would be
studied when looking at the biological perspective of hunger.

Negative and positive affect would be studied when assessing emotions tied to food.

PS58) There are 6 universal emotions.

Anger Happiness Surprise

Disgust Sadness Fear

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PS59)

Stranger anxiety: develops at around 8 months old, child is wary of strangers.

Object permanence: the knowledge that objects still exist even if they can’t be seen. Develops
before age 2, associated with Piaget’s stages of cognitive development.

Autonomy: Independence, part of Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, develops around

2-3 years old.

Sensitive/critical period: a period early in development which has significant and lasting
implications.

Secure/Insecure attachment (all types other than secure are insecure):

Assimilation: the process in which a minority group is absorbed into the majority, or an individual
minority group member adopts the culture of the majority group.

Modeling: imitating observed behaviors.

High Proximity Seeking

Secure Preoccupied

High Anxiety of Abandonment

Low Anxiety of Abandonment

Dismissing Fearful

Low Proximity Seeking

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PS60)

Parallel processing: the simultaneous visual processing of color, form, and motion.

Place theory: theory of hearing that states that our perception of sound depends on where (the
place) each component frequency produces vibrations along the basilar membrane.

Interposition: a monocular vision cue that indicates whether one object is in front of another.

Accommodation: the ability to adjust the focus of the eyes as the distance between the individual
and the object changes.

PS61) The paragraph describing Study 2 states that the researchers used function magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI). PET imaging measures increased levels of glucose, so this answer choice
can be eliminated. EKG measures increases in electrical activity, so this can be eliminated. fMRI
measures areas of increased blood flow, so this is correct. Answer choice D does not refer to a
common imaging modality.

Background Review:

MRI and CT both demonstrate brain structure (not function)

PET and fMRI demonstrate structure AND function; however, fMRI is more popular, less
invasive, and PET scans need to be combined with another imaging modality to give detailed
structure. PET measures brain activity with radioactively labeled isotopes, whereas fMRI assesses
changes in blood flow.

PS62) The paragraph describing the study states that participants initially had activation of the
amygdala (involved in fear processing) at 30 milliseconds, but at 525 milliseconds the fear response
was decreased. This could be explained by an innate fear response that is automatic that lessens
with time when cognitive processing happens. Answer choice D is the only answer choice to
correctly explain this.

PS63) Positive correlation vs negative correlation refers to the direction of the correlation (similar
to direct vs inverse) The strength of a correlation refers to how closely the variables are associated

Perfect positive High positive Low positive No Low negative High negative Perfect negative
corellation corellation corellation corellation corellation corellation corellation

1 0.9 0.5 0 -0.5 -0.9 -1

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PS64) A neuron must depolarize enough to reach threshold before an action potential can begin.
Answer choice B is the only answer choice that correctly states that it must be a postsynaptic
neuron (not any excitable cell) and an action potential will only begin once threshold is reached.

Neurons and Action Potentials are extremly high-yield, so make sure you know them inside and
out!

Action potential
+40
+
Na ions in
3

Repolariz
tion a
0 2

lariz
Voltage (mV)

+
K ions out

ati
Depo

on
Threshold Failed
-55 5
initiations
Resting state
-70
5 Stimulus
1
4

Hyperpolarization
0 1 2 3 4 5
Time (ms)

Action potential
Depolarization

2 Na + Axon
segment

Action potential
K+
Repolarization

K+

K+ Action potential
Resturn to Resting
State

5 Na +

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PS65) Fovea: central area with lots of cones (better color vision); periphery of the retina has less
cones and more rods (more photosensitive).

The periphery of the retina has photoreceptors that have a LOWER threshold for light
detection, meaning that they are more sensitive to detect dim light. The blind spot contains no
photoreceptors because it is where the nerve head innervates the eye. The blind spot is fairly small
and would not block these visual effects because the blind spot is not visible when both eyes are
open.

PS66)

Reliability: the consistency of the measure, does it repeatedly produce similar results.

Validity: the extent to which a test measures what it claims to measure. “Accuracy”

Generalizability: the degree to which findings from the sample population apply to general
population.

Low accuracy Low accuracy High accuracy High accuracy

Low precision High precision Low precision High precision

PS67) A correlation of +0.38 means that it is a positive correlation (as one factor increases, the
other increases as well), but the correlation is fairly weak.

A correlation of 0 means there is no correlation, while a correlation of 1 means that it is a perfect

correlation.

Correlations closer to 1 are stronger while correlations closer to 0 are weaker.

