May 2012 MCAT .. scores/discussion thread .... I hope its not too early :)

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roody

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Is anyone taking the MCAT in May 12?
Just like the EK Verbal 101 thread & TBR Scores and discussion thread, this is a thread to talk about how you're doing with the TBR/TPRH science workbook passages + EK1001 or any other practice material you are using for the May exam :D.

I am currently working on Biology (Proteins/lipids/Carbs...):sleep: (Using TPRH+EK to review and TBR+EK1001+TPRH Science workbook for practice passages)


Keep this thread alive :)

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I haven't been able to study. I've been caught up in relationship problems and I'm freaking out. Only 3 chapters in for each subject and bombing my practice exams.

Sulk for a few days or so but then as the previous poster said, cut the crap. 3 chapters in already?? How is that behind in studying? According to Sn2ed's you are way ahead. That said, go over it again. I'm doing the 3-month and taking it 5/31, which puts today the 3rd day in the schedule.


~M
 
Sulk for a few days or so but then as the previous poster said, cut the crap. 3 chapters in already?? How is that behind in studying? According to Sn2ed's you are way ahead. That said, go over it again. I'm doing the 3-month and taking it 5/31, which puts today the 3rd day in the schedule.


~M

I'm signed up for May 12th. I've already postponed the exam twice so that's why I'm three chapters in. I was originally going to take 1/28, then 4/5. Haven't studied in about two weeks.

It's hard to cut the crap when you live with the person and the issues are all your fault. :\
 
I've been in a similar situation with a boyfriend when I was taking an MCAT prep course. We broke up and I wanted to hide under my covers forever. It completely threw me off schedule. I couldn't get up in the morning because of how sad I was. And by the time I got my crap together, I was already too behind. That was last year. Now I'm studying for it again and just focusing on that. We got back together after that breakup( big mistake) and we ultimately broke it off for good. I'm not sure what your living situation is, but you need to move out, kick him out, or try to get it together ASAP. I know it sucks and I know it hurts but this is more important. Don't let some guy stop you because you will just keep falling behind and you will have to keep postponing. Regardless of whose fault it is, **** happens. People mess up all the time. So with that said, get your act together and get to studying. You'll regret it later if you don't. Trust me. PM me if you want to talk. I've been there so I know how it feels. Sorry for the novel I just wrote! Good luck!! <3
 
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I usually study anywhere from 2-5 hours a day but ive also been studying for several months. Once next month starts i plan on 6-8 hours a day at least 40 hours a week. I have a ton of books and practice tests and im going to review like crazy, i dont want to have to take this test again..
 
I'm taking it May 12th. I'm following the SN2ed schedule too. Is anyone else not getting the scores they want on the BR passages after the chapters? I'm hoping I'm not the only one and that as I go I'll start picking it up and things will build on others.

I take about 2-3 hours per chapter and 1/3. I'm generally a fast reader and comprehend fairly quickly so I can get through it in a short time. However, these ARE the early parts of the schedule, stuff that I know pretty well like stoichiometry and kinematics. Once I get to harder material, I might get slowed down.

Hopefully, I don't get burned out .... I am getting tired already .... I finish up to Ch.2's this week ... I already had to cut out break days in the last two weeks ... agh .... :cry:

are BR metabolism passages really that hard or am I just dumb .... :confused:

Will the MCAT really go that in depth with Kreb's, Calvin, enzyme kinematics and stuff?

Like ... the BR passages have stuff that I just learned in biochem .......... :scared:

And could anybody answer this previous question I asked? I doubt the MCAT would go THAT in-depth into metabolism but ... iono ... I've read in the forums that BR on metabolism is too in-depth, but just wanted to make sure with fellow BR'ers right now.
 
I don't think it's that detailed on the actual MCAT. I'm guessing it does help doing the passages though, as you can learn quite a bit from reading the solutions after you get the whole passage wrong. That way when you take the actual MCAT, the questions won't be as hard, and you'll have a higher chance of getting it right.

On the other hand, do you guys take notes from TBR as you read it. It's taking me forever to read it, and take notes at the same time. And when you re-read it before EK1001, do you read the whole thing or just the parts that you're rusty on?

