3rd and final try. Tips please.

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BinBio

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This first time I took the MCAT I knew I wasn't ready. I made a 22, 8/8/6. I knew biology would be my weak point and so it was.

So for my 2nd try I studied hard, esp. for biology, and I felt prepared. Also, I am a chemistry major so I figured I could make a 10+ on the physical;. Test day comes around and I felt like I rocked the physical section(10+) and did pretty decent on the biological. I knew however that I completely and absolutely failed the verbal. I maybe understood ONE passage out of the 7.

Scores come in and unfortunately I made the exact same score as my first go, a 22. 5/8/9. I don't know what happened with the chemistry, I really felt I nailed it. I have no idea how I made a 5 in verbal, I scored decent in my practice tests! For example, I took practice test #6 today (hadn't taken before) and I made a 10 on the physical and a 10 in the verbal.

I know two consecutive 22s looks horrible and I may have ruined my chance to ever get in. But I figured I would give it one more chance before I call it quits since I score in the upper 20s on the practice tests I take. Any tips on how I can bring up my verbal score? I have the examkrackers verbal book, but I feel it is nothing compared to the real MCAT verbal.

Also, would you suggest I use examkrackers/TPR for the other subjects? I have both but I only have 1 month left of studying (+ a summer class I am taking ); so I can't do both.
Any help is much appreciated!
 
Were you overconfident or were you breaking down under pressure? I ask because the first time you took it sounded like overconfidence (taking it when you're not ready) and the second time sounds like something got in your head and caused you to break down. Nobody who studied completely with decent English comprehension skills should be getting a 5 in verbal and 8 in physics. The possibility of pressure getting the best of you increases since you do well on practice tests.

(No offense intended)
 
The first time I took it when I wasn't completely ready was because I was hoping to get in a year early. If I did decent on it I could take summer/winter classes and have graduated in time for the 2012 class. I knew it was a small chance and wasn't that upset about it. However for this 2nd time, I studied hard and I was happy with my practice test scores.

I completely agree that no one should make a 5 on verbal, I don't know what happened. I just could not understand the passages. They totally went over my head and I pretty much completely guessed at every question. . . I don't think I broke down. I mean my highest score was on the section after verbal, so it wasn't me breaking down. I just don't get it. Why is my real score is so different from all my AAMC practice tests/examkracker verbal tests???

The two schools I would like to attend have an average score of a 30. If I could pull of a 28 or higher, which I do in my practice tests, I feel like I would have a good chance to get in since my GPA(3.82)
is higher than their average (3.6)

It's rather depressing...
 
I think you need to seriously reevaluate your study methods. What caused you to get the same score in physical sciences? Were you nervous? Were you too overly confident that you neglected studying for PS? With enough practice, you should easily be able to get a 9 or 10 in PS. I'm not a chemistry or physics major and somehow I did fine. I thought PS would be my worse section, so I did tons of practice problems (all the discretes in the TPRH book). I was scoring between 7-9 on my practice tests with a 7 on AAMC 11, but still ended up with a 10 on the real thing. What helped me out was skipping the tough calculation problems that made me nervous. Then I tried to figure those out at the end. I guessed on quite a few of the long calculation problems, but it allowed to me to increase accuracy and have time for the easier questions. My PS section wasn't easy. In fact, most people thought it was hard and that there were two passages that were very difficult.

Your biology seems fine and you can probably improve to a 10 with a little more practice and review. As for verbal, I don't know what you can do. It might have been a fluke. I know someone who was scoring 7-9s who ended up with a 5 in verbal. They admitted that the nerves got the best of them. Nerves alone can cause a big drop because you will be unable to think clearly. For verbal, the best advice I can give is to time yourself accordingly so you don't end up in a panic situation. 7-8 minutes per passage, then move on. You can skip a few and go back to those questions during the buffer period. Do all the passages and don't try to guess which passages are easy or hard. You'll waste valuable time that way. Most importantly, do your best to stay focused by imagining the things in the passage in your head and be confident!

