NextStep 100 Days to MCAT Success: March 9 - June 17

[PostGanglionic]

This Thread will cover my experience doing the complete 100 day 2015 MCAT program put together by NextStep Tutors. (http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...e-mcat-2015-100-days-to-mcat-success.1101251/)

I will do my best to cover my Experiences/opinions of all the material. If anyone is doing this program please feel free to join this thread so that we may expand on the program together.

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[littlebear92]

I don't think I'm going to be able to keep up, especially once I start researching next week. I think I'm gonna spend tonight making a new schedule because this is ridiculous.

 

[PostGanglionic]

I think EK chemistry is the best book of all their sections offered. Berkeley chapters are extremely lengthy while being black and white. I do think supplementing the Berkeley passages will reinforce everything. I'm using khan academy to help me get through the psyc chapter. This is a whole new world to me

 

[PostGanglionic]

Maybe a more brief approach to the material. I'm in the same boat. These days are long and full of study's but I think after a couple weeks all the tricks and techniques picked up on the way will come into play. I'm hoping it follows the concept easier with time.

 

[PostGanglionic]

I don't think I'm going to be able to keep up, especially once I start researching next week. I think I'm gonna spend tonight making a new schedule because this is ridiculous.

Arnold's Second Rule "Break some Rules!" This program isn't set in stone. Make adjustment to make it fit your study schedule and style. Just keep going and don't quit man. Once you build up the momentum all you have to do is avoid negative forces and you'll go strait to your goal.

 

[littlebear92]

Definitely not gonna quit but if I keep going at this pace, I'll never finish! lol. I think there was a method in his madness (regarding SN2ed's schedule) when he made his study plan. It spaced out the subjects well so that people had an easy time going through 1 CHAPTER/DAY and fully comprehending it while not overwhelming the student. I'm gonna try and incorporate Next Step's materials into a modified SN2ed schedule and upload it here and see how it goes. We can still be motivation buds haha

 

[littlebear92]

Check out this new schedule I made! I can't take this anymore haha.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...the-new-mcat-a-101-day-mcat-schedule.1125265/

 

[PostGanglionic]

Day 4: Recap


Alright, so today was a very long day. I spent the majority of my morning reviewing the Enzyme section in EK Bio 1.1. I want to make sure I really fully grasp every little concept in the biology book being that this new test is mostly biology based. Also, I have always noticed that you will see Enzymes most definitely in passages in the MCAT Biology Section. The EK Psych section was very hard for me to grasp (Studying Social Processes 1.5) so I supplemented in Khan Academy videos which did a great job explaining all the bold words covered in the chapter. The EK Psych Book does a great job finding real medical examples and biological references to explain the models and theory's in in the chapter. For the EK Chemistry chapter I didn't take too many notes, because I had read the previous EK Chemistry and had a good grasp on it. I mostly focused on making sure I understood all the boldfaced words well and skimmed through section that I knew I had a good understanding of. The Stoichiometry, Chemical Kinetic and Radio Active decay I spent the longest on, because these were my weak areas. This chapter is the fundamentals of everything in the book to come so I highly suggest anyone reading this chapter take your time (Take Breaks). The chapter feels almost like two chapters in one. NS Verbal was good so far as I can tell, the highlighter method works best for me but still demands lots of practice. I will later on list my opinion of the three methods used in the NS method once I have done all the exercises for all of them.

Verdicts:
EK Chemistry 1.1: Good Review, seen much of the material before. Very lengthy Chapter
EK Psych 1.1: Had to use Khan Academy Videos to help grasp a lot of the sections


"You don't have to be great to get started but you have to get started to be great!" Les Brown

 

[tvjclr]

good job! i agree with you, enzymes are always in the bio section

any tips on staying on track and making sure you understand everything? I have trouble staying focused and will end up doing everything but study haha...

 

[PostGanglionic]

good job! i agree with you, enzymes are always in the bio section

any tips on staying on track and making sure you understand everything? I have trouble staying focused and will end up doing everything but study haha...

My biggest advice is enjoy the process of this program and give yourself time to take it all in. Patients has helped me so much doing a program of this size. The amount of material you take in on a single day can be a lot, especially at first. When ever I'm not giving my 100% three things come to my mind:

1) Am I looking at this as an obligation or opportunity?
2) Am I rushing through this not giving myself time to take in this material?
3) Am I conscious or on auto pilot?

In the past I always would speed through a chapter and try to find only what was important to me. Always looking at the fastest way to do something with the least effort. I have found when you rush something you truly miss all the essence of what your looking at. Once I slowed down I became more aware, alert, and happier towards my study's. Giving time for my skills and character to develop.

