The Official July 12, 2014 MCAT Thread

[HinduHammer]

2.5 months away, let's get started. Time to study and motivate each other!!

Me so far: Taking Kaplan online. 23 diagnostic (8,12,3). Applying for class entering Fall 2015.

My studying so far has been minimal, though I am halfway through the kaplan online course. I was planning to take June 5 but decided to push it back. After my final exams next week, I will be studying mostly full-time from May 12-July 12. My biggest weakness is bio content and timing - I cannot read the passages fast enough.

What are your stories/plans/goals??

Let's do this!!!

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[HinduHammer]

Hey guys and gals, anyone else out there getting PUMPED for this July 12 MCAT??

 

[Tradewinds]

Hi! Just rescheduled from June 21st to the July 12th date....was hoping to get more content review in before finals crept up, but now they are here and I am behind so I have made the tough decision to reschedule. I plan on submitting my app ASAP in June for this cycle (started working on it today) so hopefully that will help keep me from being too far behind.

Using the TBR books with some EK mixed in. Haven't taken any practice exams, but Bio and Gen Chem are certainly rusty as undergrad was a few years ago (2010 non-trad graduate). Focusing on content review likely 2 more weeks then thinking about starting out with the self assessments from AAMC...anyone used them yet? Were they helpful? What do most people use first without 'waisting' too many good resources?

Are you doing a lot of content review HinduHammer? or just working on FLs already?

 

[Tradewinds]

Working on the TBR equilibrium chapter is.... ahhhh! my brain is mush. Anyone else suffer through this one yet? I don't quite remember going into this much detail in gen chem.

 

[HinduHammer]

Hi! Just rescheduled from June 21st to the July 12th date....was hoping to get more content review in before finals crept up, but now they are here and I am behind so I have made the tough decision to reschedule. I plan on submitting my app ASAP in June for this cycle (started working on it today) so hopefully that will help keep me from being too far behind.

Using the TBR books with some EK mixed in. Haven't taken any practice exams, but Bio and Gen Chem are certainly rusty as undergrad was a few years ago (2010 non-trad graduate). Focusing on content review likely 2 more weeks then thinking about starting out with the self assessments from AAMC...anyone used them yet? Were they helpful? What do most people use first without 'waisting' too many good resources?

Are you doing a lot of content review HinduHammer? or just working on FLs already?

Hi Tradewinds! Yeah I completely agree on wanting to get more content review in before finals, I am in the same boat. I made the tough decision to reschedule about a month ago lol, I figured after finals I'd be able to devote 2 Full (more or less) months to MCAT which is probably the bare min I am comfortable doing. I also started working on my app today and will be submitting early June as well.

I have heard mixed reviews on TBR. What I have been doing for content is using the aamc authored mcat topics and comparing them to what I feel comfortable with and going from there. That has led me to basically work through the entire physics book given with the kaplan course (though I'm like 1/4 of the way thru it at this point), and learning bio from my own old textbooks and wikipedia etc. I don't find kaplan's content books to be well authored.

Re self assessments, I was told by my kaplan teachers to use the self-assessment at a closer date like mid-June. Until then to use my kaplan FLs and AAMC 3-7, then AAMC, then kaplan 4-8 (or something), and lastly the AAMC 8-11 right before the test.

I have absolutely NOT started on FLs already. Right now I am absolutely on content review. I will take one FL like maybe May 20, a week after my last final, and start taking FLs weekly in June, picking up around June 20. That is the plan right now at least.

Also, of everything I've looked at so far, I like EK the best.

What is your plan Tradewinds?

 

[Tradewinds]

Shoobie- I feel the same and thats why I decided to stick with mostly TBR and supplement with videos and other sources if I don't understand the way they are laying out the info/if I need something more strait forward. After the first year of undergrad where I purely did things from a memorization standpoint, I realized studying was more fun and far more effective if I understood with a decent amount of depth the first time around so that everything else was just a quick review and touch up. Quick being operative here so that I can get content review out of the way and start with practice materials.

