I pushed the first version of my lab techniques cheat sheet out earlier this year (or late last, can't remember) but had a few things I need to add/remove and correct.
Here's the updated version of the MCATalyst Lab Techniques Cheat Sheet! PDF can be downloaded here if you please.
Hi everyone,
I pushed this out a few weeks ago on the main MCAT sub and was asked by a few people to post it here, but I've created an updated P/S Anki deck for the MCAT.
I'll link my original post here so you can read more if you want, but here's the main gist:
Here's the Google Drive with all of my Anki decks, which also includes a folder that supports older versions of Anki. The decks are also available for live updates on Anki Hub (link for the P/S Deck on AnkiHub, link for all MCATalyst decks on AnkiHub).
I also have a few "auxiliary" decks for things like the Molecules you should know, lab techniques, units and math, and the OChem reactions (all in that same Google Drive folder above), I'll be creating my own full deck sometime later this fall for the sciences.
I think I've caught nearly every mistake or fixed mistakes or formatting issues people have found already, but of course will keep updating things as people find them.
Good luck everyone!
Just going to add the links here just in case you don't want to read:
Took me a while, but here's what's new or different in this deck. Note that this deck is built off the MCATalyst Document I released a month or two ago, so all info here is true of both the document and the anki deck.
MASSIVE shoutout to all of the MCAT Anki deck makers, this deck wouldn't be possible without them. Before I talk about how it differs from Pankow, let me explain how I made it:
So here's how the MCATalyst deck differs from Pankow and Aidan, in particular:
Hope you all enjoy and happy studying! I also added the deck live on AnkiHub, I have LITERALLY never used AnkiHub so if you download it and there's problems, just lmk!
Just going to add the links here just in case you don't want to read:
Took me a while, but here's what's new or different in this deck. Note that this deck is built off the MCATalyst Document I released a month or two ago, so all info here is true of both the document and the anki deck.
MASSIVE shoutout to u/mrpankow and all other Anki deck makers, this deck wouldn't be possible without them. Before I talk about how it differs from Pankow, let me explain how I made it:
So here's how the MCATalyst deck differs from Pankow and Aidan, in particular:
Hope you all enjoy and happy studying! I also added the deck live on AnkiHub, I have LITERALLY never used AnkiHub so if you download it and there's problems, just lmk!
The original MCATalyst P/S document still exists and hasn't been touched, so don't worry about that, but I still strongly believe that the most important part of memorizing the P/S terms is being able to put their definitions and examples in your own terms and relate them to things that are personal to you. To this day, it's been several years since I tested, and the terms that I STILL have memorized are those that I created my own examples for, rather than listening to someone else's.
So what I did is I created a downloadable DOCX that you can download off my website, a fully editable version of the document where I've just removed the examples I had and asked a few clarifying questions in places, all with the goal of giving you a much easier ability to create your own version of the document and memorize the terms better.
You can find the document here! Hoping this helps a ton, but obviously my original document with its examples is still available if you prefer, available at the same link
Last two pages basically have the same info, I just swapped the Assumptions on page 3 with giving each inhibitor it's own graph on page 4. Also keep in mind that the enzyme classifications/reactions/definitions have been simplified quite a bit but they should be good enough for your understanding on the MCAT.
PDF for printing available here if you prefer but you can do whatever you want with the screenshots. Let me know if there's anything else you'd like me to make next and let me know if you find any mistakes! They'll be fixed in the PDF version.
Edit: need to swap fructose and glucose structures, my bad on that, but it's corrected on the PDF version!
Had a lot of people request a cheat sheet that shows the molecules you need to memorize the structures of or just be able to delineate/recognize. There's lots of different ways to recognize the 4C Krebs Cycle intermediates or nitrogenous bases (just as an example), I just used what I recommend/what I used when I took the exam so that you don't have to actually memorize their structure.
Will be making this sheet's sibling, a similar one for Functional Groups, sometime next week!
Full PDF if you want to print it out for yourself linked in the comments, as well as the anki deck that corresponds to this cheat sheet.
