MCAT Hat Trick Excel spreadsheet

[jryck3]

The Hat Trick a great study tool/method from SN2ed's great guide, Breaking Down the MCAT: A 3 Month MCAT Study Schedule. Here's what it is, straight from the OP:

Hat Trick:
Get a hat and write every single MCAT PS and BS topic onto a piece of paper. Then, when you're ready to practice PS, put all the PS topics into the hat. Draw two or three pieces of paper and connect the topics together. In addition to connecting them, come up with what a passage might look like and what kind of questions you might get. If you can't do this, go back and review each of the three sections. Rinse and repeat.

The hat trick days are important because they aid you in synthesizing the various topics together. On the MCAT, you utilize this skill for every passage because MCAT passages combine topics. Furthermore, you may also discover content weaknesses that you will need to go over.

PS Topic List: http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/preparing/pstopics.pdf
BS Topic List: http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/preparing/bstopics.pdf
Page to get topic lists if you don't want to directly download the pdf: http://www.aamc.org/students/mcat/preparing/creatingstudyplan.htm

After seeing all of the topics, my lack of scissors - not to mention willpower - prevented me from being able to write all of those topics out and cut them up... so I figure I'd have excel do the work for me! For those of you using SN2ed's guide in a similar predicament, or even those of you who aren't using the guide, this excel sheets serves as a really great supplemental study tool.

Here's the permalink:

[URL="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5070663/MCATHatTrick.xls"]MCATHatTrick.xls[/URL]

GOOD LUCK ALL!

Best,
jryck3

Important: When you open the file, if it asks you if you want to open it with macros, click Yes. Macros have to be on so that the random topic generator works correctly.


If you use this spreadsheet and find it helpful, please don't forget to comment/bump!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[alfredo24pr]

Thanks

 

[lillarry33]

Anyone have a new link for this?

EDIT: Never mind. I'm and idiot and didn't read all of the previous posts.

 

[tdod]

OP, will you marry me?

I have a mac, f9 didn't work so i just reopened the spreadsheet and that did the trick.

 

[Ash366]

Hey guys, so I am about to start the SN2ed schedule. I realized the hat trick is towards the end once we start the AAMC exams. Can you please further explain the hat trick. I opened the excel and pressed F9 and saw different topics. What exactly do I do? Do I write down questions that might be asked or what? One topic came up as:
Ingestion:
a. saliva as lubrication and source of enzymes
b. epiglottal action
c. pharynx (function in swallowing)

(what exactly do I do with this?

Could you please do one as a sample because I read the SN2ed yet Im still not 100% sure how it would work. Thank you.

 

[Jumb0]

I think the Hat Trick is overrated personally. I'd rather do straight up rote memorization of minutiae during that time or passages. There are so many passages out there. If you are doing Hat Trick and you haven't exhausted 100% of the passages you have access to, then you're doing it wrong if you ask me. To each his own though

 

[Gandyy]

Hey guys, so I am about to start the SN2ed schedule. I realized the hat trick is towards the end once we start the AAMC exams. Can you please further explain the hat trick. I opened the excel and pressed F9 and saw different topics. What exactly do I do? Do I write down questions that might be asked or what? One topic came up as:
Ingestion:
a. saliva as lubrication and source of enzymes
b. epiglottal action
c. pharynx (function in swallowing)

(what exactly do I do with this?

Could you please do one as a sample because I read the SN2ed yet Im still not 100% sure how it would work. Thank you.

I would also like to know the same things. How exactly do we do this?

 

[Ash366]

I finally understood it. So basically we spend 30 minutes to an hour or so and come up with questions that might be asked on the exam via the passages. This is an example written by SN2ed:

"I don't have much time, but here's a crack at connecting the three topics. It's not perfect, but it should give you a very rough idea on what to do.

You are studying a Mendelian inherited recessive genetic defect of a lipid receptor. A defect in this receptor prevents the uptake lipids in the body and can cause several negative effects, such as, atherosclerosis due to fat build-up in arterial walls.

To test for the concentration of lipids in a patient's blood, you design a distillation experiment.

1. Given a couple where the male is Ll and the female is ll, what is the chance the child will have the defect?

2. What kind of solvent should you use to test the concentration of lipids?

3. What type patient would have the highest boiling point elevation?

4. If the trait exhibited incomplete dominance, which patient is likely to be Ll? Boiling point information here.

5. Which cell component requires lipids?"

So on excel every time we press F9, we have to link them like the example above.

 

[Gandyy]

I finally understood it. So basically we spend 30 minutes to an hour or so and come up with questions that might be asked on the exam via the passages. This is an example written by SN2ed:

"I don't have much time, but here's a crack at connecting the three topics. It's not perfect, but it should give you a very rough idea on what to do.

You are studying a Mendelian inherited recessive genetic defect of a lipid receptor. A defect in this receptor prevents the uptake lipids in the body and can cause several negative effects, such as, atherosclerosis due to fat build-up in arterial walls.

To test for the concentration of lipids in a patient's blood, you design a distillation experiment.

1. Given a couple where the male is Ll and the female is ll, what is the chance the child will have the defect?

2. What kind of solvent should you use to test the concentration of lipids?

3. What type patient would have the highest boiling point elevation?

4. If the trait exhibited incomplete dominance, which patient is likely to be Ll? Boiling point information here.

5. Which cell component requires lipids?"

So on excel every time we press F9, we have to link them like the example above.

Hmm I see, but it seems some topics on there, I dont know how much linkage can occur between them.