Approach to MCAT Biology section

[WesternRedCedar]

Preparing for the Biology section, which I know alot of people say is more critical thinking now, but im a non-biology major so I want to make sure I have fundamentals down first.

1. EK Biol for content, skimming once through and then going straight to EK 1001 passages.
2. Once complete all of Ek 1001 passages(very good content review so far), do EK 30 Minute Exams.
3. Go back to Ek chapters and skim again, this time answering the in-lecture questions.

4. Do corresponding Berkley Review passages, review and go over.

5. Move on to Practice Full Lengths, and whenever I do a full length, then refer back to Kaplan Topicals/Section Tests and TPR Science Workbook for practice passages in weak areas.

6. Repeat Step 5, over and over until the real mcat.

How does that sound? I'd be doing similiar prep for Chem/Phys(strong area), so i'm not too worried about PS. Verbal i do sets of 3 passages, again, not too worried.

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[daleader]

I would suggest utilizing The Princeton Review Hyperlearning Science Workbook as well

 

[strugglebus]

Do as many practice questions as you can! The bio section is a lot more experimental/problem-based than some people expect.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

This ^^^!

Doing well on this exam comes from the skills you develop and hone over the course of doing hundreds and hundreds of passaged-based questions. Free-standing questions can be helpful for making sure you know your random facts, but you must do passage-based practice questions to really get ready for this exam.

And it far, far better to take five passages and thoroughly analyze every question and the context of the passage than it is to do ten passages and just read over the answers.

 

[daleader]

This ^^^!

Doing well on this exam comes from the skills you develop and hone over the course of doing hundreds and hundreds of passaged-based questions. Free-standing questions can be helpful for making sure you know your random facts, but you must do passage-based practice questions to really get ready for this exam.

And it far, far better to take five passages and thoroughly analyze every question and the context of the passage than it is to do ten passages and just read over the answers.

Can you please explain what you mean in more details? thanks a lot !

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

Can you please explain what you mean in more details? thanks a lot !

For many people, after they do a passage, they'll look at the letter answer. If they missed it, then they'll read the answer explanation (if their materials offer one). From this they may think to themselves, "I remember that" and feel as though they benefited. The truth is that they have given themselves a false sense of security and have not actually done anything to improve. There is a 95% chance they will miss a future question that is similar in style. That's because they focused on the information and not the algorithm needed to solve the question.

When you analyze a question, you need to ask what made your choice better than the other three? What allowed me to eliminate certain choices? Why did the question writer include a certain wrong answer? How could they word this question differently? What did I need to extract from the passage? If you analyze a question thoroughly, you start to think like the test writer, which is the perfect mindset for taking the MCAT. This is why you'll notice that many of the BR answer explanations are long, because they go over POE and on some occasions point out something unusual about an answer choice and why it was included. They also make note of any shortcut that might have saved you some time arriving at the best answer. This is something you should always try to do when reviewing a question; decide how you could have answered it faster and with less chance of making an error.

 

[daleader]

For many people, after they do a passage, they'll look at the letter answer. If they missed it, then they'll read the answer explanation (if their materials offer one). From this they may think to themselves, "I remember that" and feel as though they benefited. The truth is that they have given themselves a false sense of security and have not actually done anything to improve. There is a 95% chance they will miss a future question that is similar in style. That's because they focused on the information and not the algorithm needed to solve the question.

When you analyze a question, you need to ask what made your choice better than the other three? What allowed me to eliminate certain choices? Why did the question writer include a certain wrong answer? How could they word this question differently? What did I need to extract from the passage? If you analyze a question thoroughly, you start to think like the test writer, which is the perfect mindset for taking the MCAT. This is why you'll notice that many of the BR answer explanations are long, because they go over POE and on some occasions point out something unusual about an answer choice and why it was included. They also make note of any shortcut that might have saved you some time arriving at the best answer. This is something you should always try to do when reviewing a question; decide how you could have answered it faster and with less chance of making an error.

Wow, thank you a million times ! You are awesome