Therefore, performance on the tests is likely partially determined by the common factor “g”
because there is a weak positive correlation between the two variables.

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Make Sure You're Using the Most Up to Date Version of This Document
www.mytestingsolution.com/sb-update

PS68) As the explanation states, counterbalancing is a method that researchers use to ensure that
the order that stimuli are presented is not a confounding variable for the results of the study.

Answer choice D does not apply to counterbalancing, because all studies should present the
participants with the same variables for consistency.

For counterbalancing, usually there will be several groups with the variables of the studied
presented in different orders to ensure the order that stimuli are presented in does not influence
the study results.

PS69)

Positive symptoms add a symptom that was not previously there. (e.g. hallucinations, delusions,
disorganized speech – things that aren’t present without the disease).

Negative symptoms take away a normal behavior, usually results in flattened affect (e.g. loss of
emotions/emotional flattening).

This is the same use of these terms as seen with reinforcements and punishments.

PS70) Priming is when exposure to one stimulus unconsciously affects response to another
stimulus. Negative priming is when prior exposure to a stimulus unfavorably primes a person
to have a similar response to the same stimulus. It relies on implicit memory because it is an
unconscious/ automatic memory that might not ever reach your conscious mind.

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PS71)

Atypical antipsychotics: Later generation anti-psychotics, better side-effect profile than

neuroleptics.

Neuroleptics: “typical” or first-gen anti-psychotics, treat positive symptoms well but increase
negative symptoms.

Hallucinogens: Drugs which alter perception, such as LSD, ecstasy, and marijuana. Not used
medically to treat schizophrenia.

Stimulants: Drugs which stimulate neural activity and bodily functions. Examples include
caffeine, cocaine, and methamphetamines.

PS72) Fluid intelligence is the ability to reason quickly and abstractly. It is reasonable to assume
that participants that score higher in fluid intelligence will also perform better on cognitive tasks
because they are able to reason quicker.

In this study in particular, participants were asked to produce as many words beginning with
certain letters as quickly as possible. If the researchers did not control for the fluid intelligence of
participants, it is possible that the scores of those with higher fluid intelligence will also be able to
produce more words.

It is unlikely that fluid intelligence would also contribute to differences in positive and negative
symptoms because these symptoms are not influenced by cognitive functioning.

PS73) Alzheimer’s disease causes significant cognitive decline and memory loss. The verbal
fluency test relies on explicit memory and the negative priming test relies on implicit memory.
Both of these types of memory are negatively affected by Alzheimer’s disease and therefore the
performance on these would be expected to decline in participant with Alzheimer’s disease.

PS74) The answer to this question can be found in the second sentence of the last paragraph. It is
important to fully read the passage in order to get these questions right! As the explanation states,
independent stressors are not possible to control for because they happen without a person’s
influence.

PS75) Self-reports or other subjective data (interviews, surveys) are cheap and easy to
implement, subject to bias and likely to result in poor reliability. They are often used as way to
survey a population for quick data, but they lack the reliability and validity of more controlled
studies.

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PS76)

Fight-or-flight response: an automatic physiological activation of the sympathetic nervous system

in response to stressful stimuli. Usually a short-term response

Activation-synthesis model: a model that states that dreams are caused by physiological
processes of the brain, rather than a passive process

Long-term potentiation: the strengthening of synapses based on repeated firing of those

neurons, creates long-term memories

GENERAL ADAPTATION SYNDROME [GAS]

(Idenified by Hans Selye):

Our stress response system defends, then fatigues.

High

The body’s resistance to stress

can only last so long before
exhaustion sets in.
Stress
resistance

Stressor
occurs

Low
Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3
Alarm reaction Resistance Exhaustion
(mobilize resources) (cope with stressor) (reserves depleted)

PS77) A dependent stressor is an event that can be influenced by one’s characteristics or

behaviors that leads to stress. Answer choice C is the only answer choice that is an event that could
lead to stress. Answer choices A, B and D all are results that could be associated with the need for
reassurance, but they are not events that could lead to this type of stress in the first place.

PS78) One can answer this question correctly by synthesizing a few key points from the passage.
The first paragraph discusses the connection between stressful events and depression.

The second paragraph discusses the framework for this hypothesis. In that paragraph, it discusses
the early research that was done on life events that people cannot control. These two pieces of
information can lead us to answer choice B, because preventing the reoccurrence of depressive
episodes allows the outcome of stressful events to change.

