1) Your individual scores and composite score
July 24th 2007 36S: 12PS 11VR 13BS
August 19th 2006 33P: 12PS 9VR 12BS
Alright so here's the spiel I promised SDN if I did to my satisfaction on the MCATs and here I go. Hope you guys find this helpful.
I decided I needed a retake after looking at the MSAR and the avg of many of the schools I wanted due to my lower VR score. Therefore, come May of 2007, I said...I'm going to take it again (and with my gf's full-fledged support!) I went to Amazon.com and bought
ALL THE 1001 QUESTION SERIES and my 2nd 101 VR passages (since I had one before), NOVA Physics, 16 mini MCATS by EK, OLD AAMC practice items packet, and the online course from Kaplan with their >10,000 questions, and since I teach for TPR, I also had access to their entire online student center, as well as all the course books In addition, I had the whole Kaplan study set and EK set. I then sat down, spent an hour, using excel, I set up a study schedule (this was in early-june when I got all my stuff and sat down to study).
I suggest to you: FIgure out a study schedule and stick to it. Never inundate it with more reading than actually doing. Practicing makes perfect and doing large numbers of passages and free standing questions, I feel, really helped me! Reading Ek 1000000 times won't help your score! Doing every passage you get your hands on....will.
Anyway, I didn't take EK's advice and do every third problem in the 1001 series, instead, I did them all. From 1-1001. So everyday, I spent near 10-12 hours studying, 6-8 hours sleeping, and the rest of the time eating, driving, ordering coffee, and a little bit of summer school coursework. I also did a practice test (Kaplan, TPR OR AAMC all have their strengths) two-4 times a week depending on my mood and time.
My practice test scores range from a 32-38 since it was my second time taking it in a year so I got a head start. NOw here is where I go into what I thought helped me the most on each section.
Physical Sciences:
1. TPR has excellent overview of PS. Read it from cover to cover is preferred if time permits. Otherwise read sections you're weak on.
2. Nova Physics was a good overview as well but I rank TPR higher on effectiveness.
3. Physics 1001 and G-Chem 1001 are good, not the best but I did all of them so I think they helped.
4. Big Science Workbook from TPR was very good in everything!
Verbal Reasoning:
1. EK 101 VR is a must
2. Read NY times book review/op-ed like there's no tomorrow
3. TPR's practice exams had very difficult verbal, much more than AAMC, but worth doing because you feel like crap but when you do AAMC you feel confident
4. Kaplan's online Qbank has good verbal, I thought, because they were a different flavor. Now on the MCATs I feel the VR is a fusion of detail and large picture questions.
BS:
1. EK 1001 Bio because it's all passage based.
2. TPR Big Science Workbook I think was by far the most helpful in the biology and orgo prep.
3. Kaplan has some great Bio practice because they are friggin hard and all experiment based which is what your test is definitely going to be! Physio doesn't make up a large part of it...genetics/cell bio/mol bio will!
4. Orgo was a waste of time..learn basic reactions SN1/Sn2/E1/E2 and know what other reactions do (like esterification makes R-Cooh into R-Coo-R...stuff like that.
5. My previous lab experience I'm sure helped int he thinking process.
WS:
I had so much fun with this talking about Axe deodorant and Ipod, etc. I didn't care about my score but just answer the question and made fun of the status quo.
Overall:
Practice makes perfect so take my advice, drop those books, and start hitting the passages hard. Don't do 1 passage a day, do as many as you can so when you close your eyes at night, you see passages, tables, figures, charts, etc. Over 50% of the questions can be answered using ONLY The passage and logic. Develop this logic by practicing, not memorizing equations or concepts. The rest of the stuff can be answered using both logic, knowledge, and passage.
5) What was your undergraduate major?
Chemistry
6) Any other tips you may have for those of us who still have this test lurking over us?
get plenty of rest the night before and sleep more during this time than ever before, you need to be at your best.
7) How long did you study for the MCAT?
Lightly in May, heavily June-end of July
Best luck to you all and feel free to PM with questions.