*The Official May 6th, 2016 MCAT Thread*

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DannySCR

DannySCR

Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
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Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to see who's with me in fighting this beast on May 6th. This could be a great place to help each other out, be it through study tips, mnemonics, or simply relieving stress. Nice to meet you all!
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Coltuna said:
Feeling pretty discouraged.. Just took my first Kaplan full length and scored a 497 (40th percentile). Could've done a little better if my psych and soc wasn't in the 32nd percentile lol. Was surprised how relatively easy Chem/Phys was. RELATIVELY. Has anyone heard of a typical jump in scores that we should expect from test to test? I'll finish content review in a couple weeks but plan on incorporating more PBQ's and from there on out, it's 2 full lengths a week w/ meticulous review of said full lengths for 6 weeks. Could I still realistically manage a 507+ by May 6th? So many questions... So little time...
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This is crazy for me to hear. I suck at Chem/Phys. Studying pretty much exclusively those subjects. I dont even really study CARS and Psych/Soc because I have been scoring at above 125 consistently. I think for Psych/Soc, a lot of it is memorzation, so that is definitely a plus for you--you got a lot of time between now and May 6th. Good luck!

507+ is absolutely possible too
 
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enchantediris said:
From reading past reactions, anywhere from barely any at all to heavy emphasis. It seems like the actual content focused on exams varies by test date, so I think it's safe to be over-prepared than unpleasantly surprised!

In other news, I finally finished biology review with 2200+ Anki cards. :soexcited: :hungover: I'm hoping to get all of Psych/Soc and half of Chem/Phys review done this week during spring break, and finish up content review by the end of March.
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How long did it take for you to make those anki cards. I have probably half or a third--but lately i have been slacking because i have been unsure about its efficacy. Do u have like a bunch of decks or is it more centralized. I separate by subject matter (replication, micro, etc.).

Also, I use the shared decks online to help me out as well lol
 
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Doctor_Strange said:
How long did it take for you to make those anki cards. I have probably half or a third--but lately i have been slacking because i have been unsure about its efficacy. Do u have like a bunch of decks or is it more centralized. I separate by subject matter (replication, micro, etc.).

Also, I use the shared decks online to help me out as well lol
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I want to say literally forever. I've been doing biology review since January (it's a little rough because I'm in classes right now and have other ECs taking up my time). I think you mentioned doing TPR, which I'm also doing – to put it in perspective, it's taken about 10 pomodoros (25 minute chunks) per class to get all of my flashcards.

I will say that I also tend to be more overkill than others (I looked at mehc012's MCAT deck and I think he only had 2000 cards total...) and from what others have said, TPR FLs tend to be harder than the actual thing because they focus more on content. As for Anki, I have everything in one large deck (one of my tags is MCAT-BB, MCAT-PS, etc.) and study from that randomized every day: 50 new cards and 100 review. It usually takes about an hour, which is rough. Honestly my longest streak is 5 days in a row, since January.
 
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Doctor_Strange said:
This is crazy for me to hear. I suck at Chem/Phys. Studying pretty much exclusively those subjects. I dont even really study CARS and Psych/Soc because I have been scoring at above 125 consistently. I think for Psych/Soc, a lot of it is memorzation, so that is definitely a plus for you--you got a lot of time between now and May 6th. Good luck!

507+ is absolutely possible too
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I appreciate the encouragement!
 
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enchantediris said:
I want to say literally forever. I've been doing biology review since January (it's a little rough because I'm in classes right now and have other ECs taking up my time). I think you mentioned doing TPR, which I'm also doing – to put it in perspective, it's taken about 10 pomodoros (25 minute chunks) per class to get all of my flashcards.

I will say that I also tend to be more overkill than others (I looked at mehc012's MCAT deck and I think he only had 2000 cards total...) and from what others have said, TPR FLs tend to be harder than the actual thing because they focus more on content. As for Anki, I have everything in one large deck (one of my tags is MCAT-BB, MCAT-PS, etc.) and study from that randomized every day: 50 new cards and 100 review. It usually takes about an hour, which is rough. Honestly my longest streak is 5 days in a row, since January.
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Interesting. If I may ask, what exactly are the kinds of Cards u use for chem/physical. At the moment I just borrowed some afraid decks for equations for physical. For chem I got the impression preparation for that is really through passages and practice problems.

I also use the pomodoro too.

And I miss a lot of days so my cards due are always really high lol
 
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I am horrible at C/P sections. Anybody got any advice? I do solid on biochemistry, but the raw physics/chemistry just kills me, or maybe it's just that Kaplan makes the questions too difficult (albeit this is a poor excuse)
 
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Doctor_Strange said:
Interesting. If I may ask, what exactly are the kinds of Cards u use for chem/physical. At the moment I just borrowed some afraid decks for equations for physical. For chem I got the impression preparation for that is really through passages and practice problems.

I also use the pomodoro too.

