Introduction to Biology
If you wish tostudy Medicine and Surgery in Italy you will have to pass the IMAT test. In this article, we will analyse how the second section of the IMAT test works and what you need to do to ace it.
As of the date this article has been published the Imat test 2021 was held on the 9th September 2021. If you sat the Imat exam and did not pass tostudy medicine in Italy, IMAT Buddy has the help you need to crush thetest medicina in inglese in 2022.
Plus, we also have an action-packed FREE full lesson and FREE quiz for the IMAT exam, to get you started in the right direction. Themedicina in lingua inglese practise questions are based on the Imat test 2020 andImat Test 2021.
We have now come to, without a doubt, the most important topic for the IMAT, and that is biology. As a future medical student you need to develop a passion for biology, it is what you will be studying for the next 6 years. But for now lets focus purely on what you need to do in order to crush the IMAT biology section.
Biology is by far the most important topic assessed in the IMAT because it is 18 questions. That means it’s 27 marks! Because the biology section contains the most marks it is also the section which the IMAT writers tend to make the most difficult, meaning they will often throw in a few trick questions to really try seperate the exceptional students from the average ones.
Before you start studying biology, make sure you check the syllabus (see video above), the last thing you want to do is waste time on biology topics that are not even assessed in the IMAT, a lot of students end up studying topics like ecology, the carbon cycle, and so on, without realising that these topics are not even assesable in the IMAT. Once you are familiar with what is assesed, you then need to make sure you allocate a decent amount of time to study these topics. Biology is actually not a particularely difficult field of study, it just takes a lot of time. A good thing to remember is that anyone can learn biology if they dedicate enough time to studying it, but likewise no one can learn everything needed without the propper amount of time allocated. This is NOT a field that you can cram for a week before the exam.
As previously mentioned the IMAT tends to ask trick questions in this section, more so than in other sections. Below you can find an example of a typical IMAT style biology question…
Which form of DNA would one be able to observe in a yeast cell?
A) Linear
B) Circular
C) Linear and circular
D) Neither linear nor circular
E) None are correct
This question might look short and simple, but it is designed to test you on multiple concepts all at once. First of all, you need to know that a yeast cell is a eukaryote. Therefore it will have organelles and a nucleus. Then you also need to know that a nucleus contains linear DNA. Furthermore, you need to remember that since it is a eukaryote it will have mitochondria, and mitochondria have their own DNA, which is circular. The answer will thus be C.
As you can see this question actually tests you on a variety of concepts and thus can be very frustrating for people who have studied biology but not in depth, if you forget just one of the concepts above then you will most likely get the question wrong. A basic summarised understanding of biology just won’t cut it for the IMAT, you need to learn the details!
In this course we will go over these details thoroughly so that you have all the specific details memorised. This will give you a tremendous advantage over the average student who just learnt the basics. Since we will be going into some detail, you are reccomended to have at least a basic understanding of biology before commencing the course. You of course do not need to be an expert, but if you have never studied biology before then you are strongly recommended to familiarise yourself with the basic concepts as soon as possible.
Now that we have covered all that, how exactly do you study biology for the IMAT? First of all, IMAT Buddy is your secret weapon. Every IMAT applicant uses free YouTube videos, textbooks and other free material, you will not set yourself apart by using these. At IMAT Buddy we will give you the specific details that the IMAT asks year after year, so that you will be able to master the trick questions that throw off the majority of test takers. Having said that, you still should use textbooks and other resources to build your knowledge. And of course, practice questions! We will give you plenty of practice on IMAT Buddy, but past IMAT and even BMAT papers are a great way to prepare yourself for the actual test.
With the resources out of the way, how exactly to you memorise all this information? Biology is probably the most memory intensive subject on the IMAT, you will need to memorise a lot of content. Studies have repeatedly shown that active recall is the best way to learn this type of information, so rather than just writing notes then re-reading them, try using flashcards. We recommend you use Anki for this. This will not only be your friend for the IMAT but will hopefully also be something you use throughout medschool. You can install the app from the following link https://apps.ankiweb.net/
That’s pretty much all you need to know about the biology section, now all that is left is the studying. If you haven’t already, take a look at our free sample video below!
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