131 & 132 BB scorers : how in-depth did you know everything?

[lacrossegirl420]

Question in title

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[deleted1063208]

I knew the common topics extremely thoroughly. I had every metabolic pathway memorized including PPP and the Urea Cycle. All lab techniques, dihybrid crosses, nephron anatomy, etc.

There were still random questions on my exam from content I had never seen before lol. That was my experience anyway. idk if that's helpful.

 

[Blueprint Med School]

I agree with everything the poster above said, but I'll also add that what really helped me was having a lot of experience with research and more importantly, reading research papers. Most of the passages in B/B come from or are adapted from published journal articles, so being familiar with scientific methods and the different types of charts/tables used made understanding passages a lot easier.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[fliflopmaestro]

Definitely knew almost all basic science topics covered in MCAT. But the biggest part was reading and understanding the passages and data. Apart from the passages which like the poster above me said were journal articles, I don't think there were any questions I hadn't seen before.

 

[Dochopeful13]

I agree with everything the poster above said, but I'll also add that what really helped me was having a lot of experience with research and more importantly, reading research papers. Most of the passages in B/B come from or are adapted from published journal articles, so being familiar with scientific methods and the different types of charts/tables used made understanding passages a lot easier.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

Do you think a research methods class would be helpful?

 

[Blueprint Med School]

Do you think a research methods class would be helpful?

It might be marginally helpful, but I would only recommend it if you know you'll be able to do well. Getting better at reading papers is just something you improve at over time.

 

[deleted859689]

Took SMP biochem. They taught pathways that I saw were on the MCAT. Even though you could reason, i was just knew the answer cold.

 

[MyOdyssey]

Took SMP biochem. They taught pathways that I saw were on the MCAT. Even though you could reason, i was just knew the answer cold.

What types of pathways were they? Especially arcane ones? Or ones that a biochem I class might teach you but that you wouldn't think to commit to memory?

 

[deleted859689]

What types of pathways were they? Especially arcane ones? Or ones that a biochem I class might teach you but that you wouldn't think to commit to memory?

p21 pathway and another cell death pathway that I already forgot.

 

[DrOngoGablogian]

I agree with everything the poster above said, but I'll also add that what really helped me was having a lot of experience with research and more importantly, reading research papers. Most of the passages in B/B come from or are adapted from published journal articles, so being familiar with scientific methods and the different types of charts/tables used made understanding passages a lot easier.

Kevin W, MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

This is the best advice you’re gonna get IMO. If you can efficiently get through the passages and understand the data you’re going to be able to answer just about every question with only minimal knowledge necessary. If the passages are a struggle to get through (like they were for me), you’re going to be limited no matter how strong your knowledge base is.

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

Have only done Altius at this point, so take this with a dump truck full of a salt, but what has helped me reach 130+, especially as non chem/bio/biochem major has been mapping out pipelines for every passage. Fully understanding the passage isn't important, and neither are the fine details if you can clearly note that X -> Y which decreases Z. Imho the biggest mistake with B/B is spending too much time on content, when at most it should be 1/3 of the time you study for the test, and even at that point substituted by uworld, or other forms of active recall and practice. Anki helps, but it too is still passive learning.

 

[MyOdyssey]

Have only done Altius at this point, so take this with a dump truck full of a salt, but what has helped me reach 130+, especially as non chem/bio/biochem major has been mapping out pipelines for every passage. Fully understanding the passage isn't important, and neither are the fine details if you can clearly note that X -> Y which decreases Z. Imho the biggest mistake with B/B is spending too much time on content, when at most it should be 1/3 of the time you study for the test, and even at that point substituted by uworld, or other forms of active recall and practice. Anki helps, but it too is still passive learning.

You’ve already received your score?

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

You’ve already received your score?

Nope. Just speaking from how I've improved on 3rd parties, hence the disclaimer.

