Hello! I've taken four full lengths so far, most recently AAMC 7 (13/14/11). I tend to struggle the most with BS and I am taking the MCAT in a week. Before then I'd really like to get my BS score up. It seems like when doing moderately difficult/difficult practice passages I get 1-2 questions wrong no matter what and the mistakes are a mix of passage interpretation problems and content problems. I was wondering if there are specific strategies that have worked for anyone? Should I just keep plugging on with TPRH passages?
Improving BS score
- Thread starter srgmp
- Start date
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2011
- Messages
- 2,036
- Reaction score
- 990
I've found that TPRH isn't really much like the passages on BS. To be honest, I didn't really find a good resource for practice questions for BS other than the AAMCs themselves.
As for your other question, if there are some mistakes on content questions, it might be a good thing to review some of you content one more time. I'm sure at this point, you know which topics you are better at than others, and I would concentrate more on getting down the facts for topics you are not as familiar with. In addition for interpretation problems, I've found that a lot of the AAMC passages focus on big picture concepts and they try to mask it by giving you a very hard passage. If you find that you're stuck on an interpretation problem, step back and think about what the passage is really testing and go from there. It'll make the answers come a little bit easier.
As for your other question, if there are some mistakes on content questions, it might be a good thing to review some of you content one more time. I'm sure at this point, you know which topics you are better at than others, and I would concentrate more on getting down the facts for topics you are not as familiar with. In addition for interpretation problems, I've found that a lot of the AAMC passages focus on big picture concepts and they try to mask it by giving you a very hard passage. If you find that you're stuck on an interpretation problem, step back and think about what the passage is really testing and go from there. It'll make the answers come a little bit easier.
Would you recommend the SAP for more AAMC style practice? I did the SAP for physics and chemistry but thought it was a little easier than the full lengths so not sure how useful they are.
- Joined
- May 6, 2010
- Messages
- 2,893
- Reaction score
- 127
Did you do any of the Kaplan FL BS sections? People have said it was similar is a sense of what you were saying; they mask a general concept(s) with a really hard passage. How about the SA-Bio?
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2011
- Messages
- 2,036
- Reaction score
- 990
I never tried Kaplan, so I don't know, but I did hear from some of my friends that they were much closer to the AAMC practice tests.
See below for my comments about SA bio.
Well, SAP is directly from the AAMC, so it would be the next best thing to the AAMC practice tests. I didn't use SAP either (I think they had just released SAP a couple months before I took it), but I've heard it gives you good picture of where you stand and what topics you need to concentrate on more.
- Joined
- May 6, 2010
- Messages
- 2,893
- Reaction score
- 127
^ wow great app cycle for ya huh? How did you like Mayo? I did a SURF program there in 2012 and I think that school would be my top choice. So you think TPRH BS would not be of best use if one has been averaging 13s in that section? How about the last 1/3rds of TBR? Also, were you saying that it wasn't representative as a whole or just the Bio passages? At this point I just have AAMC 11 and SA-Bio for practice so I'm looking at a couple other resources before I sit the Jan 25th exam.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2011
- Messages
- 2,036
- Reaction score
- 990
Thanks! I really liked Mayo. I couldn't stop staring at the Gonda Building, and I couldn't stop staring at all the marble in the lobby! They showed us the peds floor on our tour, and wow, I think that peds floor is really the definition of what Mayo is all about. Well good luck to you in your app cycle! Will be rooting for you to get into Mayo!
I think doing TPRH BS is okay if you're trying to just get more practice in general and trying to see where your weaknesses are and what topics you should focus on a little more before your exam next week. That being said, I wouldn't rely on it heavily for practice on what the AAMCs would be like.
The problem with TBR Bio as we know is that it is too detailed oriented, but like I said above, it's a good resource to seeing where your weaknesses are. At this point, I think SA Bio is probably the best option to go with your last week of studying and reviewing your weaker areas. After all the difference between a 13 and a 14 on a science section is only 1-2 questions!
I didn't really do much in the TPRH science workbook (because I had to shotgun the MCAT a little bit). I mostly used it for the bio passages, but I did a couple passages of physics, chem, and orgo. They seemed good though in those areas.
Last edited:
