Jack Westin MCAT Podcast

Welcome back to the Jack Westin MCAT Podcast with Mike and Molly! This episode covers the single highest yield topic on the entire MCAT: amino acids. And no, memorizing structures is not enough. If you have ever known your amino acids cold and still gotten questions wrong, this episode is exactly what you need.

Mike and Molly go way beyond the list. They break down every amino acid by category, explain what makes each one chemically unique, and show you exactly how the MCAT connects amino acids to neurotransmitters, protein structure, acid-base chemistry, lab techniques, enzyme regulation, and more.

📌 Coming next episode: Protein structure, from individual amino acids to the incredible diversity of proteins they create.

Get started with our resources!
📌 Success Advising (get clarity on where you are and on what support and resources are necessary for your success): https://calendly.com/academic-advising-4/jack-westin-academic-advising?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast
💻 Try our Chrome Extension (expert solutions to every AAMC passage): https://tinyurl.com/4jw5pad8
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🎓 Live Sessions: https://jackwestin.com/sessions?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast
👨🏻‍🏫 Courses (guaranteed to improve your score): https://jackwestin.com/courses?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast
🙋 Tutoring (guaranteed to improve your score): https://jackwestin.com/services/live-online-mcat-tutoring?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast

Welcome back to the Jack Westin MCAT Podcast with Mike and Molly! Last episode we broke down the neurobiology of language; Broca's, Wernicke's, split-brain patients. This episode we zoom all the way out and ask a question that's fascinated scientists for centuries:

Does the language you speak actually shape the way you think?

This is one of the most debated topics in MCAT psychology and one of the most fascinating. Mike and Molly break it all down, name by name, theory by theory.

📊 High-yield MCAT visual: Picture a number line. Thought on the left, language on the right. Every theory in this episode falls somewhere on that line — and knowing where is everything.

🔑 Names you MUST know for the MCAT:
Chomsky · Skinner · Vygotsky · Piaget · Sapir-Whorf

🎧 Next episode: Biomolecules — amino acids, proteins, enzymes, and DNA. The highest-yield topic on the entire MCAT. Don't miss it.

Get started with our resources!
📌 Success Advising (get clarity on where you are and on what support and resources are necessary for your success): https://calendly.com/academic-advising-4/jack-westin-academic-advising?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast
💻 Try our Chrome Extension (expert solutions to every AAMC passage): https://tinyurl.com/4jw5pad8
📚 Free QBANK: https://jackwestin.com/qbank/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast
🎓 Live Sessions: https://jackwestin.com/sessions?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast
👨🏻‍🏫 Courses (guaranteed to improve your score): https://jackwestin.com/courses?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast
🙋 Tutoring (guaranteed to improve your score): https://jackwestin.com/services/live-online-mcat-tutoring?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=podcast

0:00 – Intro & recap of last episode (Broca's & Wernicke's)
3:30 – Why language theories matter on the MCAT
7:00 – Chomsky: Universal Grammar & the Language Acquisition Device
14:20 – Skinner: Language as operant conditioning
20:45 – Vygotsky: Social interaction theory of language
25:00 – Critical Period Hypothesis explained
30:10 – Genie Wiley: What isolation teaches us about language
36:00 – The thought vs language number line visual
40:30 – Universalism: thought determines language
44:00 – Piaget's cognitive development theory of language
47:30 – Vygotsky at the center: both matter equally
51:00 – Linguistic Relativity: language influences thought
55:30 – Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis: language determines thought
1:01:00 – How to apply these theories on MCAT questions
1:06:00 – Coming up next: Biomolecules

Welcome back to the Jack Westin MCAT Podcast with Mike and Molly! In this episode, we're breaking down one of the most high-yield neuroscience topics on the MCAT, the biology of language and the brain areas behind it.

Ever wonder why some people lose the ability to speak clearly after a stroke, while others speak fluently but make zero sense? That's not random, it comes down to specific brain regions, and the MCAT loves to test exactly this.

🔑 High-yield MCAT tip: If you see broken, labored speech with intact comprehension → Broca's. Fluent speech that makes no sense → Wernicke's. Can't repeat phrases → conduction aphasia (arcuate fasciculus).

🎧 Next episode: Theories of language and language development — Chomsky, Whorf, and more. Don't miss it.

Get started with our resources!
📌 Success Advising (get clarity on where you are and on what support and resources are necessary for your success): https://calendly.com/academic-advising-4/jack-westin-academic-advising?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast
💻 Try our Chrome Extension (expert solutions to every AAMC passage): https://tinyurl.com/4jw5pad8
📚 Free QBANK: https://jackwestin.com/qbank/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast
🎓 Live Sessions: https://jackwestin.com/sessions?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast
👨🏻‍🏫 Courses (guaranteed to improve your score): https://jackwestin.com/courses?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast
🙋 Tutoring (guaranteed to improve your score): https://jackwestin.com/services/live-online-mcat-tutoring?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast

In this episode of the Jack Westin CARS Podcast, Usher and Molly tackle one of the trickier philosophy passages in recent memory, "Moral Relations" from May 6th. If philosophy passages make you nervous on the MCAT, this one's for you.

Get started with our resources!
📌 Success Advising (get clarity on where you are and on what support and resources are necessary for your success): https://calendly.com/academic-advising-4/jack-westin-academic-advising?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast
💻 Try our Chrome Extension (expert solutions to every AAMC passage): https://tinyurl.com/4jw5pad8
📚 Free QBANK: https://jackwestin.com/qbank/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast
🎓 Live Sessions: https://jackwestin.com/sessions?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast
👨🏻‍🏫 Courses (guaranteed to improve your score): https://jackwestin.com/courses?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast
🙋 Tutoring (guaranteed to improve your score): https://jackwestin.com/services/live-online-mcat-tutoring?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast

📖 This passage is linked in the description and available free on jackwestin.com as part of our daily CARS practice passages.

Is stress a bad thing? Not according to the science. In this Jack Westin MCAT Podcast episode, Mike and Molly flip the coin from last episode's neurobiology of emotion to the psychology of emotion and stress. They walk through the major theories of emotion, break down eustress vs. distress, explain cognitive appraisal, and connect it to the MCAT study experience in a way that might actually change how you approach test day.

Get started with our resources!
📌 Success Advising (get clarity on where you are and on what support and resources are necessary for your success): https://calendly.com/academic-advising-4/jack-westin-academic-advising?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast
💻 Try our Chrome Extension (expert solutions to every AAMC passage): https://tinyurl.com/4jw5pad8
📚 Free QBANK: https://jackwestin.com/qbank/?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast
🎓 Live Sessions: https://jackwestin.com/sessions?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast
👨🏻‍🏫 Courses (guaranteed to improve your score): https://jackwestin.com/courses?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast
🙋 Tutoring (guaranteed to improve your score): https://jackwestin.com/services/live-online-mcat-tutoring?utm_source=spotify&utm_medium=podcast

Next episode: Language, thought, and aphasias