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

Great advice in this thread so far. I knew lab techniques inside and out from studying. My research lab has 'journal club' where we are responsible for reading one article each week and reporting to the group about it. It got me exposed to more research articles and concepts than classes or studying ever id. That was a huge help. I put hella hours into kidneys, heart, and immuno before my exam and I'm glad I did. I think for B/B you need to have your basics down cold so you can apply them in places you haven't seen them before. I also think pounding TBR passages paid dividends in that they asked questions that were sometimes scarcely related to the passage, something my MCAT did on every passage.

 

[itsmeskidsy]

Question in title

Very well. Low yield info is the difference between a 129 and a 131

 

[Don21juan]

Most important to understand is u can get like 3-5 wrong and still get a 130 depending on the section and the difference between the range 129 and 130 is 1 questions. That involves significant luck and just how confident and in the zone u are. Best way to increase ur chances of getting that last question right is by really knowing most of the easy random low yield stuff so that ur only getting the hardest questions wrong. That way u can spend time and logic ur way thru it when u need to. Also being quicker at digesting the passage to the necessary extent is key by being comfortable w scientific literature like others have said is huge

 

[MedicPA]

Have only done Altius at this point, so take this with a dump truck full of a salt, but what has helped me reach 130+, especially as non chem/bio/biochem major has been mapping out pipelines for every passage. Fully understanding the passage isn't important, and neither are the fine details if you can clearly note that X -> Y which decreases Z. Imho the biggest mistake with B/B is spending too much time on content, when at most it should be 1/3 of the time you study for the test, and even at that point substituted by uworld, or other forms of active recall and practice. Anki helps, but it too is still passive learning.

Can you explain what you mean by mapping out pipelines for every passage. I'm the type that will get hung up on trying to learn the content so if there is a better method to the madness, ill definitely take it

 

[Shunsui]

Can you explain what you mean by mapping out pipelines for every passage. I'm the type that will get hung up on trying to learn the content so if there is a better method to the madness, ill definitely take it

I believe he/she means something along the lines of a flowchart. Something simple would be passage info like:

"Ligand X binds to GPCR 9cfr which activates enzyme K4. Enzyme K4 then phosphorylates transcription factor CREB. However, a structurally similar analog to ligand X, ligand Y, can bind in place of ligand X and inactivate the functional pathway."

writing a simple flowchart while reading through like:
* functional = X -> 9cfr -> K4 -> CREB
* nonfunct. = Y -> 9cfr (inactivate)

this can really help lay the foundations of what's going on in the passage when they start to get really convoluted with all the shorthand names, alternative pathways, etc. It's very effective condense all the clutter down to the simplest form. Consider it a small investment with a big payout
You should get to a point where you can map this out in your head fairly easily, but some passages will be more dense and i'll write something like this out

 

[MedicPA]

I believe he/she means something along the lines of a flowchart. Something simple would be passage info like:

"Ligand X binds to GPCR 9cfr which activates enzyme K4. Enzyme K4 then phosphorylates transcription factor CREB. However, a structurally similar analog to ligand X, ligand Y, can bind in place of ligand X and inactivate the functional pathway."

writing a simple flowchart while reading through like:
* functional = X -> 9cfr -> K4 -> CREB
* nonfunct. = Y -> 9cfr (inactivate)

this can really help lay the foundations of what's going on in the passage when they start to get really convoluted with all the shorthand names, alternative pathways, etc. It's very effective condense all the clutter down to the simplest form. Consider it a small investment with a big payout
You should get to a point where you can map this out in your head fairly easily, but some passages will be more dense and i'll write something like this out

Thank you, that was very insightful.

 

[MyOdyssey]

I wanted to revive this thread to ask whether any recent 131/132 scorers on the B/B section of the MCAT have any tips/suggestions on preparation or insights into how AAMC has made the section more difficult in recent MCAT test administrations.

Thanks!

