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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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).

So I'm using the Altius book, but not the course because I'm out of the country, atm. I'd be really interested on how the course works because I find the book to very vague at times. They say read to understand before you go to class, and not to use any other supplemental material besides wiki, but I find that to be difficult. I found the BR books and Khan Academy to help refresh my memory. The calculations are well intended, but if I don't remember the subject well, I'm not going to know how to use the formula. I'm thinking that stuff is more explained in the course when you're speaking to your actual tutor and other people in your class. I've heard great things about Altius (my friend calls it the bible), so good luck! :)

Totally getting burnt out right now for the May 12th. Sigh.

Same dude. Kind of going on overdrive right now to finish the content review. Take a break! :thumbup:

Do you guys take notes when you review content? How do you guys retain the content?

I write down the things I didn't know/remember before reading the chapter, to make sure I remember it next time. Also, flashcards. Good luck! :luck:
 
Hey guys. I don't know if it's too late to post this, but I've been using KhanAcademy.org to review some concepts I was having a tough time with. Sal is really good at explaining things from the basics and then building upon it. It might be helpful to some of you who haven't heard of it before. Anyways, as always, good luck! :)
 
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Do you guys take notes when you review content? How do you guys retain the content?

I've been employing the same strategies that I would for any of my classes. This involves thoroughly reading through each chapter while taking notes and looking over example problems (I'm using TBR). On review days I skim the chapter, do every example problem, and create a summary sheet. This leaves me with a 'quick fact' sheet, if you will. I plan on reading over these as my test date approaches to keep the content fresh. Hope this helps!
 
I've been employing the same strategies that I would for any of my classes. This involves thoroughly reading through each chapter while taking notes and looking over example problems (I'm using TBR). On review days I skim the chapter, do every example problem, and create a summary sheet. This leaves me with a 'quick fact' sheet, if you will. I plan on reading over these as my test date approaches to keep the content fresh. Hope this helps!

+1 on the summary sheet

How am I not finished with content yet? UGH!
 
My MCAT is on May 24th.

I've planned out my content review to end a few days before May, so that I can take my first full length practice exam on May 1st, and then take one every other day for the next 3.5 weeks.

I just didn't want to end content review 5+ weeks out from my exam....seemed like too much.

Is this unwise?
 
So I'm using the Altius book, but not the course because I'm out of the country, atm. I'd be really interested on how the course works because I find the book to very vague at times. They say read to understand before you go to class, and not to use any other supplemental material besides wiki, but I find that to be difficult. I found the BR books and Khan Academy to help refresh my memory. The calculations are well intended, but if I don't remember the subject well, I'm not going to know how to use the formula. I'm thinking that stuff is more explained in the course when you're speaking to your actual tutor and other people in your class. I've heard great things about Altius (my friend calls it the bible), so good luck! :)


I'm not sure I quoted you right, but oh well!

Basically the course is structured around once weekly one on one tutoring sessions where the tutor drills us on a lesson from the book (which we have prepared the week before) to see if there are any holes in our learning. After the session we do the accompanying problem set. Twice per week we meet for 2-3 hours and just plow through MCAT passages. Verbal is ALWAYS included, but we rotate between the sciences. Altius emphasizes broad, conceptual based learning over blunt memorization which is a plus for me because I hate flashcards full of formulas (although there is some of that). It also teaches the Socratic method, a fundamental tool for figuring out what you know about a 'stumper' question. Honestly, I wish I'd learned these methods at the beginning of college because they would have been helpful in classes as well. So far I've liked the course but it's obvious who puts the recommended 20-30 hours of work in per week vs. the people who do the bare minimum to slide by. And having such a group focused mentality is positive in that we are all in this together but at the same time, I have motivation to study hard so I don't look like the idiot of the group. Anyway, I'm all for the program and my tutor and I have set my personal goal at 35. Here's hoping that happens (although I'd be happy with anything above a 32). Good luck!
 
I'm not sure I quoted you right, but oh well!