HinduHammer - I have also been using the AAMC content outline to organize my chapter review in TBR Bio in particular, and using EK as well to compare focus topics and get a better idea of what things not to spend an inordinate amount of time on in TBR. Right now my content review is mainly Bio and Gen Chem because I am currently finishing up my Physics and Organic sequences and I have worked hard during the last two semesters to come to a point where I feel pretty comfortable with most of the material. (Unfortunately my Phys I class skipped a few topics because the professor was disorganized and the class was behind, so I will also be doing in depth chapter review for those).

Overall I am mixing lots of practice questions in as I go along and plan on doing SN2 style incorporation of them right up until the end. I appreciate you posting the info your kaplan teachers suggested as far as practice exam timeline because that has been my biggest question the last few days...I don't want to do them too early since bio and chem are rusty, but I don't want to wait too long either....so hard to know for sure!

I am considering taking the Self assessment package around May 23 (about a week after my last final) and then touching up weak spots for a couple weeks before starting FLs. I haven't decided which other FL's to incorporate aside from AAMCs...whats the general consensus on the best company for FLs? You'll have to let me know how the Kaplan ones go!

Studying for an Orgo exam today and hoping to dominate the devil of a stoichiometry/equilibrium chapter that is TBR Gen Chem III!

 

[beatlemaniac]

Hey everyone! I'm writing on July 12th as well, so I figured I'd join the party.
So far, I've been doing content review and some practice passages. I scored a 32 on Kaplan's diagnostic, which I'm sure isn't a very realistic assessment, so I'm not counting on that. I also got a 36 on the AAMC test 3 that I took yesterday, but I've heard that's the easiest test of the bunch so I'm also suspecting that's not a very reliable estimate.

Anyways, I'm trying to finish my content review by the end of May, and then focus on practicing. What overall strategy are most of you using?

Best of luck to everyone!

 

[medhopeful2014]

Has anyone been using the SN2ed schedule or a modified version of it? How is it going?

I'm not sure when I should start doing the practice tests. I don't want to do them before I cover some of the material at least because I would just be wasting them but then if I start too late then I won't get enough time to do a lot of them. Any advice?

Thanks

 

[beatlemaniac]

Hey medhopeful,
From everything I've heard, the practice tests are invaluable, so I would definitely make sure that you find the time to do all of them. If that means doing a few of them before you are done your content review, I don't think that's a huge problem. It might even direct you towards which content you should be focusing on (trouble spots).

 

[Ninjaman180]

Hi,

Is this date too late to submit for this app cycle? Im taking mine on June 13th but Im thinking about rescheduling. IF I do a July one I get my scores back in August....would that be too late for me to get in to my school? I really dont want to defer a year. I also still have to write my PS and all that stuff....so Im really stressing right about now.

Thanks for your help.

 

[medhopeful2014]

Hey medhopeful,
From everything I've heard, the practice tests are invaluable, so I would definitely make sure that you find the time to do all of them. If that means doing a few of them before you are done your content review, I don't think that's a huge problem. It might even direct you towards which content you should be focusing on (trouble spots).

Sounds good, thanks beatlemaniac!

 

[HinduHammer]

Umm have you guys been looking at the April 5 thread? I am getting very worried. Two months left and feel like I've barely scratched content review! I'm starting making flash cards tomorrow and gonna take an aamc to gauge my progress next week.... Worried lol.

 

[beatlemaniac]

Umm have you guys been looking at the April 5 thread? I am getting very worried. Two months left and feel like I've barely scratched content review! I'm starting making flash cards tomorrow and gonna take an aamc to gauge my progress next week.... Worried lol.

Don't panic yourself! There's still quite a bit of time left. Are you studying full time for the next two months? If so, and you work hard at it, I think you have plenty of time to prepare.

 

[HinduHammer]

Don't panic yourself! There's still quite a bit of time left. Are you studying full time for the next two months? If so, and you work hard at it, I think you have plenty of time to prepare.

hi Beatlemaniac, thanks for the encouragement! Just saw your first post, and wow great jobs on the kaplan diag and aamc 3! I'm very jealous of your 32 and 36, I got a 23 on the kaplan diag (with lots of guessing). No worries though, you're just inspiring me to work harder and get there! I would love at least a 35.