I've been taking notes for every chapter I read the first time. When I first started re-reading, I read the whole thing, but it takes too long and I've been learning more from the practice problems, so now I study my notes and skim the chapter for rusty subjects.
 
I've been taking notes for every chapter I read the first time. When I first started re-reading, I read the whole thing, but it takes too long and I've been learning more from the practice problems, so now I study my notes and skim the chapter for rusty subjects.

Based on what I've read here on SDN, people who did the full content review (read chapter, re-read, notes, repeat, etc.) say they should have just done practice, practice, practice.

I'm doing SN2ed and trying to balance practice problems with content as best I can. The key is making sure you know how to apply the content that you're reviewing.
 
*sigh* I already can't wait for this to be over...

I think it's actually starting to hit me that I will actually be taking this thing in a few months. I'm starting to get really anxious and its still months away. I can't think about anything but MCAT material. I wonder what this is going to manifest itself into once the test becomes more imminent
 
I haven't been able to study. I've been caught up in relationship problems and I'm freaking out. Only 3 chapters in for each subject and bombing my practice exams.

I feel you on that...it sucks. Take a few days off and realize whats more important in your life.....
 
I think it's actually starting to hit me that I will actually be taking this thing in a few months. I'm starting to get really anxious and its still months away. I can't think about anything but MCAT material. I wonder what this is going to manifest itself into once the test becomes more imminent

All I think about is MCAT, if I'm not studying, I'm googling something about MCAT. If I go to a meeting, I'm wishing I brought study material with me.

Is anyone utilizing flashcards? I'm doing the sn2 schedule along with altius and they swear by flashcards.
 
That section was insanely long. I thought I was never going to finish. Glad not all the chapters were that long.
 
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I've been in a similar situation with a boyfriend when I was taking an MCAT prep course. We broke up and I wanted to hide under my covers forever. It completely threw me off schedule. I couldn't get up in the morning because of how sad I was. And by the time I got my crap together, I was already too behind. That was last year. Now I'm studying for it again and just focusing on that. We got back together after that breakup( big mistake) and we ultimately broke it off for good. I'm not sure what your living situation is, but you need to move out, kick him out, or try to get it together ASAP. I know it sucks and I know it hurts but this is more important. Don't let some guy stop you because you will just keep falling behind and you will have to keep postponing. Regardless of whose fault it is, **** happens. People mess up all the time. So with that said, get your act together and get to studying. You'll regret it later if you don't. Trust me. PM me if you want to talk. I've been there so I know how it feels. Sorry for the novel I just wrote! Good luck!! <3

I joined sdn just to respond to this post :) KEEP GOING!! My boyfriend and I broke up in November and we have been trying to reconcile things since January. He is applying this cycle and I am scheduled to take the mcat June 21st. My motto for this relationship... "If it is meant to be, it will be." I'm not going to push it, stress out, or consume myself with trying to make things work. Scoring well on the mcat and doing well in school is my TOP concern. At the end of the day, you will end up with someone that makes you happy (even if it is not the guy you are with now.)

ALSO, anyone taking the mcat June 21st??? I take my kaplan diagnostic test saturday. I am really REALLY nervous. I haven't taken gen chem in 5 years and I haven't looked at physics in 3 years. What's the lowest diagnostic heard of on sdn?
 
Lately, I've just been trying to keep up with the readings. Chapter 2 for Physics and GenChem are really really long, like 65 pages. I took me 2 days to go through the chapter for GenChem2. I checked and it seems as if the chapters get much shorter (bw 18-30 pgs)

My main weakness is reading. I like to take breaks during reading, and taking notes helps me focus, but it takes twice as much time as just reading. Reason for me taking notes is that I got B's in most of my prereqs.


GenChem2 wasn't too bad ... Probably cause it knew the trends fairly well already. But I agree - super long ...

And just did Ochem2 today ... THAT was a beezy ... Four hours of pure joy ... :scared:

I can't wait until May ...
 
