Learning from TBR explanations

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Pose

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I just started the SN2ed schedule for a late April MCAT, and have only finished physics chapter 1 so far.

I have not taken physics for quite a while, but while reading the chapter yesterday the fundamental concepts were pretty clear. This did not translate into doing well on the passages. For one, if I do the problems out using kinematics equations it would take me like fifteen minutes per passage. It also seems that aside from a few tricks (these turbo solutions), the chapter didn't necessarily prepare me too well for the passages. This may have been the point.

Upon reviewing my answers I noticed the explanations give you entirely new ways to solve the problems. Equations that may be derivations from the kinematics equations, but that are much easier to manage. For instance in Ch.1, Practice Exam 1, Passage 1, I could not keep my time down below 15 minutes, and got several questions wrong while trying to manipulate equations. In the explanations, they gave the equation t= sqrt(2h/g). With this (and knowledge of R = v*t), I could have gotten nearly every question right and finished well on time. But this wasn't laid out so clearly in the chapter.

Is this (i.e. the explanations) where the actual learning happens for most people? If so, it concerns me that I'll have to waste so many practice passages in the beginning just to get to and learn from the explanations. Or should I expect that everything begins to balance out, and I'll progressively do better on passages as I pick up these tips and equations from the explanations?

Thanks

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In the beginning a lot of learning comes from making mistakes. Physics gets easier as you keep going and remembering the fundamentals.
 
I just started the SN2ed schedule for a late April MCAT, and have only finished physics chapter 1 so far.

I have not taken physics for quite a while, but while reading the chapter yesterday the fundamental concepts were pretty clear. This did not translate into doing well on the passages. For one, if I do the problems out using kinematics equations it would take me like fifteen minutes per passage. It also seems that aside from a few tricks (these turbo solutions), the chapter didn't necessarily prepare me too well for the passages. This may have been the point.

Upon reviewing my answers I noticed the explanations give you entirely new ways to solve the problems. Equations that may be derivations from the kinematics equations, but that are much easier to manage. For instance in Ch.1, Practice Exam 1, Passage 1, I could not keep my time down below 15 minutes, and got several questions wrong while trying to manipulate equations. In the explanations, they gave the equation t= sqrt(2h/g). With this (and knowledge of R = v*t), I could have gotten nearly every question right and finished well on time. But this wasn't laid out so clearly in the chapter.

Is this (i.e. the explanations) where the actual learning happens for most people? If so, it concerns me that I'll have to waste so many practice passages in the beginning just to get to and learn from the explanations. Or should I expect that everything begins to balance out, and I'll progressively do better on passages as I pick up these tips and equations from the explanations?

Thanks

This is a very common complaint of BR. I wont get into if this is good/bad but it is normal to get frustrated by this. Most learning is done during the reviews.

There is a huge thread on BR scores here: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=622658

This thread was very helpful when i started SN2 sched.
 
It will balance out! A lot of the MCAT is using the fundamental concepts you learn in the chapter in new and novel ways when you actually see the passage. If they do introduce a new formula in the explanation, it's most likely a way to illustrate a relationship between two variables, and this relationship is what should be crucial to your understanding-not necessarily the formula itself. Stick with it, make mistakes, and review them thoroughly. SN2's plan is so excellently spaced because it gives you multiple passes through the passages, such that by the third pass you should have picked up on anything more that you needed from the explanations the first and second time through.
 
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TBR is not going to teach you concepts that you should have already learned. It is there to build on those things, be a refresher and present test-taking tips that will allow you to be successful on the MCAT. I have a degree in Engineering, so my first reaction to physics is to work everything out longhand. I can get the right answer every single time, but this is not useful on the MCAT.

You are bound by time, and no calculator. TBR is excellent at teaching you how to use approximations to help speed up calculations, as well as present new ways to do tedious things in a fraction of the time. You aren't learning physics here, you are learning to beat the MCAT!

The most important thing on MCAT is applying concepts, so if you can keep that in your mind then it will make more sense, why TBR tells you to do things the way they do.
 
Yeah, one of the problems with TBR is that the passage reviews aren't just answer explanations, they're a continuation of the chapter. There's some important stuff you can miss if you don't do all of the passages.

That said, the problem you described with manipulated formulas isn't really an example of that. In physics you have to be able to manipulate formulas as needed, and sometimes combine two related formulas into one. This happens on the MCAT too. There were a few problems I encountered while doing the AAMC materials, for example, that required you to do some pretty serious feats with the formulas before you could arrive at the right answer. If you try to memorize all those special forms of equations you'll never be able to do it. Just learn the basic forms (of which there are already well over a hundred you need to know), understand how the variables all relate to one another in each formula, know how the formulas relate to each other, and you should be fine.
 
Honestly, and this may not work for everyone, I haven't been reading the BR chapters (time issues), or even the TPR chapters though I'm taking the class. I'm doing most of my learning through taking passages and FSQs and then reviewing and learning while reviewing.

C
 
Yeah, one of the problems with TBR is that the passage reviews aren't just answer explanations, they're a continuation of the chapter. There's some important stuff you can miss if you don't do all of the passages.

What you describe as a problem I think is what makes the books so great. When most people read a chapter, it's passive review. They are absorbing more than thinking. But after taking a passage and going over questions they just did, it's very active and that's where the best learning happens. The explanations often show mutliple ways to solve a question or a trick that will help in the future. It's the perfect place to learn a trick, because you've just done the question and know how it applies.

That said, the problem you described with manipulated formulas isn't really an example of that. In physics you have to be able to manipulate formulas as needed, and sometimes combine two related formulas into one. This happens on the MCAT too. There were a few problems I encountered while doing the AAMC materials, for example, that required you to do some pretty serious feats with the formulas before you could arrive at the right answer. If you try to memorize all those special forms of equations you'll never be able to do it. Just learn the basic forms (of which there are already well over a hundred you need to know), understand how the variables all relate to one another in each formula, know how the formulas relate to each other, and you should be fine.

This is great advice. Knowing how to manipulate and conceptualize formulas is what matters; not memorizing them.
 
I also realized that some of the questions I would get wrong would be because of information I did not learn from the content of the respective chapter. With that said, would I be 100% complete in learning the chapter after learning from the answer explanations? Or are there other new info I am missing that BR has up their sleeves for me to learn from their CBTs?

Thanks
 
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