My last piece of advice is focus on Newtons first law of motion "An object in motion will stay in motion unless acted on by an external force!" Knowing how to avoid all external negative forces that will slow you down in life will help you reach your goals. Negative forces to me when studying are TV, Facebook, and ect. I know we all need to take moments to rest our minds during studying, but doing something with a positive force directed towards the goals will help with the focus. Meditation, exercise, khan academy videos, healthy snack, rewriting notes, and ect.. Building up good habits can be a challenge, but once you get that momentum nothing will slow you down or break your focus.

 

[PostGanglionic]

Day 5: Recap

EK Physics 1.1- All chapter questions
I have always felt that EK physics questions are written in a way to think about the concepts in an entirely different way then expected. So, I did miss quite a few questions! However I did learn a lot in the process of reviewing this material. Physics is 25% of the Physical science section. I don't see a lot of the material from the first passages applying to biological systems as much as other chapters and with that in mind I did not beat myself up on my performance on this section. I added a lot of new information to my Lesson Learned Journal. On the third time review, I will have many questions to reinforce.

EK Biology 1.1- All chapter questions
I was very excited to see how all the hard work I have been putting into this chapter was going to pan out. Again, I must say EK has a way of writing questions to make you look at the subject differently. Over all I feel I did amazing! Only missed a couple question from the in chapter reviews and missed 5 questions on the lecture exam (Score: 129). All the Enzyme review really paid off for many of the questions. The passages felt very similar to an actual MCAT biology section. The first passage felt overwhelming at first but when I got to the questions they were no where as elaborate as the passage.

"If you know your why, your reasons for that why will be the thing that get you back up and keep you pushing forward" Success

 

[PostGanglionic]

Day 6 & 7: Recap

Alright Let me start off by giving some background on what I do on the weekends. I work two 12 hour shift as a Technician at a psychiatric hospital. So when I got home on day 6 I started off with EK Psyc 1.2 and finished all the in chapter questions. I did not start the end of chapter practice exam. I plan to do this on day 9. On Sunday I started on the Chemistry 1.2 and just like Saturday I finished all the in chapter questions but did not start the end of chapter exam. I know this program is set by tasks to complete each day, however I plan to do my best when I open each book and not rush the process. I have learned that rushing through chapters and learning in general you end up crashing and burning. I'm going to continue to give this program my best. So, I will not forget what I have skipped over for previous days but I will complete that task when I can giving it my absolute all.

"Those things called excuses get zero percent closer to those your goals!"

 

[PostGanglionic]

Day:8 - AAMC Practice Test

My Results:

(Questions Correct, Percentage Correct)

Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems
30/59 51% (Previous test: 14/30 46% )
Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills
31/53 58% (Previous test: 15/25 60%)
Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems
34/59 58% (Previous test: 17/31 55%)
Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior
31/59 53% (Previous test: 13/30 34%)
Total ? (National Average 500 (Goal 510))

Review on test
For the physical science section it felt like half of the test was the biology section. My word of advice know all your amino acids and there properties. I usually warm up with this section so towards the second passage I really get in my zone. I love doing my practice test online. In the past I always did Full Length Practice tests on paper and I feel that doing that hurt me on test day. Doing the test online has made me one with the high lighter.

I very much enjoyed the new style of the CARS section. The passages are much more enjoyable and easier to understand. I am however concerned that this section has many words that we don't cover in the biology undergrad (Example: exasperate). Very happy I took the GRE right before I started this program. I felt that learning new words and their elements has helped me a lot. On my first Official MCAT I score a 4 in verbal. I feel that I have come a long way.

The Biology Section was rough at first. I go into these passages wanting to know all the details of that passage and the processes that are presented. However, what I found on some of the passages is that I was over analyzing the processes that took place that never were asked about. I was running a about five minutes behind towards the end so I had to step on the peddle and ended up finishing all the question with no time to spare. Spending extra time on Enzymes in EK Bio Ch 1 really paid off. The passages were much easier to understand.

The Psychology section is by far my favorite section. Their is still much to learn, but of all the sections this seems like the easiest one to improve on. All the passages are very interesting to me. I love reading about statistical research on memory, health care, and almost all the topics covered. I do have to be honest during the last forty minutes of the test fatigue started kicking in. I had to my own booster to keep focused. I kept telling myself "I'm almost at that finish line and I want to finish strong and know that I left it all out there".


"The harder the battle the sweeter the victory!" Les Brown

 

[tvjclr]

Wow, congrats on taking that FL test!! You deserve break! It looks like you improved drastically based on the percentages and it's only been a week! You give me hope I took the Kaplan diagnostic and got the same score you started out with so there is so much more work for me to do!