Basically the course is structured around once weekly one on one tutoring sessions where the tutor drills us on a lesson from the book (which we have prepared the week before) to see if there are any holes in our learning. After the session we do the accompanying problem set. Twice per week we meet for 2-3 hours and just plow through MCAT passages. Verbal is ALWAYS included, but we rotate between the sciences. Altius emphasizes broad, conceptual based learning over blunt memorization which is a plus for me because I hate flashcards full of formulas (although there is some of that). It also teaches the Socratic method, a fundamental tool for figuring out what you know about a 'stumper' question. Honestly, I wish I'd learned these methods at the beginning of college because they would have been helpful in classes as well. So far I've liked the course but it's obvious who puts the recommended 20-30 hours of work in per week vs. the people who do the bare minimum to slide by. And having such a group focused mentality is positive in that we are all in this together but at the same time, I have motivation to study hard so I don't look like the idiot of the group. Anyway, I'm all for the program and my tutor and I have set my personal goal at 35. Here's hoping that happens (although I'd be happy with anything above a 32). Good luck!

Yeah, the course seems really beneficial to have a tutor and other peers around you to keep you on your game. I've learned a lot from the 2 verbal chapters, but I'm still not doing so well on verbal, which is disappointing, but I'm doing a lot more passages now, trying to mostly emphasize on focus and timing. I get distracted so easily. We'll see; got ~1.5 months left. I'm also shooting for a 35. :xf:
 
I just took my MCAT on March 24th, but I'm not feeling too great about my score. I didn't feel the exam was hard. If you know the material, you know it. But I am an aggressive test-taker; I need a punch of adrenaline to keep me focused, and in my head, I am constantly cheering myself on and pushing ahead while taking the test. Test day, I was so worried about panicking on the real thing, that I focused all my energy on completely calming down and lost that punch of adrenaline and the aggressive attitude I'd utilized during my practice exams. The result was that I ran out of time on the PS section, and couldn't fully get back into the game until the end of the verbal section. Luckily, I think I beasted the verbal and BS sections. So be warned, attitude is just as important to the test as timing and content knowledge. Treat the exam the way you've treated every practice exam.

I've signed up for a second take on May 31st, in case I didn't hit my target score. I plan to keep reviewing the material each week, so I don't forget it, and to take several timed practice passages each week, so that I don't make the same mistake a second time. From what I hear, taking the exam more than twice is frowned up. I saved a few AAMC exams in case this happened, but my scores thus far are...

AAMC 3: 9/11/9
AAMC 11: 9/11/9
AAMC 10: 10/10/11
AAMC 9: 12/12/11
AAMC 8: 12/12/10
MCAT Take I: TBA
 
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Cdn mo- I've been told to just take them in the numerical order they're in. I think it's numbered from oldest to newest? Not sure though. Couple people have said 10 and 11 have been pretty close to their actual scores (they took those two last).

I'v started attacking some full lengths (Kaplan 1 & AAMC4) after almost being done with content review. I went through and took notes on what I struggled with on the PS of both and I'm finding that to be really good review, especially going back to the questions when I'm reviewing that particular topic.
 
I just took my MCAT on March 24th, but I'm not feeling too great about my score. I didn't feel the exam was hard. If you know the material, you know it. But I am an aggressive test-taker; I need a punch of adrenaline to keep me focused, and in my head, I am constantly cheering myself on and pushing ahead while taking the test. Test day, I was so worried about panicking on the real thing, that I focused all my energy on completely calming down and lost that punch of adrenaline and the aggressive attitude I'd utilized during my practice exams. The result was that I ran out of time on the PS section, and couldn't fully get back into the game until the end of the verbal section. Luckily, I think I beasted the verbal and BS sections. So be warned, attitude is just as important to the test as timing and content knowledge. Treat the exam the way you've treated every practice exam.

I've signed up for a second take on May 31st, in case I didn't hit my target score. I plan to keep reviewing the material each week, so I don't forget it, and to take several timed practice passages each week, so that I don't make the same mistake a second time. From what I hear, taking the exam more than twice is frowned up. I saved a few AAMC exams in case this happened, but my scores thus far are...