Hope I helped and definitely give the MCAT at least another shot!
 
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Dude, don't fret. One switch in your methodology could get your verbal up to double digits, and it looks like your PS and BS sections are already basically there. A 30+ with your GPA and you're a competitive candidate, provided you don't tell them about that grand theft auto on your record 🙂

I scored a 33 (12PS/11VR/10BS) on my first attempt, and the only real difference between your scores and mine is that damn verbal. I honestly didn't study for the verbal all that much. I read a lot of op-eds for the WSJ or Economist and a fair amount of philosophy, and I think more than anything that's what made the passages intelligible to me. I dunno when your next test date is, but maybe try reading somewhat dense but varied writing and then summarizing the main points and flow of the article afterwards.
 
I studied a lot for the physical section. I do not know what I missed on that section. I honestly felt like I made a 10+ on it as I had time left over to go back and look at the problems. Biology is my weak point and chemistry is my major, yet somehow the section hurt me. I think it's the physics part that is messing my score up. But yea for the verbal, I have no excuse for my 5. If that's the best I can do then I honestly don't deserve med. school.

@sinuous sausage: That grand theft auto comment made me LoL. Very nice score BTW. I think I would commit GTA for a 33 haha


Thanks for the responses. I guess I will keep doing those examkracker verbals and hope it helps...
 
Dude don't sweat it. Take it easy. Relax.

Now first, your study material? I would recommend you use TPR for Biology and Physics and TBR for organic chemistry and chemistry. But since you have TPR & EK, I think you should choose TPR over EK. Mainly their hyperlearning science practice book. Verbal use EK101 passages for practice.

Second, one of the most important things I feel most people on this forum do not address is really to know your own weaknesses. What problems are YOU having?
(1) Are you having trouble understanding the contents for the science section?
(2) Are you taking the practice tests under real mcat conditions? (no extended breaks, no cheating, no TV on in the back)
(3) Are you taking at least equal amount of time to review each practice exam, question by question, regardless if you got it right or wrong, and understand their reasoning vs your reasoning?
(4) Are you just using the practice tests to get a score or are you actually using it to keep track of your weaknesses, then going over your weaknesses and get a better understanding on the topic?

Third, TIME MANAGEMENT! I can not stress enough about time management. I personally have taken the real MCAT twice. First time I got a 26 (8/8/10). I was not ready, did not use the right materials, did not use the practice exams correctly, and spent too much time on the difficult questions. On the PS, some questions are just way more difficult (which made me run out of time on my first try), the VR passages are just much longer and more convoluted than any practice test (which also made me run out of time). So I would advise you to also use the AAMC practice tests not just as tests to gauge a score, but review your weaknesses, also learn how to skip questions once you spent more than a minute on them, no matter how difficult. I know its hard to do, it was difficult for me, but you just gotta do it.

Fourth, read some of the forums by some of the popular posters and their advice on specifically verbal strategy. The passages are long, but honestly the questions do not require miniscule details presented at a random place in the passage. Learn how to read the verbal passages and understand the argument the author presents. Don't waste time highlighting details, but instead notice the author's view. Often times you can cross out answers in the questions that conflicts with authors POV. The EK101 passages are definitely much shorter than the real MCAT, but the questions are most similar compared to anything else out there. Use the book to get yourself familiarized with the question types and how to approach them. Find a method you are most comfortable with. Use various different methods: skim questions first then passage, skim passage then skim questions then read passages then back to questions, etc. Remember most information in the passage will not be tested, but you know author's POV will definitely be part of some questions.

Fifth, as a retaker myself, the practice test scores may become less indicative if you took them before. You might very well remember the answers and give yourself a 1-2 point boost and give you a sense of false confidence. I took it two years ago and this year, and I still remember some questions from the AAMC practice tests that probably gave me a 1 point boost on my score.