I am taking it at the end of May. I read through all the BR books in 2 weeks ... what now, verbal? lol

Wish I had these clear explanations during classes when I actually had to learn the stuff from some verbose text. :thumbdown:
 
Checking in here, rolling though studying regularly. I tend to get lost in content review (some of it is so interesting!), so I'll be transitioning to more problem-based stuff over the next week or so.

This may be a really basic question, but any suggestions as to what resources I can use to get my hands on practice materials (as opposed to content review). Passage-based questions especially.
 
I am taking it at the end of May. I read through all the BR books in 2 weeks ... what now, verbal? lol

Wish I had these clear explanations during classes when I actually had to learn the stuff from some verbose text. :thumbdown:

Did you just read or did you take notes while reading? I am wondering how the heck you were able to read through them in two weeks.
 
This may be a really basic question, but any suggestions as to what resources I can use to get my hands on practice materials (as opposed to content review). Passage-based questions especially.

There's the Official Guide to the MCAT Exam book, TPR Cracking the MCAT, and Kaplan books if you don't have BR books.
 
Okay so here's my issue with verbal. When I first started out, I only focused on finishing the passages within 7 minutes, but I found myself not getting the answers right, and I honesty feel like the ones I did get right was just dumb luck because I was more focused on timing my reading.

Since then, I've been reading strategies with Altius. They really emphasize on understanding the questions that MCAT will ask and understanding only the main idea. They say not to look back at the passage unless you really need to (forgetting a name, how a word was used in a sentence). That strategy has been working for me. The problem I have with a part of their method is mapping. I don't write fast and I will never write fast. I was always that student lurking over my friend's shoulder trying to get the last couple words for notes. So I'm done with that.

Right now, I'm just trying to focus on understanding what I read and what types of questions MCAT asks. I'm reading between 3-3:40 (closer to the 40) minutes on the passages which I know isn't ideal, but I'm hoping that I can work on my speed a little later, once I've grasped how to answer the questions. What do you think about that concept? I'm really curious what you guys have been doing to help improve your VR. Has it been working, has it not? I'm just experimenting here and I'd like some advice.

One more question, do you ever have a mental block when the subject you read reminds you of something negative? For me, I took a philosophy class my last semester in college and it left a sour taste in my mouth. Whenever I read a passage related to something I studied, I tense up, phase out, and start reliving my time taking that course. I don't know if it sounds silly, but it's an issue for me. Do you know if there's anything I can do to prevent my mind from doing that? I don't know if there is a solution besides suck it up and do work, but it was worth asking. Thanks.

I wrote a book. Jeeze. Need to save this for my practice writing prompts. :p
 
Okay so here's my issue with verbal. When I first started out, I only focused on finishing the passages within 7 minutes, but I found myself not getting the answers right, and I honesty feel like the ones I did get right was just dumb luck because I was more focused on timing my reading.

Since then, I've been reading strategies with Altius. They really emphasize on understanding the questions that MCAT will ask and understanding only the main idea. They say not to look back at the passage unless you really need to (forgetting a name, how a word was used in a sentence). That strategy has been working for me. The problem I have with a part of their method is mapping. I don't write fast and I will never write fast. I was always that student lurking over my friend's shoulder trying to get the last couple words for notes. So I'm done with that.

I had that issue too. I realized that when I was so pressured for time, I did worse. I stopped timing myself to really learn how to do better and understand the passages and questions. I looked at a post about verbal strategy which really helped. It advised understanding the author's argument, the purpose of each paragraph and how the paragraphs contribute to the author's argument - essentially mapping, but in my head. Once I did this, I noticed how much better I got. Then I started using a stopwatch to see how long I take when I'm not anxious about time and am more relaxed. After a few passages, I noticed that I was able to do them at most 8 minutes, which really surprised me. Try this to see if it works.
 
Did you just read or did you take notes while reading? I am wondering how the heck you were able to read through them in two weeks.

Just read all the content, I finished exams for my college courses then I was free for a couple weeks so I read all the content (5-7hrs/day), I skipped all passages (starting them now) and I didn't read explanations for example Qs that I got right. The BR biology was also a light refresher compared to what I was forced to memorize as a molecular bio major.
 
