TPR is driving me nuts

[Pusheen]

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Has anyone been using the TPR Complete MCAT book to study? I'm working my way through the biology section, and I am doing terribly on the freestanding questions at the end of the chapters. (Like 50% accuracy)

I don't know if I'm just not learning anything or if their questions are just too convoluted to make sense of. I didn't do great on the TPR practice test either (502, no content review).

I don't know if I should even keep using this book, or try something else. My test is 2 months away and I feel like I'm not learning anything

Thoughts?

 

[yestomeds]

Bump. I'd be interested in what people have to say too, Pusheen.

By the by, what is the TPR complete MCAT book that you're referring to? Are you referring to a new version of their old Science Workbook (this thick book), that had a lot of FSQs for all the sciences?

 

[Pusheen]

this one

 

[yestomeds]

Ooh I see. My apologies, I don't have the 2015 books just yet. So that's just a book with 4 full lengths?
Because the 2014 edition of TPR had this huge (2 inches thick almost) "Science Workbook" (SWB) of questions for the sciences.

 

[Pusheen]

ya, it has 4 full lengths plus content review (supposedly) for everything

 

[yestomeds]

Content review for everything? What about their actual books? (ex. a book for bio, a book for chem, and so on?!). I'm confused about what the above picture/book is about. :S

 

[allantois]

That big book is the same as their 2015 series, just all in one book and cheaper. You can get their FLs without buying anything, but I won't go into that 😛

 

[Dreamstoo]

You broke a 500 on a TPR FL, you're fine.

 

[Caffein3]

Has anyone been using the TPR Complete MCAT book to study? I'm working my way through the biology section, and I am doing terribly on the freestanding questions at the end of the chapters. (Like 50% accuracy)

I don't know if I'm just not learning anything or if their questions are just too convoluted to make sense of. I didn't do great on the TPR practice test either (502, no content review).

I don't know if I should even keep using this book, or try something else. My test is 2 months away and I feel like I'm not learning anything

Thoughts?

I used their book and just took the June 20th exam. I thought the book was extremely too dense on specifics that I didn't care about and didn't need refreshing on (I am still an undergrad so I'm really fresh on all the prereqs) and I found their FSQs at the end of the chapter to be terrible. Sometimes I'd get 9/10, once I got 0/10. I feel as though I did pretty well on the exam though. Don't worry about the FSQs. They really aren't helpful. I found their FLs (while a bit too specific and not very AAMC-eqsue) to be more helpful. They're practice passages were..meh. I'd recommend the AAMC practice question packs, the official guide questions, as well as the AAMC FL. Then once you run out of those passages I'd do TPR practice passages and Khan passages. Khan passages are good but the formatting throws me off and it doesn't feel very MCAT.

 

[Pusheen]

Thanks, that was helpful. I'm glad I'm not the only one bombing those FSQ's.I was a little concerned too why they wanted me to know all the prokaryotic polymerases, genes, ect. So detailed, haha.
I'm glad you felt decently prepared after using that book. 🙄 I'm using pretty much the same resources you did.

 

[StudyLater]

You broke a 500 on a TPR FL, you're fine.

Agreed.

You're making a major assumption here. You've got to do your hw: what does a TPR FL mean? Is that FL score exactly the same as what you would get on the real thing? Based on the data we have, there have been routine reports of individuals that have scored >10 point above their TPR FL's. Is that going to be the case for everyone? Not sure. Sample size is low. But it's not surprising the scores would be off, considering TPR, at the time of publication of this book, had no idea what the new MCAT would be like.

Start critically thinking about this critical thinking test, and you'll improve your chances of scoring well just by researching the right questions.

 

[Pusheen]

Agreed.

You're making a major assumption here. You've got to do your hw: what does a TPR FL mean? Is that FL score exactly the same as what you would get on the real thing? Based on the data we have, there have been routine reports of individuals that have scored >10 point above their TPR FL's. Is that going to be the case for everyone? Not sure. Sample size is low. But it's not surprising the scores would be off, considering TPR, at the time of publication of this book, had no idea what the new MCAT would be like.

Start critically thinking about this critical thinking test, and you'll improve your chances of scoring well just by researching the right questions.

No need to be condescending, I have complete confidence in my critical thinning skills. I was asking for other's experiences with this particular book, particularly the freestanding questions.

