132 psych score, 518 total. Study methods, review of materials. AMA

[comet2sixty]

Scored a 132 on Psych Social, took AP psychology over 10 years ago LUL. AMA

518: C/P 129, CARS 129, BIO 128, psych 132

Let me start off by saying this was a retake. My first score was a 511 with a 128 in c/p, 127 in CARS, 129 in Bio, and 127 in psych. My priority in my retake was my psych score. I did not study bio at all really, other than quick content review and my normal practice.

I will review the content review I did for psych, but I want to start by saying is that even with this extensive content review, I still plateaued around 127-128. The singular most important factor in improving any part of your score is practice. 5 weeks out from my exam I practiced at least 1 full length a week, and the equivalent of one section every day with 2 days off. The review process is critical in improving the score. I made a spread sheet of every single question and would determine exactly why each individual answer choice was wrong.

Actively reading the passage is critical. Realize that often, psych is most similar to CARS and a lot of the strategies overlap. When you read a passage its important to use keywords to prime yourself. For example, if the passage says “motivation” highlight that and quickly recall some theories of motivation. When you move on to the next sentence, you will see how your prediction here is matching with the new information in the passage. Beyond this, it is crucial to actively pick some things out such as is this study empirical vs observational, what are the dependent vs independent variables, are there controls… etc. I absolutely think this is necessary, and is higher yield than cramming content

That being said, content is important up until a certain point, so I will review how I prepared for that here. In my initial prep, I went through the outlines that the AAMC provided, tried to make myself as familiar as possible with what the AAMC actually expect you to know. I then bought the Kaplan book, the Princeton review book, and downloaded the KA document. I am going to say right off the bat that KA and Princeton have more random information that is not going to help you. KA is so disorganized, repetitive, and sometimes wrong/ over the top. Your practice is going to give more functional use of these details anyway. Go with Kaplan, make an anki deck, and move on to practice as quick as you can.

Start practicing with U (earth or whatever). I did not use this for any other subject, but the explanation and graphics for psych are incredible. Finish up these passages before moving on to full length sections. I used Kaplan for my full lengths. It was the 16 or whatever test package which includes AAMC stuff. I used the AAMC material last. This included the section bank and flash cards. My first score was a 124 and slowly went up to 127 then plateaued again. That’s when I really zeroed in on how to pick apart the passages like I described above. form then I started hitting 130-131 It was a long road but I truly believe in this method

Last thought. I practiced as if I was going to take the standard 7+ hour full length. When it came time to take the shortened version on test day, I feel like I was flying through it and did not have any problem adjusting my time. I also recommend doing it like this, but the option is always yours.

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[chemistry hahgdgjjhdf]

Scored a 132 on Psych Social, took AP psychology over 10 years ago LUL. AMA

518: C/P 129, CARS 129, BIO 128, psych 132

Let me start off by saying this was a retake. My first score was a 511 with a 128 in c/p, 127 in CARS, 129 in Bio, and 127 in psych. My priority in my retake was my psych score. I did not study bio at all really, other than quick content review and my normal practice.

I will review the content review I did for psych, but I want to start by saying is that even with this extensive content review, I still plateaued around 127-128. The singular most important factor in improving any part of your score is practice. 5 weeks out from my exam I practiced at least 1 full length a week, and the equivalent of one section every day with 2 days off. The review process is critical in improving the score. I made a spread sheet of every single question and would determine exactly why each individual answer choice was wrong.

Actively reading the passage is critical. Realize that often, psych is most similar to CARS and a lot of the strategies overlap. When you read a passage its important to use keywords to prime yourself. For example, if the passage says “motivation” highlight that and quickly recall some theories of motivation. When you move on to the next sentence, you will see how your prediction here is matching with the new information in the passage. Beyond this, it is crucial to actively pick some things out such as is this study empirical vs observational, what are the dependent vs independent variables, are there controls… etc. I absolutely think this is necessary, and is higher yield than cramming content

That being said, content is important up until a certain point, so I will review how I prepared for that here. In my initial prep, I went through the outlines that the AAMC provided, tried to make myself as familiar as possible with what the AAMC actually expect you to know. I then bought the Kaplan book, the Princeton review book, and downloaded the KA document. I am going to say right off the bat that KA and Princeton have more random information that is not going to help you. KA is so disorganized, repetitive, and sometimes wrong/ over the top. Your practice is going to give more functional use of these details anyway. Go with Kaplan, make an anki deck, and move on to practice as quick as you can.