It is difficult to prevent an event from happening in the first place, so answer choice C is not a
reasonable recommendation in therapy.

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PS79) The information in paragraph 2 of the passage gives us enough information to answer this
question. It describes negative life events that individuals cannot control as independent stressors,
and negative life events that are influenced by an individual’s behavior as dependent stressors.
Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that ONLY dependent stressors are reciprocally influenced by
a person’s behavior.

PS80) Parallel processing: our brains can process multiple features of visual perception
simultaneously and unconsciously, including color, form, and motion.

PS81) Positive correlation vs negative correlation refers to the direction of the correlation (similar
to direct vs inverse) The strength of a correlation refers to how closely the variables are associated

Perfect positive High positive Low positive No Low negative High negative Perfect negative
corellation corellation corellation corellation corellation corellation corellation

1 0.9 0.5 0 -0.5 -0.9 -1

SIGNAL
present not present

Yes Hit False Alarm

RESPONSE

Correct
No Miss
Rejection

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PS82) Answer choices A, C and D are incorrect because we have no reason to assume this
to be true based on the information in the question stem. Sometimes questions like this can
trick students into thinking they are missing something, but this question/answer are very
straightforward and depends only on reading the question stem carefully!

PS83) The corpus callosum connects the hemispheres of the brain. Therefore, if the
corpus callosum was severed the left and right hemispheres of the brain would have difficulty
communicating. The optic chiasm is distinct from the corpus callosum, so a word seen in the right
side of the visual field would still be processes in the left hemisphere of the brain.

Visual processing is contralateral to eye fields.

nasal
retina
temporal temporal
optic
retina retina
nerve

optic chiasm

lateral geniculate

optic radiation

primary visual cortex

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PS84) Cognitive dissonance- a state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs or attitudes that
causes a state of uneasiness. People’s behaviors, such working with the council member, are less
likely to change than their attitudes.

PS85)

Piaget’s Theory
Stage Age Range Description

Sensorimotor 0-2 years Coordination of senses with motor response,

sensory curiosity about the world. Language used
for demands and cataloguing.
Object permanence developed

Preoperational 2-7 years Symbolic thinking, use of proper syntax and

grammar to express full concepts. Imagination
and intuition are strong, but complex abstract
thought still difficult. Conservation developed.

Concrete Operational 7-11 years Concepts attached to concrete situations.

Time, space, and quantity are understood
and can be applied, but not as
independent concepts

Formal Operations 11+ Theoretical, hypothetical, and counterfactual

thinking. Abstract logic and reasoning. Strategy
and planning become possible. Concepts learned
in one contect can be applied to another.

PS86) This question is best answered through process of elimination!

Answer choice A can be eliminated because observations made by a teacher would not help
determine if behavior us being modeled as opposed to already learned because an observation
does not give insight into the child’s experiences prior to the study.

Answer choice B can be eliminated because a different rating scale is not applicable to this
question.

Answer choice D can be eliminated because the genetics of the child is not a way to determine if
aggression is modeled or previously learned. Learning about a child’s life up until the study would
help determine if a behavior is being modeled or previously learned.

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PS87) The results of study 2 can be found in the last paragraph and show that aggressive
behaviors can be influenced by the context that they are shown in (difficult childhood vs villainized
person). Because the results of the study showed a difference in aggression based on which group
the participants were in, we can conclude that media can have a different impact based on the
context of aggression, which is summarized in answer choice D.

PS88)

Looking-glass self = the idea that a person’s sense of self develops from interpersonal
interactions with others and imagining their opinions (may be accurate or inaccurate).

Generalized other = the general notion that a person has of the common expectations that others
have about actions and thoughts within a particular society.

Social capital = the social assets of a person (social networks, “who you know”)

Agent of socialization = anything which functions to teach us how to interact with society.

PS89) In order to see if both the content of the film and the introduction made an impact, we
would want to show both non-violent and violent clips with the same introductions (positive and
negative protagonist). This is important because it rules out the confounding variable that watching
a film itself would make people more aggressive. By showing both types of films, we would be able
to show that the content of the film is correlated with aggressive behavior, and not just the act of
watching a film.

PS90) Symbolic interactionism is a theory that explains how people see and understand the
world. This theory states that people use dialect and language to deduce information about the
world and exhibit behavior. A negative label is described using language, and the results of this
study could be explained by symbolic interactionism if the participants used this label to influence
their behavior.

PS91)

Longitudinal study = data is gathered for the same subjects repeatedly over a significant
period of time.

Cross-sectional study = data is gathered at a single point in time.