Thanks for the encouragement, if that's how you meant it🙄

 

[StudyLater]

No need to be condescending, I have complete confidence in my critical thinnng skills. I was asking for other's experiences with this particular book, particularly the freestanding questions.

I don't know anything about your critical thinning (or thinking, whichever) skills. What I said assumes you have the capacity to critically think, though - I expect you can approach your questions in a way that will help you to find the answer. I think we may not be of the same cultural background if you truly see my assumption that you can critically think as condescension - so let's just keep the discussion objective. If you research everything you're wondering about, and learn everything about the 2015 TPR materials, you'll know all the commonly available wisdom and you'll be able to immediately make a decision for yourself based on that. The amount of info you can get in a single thread like this will likely be incomplete, because there's a body of anecdotal evidence spanning over multiple threads. I summarized it for you, though - TPR FL's aren't accurate, and are usually ~10 points lower than how test takers actually scored.

I'm sitting right next to the 2.125" thick book you've described. The point of my response was to relieve your concerns. TPR is not giving you an accurate picture of how you'll do on test day. As I said, they didn't know how the new test was going to look when those FL's were written. It's likely you're in a much better position than you think, if you've actually gone through a full content review.

Thanks for the encouragement, if that's how you meant it🙄

I'll let you respond to yourself.

No need to be condescending

I sure didn't mean to be, myself. So I'm sorry if I offended you.

Most accurate practice? AAMC FL and question banks. EK FL's/Khan passages as a distant second.

 

[Pusheen]

I don't know anything about your critical thinning (or thinking, whichever) skills. What I said assumes you have the capacity to critically think, though - I expect you can approach your questions in a way that will help you to find the answer. I think we may not be of the same cultural background if you truly see my assumption that you can critically think as condescension - so let's just keep the discussion objective. If you research everything you're wondering about, and learn everything about the 2015 TPR materials, you'll know all the commonly available wisdom and you'll be able to immediately make a decision for yourself based on that. The amount of info you can get in a single thread like this will likely be incomplete, because there's a body of anecdotal evidence spanning over multiple threads. I summarized it for you, though - TPR FL's aren't accurate, and are usually ~10 points lower than how test takers actually scored.

I'm sitting right next to the 2.125" thick book you've described. The point of my response was to relieve your concerns. TPR is not giving you an accurate picture of how you'll do on test day. As I said, they didn't know how the new test was going to look when those FL's were written. It's likely you're in a much better position than you think, if you've actually gone through a full content review.



I'll let you respond to yourself.



I sure didn't mean to be, myself. So I'm sorry if I offended you.

Most accurate practice? AAMC FL and question banks. EK FL's/Khan passages as a distant second.

Thanks for your input, it does help 🙂. Sorry if I misunderstood your intent.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Just thought I'd add my 0.02

Going through TPR stuff rn. I have online access so the online passages are helpful. Should be done with all of those by next week. Then it's on to the SWB2015. Going to do as much passages from TPR and the oldswb as I can and take a test every week or so.

Took TPR Test 1 and 2 (It's from the course so idk if it's the same): scored a 497 on the first one and 496 on the second (totally could have scored 498-499 but got totally distracted in the last section)

So r u guyz telling me I'm technically looking at a 507-508 in reality? because that would be nice


All in all, I'm a lot less emotional about this test this time around. Just do all the work and as many passages as u can and you should be fine.

 

[StudyLater]

So r u guyz telling me I'm technically looking at a 507-508 in reality? because that would be nice.

axshly im tellin u th@ is wut th3 tiny amt uv d8uh we hav sez. idkmybffjill.

All in all, I'm a lot less emotional about this test this time around. Just do all the work and as many passages as u can and you should be fine.

I wish for a world in which we could all be perfectly calm on test day. But for myself, I know I'll be a tad tachycardic, at least when I first start.

 

[Dreamstoo]

Took TPR Course Length 4 FL and improved 7 points from Course Length 3 FL woohoo (just a bit under 500 still lol).

Biochem felt a lot more straight forward on this. Psych/soc felt harder and I ended up scoring higher than I have previously. C/P was odd, 1/2 of it was easy and 1/2 of it was on the hard side. CARs had two very dense passages in the end but overall, not too bad.

 

[yestomeds]

@Caffein3 Intersting, I thought that it was TBR that went into more details than one might want or care for - I didn't know TPR was in the habit of doing that too.