 

[PostGanglionic]

Wow, congrats on taking that FL test!! You deserve break! It looks like you improved drastically based on the percentages and it's only been a week! You give me hope I took the Kaplan diagnostic and got the same score you started out with so there is so much more work for me to do!

Thank you! Break well needed. We just need to be tenacious my friend and we will own that moment on test day. Yes, lots of hard work and pain but just like working out no pain no gain.

 

[PostGanglionic]

Day 9: Recap - AAMC Full Length Exam Review, Lesson Learned Review, and Catching Up

Let me start off by saying I only reviewed the Physical and Biological Science Section. I felt reviewing Verbal was time I could spend working on catching up from the weekend assignments. The reason I didn't review the Psychology section is because I still need to learn so much from the EK psychology book. Reviewing this section I feel I would be writing an outline of the Psychology test instead of developing lessons learned. Will return later to this section for review.

The Review System is much better then the old one. The problems come at you one at a time. It lets you High Light the actual question. The question lets you select one of several reasons why you missed it and sets the data collectively in a chart on the full test review page. There is however one thing I did not like, If you need to jump to a particular question in the section you have to start at the begging of that section and work your way to it by pushing the next button several times.

The Physical Science section had passages that I aced and those that I bombed. I love this, it shows where I need to put an extra focus on (Electrodynamics) when I get to that chapter. This section took me 5 hours to fully review and I wasn't surprised. My lesson learned notebook is full of a hundred new lessons from just this section. My high lighting skills on this section have gotten much better and developing an overall understanding of passage is much easier. While reading through the passages it felt like going through the biology section half the time. I think this made it much easier then the old MCAT.

The Biology Section, all I can say is know your Amino Acid Properties and all aspects of Enzymes. Same as above some sections I rocked and some not so much. Something I did notice that was causing me to miss several questions is not finding similarity and opposites in the experiments. I found that looking at the experiments and asking how they could prove the experiment could be more strengthen would cause the answers to come with ease to many of the questions.


“Leaders spend 5% of their time on the problem & 95% of their time on the solution. Get over it & crush it!” – Tony Robbins

 

[mikil100]

I have been following this thread, it's nice to see people on the same path. I am on day 3 currently So a little bit behind.. the amount of time spent doing content review is quite impressive. I'm at about 4 hours for doing the first pass on two EK lectures.. i'm going to be doing CARS review in the evening with some Khan passages in Psych (scored a 122 on that section )

 

[OrNod20]

I noticed on the AAMC diag that amino acid properties were really, really important. Do you think that's particular to that test, or the new norm?

 

[PostGanglionic]

I have been following this thread, it's nice to see people on the same path. I am on day 3 currently So a little bit behind.. the amount of time spent doing content review is quite impressive. I'm at about 4 hours for doing the first pass on two EK lectures.. i'm going to be doing CARS review in the evening with some Khan passages in Psych (scored a 122 on that section )

Good job on the Psych! How do you like the Khan passages?

 

[PostGanglionic]

I noticed on the AAMC diag that amino acid properties were really, really important. Do you think that's particular to that test, or the new norm?

I think it is the norm based on seeing the NextStep and AAMC exams. I saw lots of questions about amino acids in both the physical and biological science sections. I noticed on the old MCAT exams they had many questions on Amino Acids but even more so now.

 

[mikil100]

Good job on the Psych! How do you like the Khan passages?

Haha,I wish! I think the 122 was like the ~15th percentile... I guess it makes sense, most of the passages were hard to reason through if you didn't know the vocabulary well.
Well, I've spent about 45 minutes watching the videos which were of average quality. The questions were very nice, and I definitely took home some information that was present on the NS half diagnostic. I wold highly recommend doing every Khan question/passage at some point. I would only bother with the videos if you are weak in an area, or if you have excess time. I like the videos personally also because reading chapter after chapter gets old, and sometimes just watching a video helps remember important items. I like stimulating my mind from as many different sources as possible.

 

[cuttemcuh]

I just got started on my serious studying. Been taking a TPR class since february though. Think it's too late to get on this 100 days plan? I'm already registered for june

 

[PostGanglionic]

Day 10-14: All caught up

Topics Covered:
EK Psychology 1.3 (125), 2.1-2.2 (126)
EK Biology 1.3 (129), 2.1-2.2 (129)
EK Physics 1.3 (131)
EK Chemistry 1.3 (129), 2.1
NS Verbal: 15 Passages (60-80%) High-Lighter Method
Khan Academy: 8 Passages (Countless Videos in Psychology)
Lesson Learned Journal: Reviewed three times (300-400 Lessons Listed)