Sixth, the real MCAT questions have very few simple rote memorization questions. Be unique and try different ways of attacking a PS calculation or a BS question. If your method is better than the explanation (better I mean a faster, more understandable, and reproducible method), then stick with it. That reminds me, use TPR physics, its just so much better than examkracker in my opinion. There is ALOT of reasoning on this test. I think with practice comes understanding the contents, and with practice tests comes the timing, and eventually content, timing and thinking on your feet will come more natural and be the most important skill to have on the MCAT, and in the future to be a doctor.

Seventh, do as many practice exams as you can like I mentioned. Everybody would recommend you do all the AAMC exams. It's worth the money. Other than that, I would personally recommend GS tests, cause they are cheap, in CBT format, and present relatively easy concepts in an interesting way that provokes thinking and might help you with your reasoning on test day. Their PS and BS sections are amazing, VR not so much. Expect your scores for their test to be 1-2 points lower than what you'd really get on the MCAT. I have not personally taken TPR or Kaplan tests, but from what I heard, Kaplan test 1-6 are the better exams. TPR exams have mixed views. TBR practice exams also seem very popular and helpful, but it takes a while to get access to them after you order.

Lastly, learn some of the tricks for the chemistry and physics. I know you are a chem major, but maybe your traditional method of doing things might be taking the longer way (not practice for the MCAT). For example, learn dimensional analysis (check units for the answer choices to see if it matches with what the question is asking), learn to estimate (e.g. 3 x 10 ^ -6 ~ pH of 5.5, then you can use that to estimate and eliminate choices if you had to find the pH).

Links that helped me, maybe it'd help you too. Best of luck.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=733260
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=6412828&postcount=3
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=6180013&postcount=15
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=6695902&postcount=273
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=6022602&postcount=96?
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=2902530#post2902530
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=3346163&postcount=17
 
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Do you think that maybe your ego might be dictating what you study or don't study? I ask this because everyone has a tendency to say that they understand a topic fully or would get it right on the test and end up getting it wrong.
Try studying by taking practice tests or doing passages, and for every question you get wrong, look up the topic regarding it in your book and read that section with a notebook out doing all examples and taking notes. If you had already taken notes and done the example questions for that section, do it again (keep doing it every time you get the topic wrong or don't understand it).

If you don't do the above method (which I still encourage you to do), try watching khanacademy.org videos for topics you don't understand or for questions you get wrong. If you're short on time, focus on getting thru lots of practice tests and just make sure you understand FULLY why you got certain questions wrong.
 
This first time I took the MCAT I knew I wasn't ready. I made a 22, 8/8/6. I knew biology would be my weak point and so it was.

So for my 2nd try I studied hard, esp. for biology, and I felt prepared. Also, I am a chemistry major so I figured I could make a 10+ on the physical;. Test day comes around and I felt like I rocked the physical section(10+) and did pretty decent on the biological. I knew however that I completely and absolutely failed the verbal. I maybe understood ONE passage out of the 7.

Scores come in and unfortunately I made the exact same score as my first go, a 22. 5/8/9. I don't know what happened with the chemistry, I really felt I nailed it. I have no idea how I made a 5 in verbal, I scored decent in my practice tests! For example, I took practice test #6 today (hadn't taken before) and I made a 10 on the physical and a 10 in the verbal.

I know two consecutive 22s looks horrible and I may have ruined my chance to ever get in. But I figured I would give it one more chance before I call it quits since I score in the upper 20s on the practice tests I take. Any tips on how I can bring up my verbal score? I have the examkrackers verbal book, but I feel it is nothing compared to the real MCAT verbal.

Also, would you suggest I use examkrackers/TPR for the other subjects? I have both but I only have 1 month left of studying (+ a summer class I am taking ); so I can't do both.
Any help is much appreciated!

I wrote 4 posts about improving your VR score in my blog (see my signature). I loved ExamKrackers. If you are averaging in the high 20s on practice tests, no reason you can't score that high on the real MCAT. Keep your head up!
 
The best method is taking 20+ practice tests and then reviewing the problems you got wrong. This way you see almost all the possible material but you also see it in its test-day form.

My name is sinuous sausage and I approve ^this message.