High School Student Course Guide
If you’re a student you have probably heard of the term, “pre-requisite”. These courses are simply courses that have to be taken before another course is. In other words, the knowledge in the previous course has to be mastered first before they are applied in the current course. Essentially, as a pre-med, every course will probably have a pre-requisite from once you start high school because every math, science or business course will only build on the knowledge you should already have. Science programs will require a pre-requisite and those will require their own set of pre-requisites from your final year of high school which will require a pre-requisite from previous grades. Courses rely on each other.
HIGH SCHOOL
Once you have pre-requisites for certain courses in high school, you might think of taking specific types of course that don’t fall under the “main requirements”. These requirements include:
- Mathematics — [ Functions in Grade 11 and Advanced Functions, Calculus and Vectors, and/or Data Management in Grade 12]
- English
- Biology
- Chemistry
- Physics
You will either take variations of these 5 courses along with courses you enjoy. For example, I took enrichment courses in math, and the three sciences as well as accounting, computer science and communications technology. Most of the time, theses course should either be requirements for your backup careers or should be used to strengthen your medical aspirations. For a lot of research positions, experience with coding might be required and that sparked my interest in computer science.
Moving along to the different variations, most students will aspire for more in high school. For instance, my high school had a medallion program which is an enrichment program for students looking for more from grades 9 to 11. In your high school, it might be an AP class or IB program. If you want to take any of those types of courses, make sure that transfer credits are accepted by your university and align with the main courses listed above. You can choose to take more on but since those are the only ones required, anything extra may be a drain on your mental health.
The SAT
SAT scores are not used for Canadian admissions and there are no specific courses required for Canadian students. The collection of knowledge gain throughout high school will be tested. However, since the test is made for US Universities, having a tutor or the right prep will be the determinant between success and failure.
The MCAT
Following your pre-requisite course and depending on the post secondary program you apply to, there will be some courses you must take in university to prepare for the MCAT. The main topics of interest is that of taking physics in high school. I was not a physics person during my high school career but I took an enrichment course in grade 11 and the regular course in grade 12. Anyone that wishes to take the MCAT will have to take a physics course in university. From my experience and from asking around, the physics concepts covered in first year and on the MCAT is mostly a repetition of high school. So my advice to my fellow non-physics students would be to endure it in high school and try your best to understand the concepts so that you won’t suffer as much in university programs or in preparing for the MCAT. A lot of people avoid physics since their program of interests does not require it for admissions but I’ve found that those students often struggle in university due to the lifestyle and teaching methods of professors. They are not able to ask as many questions and are left in shock once their results come out. Yes!! It is not impossible to get those concepts in university but it is very hard to understand it more than those who have made the mistakes in the past and learned from them.
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