I will be studying *almost* full-time after my last final on May 12. I will be working 10 hours per week at my lab job, 10 hours per week as a tutor, and I'd guess another 10 hours per week working on my AMCAS application. Another 10-15 hours per month volunteering. (Wow the hours add up fast when you put it like that huh!)

I do have a similar plan to you though, which is try and finish content review by end of May and just focus on practice questions and tests. I started going through the Kaplan books, which I find to be poorly worded and just not a good read. I got the EK books from the local library and they are much better, so I will be trying to do content review from the EK books and my practice problems/tests from Kaplan...

This Friday I start *Starting* with EK Bio and flash cards. If you're doing the online kaplan course I'm at the point where I've finished all of Units 1 and 2, but I'm still in the pre and post HW of the Unit 1 lessons.

Anyway, trying not to be worried, however, as I'm *very* non trad (like 2.8 c and sgpa including 4.0 postbacc), I need a killer MCAT score...

Thanks again for the support, I hope we can all continue to support each other in preparation for the July 12 mcat!!!

 

[beatlemaniac]

It's totally fair to be worried, just try not to let it interfere with your studying efficiency. All we can do is put in as many studying hours as we can, try our best, and let the cards fall where they may.

I think it's really interesting how different books seem to work better for different people. I started out with the Princeton Review for content review, but I've been gradually switching to Kaplan because their style appeals to me more (although I'm really using both). Some people hate EK and others seem to love it!

I am doing the online Kaplan course as well...my one concern is that that don't have as much practice material as I would like. I struggle a bit with electrochemistry, so I wanted to do lots of practice for it, and I exhausted all of the relevant questions in a few hours... Other than that I think it's pretty good though!

Another thing to note with Kaplan is that their "Smart Reports" are only available for the full lengths you take that are listed in their syllabus. If you take full lengths listed in "additional resources" they won't do the analysis for you, which is really ****ty.

 

[beatlemaniac]

It's totally fair to be worried, just try not to let it interfere with your studying efficiency. All we can do is put in as many studying hours as we can, try our best, and let the cards fall where they may.

I think it's really interesting how different books seem to work better for different people. I started out with the Princeton Review for content review, but I've been gradually switching to Kaplan because their style appeals to me more (although I'm really using both). Some people hate EK and others seem to love it!

I am doing the online Kaplan course as well...my one concern is that that don't have as much practice material as I would like. I struggle a bit with electrochemistry, so I wanted to do lots of practice for it, and I exhausted all of the relevant questions in a few hours... Other than that I think it's pretty good though!

Another thing to note with Kaplan is that their "Smart Reports" are only available for the full lengths you take that are listed in their syllabus. If you take full lengths listed in "additional resources" they won't do the analysis for you, which is really ****ty.

 

[23premes]

Took MCAT today guys but I'll most likely be rejoining you guys in July. Was slammed by PS.

 

[HinduHammer]

Took MCAT today guys but I'll most likely be rejoining you guys in July. Was slammed by PS.

Congrats on getting MCAT done, even if you retake, still cool its over for you. Do you mind sharing your progress - how long you studied for, what your study plan was, aamc averages? did you feel ready before today's test?

 

[23premes]

Congrats on getting MCAT done, even if you retake, still cool its over for you. Do you mind sharing your progress - how long you studied for, what your study plan was, aamc averages? did you feel ready before today's test?

Sure.

I started studying in January because I had to teach myself Ochem. I followed my own plan which consisted of taking 2 practice exams every week after 2 months of content. I used TBR and TPRH.

I can look up my exact AAMC scores later but my average was a 33. My first exam was 9/9/9 but that was with only 2 weeks of content and no ochem. Besides that I had:

PS was 10-13
Verbal 10-13
Bio 10-12

I also took GS exams and had a 33 average too. Ironically my mcat today had super super easy almost non existent Ochem. It was funny because I was most stressed about that section. PS was my strongest but I felt destroyed by it today. It had some calculations but was conceptual in a way that was so weird it's hard to explain. Nothing really could have prepared me for that other than to review things that I thought were too obscure to be tested lol. I could have kept doing more passages but that would not have honestly helped me. I need to really go deep deep into some concepts. The weird, the low yield, the crap you think may not be important.

