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Maneuver

Maneuver

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Hi All!!!

I will be taking the MCAT in 6 weeks and 2 days and will start serious prep today. This thread will serve as a log of my progress, somewhat like the logs posted on fitness and bodybuilding forums. In this way, I hope to keep myself focused [and perhaps draw encouragement from the community]. Also, posting my study routine might be useful to others looking to prepare under the same adverse (read as: time limited) conditions. Having been inspired by a number of colleagues who had prepped for the MCAT in only a month (and after reading a post about someone who had achieved a 42 in 3 weeks) I believe that preparing for the MCAT under strict time constraints is possible. I am a full time student and will be juggling MCAT prep and school.

About Me:
I am a premed/biology major at a lower tier undergraduate school in California. I have a publication (first listed author) in a low impact factor journal. My GPA is 3.94 cumulative and 3.90 science. I will be applying this coming cycle.

Goal:
38+ and R+

Starting Score:

April 12, 2010 - AAMC #3: 36 (PS - 12, VR - 12, BS - 12)

Routine: (I'm still working on this and anticipate my strategy will change as I progress)

Physics: Kaplan Content Review Chapters 9-12; Kaplan Topical Exams (all); EK1001

  • I chose Kaplan over TPR as it seems like the materials are shorter.
General Chemistry: EK1001

Verbal: EK101

Organic Chemistry: Kaplan Content Review (All), EK1001

Biology: none
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Maneuver said:
Hi All!!!

I will be taking the MCAT in 6 weeks and 2 days and will start serious prep today. This thread will serve as a log of my progress, somewhat like the logs posted on fitness and bodybuilding forums. In this way, I hope to keep myself focused [and perhaps draw encouragement from the community]. Also, posting my study routine might be useful to others looking to prepare under the same adverse (read as: time limited) conditions. Having been inspired by a number of colleagues who had prepped for the MCAT in only a month (and after reading a post about someone who had achieved a 42 in 3 weeks) I believe that preparing for the MCAT under strict time constraints is possible. I am a full time student and will be juggling MCAT prep and school.

About Me:
I am a premed/biology major at a lower tier undergraduate school in California. I have a publication (first listed author) in a low impact factor journal. My GPA is 3.94 cumulative and 3.90 science. I will be applying this coming cycle.

Goal:
38+ and R+

Starting Score:

April 12, 2010 - AAMC #3: 36 (PS - 12, VR - 12, BS - 12)

Routine: (I'm still working on this and anticipate my strategy will change as I progress)

Physics: Kaplan Content Review Chapters 9-12; Kaplan Topical Exams (all); EK1001

  • I chose Kaplan over TPR as it seems like the materials are shorter.
General Chemistry: EK1001

Verbal: EK101

Organic Chemistry: Kaplan Content Review (All), EK1001

Biology: none
Click to expand...
WTF... starting score 36?

For me:
Kaplan diag: 22
Kaplan full length 1: 25
Kaplan full length 2: 30
 
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Yes, there are people that score well (35+) without any prep. Those are the people that can probably take a shortened MCAT schedule. For everyone else, they'd end up with a poor MCAT score.
 
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ElliottB said:
Any insight on your routine now that it's been a couple of weeks?
Click to expand...

Goal:
40+ and R+

Starting Score:

April 12, 2010 - AAMC #3: 36 (PS - 12, VR - 12, BS - 12)

Routine: 3 Phases

PHASE I: CONTENT REVIEW

Physics: Kaplan Content Review (selected chapters); EK1001-All
General Chemistry: Kaplan Content Review (selected chapters); EK1001-All
Verbal: EK101
Organic Chemistry: EK content review-all, EK1001-all
Biology: EK content review

Post-Content Review Diagnostic: AAMC 6

PHASE II: PASSAGE PRACTICE (Starts May 4th) - 14 days

Physics/GChem/Orgo/Bio: The Berkeley Review
Verbal: EK101

PHASE III: FULL LENGTH PRACTICE (Starts May 20th): 6 days
- AAMC 4
- AAMC 5
- AAMC 7
- AAMC 8
- AAMC 9
 
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Maneuver said:
Thought I'd mention

School + MCAT = Exhaustion

But I will finish my prep in time
Click to expand...

I assume you won't be doing all of TBR passages because there's no way to do them all in 14 days while attending school. You will do well. I would think that if you do all of EK 1001 then I would do the later passages in TBR books as those are the most MCAT like. Good luck.
 
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PhilIvey said:
I assume you won't be doing all of TBR passages because there's no way to do them all in 14 days while attending school. You will do well. I would think that if you do all of EK 1001 then I would do the later passages in TBR books as those are the most MCAT like. Good luck.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the encouragement and advice!
 
