Only 10 days left, which section is EASIEST to improve with a 10/8/10?

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TheOneAndOnlyJamesFranco

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My AAMC Average is currently 10/8.25/10.

I hit 11 in PS once, and my range for VR is 7-9... (I usually have timing issues on VR and no timing issues on PS/BS)

What should I drill the most for quick OVERALL score gains? (Score Balance aside...)

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I would say PS, but PS has gotten really difficult if people's anecdotes about recent administrations are anything to go by... Verbal you definitely can't improve upon in a short period of time and BS can be similar to verbal in that it's a passage game (you only really need to know the basics for BS). I would focus your hardest on PS. If you can grab your hand on Examcracker 1001 questions in PS/Chem to drill concepts into your head or even do the PS sections on GS exams (calculation heavy; and Jan 10th exam was apparently very calculation heavy) or do practice passages from TBR Physics & Chemistry if possible (I doubt you'll be able to finish all, but if you take 1-2 passages from each topic, I'd say it's doable as long as you are reviewing your mistakes).
 
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I would say PS, but PS has gotten really difficult if people's anecdotes about recent administrations are anything to go by... Verbal you definitely can't improve upon in a short period of time and BS can be similar to verbal in that it's a passage game (you only really need to know the basics for BS). I would focus your hardest on PS. If you can grab your hand on Examcracker 1001 questions in PS/Chem to drill concepts into your head or even do the PS sections on GS exams (calculation heavy; and Jan 10th exam was apparently very calculation heavy) or do practice passages from TBR Physics & Chemistry if possible (I doubt you'll be able to finish all, but if you take 1-2 passages from each topic, I'd say it's doable as long as you are reviewing your mistakes).

Agreed. I took the Dec. 6 exam. The PS I got was much harder imo than any of the aamc and practice questions I've done.
 
That's a tough question - on the one hand you have a larger disparity in VR, but the sciences are easier to prep for. I'd still have to go with the science sections presuming you've done a lot of VR prep thus far and so a little bit more won't make a huge dent.
I'd recommend reviewing notecards intently these next couple of days, take experiment bio practice passages as good practice for the BS section, and then a mix of practice on high yield PS topics that you need more practice in. On top of this, review your AAMC tests in detail. In 10 days you could raise your score.
 
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I would drill a bunch on BS experimental passages because you want to get good at reading graphs and making quick analysis of data. Sharpening the skill rather than learning new stuff is your best friend at this point.
 
That's a tough question - on the one hand you have a larger disparity in VR, but the sciences are easier to prep for. I'd still have to go with the science sections presuming you've done a lot of VR prep thus far and so a little bit more won't make a huge dent.
I'd recommend reviewing notecards intently these next couple of days, take experiment bio practice passages as good practice for the BS section, and then a mix of practice on high yield PS topics that you need more practice in. On top of this, review your AAMC tests in detail. In 10 days you could raise your score.

Thanks for the reply! I will finish up the VR SA and I think that will be it for VR..

But I still have to take AAMC 7,8,10,11 and have the entire official guide to do and a biochem exam on Monday..

Any advice on how to go about the next 7 days?
 
My AAMC Average is currently 10/8.25/10.

I hit 11 in PS once, and my range for VR is 7-9... (I usually have timing issues on VR and no timing issues on PS/BS)

What should I drill the most for quick OVERALL score gains? (Score Balance aside...)

ANSWERING YOUR QUESTION
With a score like that, you should pick your best MCAT subject, that you can learn most rapidly, and attempt to maximize your potential. Continue to practice the other sections as well though to maintain them.

10/8/10 means that you have plenty of room for improvement in every section.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT POINT
That 8 is borderline red flag. A 7 can spell elimination from some schools, or so I've heard from reliable people. As a second priority, keep doing AAMC VR passages on a regular basis (1-3 passages a day from AAMC is just what you need).

Maybe, in addition to full lengths and general review of all subjects, split the remaining time between VR and your best subject.
 
ANSWERING YOUR QUESTION
With a score like that, you should pick your best MCAT subject, that you can learn most rapidly, and attempt to maximize your potential. Continue to practice the other sections as well though to maintain them.

10/8/10 means that you have plenty of room for improvement in every section.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT POINT
That 8 is borderline red flag. A 7 can spell elimination from some schools, or so I've heard from reliable people. As a second priority, keep doing AAMC VR passages on a regular basis (1-3 passages a day from AAMC is just what you need).