I've been in a similar situation with a boyfriend when I was taking an MCAT prep course. We broke up and I wanted to hide under my covers forever. It completely threw me off schedule. I couldn't get up in the morning because of how sad I was. And by the time I got my crap together, I was already too behind. That was last year. Now I'm studying for it again and just focusing on that. We got back together after that breakup( big mistake) and we ultimately broke it off for good. I'm not sure what your living situation is, but you need to move out, kick him out, or try to get it together ASAP. I know it sucks and I know it hurts but this is more important. Don't let some guy stop you because you will just keep falling behind and you will have to keep postponing. Regardless of whose fault it is, **** happens. People mess up all the time. So with that said, get your act together and get to studying. You'll regret it later if you don't. Trust me. PM me if you want to talk. I've been there so I know how it feels. Sorry for the novel I just wrote! Good luck!! <3

Thanks for your support. I don't mean to hijack this thread with my personal issues. Things are getting better and I'm getting back on track. I quit my PT job last week so now I just have my lab job during the week. I definitely need to focus on what's important and also keep my bf/roommate/best friend happy. :)

In other news, I only have two chapters left and then I'm done with bio, halfway done with all the other sections and my verbal is at a solid 10.
 
Hey Everyone,

I'm taking the MCAT on May 12th, pretty excited/nervous about it.

I started doing the 4 month study plan but eventually realized that it would just not work for me. I would be spending 5+ hours a day in the library and still not completely finish everything. I still however use the TBR and EK books. Things are going pretty well.

I took my first practice AAMC MCAT today and well, not so great but not horrendous either.
 
May 19th tester here.

I'm not sure if I'm plateauing with my readings. I'm using BR and so far I've completed 4 chapters in each book. I've mostly been getting 10-11 for each chapter, but I can't seem to make that next transition to get better scores. I did get nicely owned in equilibrium (8). Probably just need to study the chapters more and review to the answers. Oh well, just felt like posting :D
 
TBR equilibrium chapter is not an easy one.
May 19th tester here.

I'm not sure if I'm plateauing with my readings. I'm using BR and so far I've completed 4 chapters in each book. I've mostly been getting 10-11 for each chapter, but I can't seem to make that next transition to get better scores. I did get nicely owned in equilibrium (8). Probably just need to study the chapters more and review to the answers. Oh well, just felt like posting :D
 
Absolutley! My biggest problem was spending too much time on the material and too little on taking tests and doing passages, so this time around I am completing the EK 1001 books and all the BR passages. Also, when you take the test make SURE you do it timed, I also made that mistake test day and boy to I regret it. The AAMC practice tests are VERY representative of the actual MCAT so do all of them before you test if you can. Finally, on test day, dont let anything psych you out-- for example our physics section was KILLER and a girl started crying and got up and left, voiding her exam. Not only did I lose time, but I def. got psyched out which burned me on that section. Happy studying!!!

Doing the same! And I completely agree with your approach doing more problems rather than note taking. EK1001 books all the way :D GL on May 31st to you!!:xf:
 
Paid $70 to switch to May 12th, oh AAMC I keep you in business. Well, I'll be making the most of the extra time! Where is everyone in their studying that's taking it on the 12th? I'm looking to finish content review in ~2 weeks.
 
I just got finished with content review, and I am going to be working through passages and focusing on how to apply information inoder to answer questions correctly. I am taking my test may 24th.
 
Paid $70 to switch to May 12th, oh AAMC I keep you in business. Well, I'll be making the most of the extra time! Where is everyone in their studying that's taking it on the 12th? I'm looking to finish content review in ~2 weeks.

Same. I'm actually switching things up a bit because I'm not just using the SN2ed schedule. I hope everything still works out fine. We'll see when it comes time for practice exams. :xf:
 
Same. I'm actually switching things up a bit because I'm not just using the SN2ed schedule. I hope everything still works out fine. We'll see when it comes time for practice exams. :xf:
In the same boat as you, except I should be done with content review within 2 weeks. Doing full-lengths every week as well at this point.
 