AAMC 3: 9/11/9
AAMC 11: 9/11/9
AAMC 10: 10/10/11
AAMC 9: 12/12/11
AAMC 8: 12/12/10
MCAT Take I: TBA

So how did verbal compare to practice aamc's or ek? Also what about bio or ps? Any striking similarities or differences?
 
Yea, I'm going to get back on track today, starting April 1st I will only be doing full lengths until my May 24th test date.
 
I'm taking it May 12th too. Finally finishing up TPRH content review by weekend. I will start taking practice test (Kaplan, EK, and GS 1st) lastly AAMCs. I have to go through 5 more tests in EK Verbal 101, TPRH Verbal Passages, and TPRH Science Workbooks. I have been using EK 1001s but I hate them. Some of that stuff is left field. Hope to get 35+ to compliment lower 3.5 cgpa.
 
May 31st is coming up faster than I thought. 9 weeks from tomorrow. I have 10 assignments from the TPR science workbook to finish for my second round of content review (first was kaplan), 50 quizzes/subject tests/section tests from Kaplan, all of kaplan Q bank, Passages from Kaplan MCAT 45, and12 FL's left to take. Actually doesn't sound that bad when spread out over 9 weeks, but we'll see what happens.
 
Finally finished content review last night, but feel like I didn't retain anything. I guess I just need to forge ahead and do practice problems and exams until May 12th. Hopefully from practice alone my scores will increase. I have a notebook where I keep missed concepts listed so that I can revisit them after each exam.

I have the Kaplan QBank, TPR QBank, all the TPR CBTs, Kaplan written pdfs, and AAMC CBTs at my disposal. I guess I'll take them in that order.
 
I'm taking it May 12th too. Finally finishing up TPRH content review by weekend. I will start taking practice test (Kaplan, EK, and GS 1st) lastly AAMCs. I have to go through 5 more tests in EK Verbal 101, TPRH Verbal Passages, and TPRH Science Workbooks. I have been using EK 1001s but I hate them. Some of that stuff is left field. Hope to get 35+ to compliment lower 3.5 cgpa.

THIS. I'm doing the EK 1001s too and sometimes I'm like :mad: "Why would you ask that?" then I calm down, make a note and move on to the next explanation. :rolleyes:

I'm turning a little crazy now a days. I've got this wonderful stress headache that followed me around for 4 days straight. When the test is over....ooooh boy, I can't even imagine! :love:

....aaannnddd I need to get off the internet.
 
Irsna, thanks for the reply.

Does anyone know of cheap but really good question bank to prepare, with alot of questions. Please do not recommend kaplan Qbank (i hear its not worth it).

Cheers and best of luck on the studies.
ps. I actually like that its raining and cold. I just dont want summer to come until after may31. Call me selfish :p
 
Irsna, thanks for the reply.

Does anyone know of cheap but really good question bank to prepare, with alot of questions. Please do not recommend kaplan Qbank (i hear its not worth it).

Cheers and best of luck on the studies.
ps. I actually like that its raining and cold. I just dont want summer to come until after may31. Call me selfish :p

No problem. I've heard EK 1001 is good. I'm using the verbal and the passages seem pretty close to AAMC stuff.

Where I'm at it's cold one day and warm the next, so my body has to deal with MCAT prep, a full course load, part-time work, a little lab work, and a bipolar mother nature...good times. Don't plan on looking back after May 24!
 
hey guys, taking it on may 19. im using tpr only. im done with content review except for physics :(
 
My MCAT is on May 24th.

I've planned out my content review to end a few days before May, so that I can take my first full length practice exam on May 1st, and then take one every other day for the next 3.5 weeks.

I just didn't want to end content review 5+ weeks out from my exam....seemed like too much.

Is this unwise?

I'm taking mine May 19 and should be done with content review by tomorrow night. I'm thinking of taking Tuesday just to go over Orgo alllll day from EK just as a refresher and start practice FL on Wednesday and take one every other day until test day. So take one on Wednesday, go over it and see what content I need to review more. Work on like 4 verbal passages on the side just to keep practicing. Then Thursday do in depth content review on what I messed up on. Friday take another one, and so on. This does seem a little excessive, but i have nothing else to do besides study!
 
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