Maybe, in addition to full lengths and general review of all subjects, split the remaining time between VR and your best subject.

@Next Step Tutor

UPDATE:

I just took AAMC 10 and scored a 11/7/11... My VR has been steadily decreasing over the past 3 weeks
9,9,8,7,7!

What can I do in 6 days to drill VR? I have half of TPRH left, EK 101, Official AAMC guide and AAMC 8, 11, 6R
 
Can you diagnose your weak spot with verbal? Is the problem that you're rushing? If you have unlimited time on a Verbal section can you get a higher score? Or is the problem understanding the questions? I think you may be able to tweak strategy if the former is a problem. Try going through and figuring out why you missed each question and report back!
 
Can you diagnose your weak spot with verbal? Is the problem that you're rushing? If you have unlimited time on a Verbal section can you get a higher score? Or is the problem understanding the questions? I think you may be able to tweak strategy if the former is a problem. Try going through and figuring out why you missed each question and report back!

I usually find myself running out of time halfway through.. I give myself 8min per passage.

When I do them untimed I usually only get 0-1 wrong per passage so it is definitely a timing issue, but I am unsure how to tweak that now!

I typically spend 3.5min reading the passage, and depending on the passage, have to refer back to it a lot to confirm answers
 
I suggested this to somebody in another thread somewhere, so disregard this if you've already heard it and decided not to pursue it! One suggestion I might have if you're in the sub-10 area and timing is the major barrier to accuracy is to ignore the last passage (or one with only 5 or 6 questions). I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out. According to most scales you can miss 10 questions and still get a 10, which means you need to figure out a way to get 30 answers correct.

If you guess randomly on a 6-question passage, chances are you will get one point from that (obviously, pick one letter for the whole passage). So in the remaining 6 passages, you would need to get 29 answers correct out of 34. This allows you to miss one question on most passages, consistent with your un-timed average, and it opens up a lot of new time for you.

In this case, you'd have ten minutes per passage, which is significant.

I'm not sure how to advise you to split up those ten minutes. Personally, I spend a lot of time reading, and reading slowly, and then I can go through the questions pretty quickly because I've really internalized the passage and know exactly where to find tidbits I do need to refer back to. I know others do try to keep an eye on the clock when reading, hurry the passage, and have success with that method. It wouldn't work for me.

You know yourself the best, so I can't say what intra-passage "microstrategies" will work for you, but perhaps the "macrostrategy" of skipping a passage would help. Just a thought! Maybe it's worth trying a verbal section or two and seeing how it shakes out? Good luck!

Oh, one recommendation I would have if you do try this out is to not waste time flipping through the passages to figure out which one to skip. Just plunge right in, and when you get to a passage with only 6 questions, just have that be the one you skip, mark all As, and move on to the next one.
 
I suggested this to somebody in another thread somewhere, so disregard this if you've already heard it and decided not to pursue it! One suggestion I might have if you're in the sub-10 area and timing is the major barrier to accuracy is to ignore the last passage (or one with only 5 or 6 questions). I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out. According to most scales you can miss 10 questions and still get a 10, which means you need to figure out a way to get 30 answers correct.

If you guess randomly on a 6-question passage, chances are you will get one point from that (obviously, pick one letter for the whole passage). So in the remaining 6 passages, you would need to get 29 answers correct out of 34. This allows you to miss one question on most passages, consistent with your un-timed average, and it opens up a lot of new time for you.

In this case, you'd have ten minutes per passage, which is significant.

I'm not sure how to advise you to split up those ten minutes. Personally, I spend a lot of time reading, and reading slowly, and then I can go through the questions pretty quickly because I've really internalized the passage and know exactly where to find tidbits I do need to refer back to. I know others do try to keep an eye on the clock when reading, hurry the passage, and have success with that method. It wouldn't work for me.

You know yourself the best, so I can't say what intra-passage "microstrategies" will work for you, but perhaps the "macrostrategy" of skipping a passage would help. Just a thought! Maybe it's worth trying a verbal section or two and seeing how it shakes out? Good luck!

Oh, one recommendation I would have if you do try this out is to not waste time flipping through the passages to figure out which one to skip. Just plunge right in, and when you get to a passage with only 6 questions, just have that be the one you skip, mark all As, and move on to the next one.

