MCAT flashcards by section: what's actually in each of the 6 units

The Ultimate MCAT Deck splits into 6 units matching the AAMC's four tested sections (Psych/Social/Behavioral gets its own unit since it's the newest section and the one most premeds have the thinnest coursework in). Here's what's in each.

CARS isn't one of the six, since it doesn't test recallable content the way the other sections do - it's a reading-and-timing skill instead, which is what the CARS timing calculator is for.

General Chemistry - 12 chapters

Full content-review sweep from atomic structure through electrochemistry: periodicity, bonding, gas laws, thermodynamics, equilibrium, acids and bases, redox reactions. This is the section closest to a standard intro chem course, so the flashcards lean on precise definitions and calculation setups over conceptual novelty.

Physics - 9 chapters

Kinematics through circuits, framed the way MCAT physics passages actually test it - as applied scenarios (fluid dynamics in blood vessels, optics in the eye) rather than isolated formula recall. Fewer chapters than Chemistry, but physics passages are disproportionately calculation-heavy, so each chapter carries more problem-application cards per topic.

Organic Chemistry - 12 chapters

Reaction mechanisms, spectroscopy, and the synthesis logic passages lean on. OChem is the section students most often try to "pattern match" instead of understand, which is exactly the kind of shallow encoding that the illusion of competence describes - recognizing a mechanism in a review deck isn't the same as predicting a product on a novel passage.

Biochemistry - 12 chapters

Amino acids through metabolism - the section most students under-review, because it feels like "more biology" until the exam tests metabolic pathway details at a level intro bio courses don't cover. This is also where the deck's sourcing matters most: pathway details are easy to get subtly wrong from memory alone.

Biology - 12 chapters

Cell biology through the major organ systems, organized by system rather than alphabetically, so a chapter builds on what the last one established instead of jumping topics.

Psychological, Social & Behavioral Sciences - 22 chapters

The newest AAMC section and the one with the least undergraduate coursework behind it for most premeds, which is why it gets the most chapters of any unit. Heavy on precise terminology (theories, biases, disorders, sociological concepts) where the AAMC tests exact definitions, not general familiarity.

Studying it without burning out

79 chapters and 6,900 cards is a lot to face at once. Studying a 1,000-card deck without burning out covers the actual approach - chapter by chapter, letting the scheduler carry the review load instead of trying to hold the whole deck in your head at once. You can browse the deck itself before deciding how to work through it.