And I miss a lot of days so my cards due are always really high lol
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I don't make nearly as many flashcards for physics/chemistry than I did for bio! It's mostly equations and some concepts I want to remember, like periodic table trends or explanations of forces. The application of concepts is definitely more important for physics and chem, though, you're right!

apuri3 said:
I am horrible at C/P sections. Anybody got any advice? I do solid on biochemistry, but the raw physics/chemistry just kills me, or maybe it's just that Kaplan makes the questions too difficult (albeit this is a poor excuse)
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Have you looked at what type of questions you're missing? Are they conceptual, computational, experimental, etc? I've heard that the old EK1001 books are great for drilling concepts if you're looking for more practice!
 
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apuri3 said:
I am horrible at C/P sections. Anybody got any advice? I do solid on biochemistry, but the raw physics/chemistry just kills me, or maybe it's just that Kaplan makes the questions too difficult (albeit this is a poor excuse)
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I actually just realized that I accidentally typed chem/phys instead of bio/biochem.. Sorry to all I gave false hope to! Chem/phys is definitely a weakness of mine too. But I just got done reviewing that section for the FL and it appears that phys will involve a lot of unit conversion/manipulation. Example: knowing that an Amp can be rewritten as C/S and simply using stoicheometry to get to correct labels and answer. It also seems that Acid/Base chemistry will be high yield but that's somewhat anecdotal seeing as though this is the first FL.
 
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499 on my 2nd Kaplan FL. 2 point increase from Thursday. Holy **** I am tired, by the second half of psych/sociology I just could not focus. I ended up scoring horrible on that shyte. 2 point increase on Kaplan in 6 days, I'll take it.

Content review is overrated. Practice tests are where the money is at.
 
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Just glancing at AAMC materials, I gotta say, Kaplan FLs are garbage. Not representative at all - I'm going to take the 3 tests that came with the books I bought, but the AAMC is so different & also more straight forward. Hop on the AAMC section banks as soon as you guys can!!
 
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apuri3 said:
Just glancing at AAMC materials, I gotta say, Kaplan FLs are garbage. Not representative at all - I'm going to take the 3 tests that came with the books I bought, but the AAMC is so different & also more straight forward. Hop on the AAMC section banks as soon as you guys can!!
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I concur. It's good for content review but you won't grasp the feel of the real deal. It's more about conceptual design and application whereas kaplan is content content content
 
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Question:

Can somebody go over melting/boiling point of saturated vs. cis/trans unsaturated fatty acids for me?
 
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Does anyone know what Kaplan book to purchase to get access to online exams? For the most part, review finished, I just need more practice. Thanks in advance.
 
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tokenOPM said:
Does anyone know what Kaplan book to purchase to get access to online exams? For the most part, review finished, I just need more practice. Thanks in advance.
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I am not a 100 percent sure but I think any of their books should give you access. If not you can DM me and I'll give you the answer to the access question


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Yo, any tips or others experiences with physics prep? I'm getting killed--took a TPR diagnostics and got a 39%. I havent done many passages, just trying to get concepts down nor have i spent a terrible amount of time memorizing the necessary equations. I'm spending what I feel is an inordinate amount of time with physics. It will only make up what, like 10 qs at most??
 
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Doctor_Strange said:
Yo, any tips or others experiences with physics prep? I'm getting killed--took a TPR diagnostics and got a 39%. I havent done many passages, just trying to get concepts down nor have i spent a terrible amount of time memorizing the necessary equations. I'm spending what I feel is an inordinate amount of time with physics. It will only make up what, like 10 qs at most??
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Use videos instead of your books. Find someone with a great YouTube channel (or use khan) that really clicks with you and just follow them through all the topics. One guy, AK lectures, covers almost everything but his voice makes me want to die. There's another channel by Leah Fisch that I love for organic chem. She uses colors and graphics that just work for me. It is so much faster to go through everything that way and I retain it better too.
 
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For those of you that started working on the AAMC q pack and section pack are you guys going to do them timed? And also are you guys going to do everything in one sitting?


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Arsenalfcfan1 said:
For those of you that started working on the AAMC q pack and section pack are you guys going to do them timed? And also are you guys going to do everything in one sitting?


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I haven't quite started on those yet, but I'm planning on doing them untimed and in different sittings. From my FL experience, I don't have a problem with running out of time – mostly just with content weaknesses and misreading problems (especially those EXCEPT ones!). I will definitely be taking the two FLs timed, though.

On another note, I took my 5th FL today and did basically the same/slightly worse as my last FL 1.5 months ago :( I had been hoping to do a bit better seeing as I finished with biology review and started physics/chem/psych/soc review, but alas. I think a bit part of it was not getting enough sleep lately (darn Daylights Savings Time), as the one section I did worse on was BBS and I was literally falling asleep during it. Oh well, it was a good wakeup call because I think I had been getting a bit complacent with my progress. Onward!
 
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enchantediris said:
I haven't quite started on those yet, but I'm planning on doing them untimed and in different sittings. From my FL experience, I don't have a problem with running out of time – mostly just with content weaknesses and misreading problems (especially those EXCEPT ones!). I will definitely be taking the two FLs timed, though.

