Margarete Wallner (originally posted by Judy) asked 5 years ago
Which psychology class should I take for the MCAT besides Psych 111? Also, do I need to take sociology 100?
Pre-Med Hub Staff answered 5 years ago
Hi Judy,
Generally speaking, the MCAT requires a basic knowledge of psychology for the Psych/Soc section. You can check out the topics tested here: https://aamc-orange.global.ssl.fastly.net/production/media/filer_public/db/5f/db5f154c-73b0-49d1-9609-dfb269869ed9/mcat-psbb-013118.pdf. Although 200-level psych classes could be helpful to more thoroughly understand the concepts (for example, Behavioral Neuroscience for sensory processing), you definitely do not have to schedule additional psych classes just for the MCAT; Psych 111 should be good enough to give you the broad knowledge needed for the exam. As for sociology, you can either take Soc 100 (which should give you a general overview of all the major theories and concepts) or Soc 302 (which is more catered towards sociology on the MCAT, but you can only take it as a junior or senior).
With the MCAT Psych/Soc section, knowledge of psychology and sociology relies most heavily on memorization. This means that, even if you’ve taken the bare minimum intro classes, you should still be able to self-study the rest of the concepts relatively more easily than something like Organic Chemistry, which generally takes more time to learn. Khan Academy is a great resource for Psych/Soc especially, since he explains topics that you may not have learned in your classes.
– Kiran, PMH Board