Ethnographic study = a qualitative method where researchers observe or interact with a study's
participants in their real-life environment.

Experimental study = researchers introduce an intervention (independent variable) and study

the effects (dependent variable), providing evidence of a cause and effect relationship.

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PS92)

Conflict theory: a macro-level theory which focuses on inequality between different groups,
power struggles, and how they lead to societal conflict.

Exchange theory: the application of rational choice theory (that people are rational and will act in
their own best interest) to social interactions.

Functionalism: a macro-level theory which looks at parts of society and how they help keep
society stable.

Symbolic interactionism: a micro-level theory which focuses on the individual and significance
they give to objects, events, symbols, interactions, etc. in their lives.

PS93)

Adaptive coping: contributes to resolution of the stress response. Usually involves confronting the
problem directly and using introspection to improve one’s situation.

Maladaptive coping: does not contribute to resolution of the stress response, and can cause
further problems. Usually involves creating a distraction from the issue (such as alcohol or drugs)
but not actually solving the issue itself.

PS94)

Performance-approach was described in the passage as receiving rewards or recognition. This

describes a sanction which can either be a reward or punishment as a mechanism of social
control.

It does not describe a latent function which is a function of something other than its direct
intention. Role exit (when a person stops engaging in a role and establishes a new social identity)
is not related to rewards or recognition. We don’t have enough information from the passage to
support answer choice D.

Check out "The 7 CARS Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes" in Appendix II of this Document
Click Here to Go to Appendix II

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PS95)

Drive reduction theory: the theory that people act based on drives to satisfy biological needs.
such as drinking when you feel thirsty because you’re dehydrated.

Primary reinforcers are those that can directly change a biological need, such as water, food, and
sexual activity.

A secondary reinforcer is one that reinforcers behavior only because of the ascribed meaning that
society created for something. A good example of this is money because it is only a reinforcer
because society “gave” money meaning by saying that it represents currency. A piece of paper has
no direct way to satisfy a biological need.

Humanistic theory: a theory that the basic motive of all people is the actualizing tendency
(towards self-actualization), an innate drive to maintain and enhance oneself.

Incentive theory: the theory that people associate positive meaning to behaviors when a reward
(intangible or tangible) is presented after an action. Results in positive reinforcement.

Psychoanalytic theory: a theory which asserts personality is shaped by a person’s unconscious

thoughts, feelings, and past memories (particularly in childhood).

PS96)

Impression management: the attempt to control how others view our “front stage self.”

The Thomas Theorum: if people define situations as real, they are real in their consequences. This
means that interpreting a situation is what causes action.

Back stage self: the version of yourself when you are relaxed and can “step out of character”

Hawthorne effect: a psychological effect that describes how people may change an aspect of
their behavior when they know they are being observed.

PS97) Social construction: a theory that people actively shape their reality through social
interactions. The value we place on things are constructed, not inherent, and represent the values
of the society that created them.

PS98)

Me: a person’s belief of society or the generalized other’s view of them (“that’s me!”).The Me is
socially conforming.

I: the spontaneous and autonomous part of our unified self. The I is socially nonconforming.

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PS99)

Intragenerational mobility: change in social class happens in a person’s own lifetime.

Intergenerational mobility: change in social class between generations.

Horizontal mobility: movement within the same social class.

Vertical mobility: movement to a higher or lower social class.

PS100) McDonaldization: the process of society becoming more efficient, uniform, calculable, and
controlled by technology.

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HOW TO FIND YOUR MCAT
WEAKNESSES:
The time and energy you have to study for the MCAT is limited. It is critical that
you maximize your gains and ensure that every minute you spend studying for
the MCAT is actually moving you closer towards your goal score.

But each year thousands of pre-meds, despite making incredible sacrifices and
investments of time, energy, and money, don’t get the results their hard work
and sacrifices deserve. Why does this injustice happen?

Hard Truth: It happens, because these students are studying, reviewing, and
practicing the wrong things. All their time studying isn’t actually helping them...

Whether you’re taking the MCAT in one month or in six months, the key to
making the biggest gains possible in the shortest amount of time is:

Targeting Your Study and Practice to Your High-Yield Topic Weaknesses.

The problem we all face, though, is that this is far, far easier said than done. The
truth is that we all are pretty terrible at subjectively evaluating and identifying
our own weaknesses. Subjectivity = error when it comes to the MCAT.

