Instructional Resources for the New MCAT Exam Available at theOpen-Access, Pre-Health Collection within MedEdPORTAL’siCollaborativeStephanie Brouet,*,† Melissa Cichowicz,‡ Henry V. Jakubowski,§ and Laura S. Zapanta∥

†Department of Chemistry, Saginaw Valley State University, University Center, Michigan 48710, United States‡Department of Chemistry, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, West Chester, Pennsylvania 19383, United States§Department of Chemistry, College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University, Saint Joseph, Minnesota 56374, United States∥Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, United States

ABSTRACT: The Pre-Health Collection within MedEdPORTAL’s iCollaborative, supported by the Association of AmericanMedical Colleges, is an open-access repository of curriculum resources available to instructors. The goal of the collection is tohelp instructors develop high-quality lessons from resources developed by other instructors. Resources are acquired bysubmissions from faculty, and are then reviewed by editors before addition to the collection. The editors highly encouragesubmissions from this Journal’s readership.

KEYWORDS: First-Year Undergraduate/General, Chemoinformatics, Multimedia-Based Learning, Professional Development

■ INTRODUCTIONThe eagerly anticipated changes to the MCAT2015 exam arenearly upon us. Chemistry instructors are well aware thatproper preparation for the Medical College Admissions Test(MCAT) developed by the AAMC (Association of AmericanMedical Colleges) is important for the success of ourpremedical students.1 Students currently enrolled in ourcourses will be the first population to take the new version ofthis important exam. As academics, we need to understand therationale for the MCAT changes. In response, adjustmentsfrom a teaching perspective could range from radical to minor,depending on the institution and goals of the programs. Thesechanges have potential to cause significant waves in chemicaleducation, because so many students we teach have aspirationstoward medical school. It is reasonable to suppose that studentswill demand changes if the current curriculum is not properlypreparing them for success.

■ MCAT2015 AND POTENTIAL IMPACTSThe potential impact of the MCAT changes on chemistryneeds to be examined closely. Some changes directly relate tochemistry, as biochemistry will now be specifically included inthe exam. This could change a program’s placement ofbiochemistry in their sequence. Students typically take theMCAT exam at the end of their third year, which means theywould need to complete biochemistry by that time to be fullyprepared. If the current placement of biochemistry is in thefourth or final year, the program should probably be altered. Inany case, the inclusion of biochemistry on the MCAT exam willlead to changes in enrollment pressures.A more sweeping change has also been communicated.

Knowledge across disciplines will be explored, as students willbe tested on their ability to interconnect concepts learned indifferent courses. It has been widely recognized in chemistrythat the boundaries between subdisciplines are artificial and

should be erased, as evidenced by the interdisciplinarydescriptors (bioorganic, organometallic, etc.) we use tocharacterize ourselves and our specialties. This is also trueacross physics, biology, and chemistry. As a result, severalorganizations, including the American Chemical Society(ACS)2 and the American Society for Biochemistry andMolecular Biology (ASBMB),3 have begun tailoring theirrecommendation toward “competencies” and away fromcurriculum recommendations such as a suggested course list.Student outcomes, and not a checklist of prerequisite courses inwhich material has been covered, are what is important. Thiscould lead to a significant change to the recommendationsmedical schools give to students who would like to attend theirinstitutions. Additionally, the MCAT exam has been targeted toreflect this shift in thinking, and will determine student“competency” in an interdisciplinary fashion.4,5

This raises the question of how academia could bestapproach this change. To help institutions move toward acompetencies-based approach in a concrete manner, the AAMChas listed specific foundational concepts for which students areexpected to demonstrate competency. The shift toward theinter-relationship of concepts across disciplines could, andperhaps should, influence some aspects of educators’approaches to teaching material to prehealth students. Largeschools with high populations of “premedical” students couldtailor some of their courses to address the changes or evencreate new courses. Smaller schools could then be put at adisadvantage, because they may not have the populationdemand to create entirely new courses to tailor delivery ofmaterial toward preparation for the MCAT exam, andultimately, medical school. Remember, these programs willhave chemistry majors, engineering majors, and otherdisciplines that require attention to the fundamental core

Published: November 4, 2013

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material that needs to be covered. The traditional general ororganic chemistry course is already jam-packed with specificcontent, which leave many feeling that they have very littleroom for flexibility to address some of the special concerns aprehealth student may have for MCAT preparation. So what isthe instructor to do?