Start practicing with U (earth or whatever). I did not use this for any other subject, but the explanation and graphics for psych are incredible. Finish up these passages before moving on to full length sections. I used Kaplan for my full lengths. It was the 16 or whatever test package which includes AAMC stuff. I used the AAMC material last. This included the section bank and flash cards. My first score was a 124 and slowly went up to 127 then plateaued again. That’s when I really zeroed in on how to pick apart the passages like I described above. form then I started hitting 130-131 It was a long road but I truly believe in this method

Last thought. I practiced as if I was going to take the standard 7+ hour full length. When it came time to take the shortened version on test day, I feel like I was flying through it and did not have any problem adjusting my time. I also recommend doing it like this, but the option is always yours.

What did you find helped you with the C/P section? Did you feel that the timing was the same as the full length exams?

 

[whiteclaww]

I am not capable of passing that 130. I scored a 129 on FL4. What can i do in the last few days to get that 130 or maybe a 131??

It's usually the logic questions that i mess up on because of... fatigue.

 

[comet2sixty]

What did you find helped you with the C/P section? Did you feel that the timing was the same as the full length exams?

Timing was not an issue, except with CARS. its the only section you have a little bit less time than a standard full length. You can time your self to practice this. In terms of C/P the biggest thing is not freaking out when you are reading the passage. Some of them are very intimidating, and the questions they end up asking are not that complicated and super repetitive. Again im not a huge believer in memorizing "content" in the prep books. Instead I commited my self to doing the AAMC practice sections for chemistry, physics, and orgo each. I mastered those beofore moving to the section bank, then did the same for those, and so on and so forth. To me the highest yield was seperation techniques in orgo, nomenclature, and solutions / eq in chemistry. they also always ask some questions on electro chem and thermo. But the problems tend to repeat themselves, so comit those problems memory and you will get more points. Physics trips people up a lot. It is important, but remember there are few physics exclusive passages and it makes up a very small percentage of the total points in the test. There are some high yield topics too like fluids that I would put more time into, and conceptual things in electronics like resistors. Again, I would focus on practicing your weakest sections in the AAMC prep until they are your strongest, and keep repeating that process.

 

[chemistry hahgdgjjhdf]

Timing was not an issue, except with CARS. its the only section you have a little bit less time than a standard full length. You can time your self to practice this. In terms of C/P the biggest thing is not freaking out when you are reading the passage. Some of them are very intimidating, and the questions they end up asking are not that complicated and super repetitive. Again im not a huge believer in memorizing "content" in the prep books. Instead I commited my self to doing the AAMC practice sections for chemistry, physics, and orgo each. I mastered those beofore moving to the section bank, then did the same for those, and so on and so forth. To me the highest yield was seperation techniques in orgo, nomenclature, and solutions / eq in chemistry. they also always ask some questions on electro chem and thermo. But the problems tend to repeat themselves, so comit those problems memory and you will get more points. Physics trips people up a lot. It is important, but remember there are few physics exclusive passages and it makes up a very small percentage of the total points in the test. There are some high yield topics too like fluids that I would put more time into, and conceptual things in electronics like resistors. Again, I would focus on practicing your weakest sections in the AAMC prep until they are your strongest, and keep repeating that process.

Would you say there was more math physics questions or conceptual ones?

 

[comet2sixty]

I am not capable of passing that 130. I scored a 129 on FL4. What can i do in the last few days to get that 130 or maybe a 131??

It's usually the logic questions that i mess up on because of... fatigue.

First thing you gotta do is relax. 129 on FL 4 is awesome. Great job man you are killing it, for real. How many days do you have left before the exam? I dont want to give you a list of things to do and stress you out if its too soon. But I can definitely give some tips. If you are going to review, I think reviewing chapter summary's at the end of the kaplan books are good. I stopped going into the chapters directly tho the closer I got to test. THis is especially true for you too if you are hitting a 129. Obviously you do not have any content gaps

I think the highest yield prep you can do if you have finished all 4 AAMC full lengths is to make sure you understand 100% why you got each problem wrong. Really try to identify what makes wrong answers wrong. Write down an explanation for each answer choice if you have too. Another thing I liked to do that I forgot to mention is to try to come up with examples for each term that I can compare answer choices too. If you struggle to find one, there is probably an answer choice in the full lengths that you can steal.