I know people do post test predictions but I honestly have no ideal. If I had to guess I would say 7/12/12. I felt really well about the 2 other sections but the PS was just something else. I'm hoping I can magically break 30 but realistically I'm not banking on it.

 

[beatlemaniac]

Fingers crossed for you 23premes! I hope you did better than you feel and don't have to retake.

I've been feeling frustrated the past few days because it feels like there is just so much material and I'm not really accomplishing all that much... Each day I do about a chapter of content review, then do the corresponding practice questions for that chapter (Kaplan and TPR) and a VR passage. It just doesn't really feel like a lot... Any suggestions? What does a typical study day look like for you guys?

 

[Atom612]

Hey all,

My test date is July 12, I'm 1 month into studying, haven't visited the MCAT forum on SDN before now and have been following mcatforme.com's recommended 3-month study plan which primarily involves TPR for bio and orgo content review, and EK for gen chem and physics, along with EK1001 questions in all subjects + EK101 VR questions for practice. After reading some other threads the consensus I've gathered is my study plan is completely wrong and that I should have been reading EK for Bio, and TBR for gen chem/physics/orgo and drilling passages via TPRH. So now I'm 2 months away from test date and feeling lost. I have TBR books and TPR science workbook (don't think it is HL ), should I switch completely, or just try to incorporate those other resources into my current study plan? My weakest areas are gen chem/physics and I'm pretty solid on the Bio and VR (not so much at Orgo though.

Any advice is appreciated

 

[beatlemaniac]

Hey all,

My test date is July 12, I'm 1 month into studying, haven't visited the MCAT forum on SDN before now and have been following mcatforme.com's recommended 3-month study plan which primarily involves TPR for bio and orgo content review, and EK for gen chem and physics, along with EK1001 questions in all subjects + EK101 VR questions for practice. After reading some other threads the consensus I've gathered is my study plan is completely wrong and that I should have been reading EK for Bio, and TBR for gen chem/physics/orgo and drilling passages via TPRH. So now I'm 2 months away from test date and feeling lost. I have TBR books and TPR science workbook (don't think it is HL ), should I switch completely, or just try to incorporate those other resources into my current study plan? My weakest areas are gen chem/physics and I'm pretty solid on the Bio and VR (not so much at Orgo though.

Any advice is appreciated

Honestly, I think it's a mistake to put to much stock in the opinions on books/programs people post in these forums. They are giving their opinions about what works for them, which might not apply to you. Everyone learns differently, and if you feel that the program you've been using makes sense for you and you are making progress, keep with it.

I have the Kaplan on Demand course which I use for practice questions, and I'm using a combination of Kaplan and TPR for content review. That said, if I don't like the way something is presented in either of the books, I'll just google it, or use one of my old textbooks. You don't have to stick to any particular program, just find what works for you


BTW, update on my progress - Finished Kaplan Full Length 1 yesterday and scored a 38 (PS 12, VR 14, BS 12)! I'm not relaxing any time soon though, because it's definitely possible that the Kaplan FLs aren't representative, or that the particular test I took played to my areas of strength.

 

[HinduHammer]

Honestly, I think it's a mistake to put to much stock in the opinions on books/programs people post in these forums. They are giving their opinions about what works for them, which might not apply to you. Everyone learns differently, and if you feel that the program you've been using makes sense for you and you are making progress, keep with it.

I have the Kaplan on Demand course which I use for practice questions, and I'm using a combination of Kaplan and TPR for content review. That said, if I don't like the way something is presented in either of the books, I'll just google it, or use one of my old textbooks. You don't have to stick to any particular program, just find what works for you


BTW, update on my progress - Finished Kaplan Full Length 1 yesterday and scored a 38 (PS 12, VR 14, BS 12)! I'm not relaxing any time soon though, because it's definitely possible that the Kaplan FLs aren't representative, or that the particular test I took played to my areas of strength.

Awesome score on FL1! I'll be taking Kaplan FL1 this weekend. Just finished my final exams today and still on Lecture 1 of EK Bio. Rethinking my coice of doing flash cards...it helps me know the material very well but boy is it time consuming!! Getting less impressed with Kaplan by the day lol.

