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MCAT GC WORKING > Gen Chem Overview > Flashcards

Gen Chem Overview Flashcards

1
Q

What order does the Physical Sciences section come on Test Day?

A

After the Tutorial and Examinee Agreement, the Physical Sciences section is the FIRST tested section on the MCAT.

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2
Q

What percent of Physical Sciences does Gen Chem comprise?

A

Approximately 50% of the Physical Sciences section is General Chemistry material.

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3
Q

How many questions total are there in the section?

Approximately how many will be Gen Chem specific?

A

52 questions total in Physical Sciences.

~26 should be Gen Chem specific, as the section material is 50% Gen Chem.

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4
Q

Is there a penalty for guessing?

A

No penalty for guessing.

All questions on the MCAT are worth the same value: 1 raw point if correct, 0 raw points if incorrect.

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5
Q

What is the score range for the Physical Sciences section?

A

1-15

1 is the lowest score, representing ~0-3 questions correct.
15 is the highest score, representing ~50-52 questions correct.

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6
Q

What is the average (50th percentile) Physical Sciences section score of:

  1. all students who took this exam (2011 scores)
  2. students who matriculated into med-school (2010 scores)
A
  1. 8.4 is the 50th percentile for all students.
  2. 10.3 is the 50th percentile for all students that were accepted into an MD program.
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7
Q

How long is the Physical Science section?

A

70 minutes.

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8
Q

What is a discrete (or independent) question type?

How many are there in this section?

A

A discrete (or independent) question is one that does not require passage material to solve.

There are 13 of these in the Physical Sciences section.

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9
Q

How much time does the AAMC anticipate a discrete question should take to answer?

A

45 - 60 seconds to answer a discrete question.

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10
Q

The majority of the questions on the MCAT fall into what general category?

How many are there in this section?

A

Passage-based questions are the most common question type, and require some level of passage information to solve.

There are 39 passage based questions in the Physical Sciences section.

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11
Q

If each discrete takes a maximum of 1 minute to complete, how much time remains to do passage questions?

How much time per passage will that equate to?

A

57 minutes remain for passages.
70 minutes total - 13 for discretes = 57.

8 minutes per passage.
57 min / 7 passages = ~8.

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12
Q

How many passages will there be in this section?

How many questions per passage does that imply?

A

There are 7 passages in Physical Sciences.

4-7 questions per passage is the range.

Given 39 passage-based questions over 7 passages, expect 5-6 questions per passage to be a more specific average.

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13
Q

How long is the break after the Physical Sciences section ends?

A

10 minutes.

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14
Q

How much Chemistry content does the AAMC expect is known prior to taking the exam?

A

There are 12 general Chemstry categories, 95 main subject areas, and 60 sub-topic points.

The following cards highlight the main bulk of material that is expected to be known.

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15
Q

Within the general category of Electronic Structure, what are you expected to know?

A

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/85562/data/ps_topics.pdf

  • Quantum numbers n, l, m, s
  • Ground vs Excited states
  • Absorption and Emission spectra
  • Orbital shapes for s, p, d
  • Conventional notation for electronic structure
  • Bohr/Hydrogen atom
  • Effective nuclear charge
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16
Q

Within the general category of Periodic Table content, what are you expected to know?

A

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/85562/data/ps_topics.pdf

  • Physical and Chemical poperties of: Alkali metals, Alkaline earth metals, Transition metials
  • Physical and Chemical poperties of: Halogens, Noble gasse, Oxygen group
  • Physical and Chemical poperties of: metals vs nonmetals
  • Families (columns) vs rows (energy levels)
  • How to read atomic number, weight, and abbreviation
17
Q

Within the general category of Periodic Table trends, what are you expected to know?

A

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/85562/data/ps_topics.pdf

  • Electronic structure
  • Valence electron configuration
  • First and Second ionization energy trends
  • Electron affinity
  • Electronegativity
  • Electron shells, sizes of atoms, radius trends
  • Variations in trends based on row vs column
18
Q

Within the general category of Bonding, what are you expected to know?

