1) Your individual scores and composite score
PS=13 VR=15 WS=R BS=14 Composite=42R
2) The study method used for each section
Overall: Took Kaplan course. Classroom not too helpful but online materials, study sheets and flashcards were. Not crazy about the Kaplan study books, as it seems they just kinda crammed random facts from textbooks into them. A key part of my studying was keeping a "lessons learned" word document, in which I added bullet points each time I learned something from a wrong answer or accidental right answer from a practice test. Ex: "All blood vessels have endothelium, not all filter nutrients. Only capillaries do." or "LOOK AT ALL HYDROGENS IN HNMR!" The document was 20 pages by the time I took the test, but I bolded, underlined and starred sections as I reviewed them to mark the information I had not yet absorbed. I tried to take entire practice tests (except writing) at once, but in hindsight I should have included the writing as well. Fatigue was much greater than expected on test day! I also had a very motivated study buddy. We sat next to each other during practice tests. Explaining concepts back and forth was great and the friend was also a huge help with morale and encouragement.
Physical Sciences: Despite my final score distribution, PS was usually my best section on aamc practice tests (13-14s usually). Flashcards were great, as were online Kaplan questions, which were good drills, even if they didn't seem to correspond exactly to aamc-type questions due to the heavy Kaplan calculation focus. This might sound crazy, but I hardly ever read the PS passages. If you know the material, you really can answer most questions on your own and only refer back to the passage when needed. I highly recommend this method because the extra time it gives you to check answers was crucial for me. The easiest errors to make on PS were careless calculations or misreading questions/answers. The extra time gained from skipping passages helped considerably to correct any such mistakes later.
Verbal Reasoning: You might be reading this entry carefully considering my score on this section, but I really cannot explain how I got the 15. Usually I got 12s on VR sections in the aamc practice, "high" 12s near the top of the range, but rarely scoring above. It was generally my worst section. I never felt that any mcat practice materials helped much for this section. The questions are just too hard to write. The single most important advice I learned from any book about VR: "According to the passage..." means the exact answer is right in the passage. "Based on the passage..." means an inference is required. That advice went a long way. I never mapped passages while reading them. I sometimes highlighted a little. My most important strategy was to read and keep in mind the first two questions for a given passage before starting to read the passage. Most of the time, but not always, the answers to these questions were near the top of the passage. Keeping the questions in mind saved time and kept my mind from overloading by trying to absorb the entire passage at once. After answering those first questions, I would read the next ones and then continue reading the passage etc. This saves time and also lets the answered questions steer your understanding of the passage's main messages, as early answers must be consistent with later ones. I didn't really try to improve my verbal score much because it seemed to plateau at a 12 for practice tests. But as my final score showed, verbal improvement really can catapult your composite score because of the nature of the curve. The aamc online practice tests also have a really neat feature that breaks down your verbal error into skill types, which can show you what kind of errors you consistently make.
Biological Sciences: This was the hardest section for me to study for. My college had never really taught to the curriculum of the mcat and classes rarely encouraged the kind of "know two sentences about each of a million different things" learning model that the mcat seems to embrace. I memorized a lot of biology using the Kaplan flashcards and the Examkracker textbook. I kind of crammed the orgo material in the last week or so of studying as I tended to do well on these questions without much work up front. I definitely learned to READ ALL THE BS PASSAGES, even though at first I thought I could get by like PS. Not the case. My sense is that PS rewards deeper conceptual understanding of the material but BS rewards reading comprehension, short term memorization and familiarity with the types of questions aamc asks. I also found that inherent interest in biology (even if that interest doesn't correspond to deep knowledge) is an asset, because if you like biology enough to read Science on your own, you will be much better prepared to absorb passages that draw from new and unfamiliar experiments/topics.
3) What materials you used for each section(Kaplan, TPR, Examkrackers, AAMC, etc)
aamc tests were the best practice. Examkracker biology textbook and questions were great for bio studying. kaplan online questions were good too. kaplan questions should be seen more as drill questions than actual reflections of aamc-like questions. Science flashcards for Kaplan were great but I doubt all the orgo in them needs to be learned.
4) Which practice tests did you use?
Kaplan and aamc. First Kaplan diagnostic (had only reviewed gen chem) was a 36, evenly split in 12s.
5) What was your undergraduate major?
I'd rather not share (anonymity paranoia?), but I took plenty of science and social science courses with a few humanities sprinkled among them.
6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?
In addition to the tips above, try not to freak out in the day/moments before the actual test. I was pretty scared going into the test and it was a bad thing (I had some surprisingly bad mistakes in the PS I corrected just before time ran out). Cramming will likely help you much much less than consciously making an effort to calm down.
Also, if you're scoring pretty high generally, luck helps. I really don't think there is much of a difference between a 38 and a 42 test-taker. That's about a difference in 4 questions wrong. If you are guessing between two options for each question, you have a 1/16 chance of getting them all right or all wrong. 1 in 16 of the high achievers will get them all right, and another guy with the same abilities will get them all wrong. Although I don't remember if I guessed much, luck was definitely on my side. I don't think I ever scored above a 39 (my dream score was 14/12/13) on any aamc practice test.
7) How long did you study for the MCAT?
3 months before test. Biggest push in last two weeks, when I tried to finish up all remaining aamc tests (one every other day, maybe) while totally neglecting my school work (extensions were sought).
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