Also, starting to work on my AMCAS activities - and boy, is it hard to write sometimes!

 

[467167]

Just started my hardcore studying today. I am planning on doing roughly 8 hours of studying a day in time for the MCATs. Do you guys think this is enough? I am so worried (taking nights off to do either research or my applications and hopefully some gym time/relaxation).

I have Berkeley Review and Kaplan prep books.

 

[HinduHammer]

Just started my hardcore studying today. I am planning on doing roughly 8 hours of studying a day in time for the MCATs. Do you guys think this is enough? I am so worried (taking nights off to do either research or my applications and hopefully some gym time/relaxation).

I have Berkeley Review and Kaplan prep books.

All I can say is that I also planned to study 8 hours per day. I am currently a straight-A student, but man, 8 hours per day of real studying is a lot harder to do for MCAT than I thought it would be.. If you can actually do it, more power to you!

 

[Czarcasm]

All I can say is that I also planned to study 8 hours per day. I am currently a straight-A student, but man, 8 hours per day of real studying is a lot harder to do for MCAT than I thought it would be.. If you can actually do it, more power to you!

Especially when you have ADD (not diagnosed, but runs in my family; I know I have it). I've been seriously considering speaking to a psychologist. In college, I just dealt with it and studied longer hours to compensate, but it's incredibly difficult to study efficiently and keep pace with my schedule. As some people probably noticed, I'm always lurking SDN.

 

[uvrsol]

Sure.

I started studying in January because I had to teach myself Ochem. I followed my own plan which consisted of taking 2 practice exams every week after 2 months of content. I used TBR and TPRH.

I can look up my exact AAMC scores later but my average was a 33. My first exam was 9/9/9 but that was with only 2 weeks of content and no ochem. Besides that I had:

PS was 10-13
Verbal 10-13
Bio 10-12

I also took GS exams and had a 33 average too. Ironically my mcat today had super super easy almost non existent Ochem. It was funny because I was most stressed about that section. PS was my strongest but I felt destroyed by it today. It had some calculations but was conceptual in a way that was so weird it's hard to explain. Nothing really could have prepared me for that other than to review things that I thought were too obscure to be tested lol. I could have kept doing more passages but that would not have honestly helped me. I need to really go deep deep into some concepts. The weird, the low yield, the crap you think may not be important.

I know people do post test predictions but I honestly have no ideal. If I had to guess I would say 7/12/12. I felt really well about the 2 other sections but the PS was just something else. I'm hoping I can magically break 30 but realistically I'm not banking on it.

I've a question. So, GS FL sciences didn't help with PS section at all?

 

[23premes]

I've a question. So, GS FL sciences didn't help with PS section at all?

They helped but may 8th PS was something completely different. Way way different

 

[23premes]

GS helped with my aamc practice exams but not the real deal, but guess I'll see when I get my scores back

 

[uvrsol]

They helped but may 8th PS was something completely different. Way way different

I c. How will you prepare if you have to take on July 12th PS (hope you don't have to take it)? i mean all the topics in may 8th exam were from aamc outline right?

 

[23premes]

I c. How will you prepare if you have to take on July 12th PS (hope you don't have to take it)? i mean all the topics in may 8th exam were from aamc outline right?

They were all from aamc but not really high yield concepts and some asked in different ways.

If I need to retake I will definitely go over those odd ball stuff you think would never show up and I will definitely work on liking seemingly unrelated concepts. I'd really like to see how I did and what score I got before I judge how the PS actually went though.

 

[Atom612]

Honestly, I think it's a mistake to put to much stock in the opinions on books/programs people post in these forums. They are giving their opinions about what works for them, which might not apply to you. Everyone learns differently, and if you feel that the program you've been using makes sense for you and you are making progress, keep with it.

I have the Kaplan on Demand course which I use for practice questions, and I'm using a combination of Kaplan and TPR for content review. That said, if I don't like the way something is presented in either of the books, I'll just google it, or use one of my old textbooks. You don't have to stick to any particular program, just find what works for you


BTW, update on my progress - Finished Kaplan Full Length 1 yesterday and scored a 38 (PS 12, VR 14, BS 12)! I'm not relaxing any time soon though, because it's definitely possible that the Kaplan FLs aren't representative, or that the particular test I took played to my areas of strength.

