trial the sept 2015 mcat ! help!

[babyelephant]

Sitting through the Sept to prepare for jan MCAT!

Since I wont be under the testing pressure, please tell me what to look out for?

How do I maximize this sit through!

- any strategies to note down whats on the mcat?

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[EverStriving]

There is a good deal of randomness in what topics you will see tested on any given MCAT. You could have a completely different test in January compared to what you saw in September, e.g. heavy physics testing in one and heavy focus on biochem in the other. The best way to use a sit-through of the MCAT is as a perfect practice test (best done after your content review is complete), and as a way to work out the logistics of test day (what to bring to eat, how to maintain focus for the full 8 hours, what the check-in process is like, etc.). Though with AAMC releasing more FL soon, I'm not sure why you would actually sign up for the test instead of just doing one of the AAMC FL under timed conditions for all the same benefits at a fraction of the cost...

 

[babyelephant]

well yeah i guess lol

am i allowed to keep the notes i use on test day?

 

[mcatjelly]

well yeah i guess lol

am i allowed to keep the notes i use on test day?

No, definitely not.

 

[Ad2b]

Is one allowed to keep the notes between sections? or over the lunch break?

 

[mcatjelly]

Is one allowed to keep the notes between sections? or over the lunch break?

Yeah, they just stay at your testing station.

 

[Ad2b]

perfect! thanks @mcatjelly !!

 

[babyelephant]

how do i make use of everything I saw at the new sept exam?

 

[El-Rami]

Don't take the MCAT as practice for the MCAT. For one, the money used for registration for the MCAT could be spent on the four EK exams ($200) and the 5 NS exams ($150). You can also buy Berkeley Review exams for $100. Just use practice material. You can get 3 Kaplan FL exams (if you have the 7-book set) along with 4 TPR FL (if you register the ISBN of the MCAT Complete book) as well.

Here's a list of things you can use along with the stuff I mentioned above:
-BR science sets + BR behavioral science (the latter comes out later in the year)
-EK 1001 (except biology, which I think sucks)
-EK 101 Verbal (great book)
-NS 108 CARS (great book)
-Princeton Review Hyperlearning Verbal Workbook
-Princeton Review Science Workbook (any year 2010 onwards should be OK)
-NS Strategy and Practice Psychology and Sociology (4 sectional tests for the P/S section along with detailed explanations; very useful since there's not much material for this section yet)
-NOVA MCAT Physics book (a lot of people seem to think it's great if they suck at physics)
-Khan Academy (useful for making sure you understand how to interpret passages and content review)
-McGraw-Hill 500 series for MCAT

All of the above materials will give you TONS of passages and discretes. In fact, you won't need even half of this for the MCAT, but it goes to show you that your money is better spent on these materials than getting owned on your first sitting of the MCAT without being ready.

Also a note about the BR books... I really love them. I am have been using their Physics and Chemistry sets recently to brush up on weaknesses in the P/C section, and I am really getting the fundamentals down in my weak areas. I had a weak grasp on electrochem (has been about 3-4 years since I took Gen Chem), but now I am good at it again.

 

[nolookpass]

There's a limit of how many times you can take this new MCAT. Anyone know how many times you can sign up? OP make sure you're clear.

 

[ChrisMack390]

This is a poor idea.

The whole point of practice tests is the ability to go through them and figure out what you got wrong and why you got it wrong.

If you take an 8 hour test just to void your score and never see the test again, you have gained nothing.

 

[DocChillWill]

There's a limit of how many times you can take this new MCAT. Anyone know how many times you can sign up? OP make sure you're clear.

Mcat can be taken 3 times in a year, 4 within two consecutive years and seven times in a life time which by that point yeah..