 

[Pusheen]

SoI recently printed out the AAMC outline for the MCAT and am using that to get the pertinent information out of the book.
It seems like like TPR doesn't really emphasize the important stuff over the unimportant. They'll have random topics that aren't on the outline right up there with really big ones.
The book is ok if you use it hand in hand with the outline. If I were doing it over, I probably would have tried something else, but it's working out alright so far

 

[libertyyne]

SoI recently printed out the AAMC outline for the MCAT and am using that to get the pertinent information out of the book.
It seems like like TPR doesn't really emphasize the important stuff over the unimportant. They'll have random topics that aren't on the outline right up there with really big ones.
The book is ok if you use it hand in hand with the outline. If I were doing it over, I probably would have tried something else, but it's working out alright so far

I haven't gotten my scores back or anything.But, I would do all of the AAMC practice packs to identify weak areas. Use Princeton to hammer those home and do FLs to build endurance and timing. I believe this is a winning strategy.

 

[Dreamstoo]

@Caffein3 Intersting, I thought that it was TBR that went into more details than one might want or care for - I didn't know TPR was in the habit of doing that too.

TBR tends to be more dense but it sometimes feels like overkill. I never really felt that way when I have read TPR Bio book. If anything all of the extra details, made certain topics a lot easier to understand by knowing the small details. Helps a ton with physiology.

 

[yestomeds]

TBR tends to be more dense but it sometimes feels like overkill. I never really felt that way when I have read TPR Bio book. If anything all of the extra details, made certain topics a lot easier to understand by knowing the small details. Helps a ton with physiology.

So you're vouching for TBR, despite (or rather, especially because of) their details.
I see.

What I quoted was someone saying TPR was overkill (too many details).

SO IS DETAILS GOOD OR NOT. And is not TPR supposed to be less detailed than is TBR?

 

[yestomeds]

I haven't gotten my scores back or anything.But, I would do all of the AAMC practice packs to identify weak areas.

You mean the 120 Q packs?

 

[libertyyne]

You mean the 120 Q packs?

So there are a few AAMC products. 1 is the 120 pack the other is 720 pack. I would do all of them. Identify what areas need improvement.I mean it doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that doing all the questions released by the people who design the test will be beneficial to you for a plethora of reasons.

 

[StudyLater]

SoI recently printed out the AAMC outline for the MCAT and am using that to get the pertinent information out of the book. It seems like like TPR doesn't really emphasize the important stuff over the unimportant. They'll have random topics that aren't on the outline right up there with really big ones. The book is ok if you use it hand in hand with the outline. If I were doing it over, I probably would have tried something else, but it's working out alright so far

The AAMC outline is awesome, but you've gotta beware - I remember saying this somewhere but I'm not sure if it was in that recent thread you made, so forgive me if this is repetition. The outline is generally indicating the larger concepts you need to know, but it's really important that we know as much as we can about each of those concepts. It's up to your judgment what a detail is, but please stay cautious. There might be subtopics within a concept that you need to know, and that requirement for the knowledge of that subtopic is implicated by the inclusion of the more general topic in the outline. So just beware. Something might not be on the outline, but if it falls under the umbrella of a concept that is on the outline, I think it's safe for us to assume it's fair game. Hopefully our respective intuitions are not too far off when we think of something as being "unimportant" for the exam.

I haven't gotten my scores back or anything.But, I would do all of the AAMC practice packs to identify weak areas. Use Princeton to hammer those home and do FLs to build endurance and timing. I believe this is a winning strategy.

Anyone not doing the AAMC packs is really missing out on hundreds of accurately helpful questions to prepare for the exam, so hopefully no one makes the mistake of completely ignoring those materials.

SO IS DETAILS GOOD OR NOT. And is not TPR supposed to be less detailed than is TBR?

Why wouldn't they be? I mean, assuming you're fine with learning what you need to learn, what's the problem with details?

They're both quite detailed, but I'd say so is Kaplan. Basically everyone is pretty detailed except EK. In terms of time spent, 700pgs of material vs. 1200 pgs of material isn't going to make a massive difference if you're getting through like 30-50pgs of material per day (including outlining); the bulk of your study time will (should) be practice anyway. The key is to just power through. Pay careful attention to the reviews on each subject for the respective prep companies.