Why title this 'All caught up'?
It started on day 10 with the second chapter of biology and psychology. I began the day with 3 verbal passages using the highlighter method (Discuss Verbal Later). Next, was biology which by no means something I wanted to rush through. The chapter is Genetics and it covers: Genome and Regulation, Organization of Genetic Material, Transcription, Translation, RNA Modification, Mitosis, Meiosis, Germination, Mutations, and Mendelian Genetics. By the end of the day, 6 hours after completing verbal I had ended at the Mutations section. The method I'm using is similar to the one listed for the program. I look at all the chapters for the day like a magazine. Then instead of going through chapter looking up terms in bold as you read, I use Concept Mapping. This method allows me to make connection to all the sections, functions, and terms covered in the chapter. I have been using this method sense the beginning of the program for biology. It has been extremely helpful not only for teaching me the chapter but allows me to think about how one thing mentioned in earlier chapter is related to things I am covering. Knowing this make it very easy to understand multiple choice questions and is a great as review tool. So just to recap at this point, I'm behind with EK Psy 2.1 and a third left of EK Bio 2.1.

Day 11:
From this point forward in this program I will be doing 3 passages first thing in the morning. Finished up the last section of biology chapter 2 which honestly took me 4 hours. It covered: Mutations (Chromosomal & DNA), Mitosis, Germination, and Mendelian Genetics. Alright so the Mitosis and Germination section took me the longest. I have noticed in the past and present that these are major topics covered on the test and I wanted to make sure I had them as well known as the back of my hand. Next, I went through my lessons learned journal (almost an hour). Then I started Psychology chapter 2 which covered Learning and Group Behavior. This subject as I have mentioned in the past is completely alien to me. I got through half the chapter and called it a day (When I start feeling like I'm just trying to get through the chapter instead of learning it I stop or take a break). I have grown an appreciation for why they want to test Psychology/Sociology on the test. This subject as a whole has truly opened up my eyes to how people and society actually work. Looking at the material I'm always catching myself saying "That makes perfect sense, but I had no idea that's what was really going on". I feel this section will help me better understand patients on many different levels (Lens) other then biological. So just to recap at this point, I'm behind with all the material for day 11 on the calender. However I have a good grasp on most the material from chapter 2 of BIO and PSY.

Day 12-14
For the Next two days I was one day behind on the schedule so I used Sunday (Break day to catch back up). During that period of time it was eating at me falling so far behind, but I made a choice to give this program everything I got. I did not rush through the material but kept patient knowing if I kept a solid momentum I would not burn out. The material Covered for Chem chapter 2 was pretty much introduction to organic chemistry. On all the 1.2's and 1.3's I would review the chapters and if I had done them the concept maps. Going over the questions took a lot of time not only was I aiming to know why a particular choice was the right answer but why the other choices were incorrect and how they might connect to the question stem/passage. Reviewing the lessons learned journal has gotten much easier over time. For portions of the journal I have gone over more then once have started to stick or become more understandable as I progress in the Program. In the end I think this journal might make the difference for my actual MCAT score.

Changes
From this point forward some of the major changes I plan to make include only going over my weak area in the Chemistry and Physics Chapters assigned and use the extra time working on passages from Khan Academy. The second thing I plan to do is implement more Khan Academy Videos in with Psychology. Those videos really help bring everything into perspective and I wish I had watched them before reading the chapter. As for Biology, I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing with category mapping. I know this method is taking a lot of time but it's working for me and I'm getting better at using it.

"The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place, and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life. But it ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!" -Rocky Balboa

 

[PostGanglionic]

Haha,I wish! I think the 122 was like the ~15th percentile... I guess it makes sense, most of the passages were hard to reason through if you didn't know the vocabulary well.
Well, I've spent about 45 minutes watching the videos which were of average quality. The questions were very nice, and I definitely took home some information that was present on the NS half diagnostic. I wold highly recommend doing every Khan question/passage at some point. I would only bother with the videos if you are weak in an area, or if you have excess time. I like the videos personally also because reading chapter after chapter gets old, and sometimes just watching a video helps remember important items. I like stimulating my mind from as many different sources as possible.

I agree with everything you said! The video's are a feeling of fresh air. The psychology ones have been extremely helpful for me. I love how they have a hinting system in place for the questions. I'll do my best to get through most of the passages for Khan Academy but their are so many. I'm never going to complain about not having enough passage/question material for all the sections(Excluding verbal).

 

[PostGanglionic]

I just got started on my serious studying. Been taking a TPR class since february though. Think it's too late to get on this 100 days plan? I'm already registered for june

Nice man, I recommend focusing on area's of the chapters that you are weaker in because you probably have already covered some of it in your TPR prep course. I think it would be a good idea to start from the begging and make adjustments to the schedule after you have completed all the Exam Kracker material. The EK books do an amazing job covering only the things that need to be covered. I highly recommend doing the lessons learned journal and starting the program with the half and full length MCAT. Let me know if you have any questions. I'll do my best to answer them based on my experience thus far.