Hope this helps I did get a 131 on FL 3, but only a 129 on FL 4 too so you got this man. Believe in your self.

 

[comet2sixty]

Would you say there was more math physics questions or conceptual ones?

I always flag the calculations based questions, because i was having a bad habit of getting them wrong for dumb reasons like not writing them out or missing by factor of 10. So i can answer this really well because I kept track of the calculation heavy questions. There were about 10-12 if I remember right(that is for sure at the very most), and it was nothing that I felt blown away by. Mostly dimensional analysis stuff or other things common in the section bank. Section bank is huge for C/P.

 

[chemistry hahgdgjjhdf]

I always flag the calculations based questions, because i was having a bad habit of getting them wrong for dumb reasons like not writing them out or missing by factor of 10. So i can answer this really well because I kept track of the calculation heavy questions. There were about 10-12 if I remember right(that is for sure at the very most), and it was nothing that I felt blown away by. Mostly dimensional analysis stuff or other things common in the section bank. Section bank is huge for C/P.

Sorry for all the questions. I’m not too worried about the Orgo questions, but did you see any on the more complex reactions like Robinson annualation and strecker synthesis?

I have been going crazy on remembering the separations and purifications but I was wondering if I should spend my last few days going over the more complex Orgo reactions

 

[whiteclaww]

First thing you gotta do is relax. 129 on FL 4 is awesome. Great job man you are killing it, for real. How many days do you have left before the exam? I dont want to give you a list of things to do and stress you out if its too soon. But I can definitely give some tips. If you are going to review, I think reviewing chapter summary's at the end of the kaplan books are good. I stopped going into the chapters directly tho the closer I got to test. THis is especially true for you too if you are hitting a 129. Obviously you do not have any content gaps

I think the highest yield prep you can do if you have finished all 4 AAMC full lengths is to make sure you understand 100% why you got each problem wrong. Really try to identify what makes wrong answers wrong. Write down an explanation for each answer choice if you have too. Another thing I liked to do that I forgot to mention is to try to come up with examples for each term that I can compare answer choices too. If you struggle to find one, there is probably an answer choice in the full lengths that you can steal.

Hope this helps I did get a 131 on FL 3, but only a 129 on FL 4 too so you got this man. Believe in your self.

Thank you so much. I actually thought about looking at all the FL's. But it's good to see some confirmation! It's also so great to see someone who is telling me that FL4 P/S was hard. Because I thought it was really hard but everyone around me told me the opposite.

Yes. You are right. I have to relax because I am testing in 4 days now. I will just review and try to align myself with their logic!!!

Thank you. I will finish it off well!!

 

[chemistry hahgdgjjhdf]

Thank you so much. I actually thought about looking at all the FL's. But it's good to see some confirmation! It's also so great to see someone who is telling me that FL4 P/S was hard. Because I thought it was really hard but everyone around me told me the opposite.

Yes. You are right. I have to relax because I am testing in 4 days now. I will just review and try to align myself with their logic!!!

Thank you. I will finish it off well!!

Hey, we are testing the same day!!

 

[comet2sixty]

Sorry for all the questions. I’m not too worried about the Orgo questions, but did you see any on the more complex reactions like Robinson annualation and strecker synthesis?

I have been going crazy on remembering the separations and purifications but I was wondering if I should spend my last few days going over the more complex Orgo reactions

the only think I had memorized about strecker was the general look of it and the difference between gabriel. I dont even remember what robinson annulation is lol. I think the most complex is usually aldol condensations, elimination and sn1, sn2, basic what is the nucleoophile what is the electrophile stuff. DO NOT stress yourself with complex orgo reactions. they will throw 2-3 mechanisms MAYBE on the exam and its a trap to sit there and try to remember what electrons go where in each step. when you look at the questions its always asking some basic concept like what is the nucleophile or " how many chiral carbons are in molecule 1" I think people get intimidated when they see a mechanism on the test, but just keep calm, trust your self, and focus on the questions they are asking you.

 

[comet2sixty]

good luck you guys, you got this!