■ PRE-HEALTH COLLECTION WITHINMedEdPORTAL’s iCollaborative

The AAMC recognizes this challenge facing instructors,particularly at smaller institutions, and has put togetherresources aimed to enhance the ability of instructors to addresstheir critical material and make sure that “competencies” arealso being met. One is the Prehealth Collection withinMedEdPORTAL’s iCollaborative.6 The Prehealth Collectionis a repository of resources available freely through the Internetto instructors, categorized by foundational concepts andcompetencies. As a result, instructors can ensure that they arecovering necessary material, and if not, come to the repositoryto find materials to enhance their own courses. The nature ofthe material is not specific to prehealth students. Students whoare chemistry majors can also benefit from the providedmaterial. It would not be surprising if many instructors findsome of the resources are ones that they are already using intheir courses.

■ CONTRIBUTION OF RESOURCES TO THECOLLECTION

The major task as editors of the prehealth collection forchemistry and biochemistry is to request that instructors ofgeneral, organic, and biochemistry submit teaching resources tothe repository that they have found valuable in their owncourse. Your submissions are welcome!7 These materials can beoriginal works by the instructor, or openly available resourceson the Web that have not already been included. They canrange from slide presentations that instructors use in theircourse, to a Web site that the instructor found valuable forprepping a lecture, or a better way to explain a topic.Animations, videos, and audio files are also welcome in therepository.8 While not peer reviewed in the traditional sense,each submission to the iCollaborative of the MedEdPortal isreviewed by editors who establish accuracy and categorize theresource according to pre-health competency and MCAT2015Foundational Concept.For chemistry and biochemistry, the following five founda-

tional concepts apply:

1. Biomolecules have unique properties that determine howthey contribute to the structure and function of cells andhow they participate in the processes necessary tomaintain life.

2. Highly organized assemblies of molecules, cells, andorgans interact to carry out the functions of livingorganisms.

3. Complex systems of tissues and organs sense the internaland external environments of multicellular organismsand, through integrated functioning, maintain a stableinternal environment within an ever-changing externalenvironment.

4. Complex living organisms transport materials, sense theirenvironment, process signals, and respond to changesusing processes understood in terms of physicalprinciples.

5. The principles that govern chemical interactions andreactions form the basis for a broader understanding ofthe molecular dynamics of living systems.

The foundational concepts are broken down into contentcategories and then further into specific topics. TheiCollaborative portal is searchable by keywords, foundationalconcept, or discipline. Materials are organized by instructionaltechnique (independent student, lecture, assessment, andsimulation) and format (animation, lab guide, multimedia,reference, video, and tutorial). Resources can be ranked andcommented on by users, creating a community consensus withrespect to the quality of a particular material. Ultimately, theusers of the Prehealth Collection will greatly influence itscontent as they will conceivably be submitting and reviewingmaterials themselves. This is anticipated to be a successfulavenue to increase the number of quality resources available toinstructors and to enhance their programs.

■ CONCLUSIONThe editors would like to invite you to submit your ownoriginal resources or open access materials for inclusion in theMedEdPORTAL’s iCollaborative Pre-Health Collection. Con-tributions are important for the collection to become a valuableresource to our community and we would be grateful for yourparticipation.

■ AUTHOR INFORMATIONCorresponding Author

*E-mail: sbrouet@svsu.edu.Notes

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

■ REFERENCES(1) MCAT2015 Exam for Administrators at Medical Schools andUndergraduate Programs. https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/mcat2015/admins/ (accessed Oct 2013).(2) Undergraduate Professional Education in Chemistry: ACSGuidelines and Evaluation Procedures for Bachelor’s Degree Programs(Spring 2008). http://portal.acs.org/portal/fileFetch/C/WPCP_008491/pdf/WPCP_008491.pdf (accessed Oct 2013).(3) Curriculum Recommended by ASBMB. http://www.asbmb.org/CareersAndEducation.aspx?id=432 (accessed Oct 2013).(4) The Course-Mapping Tool for the MCAT2015 Exam. https://www.aamc.org/students/applying/mcat/mcat2015/admins/resources/313190/thecourse-mappingtoolforthemcat2015exam.html(accessed Oct 2013).(5) Arnaud, C. H. National Experiment in Undergraduate ScienceEducation for Premed and Medical Education. Chem. Eng. News 2011,89 (47), 38.(6) MedEdPORTAL Publications home page. https://www.mededportal.org/ (accessed Oct 2013).(7) iCollaborative Submission Form Web page. https://surveys.aamc.org/se.ashx?s=7C7E87CB28AF392C (accessed Oct 2013).(8) MedEdPORTAL Web page for frequently asked questions aboutsubmissions. https://www.mededportal.org/icollaborative/about/faq/(accessed Oct 2013).

Journal of Chemical Education Technology Report

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