Been working the last few months to make an updated document that I've used to collect the terms that many of the awesome/free resources (and MCAT reaction threads) use that seem to be relevant for the MCAT and combed through them to eliminate things that have pretty much evidence to be showing up on the exam (I'm looking at you, obscure nervous system anatomy) and then focused on making sure to include many new terms that may be missing from Pankow/300 Page document, as well as extrapolating a few new terms that probably won't show up but since they're on related topics to what does, and the MCAT does have a hidden list of concepts they test on, I felt comfortable adding a few things in.
You can find it in a link in the description, Reddit doesn't allow google doc links so you can just go through my website and download it for free or use the Google Doc for free.
Massive Thanks: HUGE thank you to the many resources that have been prevalent in this community for a long time (Khan and the 300 page document, Pankow, most notably.. Couldn't have made this without them.
Organization of Pankow vs Document: there's going to be stuff you find in the Pankow deck that isn't on my document and vice versa. Most of my reasoning for that is listed above, but also keep in mind that the AAMC updated their outline and so I ended up organizing my document to align with that rather than what was available when Pankow was there. I'm also not as funny as Pankow so my apologies on that.
Examples: I love giving people examples of terms, I find that it significantly makes it easier to understand things, which is why my document has a ton of examples of terms that are listed.
Delineations between similar terms: for a lot of the terms that are similar (i.e. Actor-Observer Bias, Fundamental Attribution Error, Self-Serving Bias, and Looking-Glass-Self) I made sure to include explanations and examples of how they're different so they're easier to understand and catch differences for the questions that put all of them close together.
Memory Quick Tip: PLEASE get comfortable putting these terms into your own words by finding examples of things. I'm thinking of making a document that removes my examples to allow you to create your own, because knowing the definition is great, but the MCAT never tests on definitions, really, for P/S. Examples and terms, especially similar ones!
A note on the complicated development theories: I tried to simplify these as much as I could, since for the most part, these are not commonly asked about, but highly recommend trying to personalize those theories (like Kohlberg, Erikson, etc.)
That's all! Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions, there's a way to suggest edits or new terms in the document if you find any mistakes.
Been working the last few months to make an updated document that I've used to collect the terms that many of the awesome/free resources (and MCAT reaction threads) use that seem to be relevant for the MCAT and combed through them to eliminate things that have pretty much evidence to be showing up on the exam (I'm looking at you, obscure nervous system anatomy) and then focused on making sure to include many new terms that may be missing from Pankow/300 Page document, as well as extrapolating a few new terms that probably won't show up but since they're on related topics to what does, and the MCAT does have a hidden list of concepts they test on, I felt comfortable adding a few things in.
You can find it in a link in the description, Reddit doesn't allow google doc links so you can just go through my website and download it for free or use the Google Doc for free. 183 Pages, but I don't think there's necessarily less information than any of the other documents, there's more in Psych and Soc and less in anatomy, I just have organized mine differently and don't have as many pictures.
Massive Thanks: HUGE thank you to the many resources that have been prevalent in this community for a long time (Khan and the 300 page document, Pankow, most notably.. Couldn't have made this without them.
Organization of Pankow vs Document: there's going to be stuff you find in the Pankow deck that isn't on my document and vice versa. Most of my reasoning for that is listed above, but also keep in mind that the AAMC updated their outline and so I ended up organizing my document to align with that rather than what was available when Pankow was there. I'm also not as funny as Pankow so my apologies on that.
Examples: I love giving people examples of terms, I find that it significantly makes it easier to understand things, which is why my document has a ton of examples of terms that are listed.
Delineations between similar terms: for a lot of the terms that are similar (i.e. Actor-Observer Bias, Fundamental Attribution Error, Self-Serving Bias, and Looking-Glass-Self) I made sure to include explanations and examples of how they're different so they're easier to understand and catch differences for the questions that put all of them close together.
Memory Quick Tip: PLEASE get comfortable putting these terms into your own words by finding examples of things. I'm thinking of making a document that removes my examples to allow you to create your own, because knowing the definition is great, but the MCAT never tests on definitions, really, for P/S. Examples and terms, especially similar ones!
A note on the complicated development theories: I tried to simplify these as much as I could, since for the most part, these are not commonly asked about, but highly recommend trying to personalize those theories (like Kohlberg, Erikson, etc.)
That's all! Hope this helps! Let me know if you have any questions, there's a way to suggest edits or new terms in the document if you find any mistakes.
