MCAT Glossary — Key Terms & Definitions
- Absolute threshold
- Acid
- Acid-base titration curve
- Action potential
- Activation energy
- Active vs passive transport
- Aldol condensation
- Allele
- Amino acid (essential 9)
- Amphipathic
- Antibody classes
- Atomic number
- Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP)
- Aufbau / Hund / Pauli
- Autonomic nervous system
- Bandura social learning
- Base
- Bernoulli's equation
- Beta-oxidation
- Big Five personality (OCEAN)
- Buffer
- Buoyant force
- Capacitors
- Cardiac cycle
- Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills (CARS)
- Catalyst
- Cell cycle checkpoints
- Cell cycle phases
- Central tendency
- Chemiosmosis
- Chirality
- Classical conditioning
- Codon
- Cognitive dissonance
- Competitive inhibition
- Confidence interval
- Confounding variable
- Conjugate base
- Conservation of momentum
- Correlation coefficient
- Cross-sectional vs longitudinal
- Cultural relativism vs ethnocentrism
- Cytoskeleton components
- Demographic transition
- Denaturation
- Diffraction
- Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) Replication Enzymes
- Doppler effect
- Double-blind RCT
- E1 vs E2
- Effect size
- Electron transport chain (ETC)
- Electronegativity
- Endocrine hormones (key)
- Endocytosis types
- Enthalpy
- Entropy
- Enzyme
- Equilibrium
- Equilibrium constant
- Erikson's psychosocial stages
- Fischer projection
- Folkways, mores, taboos
- Frank-Starling law
- Fundamental attribution error
- Galvanic cell EMF
- Gibbs free energy
- Gluconeogenesis
- Glycolysis
- Half-life
- Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
- Health disparities
- Hemoglobin O₂ dissociation curve
- Henderson-Hasselbalch equation
- Hess's law
- Heuristic
- Homeostasis
- Hypothesis
- Initial, Change, Equilibrium (ICE) Table
- Ideal gas law
- Independent variable
- Innate vs adaptive immunity
- Infrared (IR) Spectroscopy
- Isomer
- Kinetics
- Kohlberg's moral stages
- Krebs cycle (TCA)
- Ksp / solubility product
- Le Châtelier's principle
- Levels of processing
- Lineweaver-Burk plot
- Linkage
- Markovnikov vs anti-Markovnikov
- Maslow's hierarchy
- Meiosis
- Memory systems
- Mendelian ratios
- Michaelis-Menten kinetics
- Mitosis
- Mole
- Negative reinforcement
- Nephron functional units
- Nernst equation
- Newton's laws
- Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (¹H NMR) Basics
- Noncompetitive inhibition
- Normal distribution
- Ohm's law
- Operant conditioning
- Oxidation
- p-value
- Passage-based reasoning
- Peptide bond
- pH
- Piaget's stages
- Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)
- Power
- Protein structure levels
- Quantum numbers
- R/S configuration
- Random assignment
- Resistor–Capacitor (RC) Time Constant
- Reduction
- Reliability
- Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone (RAAS)
- Resting potential
- Selection bias
- Simple harmonic motion
- Sleep stages
- SN1 vs SN2
- Snell's law
- Social institutions
- Social mobility
- Social stratification systems
- Socialization
- Standard deviation
- Stratification
- Stress response (GAS)
- Substrate-level phosphorylation
- Synaptic transmission
- T cell types
- Theoretical perspectives
- Thermodynamics first/second laws
- Thin lens equation
- Transcription
- Translation
- Trophic level
- Type I vs Type II error
- Validity
- Vapor pressure
- Work-energy theorem
- Z-score
- General Chemistry
- Molecular Biology Genetics
- Behavioral Cognitive Psychology
- Physiology Organ Systems
- Organic Chemistry
- Sociology Social Structure
- Personality Emotion Motivation
- Biochemistry Metabolism
- Psych Soc
- Physics
- Cell Biology
- Chem Phys
- Bio Biochem
- Reasoning Beyond Text
- Skills for Critical Analysis and Reasoning (CARS)
- Biological Bases Behavior
- Reasoning Within Text
- Analytical Lab Methods
- Comprehension