The key to ensuring you never waste your time or energy again is by using data
and analytics to identify your MCAT weaknesses. If you’re able to harness your
past performance using objective, data-driven analysis, you’ll never worry about
studying the wrong, low-yield material again.

If you use data to drive your study schedule, you’ll ensure that in every single
MCAT study session, you’ll always be studying the highest-yield, highest-impact
material possible, customized to your particular strengths and weaknesses.

“This all sound great...” you might be saying, “but how exactly do I gather the
data?” That is the exact reason we created the MCAT Weakness Finder.

The MCAT Weakness Finder is an analytics powerhouse that uses your

performance on the 2,000+ Official AAMC questions to pinpoint your exact,
individualized weaknesses.

We tell you exactly where your weaknesses are on the official AAMC content
outline down to the smallest level of detail so you can target your study to your
weakest, high-yield areas. This is the literal definition of studying smarter, not
harder.

Take 30-seconds right now and see how the MCAT Weakness Finder can
transform your MCAT study.

Learn More at www.mytestingsolution.com/mcat-weakness-finder

THE MCAT WEAKNESS FINDER
Understand where you are. The MCAT Weakness Finder aggregates your
performance across all 2,000+ Official AAMC questions to provide you with the
most accurate possible percentile rankings of your performance across all four
sections as well as on your total comoposite MCAT score.

Individualized weakness reports. The MCAT Weakness Finder will tell you exacty
where your weaknesses are on the official AAMC content outline down to the
smallest detail so you can target your weakest, high-yield areas, ensuring you’re
always studying the the material that will have the biggest impact on your score.

Target Your Study and Practice to Your High-Yield Topic Weaknesses.

Take 30-seconds right now and see how the MCAT Weakness Finder can
transform your MCAT study.

Learn More at www.mytestingsolution.com/mcat-weakness-finder

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CHAPTER 4 - APPENDIX I

APPENDIX I: AMINO ACIDS

Use these links to easily navigate back to whichever question you were reviewing:

CP31 CP36 CP38 CP43 CP74 CP83 CP88

BB06 BB08 BB13 BB21 BB35 BB37 BB42 BB49 BB56 BB64 BB66

A. Amino Acids with Electricaly Charged Side Chains

POSITIVE NEGATIVE

Arginine (Arg) *Histidine (His)* Lysine (Lys) Aspartic Acid (Asp) Glutamic Acid (Glu)

R H K D E
HO HO HO HO HO
O O O O
NH2 NH2 NH2 NH2 NH2

O
HN NH O O
NH O
N2H *NOTE: Histidine has a pKa of 6,
meaning that it is uncharged
NH3
NH2
at a physiological pH, but at a
pH below 6 to can be positively
charged

B. Amino Acids with Polar, Uncharged Side Chains

Serine (Ser) Threonine (Thr) Asparagine (Asp) Glutamine (Gln) *Histidine (His)*

S T N Q H
HO HO HO HO HO
O O O O O
NH2 NH2 NH2 NH2 NH2

HO
OH O HN NH
NH2 O *NOTE: Histidine has a pKa of 6,

NH2
meaning that it is uncharged
at a physiological pH, but at a
pH below 6 to can be positively
charged

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C. Special Cases

Cysteine (Cys) Selenocysteine (Sec) Glycin (Gly) Proline(pro)

C U G P
HO HO HO HO

O O O O
NH2 NH2 NH2 NH

SH SeH

D. Amino Acids with Hydropobic Side Chain

Alanine (Ala) Isoleucine (Ie) Leucine (Leu) Methionine (Met)

A I L M

HO
HO HO
HO O
O O NH2
O NH2 NH2
NH2

Phenylalanine (Phe) Tryptophan (Trp) Tyrosine (Tyr) Valine (Val)

F W Y V

HO HO HO HO

O O O O
NH2 NH2 NH2 NH2

NH

OH

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CHAPTER 4 - APPENDIX I

APPENDIX II: AVOIDING THE 7 CARS

MISTAKES ALMOST EVERYONE
MAKES
For the majority of students, the CARS represents one of the most difficult and confusing obstacles
standing between them and their goal MCAT score. Sadly, it keeps thousands of otherwise
highly-qualified pre-meds, people who would have likely made great doctors, out of med school.

If you review these 7 common CARS mistakes, you'll be well on your way to reaching your full CARS
potential. I have tutored hundreds of students over the years, and during that time, I've identified
a number of very common mistakes almost everyone makes when studying for the CARS. I don't
want you to waste your time re-inventing the wheel or lose a month or two of study because you
fell prey to the same mistakes that have tricked so many of the students who came before you.