 

[PostGanglionic]

"14 days complete! That means I am 14% closer to my goal!"

 

[cuttemcuh]

Nice man, I recommend focusing on area's of the chapters that you are weaker in because you probably have already covered some of it in your TPR prep course. I think it would be a good idea to start from the begging and make adjustments to the schedule after you have completed all the Exam Kracker material. The EK books do an amazing job covering only the things that need to be covered. I highly recommend doing the lessons learned journal and starting the program with the half and full length MCAT. Let me know if you have any questions. I'll do my best to answer them based on my experience thus far.

Yeah that's what I'm thinking. The Lessons Learned journal is what really got my attention. It sounds like something I could really use. Thanks for your help!

 

[cuttemcuh]

Nice man, I recommend focusing on area's of the chapters that you are weaker in because you probably have already covered some of it in your TPR prep course. I think it would be a good idea to start from the begging and make adjustments to the schedule after you have completed all the Exam Kracker material. The EK books do an amazing job covering only the things that need to be covered. I highly recommend doing the lessons learned journal and starting the program with the half and full length MCAT. Let me know if you have any questions. I'll do my best to answer them based on my experience thus far.

By the way, do you know if the old EK books are still good for this MCAT? my set is from 2007

 

[PostGanglionic]

By the way, do you know if the old EK books are still good for this MCAT? my set is from 2007

So far I don't see a too large of difference between the versions for the most part. I would recommend to use them along side the AAMC official guide because a lot of the subject were removed for Ochem and some added for bio.

 

[cuttemcuh]

So far I don't see a too large of difference between the versions for the most part. I would recommend to use them along side the AAMC official guide because a lot of the subject were removed for Ochem and some added for bio.

Okay thanks! Looking forward to this!

 

[mikil100]

Okay thanks! Looking forward to this!

I would make sure it doesn't skimp on the Biochem part of the new MCAT. Honestly There were more passages with a biochem component then there were without in my opinion. There was also a lot of enzyme kinetics and a lot with amino acid questions (this comes from the AAMC practice test)

 

[cuttemcuh]

I would make sure it doesn't skimp on the Biochem part of the new MCAT. Honestly There were more passages with a biochem component then there were without in my opinion. There was also a lot of enzyme kinetics and a lot with amino acid questions (this comes from the AAMC practice test)

That's one thing I did notice looking at just the first section. Think I'm going to buy the EK molecular book or at least consider it

 

[PostGanglionic]

Day 15: Work, Power, and Intro to Organic Chemistry

EK Chem 2.2 (Aka Organic Chemistry)
I did the in chapter tests at the beginning of the day and finished the day with the end of chapter exam. The in chapter question went smooth for the most part. Their was some silly mistakes I made with Hybridization. The end of chapter exam completely destroyed me. I'm not going to make excuses here of why I did bad (124). I missed every question in the third passage which focused on stereo-chemistry, tautomerization, oxidizing agents, function groups, and passage based questions. I got over 20 bullets in my lesson learned journal from this exam. I'm planning on spending some extra time reviewing it more then once and understand what exactly went wrong. I'll let you know what I discover on day 17.

EK Phys 2.1 - Power, work (Mechanical Energy), System/Surrounding Equilibrium, and Mechanical systems (Pully, levers, and Ramps)
For the first time in my life I can honestly say I have a good understanding of work and energy. The EK book does a great job comparing work and energy to accounting. The book describes work and heat as types of currency which really brought the concept of work and energy being a scalar into perspective. I do wish the program covered Thermodynamics at the same time, because they really complement each other. I did have to use Khan academy to better understand the difference between conservative and non-conservative forces. The EK method for solving non-equilibrium really simplifies how to solve problems. Biggest take away from this chapter for me was this equation: Work + Heat = Internal Energy + (Kinetic + Potential Energy).

"You see, I will try one hundred times to get up, and if I fail one hundred times, if I fail and I give up, do you think that I’m ever going to get up? NO! But if I fail, I try again, and again and again." -Nick Vujicic

 

[PostGanglionic]

That's one thing I did notice looking at just the first section. Think I'm going to buy the EK molecular book or at least consider it

Sorry I feel that I gave you an ill effort answer to your previous question comparing the two versions of Exam Kracker books. I have read all the 7th Edition EK books for the most part. I'm going to be very strait forward with you the New editions for Both Biology books are completely worth the investment. They reorganized the chapters in a way that flows much smoother, they focus in on Bio-Chem, and it just seems over all easier to learn the key processes and functions compared to the 7th and 8th editions. The 9th edition of EK Chemistry is Equivalent to a couple chapters from EK O-Chem 7th and most of EK chem 7th. For the Physics book I think the old edition will work (Its pretty much the same). As for the Verbal they explain the same approach as described in the 7th edition but they added how to analyze passages dealing with statistical data and the best addition is they added a section showing what a trained reading is thinking about as they read the passage. As for the Psychology I have never read any other MCAT books on this subject to compare it to (Khan academy has helped me the most in this section). I have heard that Princeton has the best book for psychology. They have added 3 Key concepts at the begging of each chapter to the 9th edition. Which are just three area they are saying you really need to zero in on. I would recommend both new biology books and possibly the verbal.

