The Official April 2016 MCAT Thread

MCAT is Hard? Not with BeMo's 515 Score Guarantee.
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drbeat14

drbeat14

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April Fool's you're taking the MCAT! Worst prank ever?! No really, as a serial delayer, I absolutely must take this thing on this day before application submissions this upcoming cycle in 2016. So I thought I would go ahead and start the official thread. Never to early to start an official support/study group.
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gribear said:
Sooo.. I just started utilizing the Princeton Review online resources, and I am absolutely bombing their passages. I'm doing MUCH better on TBR passages than the TPR. What gives? Should I be worried? I'm was under the impression that TBR was harder than TPR, so I'm worried that I'm doing so much worse on the princeton review ones. Maybe its the difference between computer and book? Which, if that's the case...does not bode well.

Any ideas? I'm sort of panicking.
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I remember reading through the April 2015 MCAT thread a while back and seeing that this was a common complaint people had. The general consensus seems to be that TPR's online full-lengths are generally much more difficult than any other prep company, as well as the actual test itself.
 
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Lefty 34 said:
used EK set for content, took all those FL i mentioned above, I followed a 15 week schedule (I forgot which one it's called but I found it on here) and tweaked it to my preferences. I supped content with TPR psy/soc and TBR physics cuz I suck at physics. I studied the 15 weeks leading up to september 12 test date.
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Hey which full lengths did you feel are most representative of the real deal? I'm trying to choose between spending $150 for 5 NS tests or $200 for 4 EK tests... I don't mind spending the extra $50 on EK if they are more representative of the real MCAT. What do you recommend?
 
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While doing practice passages, do you guys review them one after another or all at once on the following day? The most my attention span can handle is 3 at a time and then I need a short break before doing another 3.
 
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zhonghang said:
Hey which full lengths did you feel are most representative of the real deal? I'm trying to choose between spending $150 for 5 NS tests or $200 for 4 EK tests... I don't mind spending the extra $50 on EK if they are more representative of the real MCAT. What do you recommend?
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From other threads, I've read that EK 3/4 are better than EK 1/2. I'm not sure about NS exams, though!

Phoodie said:
While doing practice passages, do you guys review them one after another or all at once on the following day? The most my attention span can handle is 3 at a time and then I need a short break before doing another 3.
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I tend to do 3 at a time, review answers, and repeat. When I take practice exams, I also tend to do 3 passages before taking a short break (which is nice, because there are typically around 10 passages in each section).

yeezuswest said:
I remember reading through the April 2015 MCAT thread a while back and seeing that this was a common complaint people had. The general consensus seems to be that TPR's online full-lengths are generally much more difficult than any other prep company, as well as the actual test itself.
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I sure hope so! I would definitely rather have the real MCAT be easier than the practice I'm used to.
 
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enchantediris said:
I tend to do 3 at a time, review answers, and repeat. When I take practice exams, I also tend to do 3 passages before taking a short break (which is nice, because there are typically around 10 passages in each section).
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Oh perfect! I'm glad there's someone else who's doing the same as me. I haven't begun practice exams yet but when I do, I'm going to try and build up my endurance by increasing the amount of passages I do before a break until I get it up to a full section (or close enough to it because I'm sure the adrenaline on test day will help).
 
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Phoodie said:
While doing practice passages, do you guys review them one after another or all at once on the following day? The most my attention span can handle is 3 at a time and then I need a short break before doing another 3.
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I've been doing them all the following day, as indicated in the Sn2ed and nymeria schedules.


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Yeah, I've been reviewing solutions after each passage (probably just a habit I picked up from doing Khan passages). Working on doing most of Khan right now and finishing up content. Then, it's just gonna be Qpacks, section bank, and FL's until the test day.
 
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iluvbeingpremed said:
Am I the only one freaking out and getting discouraged? :help::bang:

I took a diagnostic and got a 494 and am hoping for >518.:barf:
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You are so not alone. I'm feeling seriously panicked and like there's no way I can get all this stuff totally mastered by April. I'm doing pretty poorly on my Princeton Review stuff , ok on the Berkeley review stuff. But I am doing SO BAD on everything physics and it's incredibly discouraging :(

I'm in the same boat. Shooting for >518. Currently nowhere close.