WOW! Thank you for this!
I tried it today, and got my first 10 on VR on AAMC 8! (Is there anything in particular about AAMC 8 VR or should I assume its not a fluke?)

I basically gave myself 10 min per passage after guessing on all answers on passage 7, and ended up having an extra 5minutes to work on passage 7 and got 31/40!

What does this drastic difference in score from just reading slower mean?
 
I'm so glad you got a 10! I'm not sure about it being a fluke; I think it would be good to take another test to see how it goes. My (admittedly unprofessional) analysis would be that you just need a bit more time to internalize the passages than the exam gives us, and that the extra time is helping you with your accuracy. The strategy of skipping a passage will not get you a 15 by any stretch of the imagination, but it may help you break the double digit barrier. I really hope it goes well for you!

I'm not sure if it's relevant or not, or exactly how it's relevant if it is, but my experience with AAMC 8 was that the verbal was rough and had a bunch of answer choices I still fundamentally disagree with. It was just...weird. I'm getting mostly 14s on verbal and I dipped down to 11 for that one. I know others have had similar trouble. So take that for whatever it's worth, which I'm not sure is much. It could mean that you just totally rocked this verbal section and the new strategy is some sort of epiphany for you (I hope!), or it could mean that AAMC 8 is a weird test whose verbal scores have less of a predictive value than others. Either way, it's an argument for taking another verbal section and seeing how it goes! Good luck!
 
I would not suggest skipping the last passage. And 10 minutes is too much time for a passage. Being timed is advantageous. Why? Because you will not overthink it as much. Time is your friend on this exam if you prepare well.
 
To the contrary, it's quite obvious that being timed is not advantageous for the OP: when he is timed, he does poorly. When he is not timed, he does well. Your comment seems sort of out out left field, unless you didn't read the OP's later posts.

Ultimately, OP, do whatever gets you the best scores on your practice sections, regardless of what anyone here says, including me :)
 
Soooooo..

I just finished AAMC 11 and got a 8/8/10..

My AAMCs are such:
AAMC 3 - 10/9/10
AAMC 4 - 10/9/10
AAMC 5 - 9/8/10
AAMC 9 - 11/7/10
AAMC 10 - 117/11
AAMC 8 - 9/10/9
AAMC 11 - 8/8/10

I was planning on scoring the exam in 48 hours since I feel like I have been improving but with an average of ~28 and a my lowest score yet on AAMC 11 I am having mixed feelings!

I plan to apply this upcoming cycle and I am planning on taking MCAT 2015 regardless. How does this look and should I score?

Please help as most people and my prehealth advisor told me to score it EVEN if I plan on taking the new one, but at this point I dont know how to interpret my sub30 average and AAMC 11!

@Next Step Tutor @jamcat @Jack Westin
 
I think if you're planning on taking the new MCAT I would not score this one. What would be the point? Why have two MCATs on your record when you're counting on this one not being your best?

If I were in your position and I thought I could do better with more time to study, then I would not score this one and take the new MCAT in April, which is in time for the application cycle.

If I thought I really prepped well for this and gave it my all, then a bit of extra study time wouldn't be particularly helpful and I'd go ahead and score it and not take it again (unless you do quite a bit worse than your average, obviously).
 
Actually jamcat, most students do not do better when it's untimed. At least not for verbal/ CARS. Most students just don't know how to look at the exam the right way- regardless of the time constraint. Yes, of course not being timed will reduce stress and anxiety but for the most part, it doesn't matter. They don't have a strategy. Having a strategy or guideline to follow for every section is key and that's what makes the biggest difference, not timing.
 
OP,

I agree with jamcat on not taking this one- unless you're OK with a 9 8 10 which is pretty much what you're averaging. That isn't to say you will get exactly this. But most likely something close. I do understand the difficulty of voiding an exam that you've been studying three or four months for. But the numbers don't lie.
 
Actually jamcat, most students do not do better when it's untimed. At least not for verbal/ CARS. Most students just don't know how to look at the exam the right way- regardless of the time constraint. Yes, of course not being timed will reduce stress and anxiety but for the most part, it doesn't matter. They don't have a strategy. Having a strategy or guideline to follow for every section is key and that's what makes the biggest difference, not timing.

But the OP specifically said that when he does not time himself he only gets 0-1 question wrong per passage. When he is timed, he can't get past an 8/9. So the OP does not fall into your "most students" category.

Anyway, OP, let us know what you decided!
 
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