7/06 MCAT takers, what would you have done differently?

[SephirothXR]

I really want to read that thread with a grain of salt and hope that it was just people who didn't prepare complaining but nope, seems like it's even from people who did all the right things to prepare.

I don't know if the MCAT we'll all take in August and onward will resemble this apparent shift (PS is heavy calculations, verbal is a lot longer (maybe?), and Biology is more critical thinking/verbal based comprehension), but if you could go back, what would you have done differently to prepare? I know it's tempting to say "NOTHING would have prepared", especially for Bio, but surely something could help (more passages from a certain company, read certain types of passages, etc)??

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[bambam02]

More time spent working more passages as opposed to reviewing material. Both are still necessary. The test imo was slightly more difficult than AAMC 11, but plenty of people will disagree with me im sure.

 

[Genemo]

If I knew I would had that kind of bio, I would stop my study for the last month and try to sleep well and eat well. So that I would be more energetic and my focus may last longer in the real exam.

Seriously even if I were given another month to review I wouldn't have a chance to improve anything in my bio test. It's more like if you can focus to the end you'll win the game. OR if you can guess better you can also win the game.

 

[Dr Dazzle]

Taking mine in August, but based on the 7/6ers, my plan for doing all BR passages and then AAMCs may not be enough?

 

[SephirothXR]

^Probably the biggest piece of advice I or anyone who has never even studied for an MCAT is to just *prepare for cliche* be confident and don't overthink any of what you read from people's opinions (might seem contradictory since I'm asking, but I'm more interested in review strategy). I went through this when I studied for the SAT: I was part of an online forum (collegeconfidential) where the scores were generally higher (sort of like how a lot of people here tend to score well) than the average group, but you'd also be intimidated by people saying something was hard when they were doing well. I still did well on the SAT but I saw how easy it was to let other people change your thinking. It's like tennis: focus on your own game, don't think about the other person's game. When you do, you keep thinking of the nerves and "think about thinking about thinking about thinking".

I'm sure it's easy for one or two ridiculously hard passages to demoralize you as you progress through a test but honestly your confidence level that day might be the biggest factor on your score. It's like when I read people saying "my AAMC average was 34 and I got a 28". Sometimes it'll be "AAMC average was 31 and I got a 34". I think whatever the case, it's good to generally stick with what we're doing if it seems right (practice passages never hurt), but seems like content review should not need as much investment with these new breed of exams. By that, I mean I'll still consider what everyone has to say but you don't want it to let it get to you on test day. You shouldn't prepare for your MCAT thinking of what other people you don't even know said. Don't take your MCAT expecting what other people said. But by all means I'm still open for advice on preparation (I'd think that TBR passages are helpful since they're always considered hard)

 

[Dr Dazzle]

Thanks! Tru Dat

^Probably the biggest piece of advice I or anyone who has never even studied for an MCAT is to just *prepare for cliche* be confident and don't overthink any of what you read from people's opinions (might seem contradictory since I'm asking, but I'm more interested in review strategy). I went through this when I studied for the SAT: I was part of an online forum (collegeconfidential) where the scores were generally higher (sort of like how a lot of people here tend to score well) than the average group, but you'd also be intimidated by people saying something was hard when they were doing well. I still did well on the SAT but I saw how easy it was to let other people change your thinking. It's like tennis: focus on your own game, don't think about the other person's game. When you do, you keep thinking of the nerves and "think about thinking about thinking about thinking".

I'm sure it's easy for one or two ridiculously hard passages to demoralize you as you progress through a test but honestly your confidence level that day might be the biggest factor on your score. It's like when I read people saying "my AAMC average was 34 and I got a 28". Sometimes it'll be "AAMC average was 31 and I got a 34". I think whatever the case, it's good to generally stick with what we're doing if it seems right (practice passages never hurt), but seems like content review should not need as much investment with these new breed of exams. By that, I mean I'll still consider what everyone has to say but you don't want it to let it get to you on test day. You shouldn't prepare for your MCAT thinking of what other people you don't even know said. Don't take your MCAT expecting what other people said. But by all means I'm still open for advice on preparation (I'd think that TBR passages are helpful since they're always considered hard)

 

[macsta]

It was a hard exam... trust me I'm still feeling it. I now have a much cooler head. In hindsight, if I knew I was going to be given THIS exam, I would have done more DIFFICULT exams and passages for the last 2 weeks. That would have mentally prepared me to deal with the situation and it could have maybe helped me deduce information faster.

NOTE:
I WOULDN'T HAVE CHANGED A THING IN STUDYING FOR THE MCAT (EXCEPT MAYBE START EARLIER). THE TEST ON 7/6 WAS AN ANOMALY. I AM ASSUMING THAT 99% OF FUTURE TEST TAKERS WILL NOT GET AN EXAM THIS DIFFICULT. SO, JUST KEEP PREPARING LIKE YOU HAVE BEEN. STUDY BIO, STUDY GCHEM, STUDY ORGO, AND DO VERBAL PASSAGES BECAUSE THEY WILL MORE THAN LIEKLY WILL BE ON YOUR EXAM. PLEASE DON'T LET OUR EXAM (OUR 1 EXAM) CHANGE YOUR PERCEPTIONS ON A DECADES OLD TEST.

