4 days to do Berkeley Passages - what should I do?

[ZinedaneZidane]

Hey all,
So I have 4 days to do as many Berkeley Review passages as I'd like. Considering that there are a total of 38 "chapter exams" that means a total of 57 hours of testing.
Given that I can only do about 12 hours of studying each day, that gives me at most 48 hours of exams to do. I also have to take into account going over answers so what I'm thinking about doing is basically going over the passages, quickly surmising how to figure out teh answer, & see what the explanations say. I know it's not ideal, but I want to get a taste of the "thought process" needed for the MCAT.
Should I just do all the passages from each chapter or just the odd ones, or the very last problems or what?
I have a good sense of physics & chemistry, & biology is my strong subject, but orgo is weak, however, because orgo is like 5-10 questions on the real thing, & seeing that I have an ok to decent grasp of it after doing EK 1001 orgo, should I not even do the TBR orgo?

Thanks!

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[KindofBlue]

IMO practice passages are there for practice. As long as you do enough to give yourself good practice, I don't think doing 50 hrs instead of 20 hrs would make much of a difference.
You said you have a good grasp of content, so just do enough so you can actually solve the problems and review them thoroughly each day.
I think in 12 hrs, it's pretty reasonable to do about 4 hrs (excluding break) passages, and about 6~7 hrs review. I really doubt your tactic will be of much use, since the process of getting the right answer is crucial. Also analyzing how you came up with the answer is equally important. Most likely, by the time you've figured out how to get the question, you will have taken about the same time it would take to actually solve the problem.
I don't know why you have just 4 days to do Berkeley, but if you can, save some time do the AAMCs as well.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

Hey all,
So I have 4 days to do as many Berkeley Review passages as I'd like. Considering that there are a total of 38 "chapter exams" that means a total of 57 hours of testing.
Should I just do all the passages from each chapter or just the odd ones, or the very last problems or what?

As the above poster mentioned, it comes down to spending a good amount of time going over the answers and reviewing your information and strategies.

In physics, I'd do the 52-question tests and skip the other passages. These have experiments and mix material from the different chapters.

In general chemistry, I'd do any passages that have a diagram, table, or schematic in the passage. These will review the material and also make you process the information in those tables and pictures, something you'll have to do often on the MCAT. I'd also do passages with questions that have graph answers.

In biology, I'd do the heart and lung passages, kidney passages, and immunology passages from book 1. I'd do the cell passages and genetic expression passages from book 2, given that those incorporate information from other sections the most.

In organic chemistry, I'd do the carbonyl passages and the lab techniques passages based strictly on the preferred topics of AAMC.

In verbal I'd do any passages where the answer explanations are two paragraphs or less on average.

 

[ZinedaneZidane]

As the above poster mentioned, it comes down to spending a good amount of time going over the answers and reviewing your information and strategies.

In physics, I'd do the 52-question tests and skip the other passages. These have experiments and mix material from the different chapters.

In general chemistry, I'd do any passages that have a diagram, table, or schematic in the passage. These will review the material and also make you process the information in those tables and pictures, something you'll have to do often on the MCAT. I'd also do passages with questions that have graph answers.

In biology, I'd do the heart and lung passages, kidney passages, and immunology passages from book 1. I'd do the cell passages and genetic expression passages from book 2, given that those incorporate information from other sections the most.

In organic chemistry, I'd do the carbonyl passages and the lab techniques passages based strictly on the preferred topics of AAMC.

In verbal I'd do any passages where the answer explanations are two paragraphs or less on average.

great advice! What are the physics 52 question tests? My physics book just has passages?

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

great advice! What are the physics 52 question tests? My physics book just has passages?

The 52-question test is from the current version of the physics book (from late 2010). The 52-que test goes over some test tricks (ones taught in the class) in the answer explanations (and the text of the chapters), so it is really helpful for improving your test timing.