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I've been missing 2 per passage (5/7) on TBR, sometimes 3 per passage (4/7), is that what you guys are around too? I hate I hardly get a perfect 7/7 on these passages
 
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maydaymalone said:
I've been missing 2 per passage (5/7) on TBR, sometimes 3 per passage (4/7), is that what you guys are around too? I hate I hardly get a perfect 7/7 on these passages
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Yep, that's been pretty standard for me. Sometimes I will knock one out of the park and sometimes I will completely bomb one..but 4 or 5 correct is what I've been getting mostly. I think I read somewhere that Berkeley Review says if you're getting 80% correct on their passages you're doing great.

Still, I'm not consistently getting there, ESPECIALLY not in physics. Do you guys have any physics tips for figuring out how to manipulate equations?


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I scored a 500 on my first Kaplan FL. Taking another one today or tomorrow. I only have access to three, I wish I could get more without buying the whole damn class.
 
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maydaymalone said:
Are most of you guys done with content review?
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No, I'll be doing content review until the beginning of March following the Sn2ed plan. Then I plan to start taking FLs every other day or every 2 days.

My TPR course urged us to take full-lengths along the way so we can "work on our errors", but that goes against most of the advice I've read on SDN. Are you all taking FLs as you go or saving them for the end?


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maydaymalone said:
Are most of you guys done with content review?
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Nope - finishing content review within the next 2ish weeks

gribear said:
No, I'll be doing content review until the beginning of March following the Sn2ed plan. Then I plan to start taking FLs every other day or every 2 days.

My TPR course urged us to take full-lengths along the way so we can "work on our errors", but that goes against most of the advice I've read on SDN. Are you all taking FLs as you go or saving them for the end?


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I'm saving my FLs towards the end
 
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gribear said:
No, I'll be doing content review until the beginning of March following the Sn2ed plan. Then I plan to start taking FLs every other day or every 2 days.

My TPR course urged us to take full-lengths along the way so we can "work on our errors", but that goes against most of the advice I've read on SDN. Are you all taking FLs as you go or saving them for the end?


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Really? I feel like a lot of people on SDN have encouraged not waiting until the end to take FLs (as long as you have access to a lot of them). If you're taking a TPR course, you have access to 10 TPR FLs, and I would definitely start taking some of them now to get used to how long the exam is. The first time I took a FL, I was surprised how tired my brain was after the first two sections. It's also good to figure out your timing. However, I would definitely save the AAMC FLs until after you finish content review, as those are much harder to come by!

My content review is taking a lot longer than I expected :( I'm hoping to finish bio by the end of the week, and chem/organic/psych/physics by the end of the month. Although I'm registered for April 1, I'm trying to push back to April 23 to give me more breathing room – I wanted to spend around a month just doing practice problems and reviewing flashcards.
 
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Working on FL along the way is invaluable. FL helps you on stamina, deduction skills, timing, and overall getting a feel of the test to see what works for you and what doesn't. There are a dozen+ FLs available, why wait until the end to take them? If you take one a week and review your errors the following day, I promise you it'll be way more fruitful than doing random passages that you feel you're lacking in content. You'll be surprised how much you don't know (or do know), about certain contents.
 
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DingDongD said:
Does anyone know how many official AAMC tests are there for 2015? Is it just two?
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Yes. Only two :(

On a totally different note, I'm seriously developing back pain due to hunching over these books/computer all day at my desk. Coffee shop tables are almost worse than the desk! Maybe I need to invest in a standing desk...

Where do you guys study?



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gribear said:
Yes. Only two :(

On a totally different note, I'm seriously developing back pain due to hunching over these books/computer all day at my desk. Coffee shop tables are almost worse than the desk! Maybe I need to invest in a standing desk...

Where do you guys study?



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I study at my desk in my room but I've recently switched from using a dining room chair to a computer chair and let me tell you - my body is thanking me! Once I begin FLs though, I'm going to be moving to a library so I can get a few hours of uninterrupted studying but I'll be sacrificing the comfort of a nice chair
 
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gribear said:
Yes. Only two :(

On a totally different note, I'm seriously developing back pain due to hunching over these books/computer all day at my desk. Coffee shop tables are almost worse than the desk! Maybe I need to invest in a standing desk...

Where do you guys study?



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I usually study on my bed LOL... I'm trying to move toward desks, but my bed is just so comfortable and there's room to spread out!
 
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enchantediris said:
I usually study on my bed LOL... I'm trying to move toward desks, but my bed is just so comfortable and there's room to spread out!
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Every time I try studying on my bed, I fall asleep faster than if I were trying to go to sleep on purpose. I have to be at a desk in my room or at the dinning table.
 