 

[BestICanBe_doc]

I'm in the 2nd week and a bit behind. Its a tough schedule, which I have slightly modified for myself. I feel that being behind is OK and expected, and I have to remember not to panic or beat myself down if I catch myself behind. The best thing to do is to keep moving forward and try to be more efficient so I can stay on schedule. I am also paying attention to keep my day off no matter what and also trying to live a balanced life with regular exercise and fun activities.

 

[PostGanglionic]

Hey @BestICanBe_doc,

I completely agree with you this is a tough schedule. I had a moment when I fell behind and like you said the best thing was keeping my cool and pacing myself. I used my last break day to catch up. I'm hoping I have found what works and what doesn't work for me so I can take the next break day off. Exercise and fun activities is probably the only thing keeping me from stressing out. I have noticed starting off the day with exercise keeps me more calm and relaxed through out the study day. Where are you at in week 2? Have you taken the full length?

 

[PostGanglionic]

Day 16 - Lessons Learned, Verbal, and Next Step Half Length Test Review

Lesson Learned:
(2 hours) I took some extra time reviewing the journal to high light in it and look up some of the lessons that I wasn't 100% sure on. Some of the things I'm doing in my LL is using different color for the subject areas, High-lighting key words and writing motivational Quotes on top of random pages. Thus far, the material that has been in the journal the longest, is predictably the easiest and quickest to review. This is nice because the journal will just keep growing. It's funny at this rate I might have three of four journal by the time I'm done with the program. I'm also writing all my scores in it so I as I go through the journal I can track my test score progress.

Verbal:
Started off by reading "Narrating towards the Main Idea" in EK. This section was an eye opener towards why I might not be scoring as high as I would like to in verbal. The section covered how to re-narrating sentence from the passage as you read along to develop a main idea. Today was the first time in awhile I have scored a perfect on a seven question verbal. So I might be sticking with this method as a warm up everyday. Another thing that's been helping me is reading The New Yorker and reading more books in general.

Half Length Review:
Tonight at 5 PM Pacific time for 2 hours Next Step is going to be reviewing the Half Length MCAT that you do the first day of this program.
Here's the link: Sign Up

"What you become in the process is more important then the dream" -Les Brown

 

[JustinD]

Enjoying your journal!

Is anyone doing this and substituting for Kaplan? It's getting real interesting substituting the 1st chapter of EK chemistry.. it translates to 4 or 5 chapters in the Kaplan book. Is this normal? Over 125 pages a day for just chem (not inluding psych)

 

[PostGanglionic]

Day 17-21: One Chapter from each book

Material Covered:

• EK Bio 3.1,3.2,2.3
• EK Psy 3.1,3.2,2.3
• EK Phys 2.2, 3.1
• EK Chem 3.1
• NS Verbal 9 Passages
• LL
• Khan Academy Passages and Videos
• Flash Cards for Psychology

EK Bio
Chapter 3 was over Metabolism of Sugars, proteins, and fats. Along with the mechanics that drive these metabolic pathways. As always during bio days I fall half a day behind in the program. The newer version of EK Bio is completely worth the investment if you still have the older one. This version covers in much more detail the biochemistry of metabolism. It was nice to go over oxidation reactions in chemistry at the same time as this bio chapter. It really helped me understand the whole alpha beta ring formation of sugar chains. The end of chapter exam did a great job challenging me (129).
EK Phys
Fluid Dynamics! It actually was the easiest chapter of the week. Very short and too the point. One of the reasons I love EK. The Chapter did an amazing job explaining how fluid dynamics relates to the body and how it will be tested in the new MCAT.
EK Chem
Haven't taken the end of chapter exam for this section yet. The chapter is long and full of reaction on oxidation/reduction. I think the main take away from this chapter is learning what makes a good leaving group and a good nucleophile.
EK PSY
I have not completed 3.2 & 3.3. I plan to catch up on that today. As for chapter three there is many terms and theory's that you purely need to memorize and understand. I had to make many flash cards for this chapter. Not the biggest fan of this chapter, need to read through it a third time now that I know what all the theory's and vocab are.
Verbal
Just keeps getting better with practice!!!
LL
Same as last update
KHAN Academy
Mostly using the videos and passages for the Psy section.