 

[joeyel1985]

It was a hard exam... trust me I'm still feeling it. I now have a much cooler head. In hindsight, if I knew I was going to be given THIS exam, I would have done more DIFFICULT exams and passages for the last 2 weeks. That would have mentally prepared me to deal with the situation and it could have maybe helped me deduce information faster.

NOTE:
I WOULDN'T HAVE CHANGED A THING IN STUDYING FOR THE MCAT (EXCEPT MAYBE START EARLIER). THE TEST ON 7/6 WAS AN ANOMALY. I AM ASSUMING THAT 99% OF FUTURE TEST TAKERS WILL NOT GET AN EXAM THIS DIFFICULT. SO, JUST KEEP PREPARING LIKE YOU HAVE BEEN. STUDY BIO, STUDY GCHEM, STUDY ORGO, AND DO VERBAL PASSAGES BECAUSE THEY WILL MORE THAN LIEKLY WILL BE ON YOUR EXAM. PLEASE DON'T LET OUR EXAM (OUR 1 EXAM) CHANGE YOUR PERCEPTIONS ON A DECADES OLD TEST.

I second this.

 

[Melomare17]

It was a hard exam... trust me I'm still feeling it. I now have a much cooler head. In hindsight, if I knew I was going to be given THIS exam, I would have done more DIFFICULT exams and passages for the last 2 weeks. That would have mentally prepared me to deal with the situation and it could have maybe helped me deduce information faster.

NOTE:
I WOULDN'T HAVE CHANGED A THING IN STUDYING FOR THE MCAT (EXCEPT MAYBE START EARLIER). THE TEST ON 7/6 WAS AN ANOMALY. I AM ASSUMING THAT 99% OF FUTURE TEST TAKERS WILL NOT GET AN EXAM THIS DIFFICULT. SO, JUST KEEP PREPARING LIKE YOU HAVE BEEN. STUDY BIO, STUDY GCHEM, STUDY ORGO, AND DO VERBAL PASSAGES BECAUSE THEY WILL MORE THAN LIEKLY WILL BE ON YOUR EXAM. PLEASE DON'T LET OUR EXAM (OUR 1 EXAM) CHANGE YOUR PERCEPTIONS ON A DECADES OLD TEST.

I third this.

 

[tak08810]

Yup I wouldn't try radically changing your study plan. Cause chances are the test will be the complete opposite of the 7/6 test if you do study for a test like that. Tons of orgo, little calculations in PS, and almost all questions that require conceptual knowledge for BS.

 

[Flamen04]

TBH, most people hated the BS section because of this one really hard passage. The other passages were not that bad so don't worry and continue doing what you are doing.

 

[ak21]

i've never seen so much attention put into one test...but I cant help but wonder what everyone else who is taking their MCAT soon is wondering..."is our test really going to be like this?"

 

[Neverstudies]

i would have put my head in a microwave and hit the popcorn button

 

[tellmemore2020]

I understudied a tiny bit, so I'll give some advice, but not sure if it will help.
- Review topics you feel really comfortable with. Nothing sucks more than getting tripped on something you know and love.
- Review things that don't often appear on the exam. Obviously don't spend more time on it that on things that do, but you should have some notes on EVERYTHING, IMO.
-I did not hate the bio section as much as everyone else because I would rather get a difficult passage-based question than a difficult memory question that I don't know and have to guess outright. I am not sure if I did well on the bio section, but I didn't have a bad feeling about it.. I am not a bio major, so I didn't have that advantage. I feel kind of weird giving advice in case I actually bombed it , but what I did was always look at the big picture. For example, I would write the carbonic acid equation at the top of the page and go through a few different scenarios to see how that would affect the pH, rewriting parts of the equation to indicate the H+ shifts.
- I thought it was harder to pace myself on the real test because I was extremely careful with each single question. I would say pace yourself such that you have a 5 mins left at the end, because on the real test you may actually be 5 minutes behind

 

[Melomare17]

I understudied a tiny bit, so I'll give some advice, but not sure if it will help.
- Review topics you feel really comfortable with. Nothing sucks more than getting tripped on something you know and love.
- Review things that don't often appear on the exam. Obviously don't spend more time on it that on things that do, but you should have some notes on EVERYTHING, IMO.
-I did not hate the bio section as much as everyone else because I would rather get a difficult passage-based question than a difficult memory question that I don't know and have to guess outright. I am not sure if I did well on the bio section, but I didn't have a bad feeling about it.. I am not a bio major, so I didn't have that advantage. I feel kind of weird giving advice in case I actually bombed it , but what I did was always look at the big picture. For example, I would write the carbonic acid equation at the top of the page and go through a few different scenarios to see how that would affect the pH, rewriting parts of the equation to indicate the H+ shifts.
- I thought it was harder to pace myself on the real test because I was extremely careful with each single question. I would say pace yourself such that you have a 5 mins left at the end, because on the real test you may actually be 5 minutes behind

i actually had tons of time left on the practices.
PS-around 5-15 min left
VR-2-8 min left
BS-15-30 min left

on actual test:
PS-30 seconds left
VR-20 seconds left
BS-5 seconds left


sooo yeaa

 

[macsta]

i actually had tons of time left on the practices.
PS-around 5-15 min left
VR-2-8 min left
BS-15-30 min left

on actual test:
PS-30 seconds left
VR-20 seconds left
BS-5 seconds left


sooo yeaa

Same