On another note, I took my 5th FL today and did basically the same/slightly worse as my last FL 1.5 months ago :( I had been hoping to do a bit better seeing as I finished with biology review and started physics/chem/psych/soc review, but alas. I think a bit part of it was not getting enough sleep lately (darn Daylights Savings Time), as the one section I did worse on was BBS and I was literally falling asleep during it. Oh well, it was a good wakeup call because I think I had been getting a bit complacent with my progress. Onward!
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I am doing the same approach as you are regarding the AAMC materials it's good to know how others are approaching this exam.


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What scores are you guys aiming for? And what have you guys been getting on the practice tests?

So far for me:
Kaplan 1: 497
Kaplan 2: 499 (5 days after)
Kaplan 3: Aiming for a 502

I'm shooting for a 510 on the actual test. For some reason, CARS has been my consistently highest section. My P/S & C/P are really low though. Like barely 40% percentile. If the actual test has more biochem and last chem and physics, I'm expecting to do well on it. It's been 4 years since I took physics & chemistry:(
 
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apuri3 said:
What scores are you guys aiming for? And what have you guys been getting on the practice tests?

So far for me:
Kaplan 1: 497
Kaplan 2: 499 (5 days after)
Kaplan 3: Aiming for a 502

I'm shooting for a 510 on the actual test. For some reason, CARS has been my consistently highest section. My P/S & C/P are really low though. Like barely 40% percentile. If the actual test has more biochem and last chem and physics, I'm expecting to do well on it. It's been 4 years since I took physics & chemistry:(
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I took the second one and somehow scored like 4 points lower than my first. I'm attributing that to biting off more than I could chew though because I rushed through review and tried to take it 3 days after my first. Psych/Soc is definitely my glaring weakness.
 
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Coltuna said:
I took the second one and somehow scored like 4 points lower than my first. I'm attributing that to biting off more than I could chew though because I rushed through review and tried to take it 3 days after my first. Psych/Soc is definitely my glaring weakness.
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Same here! The Kaplan P/S ethical/hypothetical questions throw me off. On both FLs I took, there were probably ~100 terms that I did not recognize.
 
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Ot1d said:
On board May 6th, struggling mightly with CARS. Any tips, besides prayer?
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A lot of people advocate reading science articles, philosophy, challenging literature everyday until the test. Do things to improve reading comprehension.
 
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apuri3 said:
A lot of people advocate reading science articles, philosophy, challenging literature everyday until the test. Do things to improve reading comprehension.
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Seems like a plan. English is not my first language and it has been quite the challenge
 
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Ot1d said:
Seems like a plan. English is not my first language and it has been quite the challenge
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So perhaps I can help a little: I don't even study CARS anymore because I have been really satisfied with my FL scores. My approach is always ask myself "what is the argument being made" for each paragraph I made, I look at tone--is the author skeptical, condescending, joyful, critical, prideful, etc. And finally I always preview the questions before I do the passage. You may already be doing some of this but this very simply approach has helped me. English is my first language though and I have always been rather skillful at it, but I think just doing a lot of passages will serve you better than just about anything else.

Good luck ! (my weakness by FAR is physics and chemistry so we each have our specific advantages and disadvantages lol)
 
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Doctor_Strange said:
So perhaps I can help a little: I don't even study CARS anymore because I have been really satisfied with my FL scores. My approach is always ask myself "what is the argument being made" for each paragraph I made, I look at tone--is the author skeptical, condescending, joyful, critical, prideful, etc. And finally I always preview the questions before I do the passage. You may already be doing some of this but this very simply approach has helped me. English is my first language though and I have always been rather skillful at it, but I think just doing a lot of passages will serve you better than just about anything else.

Good luck ! (my weakness by FAR is physics and chemistry so we each have our specific advantages and disadvantages lol)
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Thank you! I'll take my 2nd full length tomorrow and see what happens. I've watched Khan for Phys (especially for electricity which really throws me off) and I find it has helped.
 
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I have about 31 more Kaplan chapters to read through :( I havent done any fl yet or started on the aamc packs. i'm afraid im slacking off and running against time. I also am terrified by psych and physics like i'm so weak at those sections. Any advice on how to approach the next few weeks?
 
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souvenir94 said:
I have about 31 more Kaplan chapters to read through :( I havent done any fl yet or started on the aamc packs. i'm afraid im slacking off and running against time. I also am terrified by psych and physics like i'm so weak at those sections. Any advice on how to approach the next few weeks?
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Prioritize Psych over Physics. Practice tests and AAMC materials are more important than content review in my opinion.
 
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apuri3 said:
I got 41/53 and got a 125... Is this reflective of the actual MCAT? If so man that's tough.
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It's percentile scored. That Kaplan FL cars might be easy, I felt it was. Usually a mid 30's/53 is a 125. 41/53 should be 127
 
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I can't seem to retain physics material no matter how many times I review the content :/ study tips anyone?
 
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How is everyone approaching the CARS section? I always miss 1-3 questions a passage does anyone have any advice?


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