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Maneuver said:
Thanks for the encouragement and advice!
Click to expand...

No prob. I love seeing kids aim high. That 42 was by Fenguin. I also modeled my method after him. I will find out if it worked later today. I really suggest just doing AAMC tests. You must learn their weird logic. This is most pertinent in BS. I did 400 questions in EK 1001 physics and just referred to TBR after that. EK 1001 will test you on the nuances and TBR will get you to make inferences based on the passage like the real deal. What date are you planning on? May 27 or June 17. I know you said 6 weeks but I wasn't aware when you started.
 
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PhilIvey said:
No prob. I love seeing kids aim high. That 42 was by Fenguin. I also modeled my method after him. I will find out if it worked later today. I really suggest just doing AAMC tests. You must learn their weird logic. This is most pertinent in BS. I did 400 questions in EK 1001 physics and just referred to TBR after that. EK 1001 will test you on the nuances and TBR will get you to make inferences based on the passage like the real deal. What date are you planning on? May 27 or June 17. I know you said 6 weeks but I wasn't aware when you started.
Click to expand...

I'm taking it May 27.

Oh and good luck, let us know how you fared
 
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Thanks Maneuver, let us know how it goes. I'm working on a similar routine and will be knocking out the majority of the EK 1001 books.
 
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Lately I've found that it's important to take breaks from the material.

Going to take the rest of today off......





:love:
 
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Update:

May 16 - AAMC #4: 36 (PS - 13, VR - 11, BS - 12)
May 18 - AAMC #5: 38 (PS - 13, VR - 12, BS - 13)
May 20 - AAMC #6: 37 (PS - 13, VR - 11, BS - 13)
May 21 - AAMC #7: 38 (PS - 13, VR - 10, BS - 15)
May 22 - AAMC #8: 39 (PS - 14, VR - 12, BS - 13)

Not going to do any more content reviews. Im still make silly mistakes here and there... we'll see how things go in a week
 
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Those are some nice scores. Someone else is going to ask but I guess I'll beat them to it. Any verbal advice? Or rather what is your strategy? Thanks.
 
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I didn't make a thread; however, like you I am also working with a shortened MCAT schedule. I started studying on April 25th after getting out of classes and my MCAT is also on May 27th. So I am working with approximately six and a half weeks.

My diagnostic was a 32. On average, I am scoring a point lower than you on the AAMC FLs.

Well, good luck to us!
 
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ACSheldor said:
Those are some nice scores. Someone else is going to ask but I guess I'll beat them to it. Any verbal advice? Or rather what is your strategy? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Lol I don't know how helpful my Verbal strategy is but here it is:

1. Read the passage without any of the distracting internal dialoguing that Kaplan/most other prep Companies recommend. Also no written passage mapping. [instead of constantly asking myself what is the author's point blah blah blah I just read like I would normally read for a Social Sciences or humanities course]
2. As I read I get an intuitive sense for what the point is, occasionally I'll jump back a few lines if I feel I missed something that is key.
3. Answer the questions based purely on intuition, except the ones that require me to refer to the passage and those that are detail.

I'm missing about 1 question every passage doing things this way which is an improvement over my performance in EK101 where I was using Kaplans passage mapping. Use whatever works for you
 
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futuredoctor328 said:
That is cool beans but how many hours do you study a day though and do you rotate a subject a day, or you study two subjects a day
Click to expand...

Hours? Depends on the subject material. But if I had to guess probably 4-7 hrs. More on the weekends probably ~8-12

Rotated everything except bio. I ended up realizing that my Bio needed some work so I burned through EK bio in 2 days taking notes only on stuff that I didn't know.
 
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This was terribly anti-climatic... I want to know what he finally scored! (even if it was a year ago!)
 
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Based on the practice scores, I'd say OP got at least a 35+

But I guess we'll never know.
 
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paul411 said:
Based on the practice scores, I'd say OP got at least a 35+

But I guess we'll never know.
Click to expand...

This story had a lame ending - but I'm thinking it might have been trolling. He never posted anything on the day he was "taking the MCAT." Who knows.
 
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plsfoldthx said:
WTF... starting score 36?

For me:
Kaplan diag: 22
Kaplan full length 1: 25
Kaplan full length 2: 30
Click to expand...
:eek: Wow, those are the the exact same scores I got!

Kaplan Diag: 22
FL 1: 25
FL 2: 30

Just thought it was a funny coincidence. Were you able to get up to your target score for the real thing? I want to know if I have a shot at getting a 30 or 31 on the real MCAT.
 
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