Physics for Medical Entrance: Mechanics, Fluids, Waves and Electricity
What you must understand
Medical entrance physics rewards conceptual control more than formula recall. Build a working map of kinematics and Newton's laws, work–energy and momentum conservation, circular and rotational motion, gravitation, simple harmonic motion, fluid mechanics (pressure, buoyancy, Bernoulli, viscosity, surface tension), thermal physics and thermodynamics, wave optics and sound, electrostatics, current electricity, and magnetism, and modern physics (photoelectric effect, atomic models, radioactivity). Fluid and wave topics deserve extra attention because they connect directly to physiology (blood pressure, Poiseuille flow, hearing, ultrasound).
Traps examiners plant
- Sign and direction errors: g is downward; a deceleration is negative relative to chosen positive axis. Fix the axis before substituting.
- Confusing weight with mass, and confusing density with specific gravity (dimensionless).
- Unit slips: cm to m, mmHg to pascal, eV to joule. Convert before computing.
- Series/parallel resistor mix-ups and forgetting internal resistance in terminal voltage.
- Projectile misconceptions: horizontal velocity stays constant; vertical acceleration is g throughout, including at the top where vertical velocity is zero.
- Bernoulli misuse: it applies to steady, incompressible, non-viscous flow along a streamline; it does not explain viscous pressure drop.
- Lens/mirror sign conventions applied inconsistently.
Worked example (rule of thumb)
A body falls freely from rest for 3 s (g = 10 m/s²). Speed at impact = gt = 30 m/s; height = ½gt² = 45 m. Check: energy method, mgh = ½mv², gives the same v = √(2gh) = √900 = 30 m/s. Rule of thumb: when time is given, use kinematics; when height is given, use energy - and always verify with the other route when the numbers are clean.
Biology for Medical Entrance: Botany and Zoology Essentials
What you must understand
Biology carries the largest question share, so breadth with precision matters. In botany, master plant cell structure, photosynthesis (light and dark reactions, C3, C4, CAM), respiration in plants, transport (xylem, phloem, transpiration, root pressure), mineral nutrition, plant hormones, reproduction and pollination, plant taxonomy and morphology, and ecology and genetics as applied to plants. In zoology, master animal diversity and classification, digestion, circulation, respiration, excretion, and neural and endocrine control, human reproduction, genetics and molecular biology (DNA replication, transcription, translation, Mendelian ratios), evolution, and immunity and disease.
Traps examiners plant
- C3 vs C4: C4 plants concentrate CO₂ in bundle-sheath cells and avoid photorespiration; CAM separates the steps in time, not space.
- Photosynthesis vs respiration sites: thylakoid vs stroma; glycolysis in cytoplasm, Krebs in mitochondrial matrix, electron transport on the inner membrane.
- Blood vessel and nephron segment functions confused; remember which segment reabsorbs what.
- Hormone source vs target mismatch (e.g., ADH from posterior pituitary, aldosterone from adrenal cortex).
- Mendelian ratio errors: 9:3:3:1 needs independent assortment; linked genes deviate.
- Classification traps: not every photosynthetic organism is a plant; cyanobacteria are prokaryotes.
Worked example (rule of thumb)
Cross two heterozygotes Aa × Aa. Gametes are A and a at equal frequency. Offspring: AA : Aa : aa = 1 : 2 : 1, phenotype 3 : 1. For a dihybrid AaBb × AaBb with independent assortment, phenotypes are 9 : 3 : 3 : 1. Rule of thumb: write gametes first, then build the grid - most ratio errors start from faulty gamete lists, not from the cross itself.