The New AAMC Section Bank Volume 2: Everything You Should Know

Written and edited by the MCAT Self Prep Tutoring Team

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What to Know About the AAMC New Section Bank Volume 2

Last month, the AAMC released the long awaited second volume of their MCAT Official Question Section Bank. This set of 300 questions covers the three science-based sections on the MCAT: Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems, Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems, and Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior, with 100 questions dedicated to each. We have carefully reviewed all of the questions in order to provide you with a guide to better understand and use Volume 2 of the AAMC Section Bank.

Topics Minimally or Not Previously Seen in AAMC Materials

There are a handful of topics that are new or newly emphasized in this set of questions. These topics range from specific content knowledge to experimental techniques and design. I have listed them out below along with some explanation or description of its relevance. If any specific topic, problem or passage is holding you back, you can discuss it with one of our Elite Tutors, who scored in the 97th percentile or above on test day!

Immune Cells
  • There is a new emphasis in this volume on knowing the precursors and functions of ALL immune cells, as well as which families they fall into (this is determined by the precursors).
  • For specific support on the immune system and immune cells, check out Lesson 12 of Biology I and Lesson 1 of Biology II!
  • The picture below includes the basic differentiation of immune cells:

Functional Groups and Common Side Chains
  • This is a topic that frustrates many MCAT studiers because there is so much to know and biochemistry is often a slog, BUT questions frequently came up that involved knowing the names and structures of functional groups and common side chains.
    Functional groups would have been covered in your chemistry and organic chemistry courses.
  • For specific support, check out our MCAT Self Prep Flashcards (available for Advanced and Deluxe Pro members) for Lesson 10 of Chemistry I!
  • The picture below includes some common side chain structures to know:

NMR Shifts and Splitting
  • This is a topic that is widely reviewed, but not often explicitly seen in AAMC material until now. Be sure to brush up!
  • For specific support on the immune system and immune cells, check out Lessons 5 and 6 of Physics II!
  • The picture below includes common NMR shifts by functional group:

Controls
  • Make sure you understand the difference between positive and negative controls and be able to identify them in an experimental set up.
  • For additional support on controls or any experimental design topic, check out our bonus video playlists in our Science Passage Strategy Course!
Microscopy
  • Knowing the uses of different types of microscopes and microscopy techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, light microscopy, confocal microscopy, etc will help you tackle these questions with ease!
  • For additional support on types of microscopy or any experimental design topic, check out our bonus video playlists in our Science Passage Strategy Course!
Chromatographic Purification Techniques
  • While the AAMC has no shortage of chromatography questions, I encountered several questions asking specifically about purification following chromatography. You can review these techniques in Lesson 5 of Chemistry II.
  • For additional support on chromatography or any experimental design topic, check out our bonus video playlists in our Science Passage Strategy Course!

Topics That Came Up A LOT

Along with including topics that we may want to now focus a bit of attention on, Volume 2 of the Section Bank also included a handful of topics that recurred often. In Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems the main recurring topic was protein level structure and function, and for Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior population dynamics was a HUGE focus. While these newly released questions are not the be-all-end-all of what the MCAT test writers are thinking and focusing on at the moment, observing these trends can help you study smarter, not harder.

Access to New Behavioral Sciences Questions

With the release of Volume 2, we just DOUBLED our access to non-full length psychology and sociology questions! This is incredibly exciting, because this section is often overlooked and misunderstood by MCAT studiers, who write it off as easy or straightforward. With comprehensive preparation, it can be both of these things, but without that, you could find yourself lost, confused, and kicking yourself for not spending more time on these topics and understanding the philosophy behind this section.

Behavioral Sciences Questions shift towards experimental design
  • In this newest section of the MCAT (now 10+ years old), there seems to be a shift towards experimental design and research methods. Students have also noted this when taking the MCAT the past few years.
    • Knowing types of studies and experiments as well as their benefits and limitations will be useful
    • Additionally, understanding how different studies prove or do not support hypotheses is key
    • For additional support on any experimental design topic, check out our bonus video playlists in our Science Passage Strategy Course!
Some vocabulary I had not previously seen in the AAMC material was brought up:
  • Moderator, Mediating, and Confounding Variable
    • Most of us have a good grasp of confounding variables, but spend some time understanding these other two possibilities as they may continue coming up
  • Spurious association
    • This fits in with the vocab above and is a statistical relationship between two variables that appears to be causal but is actually coincidental or caused by a third variable

Main Takeaways

The AAMC’s release of new practice questions has been long anticipated, and I hope our analysis provides you with some insights as to where the AAMC may be headed in terms of topics and question focus. Before wrapping up, I wanted to share a few takeaways from my review of Volume 2.

  1. There were VERY few I. II. III. style questions. Don’t get your hopes up, but the AAMC may be saving more of these for CARS and the behavioral sciences sections.
  2. The things that were important before are still important:
    1. Read the passage thoroughly
    2. Read the questions thoroughly
  3. Use these new questions as a tool and guide, but not as a promise. The AAMC is doing a great job of providing more resources to MCAT studiers, and their materials are definitely the most aligned with the MCAT itself; however, it is important to remember the basics and not be overwhelmed by one or two questions that you were not familiar with. If this happens to you, review those questions, make a flashcard for each of them, and move on.

I truly hope this took some of the burden off of you trying to analyze the AAMC’s most recent question release and provide you with some ideas of what to expect as you continue to study and prepare for test day. As always, wishing you the best and reminding you that you have got this!

If you have any questions about what is on the MCAT, the content or passages themselves, or how I prepared for the MCAT, please feel free to reach out to me or any of our other tutors for a free 10 minute consultation. Good luck studying!

Until next time,

Ellery 🙂

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