All hitting me like a huge train

[nekrogg]

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5 months, 14 days till the april 22nd mcat.


I am working through workbooks furiously (especially verbal) and i cant seem to get above 4/6 on my passages (im not even timing myself btw; im also bombing every single ek verbal passage). I noticed a general trend on these forums. The folks who score around a 35 and above usually have a high diagnostic score (around 28 give or take?). At this rate, I am never going to get such a high diagnostic score, which in turn is a bad omen to my MCAT future. Any suggestions on how to better prepare?

It just doesnt seem like I am going to get any better. I've been doing MCAT passages here and there for about a year or so and still do not get the technique on how to approach them. Should I memorize a bunch of facts or work a hundred different problems per day? I mean what have you guys done to get to the point where the right answer sort of comes to you?




ps: this is mostly a complaining thread >< im so screwed.

 

[Jeesing]

Try reading some other material like newspapers and magazines, i liked the economist. Don't force yourself to try to understand a passage. Reading the passages while relaxed and calm was much more beneficial to me and allowed me to understand the passage as a whole better, rather than the minute details i remembered when i tried to force myself to understand a passage. Try to pick up on the tone that the author. Is the author trying to describe an event, is he trying to persuade you of a point of view. Figuring out why the author wrote the passage is half the battle, the rest is just detail and support for the authors view. Verbal is one of the hardest sections to improve upon, IMO, but all you need is practice and you have plenty of time. For the science sections although some memorization is required, moreso in the biological, Understanding the material is the best. Facts are useless unless you know how to apply them. I spent 2-3 weeks just reading books making sure i had a good solid foundation of the material and then went on to doing the tests, adjusting to the testing style and timelimits.

Also you dont have to have stellar diagnostics to do well on the MCAT. I had a 21 or 22, cant remember exactly, on mine and i got a 35Q 😀 on my most recent MCAT.

 

[Saluki]

5 months, 14 days till the april 22nd mcat.


I am working through workbooks furiously (especially verbal) and i cant seem to get above 4/6 on my passages (im not even timing myself btw; im also bombing every single ek verbal passage). I noticed a general trend on these forums. The folks who score around a 35 and above usually have a high diagnostic score (around 28 give or take?). At this rate, I am never going to get such a high diagnostic score, which in turn is a bad omen to my MCAT future. Any suggestions on how to better prepare?

It just doesnt seem like I am going to get any better. I've been doing MCAT passages here and there for about a year or so and still do not get the technique on how to approach them. Should I memorize a bunch of facts or work a hundred different problems per day? I mean what have you guys done to get to the point where the right answer sort of comes to you?




ps: this is mostly a complaining thread >< im so screwed.

Are you saying that you're getting about 4/6 of the questions right for each passage? For physical sciences, that's not actually that bad. For verbal reasoning, that's a problem, but you're not screwed. You still have months to prepare. Read the economist, read books in your spare time even if it's just Harry Potter and you'll improve...

 

[albaniandoc]

Nekrogg.
I am in the same boat with you. I am getting an average of 6-7 scaled score on the verbal. I am getting 8-9 in Biology chapters.
I have to tell you that I sat in front of an ideal gas problem the other night for at least 45 minutes and I just did not get the concept. After 45 minutes it just clicked. It was like turing a switch on. I just stood there and I had to laugh with myself of how stupid I felt.
I can see what most people say, that if you stick with it long enough, things will start to fall into place and the pieces will come together.
Good luck to you

 

[nekrogg]

Try reading some other material like newspapers and magazines, i liked the economist. Don't force yourself to try to understand a passage. Reading the passages while relaxed and calm was much more beneficial to me and allowed me to understand the passage as a whole better, rather than the minute details i remembered when i tried to force myself to understand a passage. Try to pick up on the tone that the author. Is the author trying to describe an event, is he trying to persuade you of a point of view. Figuring out why the author wrote the passage is half the battle, the rest is just detail and support for the authors view. Verbal is one of the hardest sections to improve upon, IMO, but all you need is practice and you have plenty of time. For the science sections although some memorization is required, moreso in the biological, Understanding the material is the best. Facts are useless unless you know how to apply them. I spent 2-3 weeks just reading books making sure i had a good solid foundation of the material and then went on to doing the tests, adjusting to the testing style and timelimits.

Also you dont have to have stellar diagnostics to do well on the MCAT. I had a 21 or 22, cant remember exactly, on mine and i got a 35Q 😀 on my most recent MCAT.

the thing that frustrates me about the mcats is how poorly written these passages are. I swear it my 10 year old cousin can write more coherent passages then alot of the ones presented (or maybe I'm just not used to that type of writing?). I usually a bit, I skim through Times, read the interesting articles in GQ.. I also subscribe to Scientific American. The thing is the articles are usually coherent, edited, and easy to understand. I just dont feel like reading magazines can help me understand all the gibberish in the passages. I guess reading lots and lots of the gibberish will help me understand the gibberish better . In any case, I talked to a few people about their mcats (All of which got 30+) and the general consensus is that when they took the test, they werent 100% prepared. But when answering the questions, the questions just made sense to them. This is the place I need to be in. In any case, good luck to all on the April MCATs. Looks like we are all going to need it 😉