Anyone taking Kaplan? Half way through our class, and took a "midterm" FL. Jumped up 11 from my diagnostic and up 6 from the "cold" AAMC 3 I took back in January. Unfortunately I've had exams for classes every week which is really slowing me down. Looks like I'll have to be a second half player..

Anyone still trying to formulate a study plan: Kaplan is good for content review for stuff you don't have a great base in. Examkrackers is good for everything else + verbal.
 
Does anyone feel like taking verbal on the computer feels way different than taking it paper based? I do well with paper based verbal but then as soon as i read and answer questions on the computer my score just drops significantly.
 
aghhhh...im 10 days behind schedule. i just finished chapter 2 BR. i'm scheduled to take it on may 19...should i reschedule?

I'm also interested to see where you stand in your studies. How much have you covered and how much do you have left?
 
May 12ther here....

Officially took my first one cold 2/4.

2/4 - 6/9/9 TPR Diagnostic
2/24- 7/11/7 AAMC 3
3/4- 7/9/6 MCAT Online Review Series - 1

No improvement yet. Don't know what happened in Bio. Taking AAMC 5 on 3/17. Hoping for like 8/11/9 or so.

I'm realizing GCHEM is my weakness on the PS and as far as BIO goes, I think I know the bulk of the material its just a matter of me treating them a little more like the verbal section except with intermittent free standing Qs...plus I need some molecular bio review.

But, for anyone who took a FL and did worse than before, don't let it get you down, just keep at it.
 
ah .... just ended finals week ... Had to push a week of studying so doubling up during spring break ... +pity+

I took a practice test the other week too though. Did pretty well ... It was shorter and Kaplan so I don't put much weight onto it. But it has given me some hope for this long journey ...
 
Ugh! Is anyone else feeling the pressure? :scared: I fell behind last week and I'm still trouble-shooting how to combine my two work plans. Planning on finishing all material next week, then doing practice problems until I die through April 11th. From there, it's the AAMC FLs. Then MCAT May 12th. I'm getting really nervous because I could have used that week I wasted.

Good luck, guys!
 
May is fast approaching guys, keep your heads in the game and dont give up. Going to be a lot of times when you feel like you're getting owned but push through and do your best; that's all you can do. My test date is may 24th, i feel ok overall, just need to look at a few more things in detail.
 
Ugh! Is anyone else feeling the pressure? :scared: I fell behind last week and I'm still trouble-shooting how to combine my two work plans. Planning on finishing all material next week, then doing practice problems until I die through April 11th. From there, it's the AAMC FLs. Then MCAT May 12th. I'm getting really nervous because I could have used that week I wasted.

Good luck, guys!

Yep, also feeling the pressure. Same test date. Also behind. I wish I could work on only the MCAT from now until test date but there are so many other darn obligations, it's killing me. Got to keep my head above water and push on!
 
Hi all! I live in Toronto, ON. Anyone know any really good MCAT prep courses in the GTA? A friend of mine did the Kaplan program last summer and said that his instructor had not even written the MCAT before. That seems a bit weird to me.
Any other suggestions?
 
Are any of you checking the official AAMC MCAT Content Outline for each section. I just briefly compared it to the content I've been learning, and some stuff doesn't correlate. Should I worry about this?
 
Hey I wouldn't worry about the differences in study material. To my knowledge all the different test material/companies differ in 1 respect or another. So I wouldn't worry about it too much, I would stick with 1 company and learn the content and then if possible take practice tests/questions from other companies/material if you have access to them.
 
Good call. I think I'm just in my PANIC mode, so finding new information just has my mind all over the place. Thanks.
 
Any other Altius preppers out there? I'm taking the MCAT May 31st and started doing Altius in January. At the end of February (after 2 months of prep) I scored 30 on my first practice test and will be taking my second next week. Altius reports it's national average to be 35 (I would crap my pants if I scored a 35). And I would agree with the one other user who has posted about Altius that their verbal method is awesome. I consistently score well (missing one or no questions per passage). Anyway, just wondering if anyone else is doing Altius (seems like everyone and their mom on this thread is doing BR/TPR/EK).
 
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