But wait a second...who are you and why

should I trust you?

Fair question! My name is Nick Zehner, and I'm

an MS5 at Stanford. I founded Testing Solutions
in 2015 to help students like you beat the CARS
and go to med school. We specialize in helping
students undergo the transformation from
pre-med to med students.

I was in your shoes not that long ago. I know

what it feels like to struggle with the confusion
of not knowing what I need to do to succeed on
the MCAT, to worry about the possibility that
despite all my hard work and sacrifice, I might
come up short, or worst of all, to wonder if I
really have what it takes to become a doctor.

You have the ability. You have the work ethic. Now all you need are the right tools. I want to give
you those tools, the tools that will allow you to reach your full potential. Here's to YOUR Success!

Mistake #1:

"I'll take CARS passages untimed until I get better. Then, I'll start
practicing my timing."
The vast majority of MCATers already have the ability to do very well on the CARS. If I gave you all
day to take those 9 CARS passages, you could take breaks, each lunch, go for a walk, take a nap,
etc., you would probably get your goal score today, just as you are right now reading this. The issue
is that you only have 90-minutes, and that time constraint changes everything.

Virtually everyone initially struggles with timing on the CARS and it is frequently one of the biggest

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barriers to getting to your goal score. So, if timing is the #1 issue for most people, you can see how
bad of an idea it is to ignore it or leave it for later. Psychologically, you'll enjoy practicing for CARS
more when you take passages untimed because you'll also get more questions right, but you won't
be practicing the skills you most need to develop to excel test day. I think this latter point about the
psychology of it is key. It's very attractive because you'll feel like you're making progress and will
feel like you've put in a "good day's work." And in one sense you have, but you will not have been
practicing the time management skills you need to be practicing so you crush the CARS on test day.

This lack of active practice is not the only issue with this approach, however. It's far worse. Taking
CARS passages untimed will give you a false sense of security. It will inflate your confidence and
will be giving you an inaccurate assessment of your current CARS abilities. You may make study
decisions based on this false sense of security and may well delay starting your intense CARS prep
for later into your study schedule.

Then comes the terrible day that you decide to start taking your passages timed, and boom! You
realize the truth of the matter: that taking CARS passages untimed is about as different from taking
CARS passages under timed conditions, as petting a house cat and petting a tiger. Yes...they're both
technically cats, but...!

Once you realize how different the two are, you'll also find that, unfortunately, you've developed
a number of bad habits while you were doing all of those untimed CARS practice, habits that just
won't work under timed conditions test day. So, now not only do you have to learn how to take
CARS passages under test-day timing conditions, but you also have to UNLEARN the bad habits you
just spent 2, 4, or 6 weeks learning.

Taking CARS passages untimed not only doesn't help you, but it actually hurts you! Take my word
for it and don't do it.

Mistake #2:

"I'll skim the passages and jump around, doing the easy ones first,
and leaving the harder ones for the end."
I've never met someone, who in 30-seconds or less, could accurately tell me if a passage was going
to be "easy" or "hard." So, I'm suspicious of anyone's ability to quickly and accurately assess how
easy or hard any particular passages is. Furthermore, oftentimes, CARS passages with difficult
text, actually end up having rather easy questions! So, is that a hard passage or an easier one?
There's no way to read the passage, the questions, and decide if it's an easy or hard passage
without actually reading the passage and doing the questions. But by that point, you'll have already
done the passage! It's far better to not waste your time or mental energy evaluating a passage
as to whether you're going to do it now or later. Instead, just do the passages in the order they're
provided to you. This skip around technique was designed for students who were just hoping to get
a minimally acceptable CARS score to get in to school. I'm assuming that you want a 128+ or better.
The moral of the story is that this gimmick doesn't work. Do the passages in order.

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Mistake #3:

"I'll read the questions before I read the passage, so I'll know what
to look for."
Multiple studies have shown how limited humans' short-term, working memory is. You're welcome
to try this strategy for yourself and see how it goes on one or two passages, but I've yet to meet
anyone who could read all of the questions, then read the passage, and then tell me back even one
of the questions they pre-read. Our minds just are not capable of holding that much information in
our short-term RAM. You'll be wasting your time pre-reading the questions and potentially hurting
your ability to get a broader overview of the passage. In addition, if you're focused on finding a
little piece of information to answer question 2, it's much more likely you'll overlook the author's
key points or main thesis of the passage because you're so focused on one little phrase. Thus,
you end up missing the whole main idea of the passage. It's much better to ignore these sorts of
gimmicks and just focus on understanding the passage the best you can while reading it.

