Hello,
I am having a lot of difficulty interpreting experimental data from passages. I'm trying to focus on the x and y axis to find the relation between the two according to the info in the passage but I get so confused whenever I am presented with a question asking me to analyze the results.
Can anyone please share some tips/strategy on how to improve on analyzing data?
Thanks!
Hi
@pch !
Great question. This is a skill long needed on the MCAT and is more heavily emphasized on the new exam. The figures you will see on test day will vary quite a bit. You will not always have a clear X axis or Y axis or definitions of each variable. Sometimes this info will be presented in a chart, or a via text, but your job remains the same. Your job is to identify relationships.
Starting with the axes is a good idea. What you can next focus on is the slope. As X changes, how is Y affected? What are the units, if given? What outcomes are they measuring, what are they controlling?
When presented with tables or charts ask yourself Do you see any significant results or error bars? Are there any clear outliers?
The best place to start is with non-peer reviewed journals like Scientific American. these tables/figures/graphs will be on par with most of the data you will see on the MCAT, as they only take the simple figured (relatively speaking) from the articles they poach from. JAMA is another good one as these articles are aimed a physicians, not necessarily research scientists (the figures/charts I care about vary greatly depending on which hat I am wearing). I have spoken with the AAMC on many occasions and they recommend looking at letters to the editors in peer-review journals if you can. These will often discuss the findings/conclusions papers have made, and you can compare that to the figures you see. If you have access to a lab or friends, ask them to recommend a few articles with simpler graphs.
The Khan Academy is another great MCAT level resource for chart interpretation. Their format, Q style and explanations aren't that great for MCAT prep, but their figures are pretty spot on.
NextStep also has 10 Full Length exams you can purchase and chop up into smaller practice items. Our explanations include analysis and explanation of each figure/table/graph in a passage, as well as the text, unlike the AAMC materials and Khan academy.
When reviewing a data analysis Q you missed, focus on the relationship they describe. If they do not provide a thorough explanation (many test out there do not), see if you can work backwards from the explanation to find the evidence in the figure/chart/table. Also
THIS THREAD has some great tips as this is not a new question on this forum.
In medical school, and then as a physician, your job will not be to analyze all these figures in detail, but to quickly summarize to yourself what the findings say, and if that seems reasonable to you or what effect it may have on any relationships within the body the study is examining. The average physician (myself included) could not tell you all the details about the science/math behind MRI calculations, but I better know how to read one!
Hope this helps, good luck!
