annotating your MCAT books?

[stoleyerscrubz]

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Is anyone annotating their MCAT study materials? I was looking forward to selling my mine on ebay after the August exam but now I'm thinking to hell with that and go with full annotation.

 

[RayhanS1282]

I annotate my MCAT stuff but with a pencil. I annotated the hell out of my Physical Science book, the middle portion came off and it looks like it's been on a weird and wild ride. If you are planning on selling your stuff, annotate with a pencil. I like to think that these students are buying my stuff with their hard earned cash so, I try my best to keep the books in decent shape.

P.S. My pet peeve is hightlighters. How the hell do ppl read highlighted stuff? It feels like the neon pink and yellow colors are baking my brain by burning through my retina.

 

[RayhanS1282]

I don't know, as long as it is yellow highligthing, I don't mind. If it is pink or orange or some strange color, then I get annoyed like hell. But highlighting makes it stand out. Just as long as they stick to yellow and no weird colors.

Sorry guju, I am against highlighting of all colors. I had a bad experience.....

My origin:
Like all villains, my origin is draped in tragedy. I bought a used textbook for my genetics class and the person who used it previously highlighted every single line from a chapter with the exception of words like a, the, of etc. I mean what's the point of it....suffice to say I couldn't read that chapter. And for that reason, I didn't get an A in genetics that semester and I vowed to put an end to highlighters.

 

[stoleyerscrubz]

Something I just remembered is a friend of mine used post-it notes in her textbooks so I'm going to try that. I hate using pencils.

I bought a used textbook for my genetics class and the person who used it previously highlighted every single line from a chapter with the exception of words like a, the, of etc. I mean what's the point of it.....

lol. Sadly I see that often. I have a highlighter I rarely use. I may put an X through a paragraph that I need to reread later on. But I only did that in my biology text book I did not plan to sell. Once I saw there was a new edition coming out for my textbook I started to rip out whole chapters at a time so I did not have to lug the big book around and so I could read on the train.

 

[flashmark]

Some background-
I just found out I was accepted to UAB's School of Medicine.
HOWEVER, if I had not been accepted recently, I would be retaking the MCAT in August. I said that to say this-
I was in the same boat and didnt make any notes in my ExamKracker books because I had the hopes of selling them on Ebay once I was finished with the MCAT. Turns out that I didn't make a single mark in them.
Now: I still haven't sold them back on Ebay (it's time consuming to list them, etc etc right now when you have to fill out AMCAS app, etc.)
AND I did much lower on some sections than I wanted to. Are the low scores because I didn't take notes? Not completely, but looking back I realize that it had a good bit to do with it. By taking notes, you are forced to think critically and pick out the highlights from the thousands of pages you are reading to prepare for the MCAT.

Bottom Line: I suggest that you take notes in the book.
The $100 you will lose by not being to resell it on Ebay is VERY negligable compared to the $200 you'll have to pay to retake the MCAT later on.
Good luck to you!

 

[dajimmers]

I'm a highlighting fool. No, I don't highlight everything. But I do use three different colors, and a pen. You should see me in class, swapping caps, circling, underlining, annotating, and highlighting. I have a system though, such as yellow for main topics, pink for minor points with in that topic, and green for major points.

I don't know, it works for me. But I get so mad when a highlighter dries up...

 

[el.harpo]

I'm a highlighting fool. No, I don't highlight everything. But I do use three different colors, and a pen. You should see me in class, swapping caps, circling, underlining, annotating, and highlighting. I have a system though, such as yellow for main topics, pink for minor points with in that topic, and green for major points.

I don't know, it works for me. But I get so mad when a highlighter dries up...

I have a 5 color system 😛. Two of the colors are rarely used though as they are for absolutely important topics. Works amazing for me.

 

[RayhanS1282]

I have a 5 color system 😛. Two of the colors are rarely used though as they are for absolutely important topics. Works amazing for me.

I hate people like you.

I'm a highlighting fool. No, I don't highlight everything. But I do use three different colors, and a pen. You should see me in class, swapping caps, circling, underlining, annotating, and highlighting. I have a system though, such as yellow for main topics, pink for minor points with in that topic, and green for major points.

I don't know, it works for me. But I get so mad when a highlighter dries up...

You too.



Joking.

 

[el.harpo]

I hate people like you.




You too.



Joking.

Incase it helps you feel better, I never sell my books back to the bookstore. I just keep them for later use or lend it to friends if they want my highlighted books 😛.