Mistake #4:

"I need to write out a passage map or take notes."

If we had all the time in the world, taking notes would be a great idea. The reality, though, is that
90-minutes is barely enough time to finish 9 passages, let alone take notes or write out a map.
There just isn't enough time to do this. You're much better using highlighting techniques like our
"Retroactive Highlighting" or other passage highlighting based techniques than trying to take
notes. I've yet to met someone who scored 128+ who took notes. The MCAT just doesn't give you
enough time. The one caveat to this is for students who have testing accommodtions. If you have
more than 90-minutes, than depending on how much additional time you have, it may be worth it
and possible. But for test-takers who only have 90-minutes for the CARS, there simply isn't enough
time or passage notes or maps.

Mistake #5:

"I'm struggling with timing; I need to learn to speed read."

If you’re struggling to finish passages on time, I assure you that for the vast majority of test takers,
your problem doesn’t have anything to do with your reading speed. Rather, it has to do with the
way you’re approaching answering the questions and the amount of time you’re spending going
back to the passage looking for answers. We deal with timing issues and troubleshooting your
particular problems extensivey in our CARS Bootcamp. So, I won’t go into exhaustive detail here,
but the key takeaway is that the issue is not your reading speed.

To prove this to you, the CARS has 9 passages, each of which has 500 to 600 words. So, 9 passages
* 600 words = 5,400 words. The average adult reads at roughly 200 words/ minute, so this means
you could read all of the passages at a comfortable pace and only use up 27 minutes. This leaves
you 60 minutes to answer the 53 questions. Speed reading isn’t your solution. Better reading
and answering strategies are, which we can teach you! There are only a few specific reasons why
people struggle with timing on CARS and all of them can be fixed. Check out our CARS Bootcamp if
you'd like to learn more. They all come with a 100% money-back-guarantee so there's no risk.

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Mistake #6:

"I just need to read the New York Times or Economist to do well."
If your goal is to become a well-informed, engaged citizen, then by all means go for it, but if you
think this will help you one iota on the MCAT CARS section, I’ve got a bridge I’d like to sell you. The
MCAT CARS section is an incredibly artificial environment. They give you 9 passages that could
range from Sociology to Ancient Greek Philosophy. You have a very short amount of time to read
the passage and answer the questions. This is not a leisurely stroll through the park on a Sunday
afternoon. The only way you are going to get better at the CARS is by doing CARS passages.
You don't get points for reading on the CARS, you get points for translating what you read into
answering questions. When you read non-CARS materials for CARS practice, you're not actually
practicing the thing you get points for on the CARS.

Furthermore, there's no way for you to evaluate whether you actually understood the passage or
how well you did. This is another psychological trap, because "just reading" allows you to feel good
about studying without the risk of missing questions. In addition, the NYT, Economist, and other
similar publications don't have the same writing-style, rarely cover CARS topics, and are not the
same length. Furthermore, you won't be practicing your time management skills which makes this
an even worse idea. It's like hoping to improve at basketball by practicing volleyball because they
both involve a ball.

Unfortunately, when it comes to CARS, there are no secrets. The students I’ve taught and worked
with over the years who have done the very best on the CARS are the ones who have done
between 20 and 30 CARS practice tests. They are using the best, most accurate materials available,
and they're investing a great deal of time in taking a ton of passages and obcessively reviewing
them. If you're 5 or 6 months out from your test day, it certainly won't hurt to do a bit of extra
reading, but if you're within 3 months of your test date, your CARS practice should either be taking
CARS passages under timed conditions or reviewing passages you've already taken.

Mistake #7

"I read somewhere online that this person did [enter XYZ weird,
gimmicky, unorthodox CARS strategy] and did really well!"
I wish there was some secret approach that I could tell you that would magically make the CARS
section easy. I have spent the better part of the last 6 years obsessing over the CARS and the other
team members of the Testing Solutions have just about spent as much time as I have. I do not think
there is a company or a collective group of people in the country, besides the CARS test writers
themselves, who know more about the CARS or have more experience teaching people how to
reach their full potential on the CARS.

The sad news is that there are no gimmicks when it comes to the CARS. We would have
stumbled upon it years ago if there were. At this point, literally hundreds and hundreds of
thousands of students have taken the CARS, and if there was some secret, magic approach that
made CARS much easier, it would have caught on by now.