A

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/85562/data/ps_topics.pdf

  • Ionic bond, electrostatic energy, electrostatic force
  • Sigma bond vs Pi bond
  • Hybridization (sp, sp2, sp3) and respective geometries
  • VSEPR theory and shapes of basic molecules (NH3, H2O, CO2, etc)
  • Lewis electron dot structures, formal charge, resonance
  • Covalent, polar covalent, coordinate covalent
  • dipole moment of bonds vs of a molecule
19
Q

Within the general category of Gases, what are you expected to know?

A

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/85562/data/ps_topics.pdf

  • Pressure, Absolute Temperature, and STP
  • Molar volume, partial pressure, and mole fraction
  • Kinetic theory of gases, and ideal gas definition
  • Ideal gas law, Boyle’s law, Charle’s law, Avogadro’s law
  • Dalton’s law
  • Van der Waals equation
20
Q

Within the general category of Intermolecular Forces and Phases, what are you expected to know?

A

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/85562/data/ps_topics.pdf

  • Hydrogen bonding, dipole-dipole, London dispersion forces
  • Phase changes naming, phase diagrams
  • triple point, critical point
  • colligative properties: Raoult’s law, b.p. elevation, f.p. depression, osmotic pressure
  • Colloids
  • Henry’s law
  • Properties of water
21
Q

Within the general category of Stoichiometry, what are you expected to know?

A

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/85562/data/ps_topics.pdf

  • Avogadro’s number, mole concept, molecular weight
  • Empirical vs Molecular formula
  • Dimensional analysis, metric conversions
  • Percent mass, density, molarity, molality, normality
  • Oxidation number, oxidizing vs reducing agents, redox titration
  • Balancing chemical equations, limiting reactants, conventions, theoretical yield calculations
22
Q

Within the general category of Thermodynamics and Thermochemistry, what are you expected to know?

A

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/85562/data/ps_topics.pdf

  • State functions: H, G, S, Q, W, E
  • Endo vs Exo thermic reactions
  • Hess’s law, bond energies, heats of formation
  • Specific heat, heat capacity, values for water
  • Entropy. Free energe (Gibbs), Spontaneity of reaction
  • Zeroth law, First law, Second law
  • Equivalence of energy units, Heat transfer types, PV diagram and work
  • Heat of fusion, heat of vaporization, difference between heat of phase change vs heat of temperature change.
23
Q

Within the general category of Rates and Kinetics, what are you expected to know?

A

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/85562/data/ps_topics.pdf

  • Reaction rates, rate laws, reaction order, rate constant
  • Rate determining step, concentration dependence
  • Activation energy, transition state, Arrhenius equation
  • Catalysts, enzymes, Kinetic vs Thermodynamic reaction control
  • Equilibrium, mass action, le Chatlier’s principle
  • Equilibrium vs G vs Temperature vs Heat
24
Q

Within the general category of Solutions and Solubility, what are you expected to know?

A

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/85562/data/ps_topics.pdf

  • Anion, Cation, hydration, hydronium ion
  • Common names/formulas/charges for common ions
  • Units of concentration: molarity, molality, normality
  • Solubility constant, equilibrium expression, Ksp
  • Common ion effect, complex formation, precipitate formation
  • Solubility vs pH vs polarity
25
Q

Within the general category of Acid and Base chemistry, what are you expected to know?

A

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/85562/data/ps_topics.pdf

  • Bronsted-Lowry, Arrhenius, Lewis definitions
  • Ionization of water, Kw, pH, pOH, pure water values
  • Conjugate acid and base, strong acid and base (with common examples), weak acid and base (with common examples)
  • dissociation of acid/base, hydrolysis, calculation of pH of weak acid/base solutions
  • Henderson-Hasselbach equations, equilibrium constants Ka and Kb
  • pH, pKa, pKb calculations
  • Buffers, indicators, neutralization, titration
26
Q

Within the general category of Electrochemistry, what are you expected to know?

A

https://www.aamc.org/students/download/85562/data/ps_topics.pdf

  • Electrolytic cell, electrolysis, electrolytes
  • Electron flow, Faraday’s law, anode, cathode
  • Current, oxidation vs reduction, plating
  • Galvanic cell, half-reactions, salt bridge
  • Reduction potentials, cell potential, calculation of total voltage
  • Relation of cell potential to G vs Keq vs Q

MCAT GC WORKING (11 decks)

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