Thanks, I guess I'll keep chuggin along and see how I do when I take my first FL and adjust accordingly.

BTW, nice score!!

 

[467167]

Any suggestions on how to do better on the Physics section? Any techniques?

 

[designthelifeyoulove]

Um. SDN may be the wrong place to ask this...but anyone just starting MCAT prep today?

 

[HinduHammer]

Um. SDN may be the wrong place to ask this...but anyone just starting MCAT prep today?

SOmetimes it feels that way. Trust me, I am just at the tip of the iceberg as far as studying goes, so you are no alone. Plus, there are tons of people who aren't onSDN who haven't even started studying! Feel free to share your story/study schedule for some advice

 

[HinduHammer]

@neilmodi93 One thing that might help is getting really comfortable with the math involved. Know your cos/sin, triangles, rounding, etc like really well. I've noticed that even just kinda knowing how the problem works with good math and you can eliminate a few answers. Also, for me, I just noticed that alot of problems come down to basic concepts like conservation of energy... instead of getting bogged down in each rope's tension, for ex, knowing that the entire system is going to end up being zero or whatever...big picture concepts first before you start working the problem. That's what helps me *shrug*

@shoobie I'm having trouble opening your file on this computer, but sounds ok. You mentioned you took the MCAT twice last summer. If you feel weak on content, 5 week days doing content may be good, but if you're ok on content, you may spend more time doing practice problems. It seems the consensus is that the more passage based problems you can do of all types, the better.

 

[beatlemaniac]

Awesome score on FL1! I'll be taking Kaplan FL1 this weekend. Just finished my final exams today and still on Lecture 1 of EK Bio. Rethinking my coice of doing flash cards...it helps me know the material very well but boy is it time consuming!! Getting less impressed with Kaplan by the day lol.

Also, starting to work on my AMCAS activities - and boy, is it hard to write sometimes!

Let me know how the FL goes for you! And yeah, I just started my AMCAS stuff as well, and I definitely agree. Gonna take some real effort figuring out how to express everything I want to in the application.

@Atom612 - Yeah, I think it's best to use the FLs as sort of "check-ins" and adjust what you need to focus on after each one. Best of luck!

 

[beatlemaniac]

Any suggestions on how to do better on the Physics section? Any techniques?

I think it's really important to just pump out lots of practice when it comes to physics. You want to be really familiar with the things they ask so that you've "seen it all before" on the tests. And make sure your mental math/basic calculation skills are up to par.

 

[havocgene]

I think it's really important to just pump out lots of practice when it comes to physics. You want to be really familiar with the things they ask so that you've "seen it all before" on the tests. And make sure your mental math/basic calculation skills are up to par.

yes make sure your rounding is epically good..that was the difference in my practice exam between a score of 9 and 11 -__-

 

[HinduHammer]

Let me know how the FL goes for you! And yeah, I just started my AMCAS stuff as well, and I definitely agree. Gonna take some real effort figuring out how to express everything I want to in the application.

@Atom612 - Yeah, I think it's best to use the FLs as sort of "check-ins" and adjust what you need to focus on after each one. Best of luck!

Hey @beatlemaniac

Just finished Kaplan FL1 and breathing a sigh of relief at 31. 8 PS, 12 VR, 11BS. Like I said I'm aiming for a 35+ but that's not a bad place to be right now from my persepctive. I've spent the last few weeks pretty much only doing Bio (due to my 3 in BS on the kaplan diagnostic). I haven't touched chem or physics in probably a month at least.