The elements of doing well on CARS aren't sexy or exciting. In all honesty, they're rather boring. 1)
You need to be able to understand and comprehend what you're reading. 2) You need to be able to

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translate what you've read into correctly answering questions. And 3), you need to be able to do 1)
and 2) effectively and efficiently in 90-minutes. That's it. Those are the keys to doing extremely well
on the CARS. And those keys are exactly the skills our CARS Bootcamp will teach you.

I'm not a genius. I'm a regular person who works really hard. Some people are geniuses. They
can try weird, gimmicky, unorthodox strategies and do well on CARS, because the truth is, they
probably would have done well on the CARS no matter what they did. An n of 1 is not something
to base your future on. The results of someone who did really well trying some weird, wonky, or
unorthodox approach is much more likely to be saying something about the person who is used
the strategy than the quality of the strategy itself. I know there is a lot of psychological appeal
to the idea of some secret solution out there that will quickly solve the problem. Unfortunately,
there isn't. There's almost a perfect analogy to be made here between studying for the CARS and
weightloss. There are a ton of different wacky diet plans out there. Everyone has a ton of opinions
about it. If you do XYZ you'll lose weight fast and effortlessly. We all know, however, that those
sorts of "tricks" don't actually work. Weight loss is simple but hard. Weightloss equals a good diet
and regular exercise. It's simple but hard. It's the same way with the CARS. Doing well on the CARS
is simple, but hard. Don't get tricked by the fad diets of these weird, wonky, CARS strategies you
hear about on Reddit, Facebook, or SDN.

As I said, I'm not a genius. I'm a regular person who just works really hard. If you are a genius, use
that wonky, weird, gimmicky strategy and let me know how it goes! But in case you're a regular
person like me, I want you to know the time-tested, boring, CARS strategies that have consistently
produce results year after year, across a wide base of students from different backgrounds and
skillsets. That is exactly what Testing Solutions' CARS Bootcamp offers you. Boring, highly effective
strategies that will work if you do them. We can't make the CARS easy for you, but we can make
it simple. We can show you exactly what works and exactly what you need to do and when you
need to do it to succeed. We like to think of ourselves as your autopilot. If you plug in, flip on
the autopilot and do what we say, you'll get to exactly where you want to go. If you're looking
for a guide to the CARS, we hope you'll check us out. All of our courses are backed by a 100%
money-back guarantee, so there is no risk to you, just the possibility of transforming your CARS
prep. We've included a few reviews on the next few pages. We hope you'll take 15 seconds to check
them out.

Learn more at www.mytestingsolution.com/cars

Sana B.
The City University of New York

129 - 95th Percentile

"Improving from 120 to 129

on CARS is a huge jump and I
definitey credit Testing Solutions." Click Here to Enlarge Sana's Score Report

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Cindy L.
Stanford University

132 - 100th Percentile

"Testing Solutions helped

tremendousy...it was the biggest
factor in my CARS score." Click Here to Enlarge Cindy's Score Report

Jessica D.
The University of Texas at Austin

128 - 90th Percentile

"With TS, even those without a

strong reading background can
achieve their goals." Click Here to Enlarge Jessica's Score Report

Matt B.
Brookyn College

129 - 95th Percentile

"TS was the best investment
I made preparing for the
MCAT." Click Here to Enlarge Matt's Score Report

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Hani S.
Florida International University

128 – 90th Percentile

"It would’ve been hard to succeed

without ya’ll. I started out earning
123-125 on CARS." Click Here to Enlarge Hani's Score Report

Lemuel R.
University of Arkansas

128 – 90th Percentile

“You will be hard-pressed to find a

resource as concise and intense as
Click Here to Enlarge Lemuel's Score Report
the CARS Bootcamp.”

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." -Lao Tzu

We want you to crush the MCAT, so you're done with it forever and can continue on in your
journey of becoming a doctor. Our promise to you is that if you follow our instructions
exactly and work harder than you've ever worked before, you will beat the CARS.

We are so confident in you and in our ability to give you the tools you need to unlock your
full potential, that we back all of our courses with a no-questions-asked, 100% money-back
guarantee.

Take the first step of your pre-med to med school journey today. We can help show you the
way.

Learn more at www.mytestingsolution.com/cars

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CONTACT US
Do you have any questions, concerns, or feedback for us? We'd love to hear from you.
Please send us an email to [email protected] or you can visit us at www.
mytestingsolution.com.

We're wishing you the very best of luck as you prepare for the MCAT!

Here's to YOUR success!

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