 

[mikil100]

Day 15: Work, Power, and Intro to Organic Chemistry

EK Chem 2.2 (Aka Organic Chemistry)
I did the in chapter tests at the beginning of the day and finished the day with the end of chapter exam. The in chapter question went smooth for the most part. Their was some silly mistakes I made with Hybridization. The end of chapter exam completely destroyed me. I'm not going to make excuses here of why I did bad (124). I missed every question in the third passage which focused on stereo-chemistry, tautomerization, oxidizing agents, function groups, and passage based questions. I got over 20 bullets in my lesson learned journal from this exam. I'm planning on spending some extra time reviewing it more then once and understand what exactly went wrong. I'll let you know what I discover on day 17.

EK Phys 2.1 - Power, work (Mechanical Energy), System/Surrounding Equilibrium, and Mechanical systems (Pully, levers, and Ramps)
For the first time in my life I can honestly say I have a good understanding of work and energy. The EK book does a great job comparing work and energy to accounting. The book describes work and heat as types of currency which really brought the concept of work and energy being a scalar into perspective. I do wish the program covered Thermodynamics at the same time, because they really complement each other. I did have to use Khan academy to better understand the difference between conservative and non-conservative forces. The EK method for solving non-equilibrium really simplifies how to solve problems. Biggest take away from this chapter for me was this equation: Work + Heat = Internal Energy + (Kinetic + Potential Energy).

"You see, I will try one hundred times to get up, and if I fail one hundred times, if I fail and I give up, do you think that I’m ever going to get up? NO! But if I fail, I try again, and again and again." -Nick Vujicic

I just did EK Chem 2.2

Holy.Crap.

I only got 3 questions wrong on the in chapter questions, and honestly they were odd questions. I was feeling pretty good, but then I got to the 30 min exam and I honestly have to say I haven't felt this dumb in a long time. I got a 123, and Orgo is my strong point (like,I've gotten 100's in some exams in school) . I honestly am not sure how I could have possibly known some of the answers here from the content in Ch2. Needless to say this was a very discouraging test.

 

[PostGanglionic]

Day 22: Recap

• 3 verbal
• Chem 2.3, 3.2
• Phys 2.3, 3.2
• LL

The verbal was about the same still starting off with reviewing an old one for about 30-60 min and then starting three fresh.

The chemistry chapter 2 third time review cleared up a lot of my concerns for this section. Reading through chapter three on oxidation reactions made the end of chapter 2 exam make much more understandable.

Chem chapter 3 end of chapter exam and in chapter exam went great (128). I felt the passages were not needed for most the questions. The last of the three passages was tricky I missed all the questions dealing with the fisher projections on glucose. Probably should have read the passage more actively/careful.

Physics chapter 2 review was short and sweet.

Physics chapter 3 in text questions did a nice job adding little bits of information that I overlooked when reading the chapter. Example: non-ideal fluid flow Q=r^4/L. The chapter exam was a cake walk until passage three where I missed every question. I called it a night after that. Ill be reviewing that passage to tell you what might have gone wrong. Thinking the reason probably lies in the fact I skid through the passage.

Lesson Learned Journal Still growing!


Pending:
Psy 3.2
Right after verbal today I plan to start up a memory palace for all the terms and theory's for this chapter. I want to do this before I take the end of chapter exam.

"Live an easy life you'll have a hard life, but live a hard life and you'll have an easy life!" -Eric Thomas

 

[PostGanglionic]

I just did EK Chem 2.2

Holy.Crap.

I only got 3 questions wrong on the in chapter questions, and honestly they were odd questions. I was feeling pretty good, but then I got to the 30 min exam and I honestly have to say I haven't felt this dumb in a long time. I got a 123, and Orgo is my strong point (like,I've gotten 100's in some exams in school) . I honestly am not sure how I could have possibly known some of the answers here from the content in Ch2. Needless to say this was a very discouraging test.

I'm glad not hear I'm not the only one. I found reading chapter three Oxidation Reactions helped me answer half the questions I missed. I think you're completely right! That exam was over material that hadn't even been covered yet. I say don'd sweat this one exam, after reading ch 3 go back and I bet all the questions will make much more sense.

 

[PostGanglionic]

Update:

Just to give a heads up to everyone following this thread. I plan to post a recap of my progress over the last week and how I did on the Last FL MCAT later today. I had fallen one day behind last week and have been working diligently to catch up.