Interesting things from my first glance over this FL:

• my PS score of 8 is exactly what I got on my diagnostic. Both here and in my diagnostic I guessed a heck of alot (I take too much time reading the passages and then at the end I have to answer 3 passages in 15 minutes).
  • On PS I "answered" 17 of the questions in under 20 seconds, of those I got 5 right
  • on PS I "answered" 14 of the questions in under 10 seconds, of those I got 4 right
  • Answered 12 under 5 seconds, of those 2 right
    • Looks like I missed most of the ones I gussed on - which is 'good' because I want my score to be representative of what I know, not my random guesses. But its bad because I didn't answer so many!
• on PS, I changed 5 answers. 2 went from wrong to wrong. 2 went from wrong to Right. 1 went from Right to wrong.
• VR: on the diagnostic I finished all the questions with a minute or so left; here I had to guess on the majority of the last passage (stupid sand!), some were educated guesses, some were shots in the dark.
  • 3 of the 5 questions I missed were "deduction" category
  • I guessed on 3 of the last 5 questions and got those 3 right.
    • I got an 11 on my diagnostic without guessing, here I got a 12 with guessing and picking right (completely randomly). So, I'm inclined to believe that my VR score is baseline about 10-11, which I'm not very happy with. I would like to get it up to 14-15 (who wouldn't?).
    • I have some work to do on VR! Not sure if I like the kaplan mapping strategy. Sometimes I mapped, other times I didn't -- mapping seemed to me to just take too much unnecessary time.
• On BS I had a surprising amount of time left answering all the questions - like 2 minutes! I changed 3 wrong answers to right ones, which was good.

Time for dinner and HBO now. Back to the grind for analyzing the FL in depth tomorrow. Thanks for keeping me accountable. I was thinking today, 'oh man gotta finish that FL and let beatlemaniac how I did!' -- how's your studying going?

 

[beatlemaniac]

Hey @beatlemaniac

Just finished Kaplan FL1 and breathing a sigh of relief at 31. 8 PS, 12 VR, 11BS. Like I said I'm aiming for a 35+ but that's not a bad place to be right now from my persepctive. I've spent the last few weeks pretty much only doing Bio (due to my 3 in BS on the kaplan diagnostic). I haven't touched chem or physics in probably a month at least.

Interesting things from my first glance over this FL:

• my PS score of 8 is exactly what I got on my diagnostic. Both here and in my diagnostic I guessed a heck of alot (I take too much time reading the passages and then at the end I have to answer 3 passages in 15 minutes).
  • On PS I "answered" 17 of the questions in under 20 seconds, of those I got 5 right
  • on PS I "answered" 14 of the questions in under 10 seconds, of those I got 4 right
  • Answered 12 under 5 seconds, of those 2 right
    • Looks like I missed most of the ones I gussed on - which is 'good' because I want my score to be representative of what I know, not my random guesses. But its bad because I didn't answer so many!
• on PS, I changed 5 answers. 2 went from wrong to wrong. 2 went from wrong to Right. 1 went from Right to wrong.
• VR: on the diagnostic I finished all the questions with a minute or so left; here I had to guess on the majority of the last passage (stupid sand!), some were educated guesses, some were shots in the dark.
  • 3 of the 5 questions I missed were "deduction" category
  • I guessed on 3 of the last 5 questions and got those 3 right.
    • I got an 11 on my diagnostic without guessing, here I got a 12 with guessing and picking right (completely randomly). So, I'm inclined to believe that my VR score is baseline about 10-11, which I'm not very happy with. I would like to get it up to 14-15 (who wouldn't?).
    • I have some work to do on VR! Not sure if I like the kaplan mapping strategy. Sometimes I mapped, other times I didn't -- mapping seemed to me to just take too much unnecessary time.
• On BS I had a surprising amount of time left answering all the questions - like 2 minutes! I changed 3 wrong answers to right ones, which was good.

Time for dinner and HBO now. Back to the grind for analyzing the FL in depth tomorrow. Thanks for keeping me accountable. I was thinking today, 'oh man gotta finish that FL and let beatlemaniac how I did!' -- how's your studying going?

It sounds to me like you just need a bit of work getting timing down - if you hadn't had to rush, you probably would have gotten a higher score (not that a 31 isn't a great place to be for FL1 already!).

For me, VR has just been about practice. I tried the Kaplan mapping strategy, and I tried the princeton review strategy (both on a few full-length sections) but I ended up doing significantly better when I just carefully read the passage, and then answered the questions. Straightforward logical thinking, no fancy "methods". I would say the thing that has helped me most with VR has been taking my time reading the passage to make sure I understand it, because then I answer the questions more quickly (and more correctly).