 

[deleted1114112]

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[MyOdyssey]

I retook the exam and had a 10 point swing into 524+ from a mid 5teens score. I went from 128 to 132 on B/B. All I can tell you is don't put the stress on yourself of getting 131/132 on any section in FLs or third parties because it's 95% luck. You can't study for it. 2-4 questions can be the difference between 130 and 132. Just pray to whatever deity you believe in and hopefully the questions that are actually difficult/serve to stratify the 516+'s are ones that you know.

What did you do to prepare in between the 2x you took the exam?

 

[deleted1114112]

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[MyOdyssey]

From an earlier post you made last Wednesday - post #4 on this thread :

NYU’s med school students are robots?

I checked the average GPA for students admitted to NYU’s med school; it’s 3.92 The average MCAT is 522 How does one compete with these people?

forums.studentdoctor.net

Did you get an interview with NYU with a sub-516 score this cycle (see first post from a different thread) or did you improve by 10 points on the MCAT to 524+ after doing nothing more than partying for a few weeks in Italy (posts #2 and #3)?

I'm asking a serious question. Trolling my question isn't very nice.

 

[deleted1114112]

From an earlier post you made last Wednesday - post #4 on this thread :

NYU’s med school students are robots?

I checked the average GPA for students admitted to NYU’s med school; it’s 3.92 The average MCAT is 522 How does one compete with these people?

forums.studentdoctor.net

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View attachment 345498View attachment 345497


Did you get an interview with NYU with a sub-516 score this cycle (see first post from a different thread) or did you improve by 10 points on the MCAT to 524+ after doing nothing more than partying for a few weeks in Italy (posts #2 and #3)?

I'm asking a serious question. Trolling my question isn't very nice.

I got a 515 with my application while applying in July, opened my score in Early August, then took it again, but got an II while waiting for my score in August (I applied without knowing my score on the basis that my FL average was 522, and I didn't want to take another gap year because I couldn't get an earlier MCAT date in NYC which was practically impossible).

I mean you can go dig deeper into my profile if you want Sherlock, lol. I also posted about retaking my score in early August (Non-trad MCAT question, retaking and ECs). Not sure why you think I would waste my time trolling on here. 99% of my comments are on school-specific threads. I actually posted about this exact scenario in the NYU thread and questioned if MCAT scores were released instantly (hence they would have seen my 525) or not.

Happy?

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

I wanted to revive this thread to ask whether any recent 131/132 scorers on the B/B section of the MCAT have any tips/suggestions on preparation or insights into how AAMC has made the section more difficult in recent MCAT test administrations.

Thanks!

Anki every detail and make sure you know it so well. I basically read kaplan more than 20 times and googled all the concepts that might have been unclear to me.

 

[MyOdyssey]

Anki every detail and make sure you know it so well.

So my understanding is that the B/B section likes to surprise with seemingly novel subject matter that can be answered either by (a) people who’ve taken advanced Biochem or (b) recognizing that certain basic principles apply.

How did you handle these?

What is the best MCAT study resource for biochemistry and for biology?

 

[srirachamayonnaise]

So my understanding is that the B/B section likes to surprise with seemingly novel subject matter that can be answered either by (a) people who’ve taken advanced Biochem or (b) recognizing that certain basic principles apply.

How did you handle these?

What is the best MCAT study resource for biochemistry and for biology?

I only used Kaplan and it turned out to be excellent and cover all the knowledge I needed. Biochem class is not really useful because it focuses too much on memorization. MCAT tests concepts. I did all the UW as well.

 

[ron_johnson]

If you're already doing well on b/b then the best way to get into 131-132 territory is just grinding anki. Don't worry about knowing obscure topics in depth, you're just trying not to get killed on the stupid gotcha questions.

 

[MyOdyssey]

If you're already doing well on b/b then the best way to get into 131-132 territory is just grinding anki. Don't worry about knowing obscure topics in depth, you're just trying not to get killed on the stupid gotcha questions.

Did you create your own Anki B/B deck or use one of the ones recommended by internet premeds?

 

[ron_johnson]

Did you create your own Anki B/B deck or use one of the ones recommended by internet premeds?

I used miledown.