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Hey Guys,

I am planing on taking the mcat on april 23rd. If i finish content review by the end of february, does this leave me enough time to effectively practice passages until test day?? I find practicing passages with no content review does absolutely nothing as i mostly guess the answers... That being said there is an overwhelming amount of content to review... is anyone else in kaplan????
 
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@Nevadatim89 I am planning on doing content review until the first week of March for the April 23 exam. I use TBR to do practice passages that correspond to the content I've gone over that day. And then do a second round of content review for each topic once per week. This is the SN2ed method...its worked for lots of people. Do you have access to practice passages through Kaplan? I'm not sure how that works
 
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Hey gribear,

The Kaplan course came with many passages. I have barley used them because I'm filling my brain with so much content I figured I'd practice with it when I'm done learning. I just really need some advice. I have the TBR from 2011, are those not relevant for this new mcat? Is it too late to start the sn2 method? I feel like I need to apply but I fear not fully reviewing the content.. The Kaplan books read kinda like a college textbook so I find myself on Kahn academy a lot. I should be doing passages directly after studying the content?


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Well, I'm also just studying for the test now (as a non-trad student). But my 2 cents - You need to do what you feel works best for you! I think that practicing with passages after covering smaller chunks of content is a good way to see if you actually know the stuff. Then, with material you aren't as strong in, you can use Khan / other resources. If you don't do any practice along the way, you won't know if you actually know the material until its too late.

I would think the 2011 TBR books would be fine for passage practice. Word on SDN is they haven't changed all that much and will work fine. SN2ed is an intense 3/4 month schedule so its probably too late to start the whole schedule now. But its not too late to start utilizing some of the ideas, like regular passage practice / weekly review.

Last, and Most Importantly...don't rush to take the test. If you don't feel ready, don't take it. You don't "need to apply!" In the wise, wise words of @Goro , medical school isn't going anywhere. Take the test when you are fully prepared!!!!!
 
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Thanks for the info man. I need to start incorporating practice passages into my content review as you said. I wish I new about sn2ed earlier. How many passages would you say you do per day?


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What practice tests are you guys using? I was going to do the old aamc tests, and buy two or three ek. I noticed some of you are taking tpr.
 
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gribear said:
Well, I just went over the Nervous System/Sensory system stuff in Bio, and did pretty horribly on all of them in Princeton Review (average 50% correct on 8 passages), where as in TBR for the same section, I got ~80% correct.

The discrepancy wasn't as bad for Ochem and Gen Chem, but was still there. I'm just confused if this indicates that I'm actually weak in the area, or that the format of the two resources is different...I felt pretty confident going in , but their passages were very different from TBR.
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I would focus more on cell and molecular stuff! Physiology is really low impact in the new MCAT!
 
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keepSwimmingNemo said:
i don't want to invest 2,000 for kaplan when i have book sets from EK,tpr and and kaplan. should i still?
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Personal preference. I couldn't bring myself to pay that much for a course considering I had book sets and the motivation to self study. Other people need a strict regiment that a course offers.
 
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keepSwimmingNemo said:
are the next step exams 1-10 good?

http://nextsteptestprep.com/mcat-pr...q61XJXGem5ZFAszkpAG5JFEAXxac0E2ZX4aAhYG8P8HAQ

how come its cheaper compared to kaplan and tpr:??

i took the new mcat twice and have to retake it. but does AAMC have two tests now>
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Their practice tests are really good. They feel kind of easy to me though, but everyone says they're really hard? I find princeton reviews tests to be wayyy harder then the next step though, especially in P/S and verbal.

Kaplan and Princeton review probably cost more just because they're bigger and more well known companies, so they can get away with charging more.
 
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Phoodie said:
Personal preference. I couldn't bring myself to pay that much for a course considering I had book sets and the motivation to self study. Other people need a strict regiment that a course offers.
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I bought a course and was sadly disappointed with the lack of a strict regiment. So i basically have been self studying.. wasted alot of money. IDK what ie ven paid for tbh
 
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Phoodie said:
Heh I actually haven't been...oops :rofl:
But I will be soon doing passages daily from TPR Hyperlearning and EK's 101
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Is EK101 a good resource for the new mcat? I haven't really bought anything for CARS except for the qpacks and I really need to start practicing :nailbiting:
 
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kitkat13 said:
The reviews on amazon make it seem like its not good. So I only have TPR CARS book and I feel like its not enough.
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Do you have access to the old exams? You can do the verbal passages from those because as far as I know, the sections really haven't changed too much. And yeah, EK's CARS workbooks are overall a crapshoot for me but supplementing them with TPR Hyperlearning should be alright
 
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