My studying has been going pretty well - although I have been dealing with some major jealousy watching all the fun things my roommates are doing while I'm cooped up in my room! I've been focusing on Ochem the past few days - decided to buckle down and review it all, rather than doing a bit at a time. I wrote AAMC 4 a few days ago and scored a 41. I think the distribution was 15 PS, 13 VR and 13 BS. Still not believing these scores are reflective though, since early AAMCs are supposed to be easy.

Good to hear that you're taking breaks for HBO! I've been watching some major Netflix lately as study breaks haha

 

[doc4lax]

Hi everyone! I will be taking the July 12th mcat as well. I have been accepted through an early assurance program to an md school so I am taking this for scholarship purposes! Plus I am a spring student athlete which didn't really leave me a lot of time to apply and be accepted so early assurance was a great gift I still have a lot to do in terms of practice but I have been using TPR materials and I like how detailed they are. The amplifire questions for physics (400+ of them) raised my physical science score by 5 points (6-11) I suggest it highly if you need the practice! And P.S. is in my opinion the easiest score to increase since AAMC tests basic concepts.

 

[Jason12]

what do you mean by amplifier questions?

 

[doc4lax]

If you have taken the TPR course they give you online access to the amplifier for free on their website. It basically reinforces concepts by having you do each question twice, and if you get it wrong, you have to do it again multiple times. It can be frustrating and takes a lot of patience (a section on torque made me want to bang my head against a wall lol) but it helps a lot conceptually. The questions are pretty similar to their science workbook they provide, so you could get the same benefit that way as well.

 

[HinduHammer]

Hi everyone! I will be taking the July 12th mcat as well. I have been accepted through an early assurance program to an md school so I am taking this for scholarship purposes! Plus I am a spring student athlete which didn't really leave me a lot of time to apply and be accepted so early assurance was a great gift I still have a lot to do in terms of practice but I have been using TPR materials and I like how detailed they are. The amplifire questions for physics (400+ of them) raised my physical science score by 5 points (6-11) I suggest it highly if you need the practice! And P.S. is in my opinion the easiest score to increase since AAMC tests basic concepts.

Congrats on the early assurance program. Cool tip about the amplifire questions. I don' have access to TPR materials and am using Kaplan but if you have other tips send them my way!

 

[Tradewinds]

Hope everyone's studying is going well! I'm still working on content review, I don't feel comfortable enough using up a practice exam yet since Bio and Chem are far back, but I'm shooting for using one soon...maybe I'll start with a non AAMC. For those who have used a Kaplan and or something else for a FL and also taken AAMC for comparison did you think it was helpful (my big concern is timing...)?

Also, just wanted to throw out a quick mention to everyone to make sure not to neglect the AAMC outline!! I have been checking it as I go along studying and have found a few spots that were lacking from TBR bio and EK bio...easily filled in by Wikipremed etc. This may be because it's covered in a different section of the book that I haven't gotten to yet, but I feel better knowing that I cover it the same time the outline does in the case that it's not covered in a later chapter of TBR.

Happy studying all

 

[Jason12]

looks like Im in the pool of 35+ test takers...

 

[doc4lax]

looks like Im in the pool of 35+ test takers...

I'm shooting for a 46
On a serious note: I have been using EK verbal strategy and all I have taken is TPR exams. I have been averaging around 6's. My friend who is taking the May 31st mcat took the same exams I did, then took an AAMC and scored 10's so I don't know if TPR verbal is just harder or if he improved that much in 3 days. Does anybody have any input?

 

[467167]

I have been working on a lot of content review and practice problems. Has anyone done the Work and Energy practice exam yet on TBR? This morning I was getting almost every question right on general chemistry and then I switched over to Physics and got almost everything wrong. Any tips for this particular section?

 

[HinduHammer]

Just took Kaplan FL7 . It went poorly. 28 (9, 11, 8). Missed 28 in PS (4 unanswered), 9 in VR (4 unanswered), and 21 in BS.

Today I decided to write out a strict calendar for myself. So today I have to do 2 chapters in Bio content review, 2 chapter in Physics content review, and 2 passages in EK 101 VR, and of course go over my FL. Sigh. Let's get started...