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Amino Acids Practice Quiz

March 21, 2016 By Leah4sci 12 Comments

Amino acids are a big deal on the MCAT. You can't simply ‘get' the concept. You must be able to quickly recall information and apply them to questions.

The quiz below will help you figure out if you've mastered this topic. The questions are simple but thorough. You either know it, or you don't!

Be sure to review the Amino Acids Tutorial Series and follow along with the Amino Acids Cheat Sheet.

PDF Solutions linked at the end of the quiz

Part 1 – See how quickly you can…

a) Draw the following amino acids

  • Leucine
  • Methionine
  • Phenylalanine
  • Arginine

b) Name the following amino acids

Amino Acid Practice Quiz e Amino Acid Practice Quiz d Amino Acid Practice Quiz c Amino Acid Practice Quiz b Amino Acid Practice Quiz a

c) Classify the amino acids side chains below as one or more of the following:

  • Aliphatic
  • Aromatic
  • Hydrophobic
  • Hydrophilic
  • Acidic
  • Basic
  • Neutral (at physiological pH)

M Q A T W E R K

d) Convert the following amino acids to the correct Fischer Projection

  • Glu to a D Fischer Projection
  • His to an L Fischer Projection
  • R-Tyrosine to Fischer Projection
  • S-Methionine to Fischer Projection
  • R-Serine to Fischer Projection

Part 2 – Amino Acid Characteristics

Which of the amino acids…?
(if more than 1 try to list as many as you can)

  • Rapidly protonates/deprotonates at physiological pH
  • Found on the inside of an alpha helix
  • NOT found inside an alpha helix nor beta sheet
  • Can be used in gluconeogenesis after quick modification
  • Form strong interactions for tertiary/quaternary peptide interactions
  • Found in the middle of a transmembrane protein

Part 3 – Amino Acid Charge

Find the charge of the following amino acids at the given pH

Use the table below for pKa values. Bonus: See if you can answer these questions WITHOUT referring to the table.

His at pH = 6 and 10
Cys at pH = 4 and 8
Gln at pH = 2 and 5

The following polypeptide at pH = 11 AND find its pI – isoelectric point
Tyr-Phe-Met-Arg-Val-Thr-Asp

pka amino acids table

Given amino acid Asp: Rank it's charge from most positive to most negative when located in the following:
  • small intestine
  • 0.1M NaOH solution
  • stomach
  • dissolved in circulating blood

How do you think you did?

Do you feel you got the questions right? Did you UNDERSTAND how to tackle each questions? See how you did using the link below

Send Me The Solutions!

Filed Under: Amino Acids Tagged With: amino acid, amino acids, biochemistry, mcat, MCAT quiz, practice quiz, quiz

Comments

  1. Steven janik says

    May 16, 2018 at 9:08 am

    Your work is like nothing I have seen on my MCAT,,,,,,stop ripping kids off, Leah.

    Reply
  2. Travis says

    December 28, 2017 at 4:48 pm

    Super excited, after following Leah’s technique to memorize these structures I took the quiz. Made a few silly mistakes, but conceptually I was solid. I was unsure on the whole part 2 section, but remembering some of her sayings from the video I was able to make guesses and actually got every question in the set right. Looking forward to utilizing more of Leah’s techniques.

    Reply
  3. Michelle says

    July 7, 2016 at 7:05 pm

    Hi Leah, could provide an answer key? Perhaps via email? Thank you! 🙂

    Reply
    • Leah4sci says

      August 12, 2016 at 11:17 am

      Please see the solutions link at the bottom of the quiz 🙂

      Reply
      • Rebekah says

        September 3, 2016 at 3:40 pm

        So you can only purchase these? What if we are on fee assistance for MCAT?

        Reply
        • Leah4sci says

          December 29, 2016 at 5:50 pm

          No purchase required for the Amino Acids solutions! Just click the red button “Click for Quiz PDF Solutions” and follow the instructions!

          Reply
  4. Anna says

    May 10, 2016 at 3:31 pm

    Hi Leah! Great quiz, and super helpful. Is there a way I can get answers if I didn’t attend the boot camp?

    Reply
  5. Stacy Hatcher says

    March 28, 2016 at 1:19 am

    So So very helpful!!! Such a great review. Also, the AA bootcamp really helped me to understand HOW AA interact with other molecules and in solution instead of just memorizing them. Thank you so much!

    Reply
  6. Gloria Abbey says

    March 22, 2016 at 8:48 am

    Wondering how I can memorize the structures easily

    Reply
    • Leah4sci says

      April 4, 2016 at 5:51 pm

      Gloria: Write and rewrite till you have them solidified, then write them out some more

      Reply
  7. Rafe Mizrahi says

    March 21, 2016 at 5:13 pm

    Amazing amazing amazing job, I’m itching for the answers now!

    Reply
    • Leah4sci says

      March 21, 2016 at 6:54 pm

      Glad you found it helpful Rafe. It was VERY difficult for me to refrain from creating ‘tricky’ questions. Goal here: you know it, or you don’t!

      Reply

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