 

[mikil100]

Day 22: Recap

• 3 verbal
• Chem 2.3, 3.2
• Phys 2.3, 3.2
• LL

The verbal was about the same still starting off with reviewing an old one for about 30-60 min and then starting three fresh.

The chemistry chapter 2 third time review cleared up a lot of my concerns for this section. Reading through chapter three on oxidation reactions made the end of chapter 2 exam make much more understandable.

Chem chapter 3 end of chapter exam and in chapter exam went great (128). I felt the passages were not needed for most the questions. The last of the three passages was tricky I missed all the questions dealing with the fisher projections on glucose. Probably should have read the passage more actively/careful.

Physics chapter 2 review was short and sweet.

Physics chapter 3 in text questions did a nice job adding little bits of information that I overlooked when reading the chapter. Example: non-ideal fluid flow Q=r^4/L. The chapter exam was a cake walk until passage three where I missed every question. I called it a night after that. Ill be reviewing that passage to tell you what might have gone wrong. Thinking the reason probably lies in the fact I skid through the passage.

Lesson Learned Journal Still growing!


Pending:
Psy 3.2
Right after verbal today I plan to start up a memory palace for all the terms and theory's for this chapter. I want to do this before I take the end of chapter exam.

"Live an easy life you'll have a hard life, but live a hard life and you'll have an easy life!" -Eric Thomas

I came here to see how you felt about the chem 3.2

I got a 132 (Or whatever the highest is) on this section..I felt like it was too easy; the sugar part was hard and is where I got two questions wrong. I will need to brush up on sugar structures.

I've gotta say taking biochem and orgo currently has helped my MCAT prep significantly.

edit: any tips for Physics 3? I struggled greatly with the whole chapter... I think I got a 125 on the questions, and got half the in lecture ones wrong. For some reason I struggle with the formulas/concepts and when to apply them.

 

[PostGanglionic]

I came here to see how you felt about the chem 3.2

I got a 132 (Or whatever the highest is) on this section..I felt like it was too easy; the sugar part was hard and is where I got two questions wrong. I will need to brush up on sugar structures.

I've gotta say taking biochem and orgo currently has helped my MCAT prep significantly.

edit: any tips for Physics 3? I struggled greatly with the whole chapter... I think I got a 125 on the questions, and got half the in lecture ones wrong. For some reason I struggle with the formulas/concepts and when to apply them.

That's awesome glad to hear you aced that section of Chemistry. Ya, those sugars can be tricky. I think memorizing the fissure projection of Glucose will defiantly come in handy.

Physics chapter 3: These are some things that have worked for me in Fluids and Physics in general.

*Intensive Properties: the nature of the substance is what the majority of problems are going to cover. Density and pressure are most knows for this section and the rest build upon these two properties. So make sure you know their units and the meaning behind them. . This chapter is broken down in two parts for the most part Stationary fluids and Fluids in motion. For Bernoulli's equation make sure you know the connection between it and the equations on energy from the previous lecture. Fluid flow can be tricky just know the equation for ideal and non ideal flow. This will come in handy for circulatory and respiratory passages. The book does a good job on the figures for this section so if your having a hard time with a particular area of fluids I would go to the figures that pertain to it and know them in and out. As for the studying of these chapters in general I find concept mapping the easiest way for me to make connections and understand the topics.

 

[PostGanglionic]

Update: Day 23-32

Complete:
Bio 3.3, 4.1, 4.2 (129)
Bio2 1.1
Psy 4.1, 4.2 (126), 3.3,
Phys 2.3, 3.3, 4.1,
Chem 3.2, 4.1
Full Length NS MCAT
Full Length NS MCAT Review
LL x5
3 Verbal passages/Day (Most the time)

Catching-up on:
Phys 4.2, 4.3, 5.1
Psy 4.2, 4.3, 5.1(Half done)
Chem 3.3, 4.2
LLx1(More then half way full in composition notebook)

Plan on finishing all the 4.2's and reviewing LL today. One particular thing that I have to say is Psy chapter 3 and 4 cover a lot.


Not going to get into detail about what I have done in these sections yet. Still working on catching up. If you have a particular Question let me know.

 

[PostGanglionic]

Attached are my results from the last two FL NS MCATs

 

[sciencefee]

When is the next update coming? I'm looking forward to these posts to help me along with my studying as well

 

[PostGanglionic]

Hey sciencefee, I'm thinking of make a major post tomorrow about where I'm at and my test scores thus far. Using this week to catch up and continuing week six next week.

 

[PostGanglionic]

Did you have any questions in particular?

 

[sciencefee]

Did you have any questions in particular?

no. I just really find your posts to be helpful. I like the vibe you give and the inspiration quotes. That's. All. Plus I like that you're behind a little. I've been playing the catch up.game but I'm only a week in.