BERKELEY REVIEW scores/discussion

[capn jazz]

Just like the EK Verbal 101 thread, this is a thread to talk about how you're doing with the TBR passages. I don't know how people are generally going through these, but I'm doing Phase I and II after reading the chapter, and saving Phase III for after I finish all content review.

I'm currently working on Gen Chem.

Chapter 1:
Phase I: 27/41 = 66% = 10
Phase II: 10/20 = 50% = 8 (ouch!)

Chapter 2:
Phase I: 29/37 = 78% = 11
Phase II: 28/33 = 85% = 13

So far I LOVE the book. I hated Gen Chem and I'm enjoying reading this and I really feel like it's helping me grasp the topics. Hopefully future chapters will continue this trend...

Now it's up to you guys! Keep this thread alive!

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[BerkReviewTeach]

That is, by far, one of the most backwards things I've seen on these boards. It's the exact opposite for most everyone else.

While I agree that comment is rare on these boards, I have ran into enough people who feel similar that I recognize the type of student. The common link is the way they attack problems. People who relied more on problem solving during college than rereading class notes (or memorizing flashcards)have a tendency to come to that same conslusion when it comes time to study for the MCAT, at least in the non-biology subjects.

Take this with a grain of salt epsilonprodigy, but most of the people who said something similar in the past went on to destroy the MCAT. If you are finding the questions to be easy, then you must be a naturally good test taker.

 

[music2doc]

While I agree that comment is rare on these boards, I have ran into enough people who feel similar that I recognize the type of student. The common link is the way they attack problems. People who relied more on problem solving during college than rereading class notes (or memorizing flashcards)have a tendency to come to that same conslusion when it comes time to study for the MCAT, at least in the non-biology subjects.

Take this with a grain of salt epsilonprodigy, but most of the people who said something similar in the past went on to destroy the MCAT. If you are finding the questions to be easy, then you must be a naturally good test taker.

This has been exactly my experience, so I am glad to hear this! That makes sense. I don't think I ever used flashcards or read a chapter more than once in college. I'm taking biochem right now and it sort of seems like a joke because most of it (enzyme kinetics, function of various amino acids, even metabolic pathways) can be derived from gen bio and gen chem. That approach makes the TBR Bio a pain, though! For chem, orgo and physics, I can usually answer the questions without really needing most of the info in the passages (beyond the data points themselves), but the bio passages feel more like verbal to me and I'm usually really good at verbal reasoning, but MCAT VR and Bio are tough!

 

[epsilonprodigy]

Ha! Glad to hear it! Let's hope you're right.

Actually, this is my retake, but I was waaaaay clueless the first time around. Literally, with the exception of a few very poorly-structured "q-bank" passages, the ONLY passage practice I got the first time around was on the 20-odd FL's I did. I took Kaplan and convinced myself that by hammering out their syllabus, I'd "drive home the basics" and the passages/timing would fall into place. I was doing decently (mid-30's) on the practices but got a calculation-heavy exam on the real thing and choked.

I really don't have many issues figuring out what the questions are asking in BR, and am fairly adept at predicting what they'll be getting at while reading the passages. If I do miss questions, I usually go back and say "OH! I misread/had the wrong thing in my head to begin with while reading the question."

Then, when I do the EK 1001 problems, I sometimes find that there were intricacies of the basics that I didn't understand, and the BR passages didn't make those weaknesses obvious in the same way. So, I've adapted SN2ed's schedule to reading the BR chapter + in-text questions, THEN doing a good portion of the corresponding EK 1001's, and finally, tackling the BR passages (the first third first, and so on.)

 

[BestDoctorEver]

I just started studying for my mcat using BR Gen Chem, Physics and Orgo...planning to take the test in June. I am getting discouraged with my performance on Gen Chem. For instance, Section I (Stoichiometry) I got 73% which was ok. Section II (Atomic Theory) I had a 68%, which was shocking considering that this section is somewhat easy. I just finished Section III ( Equilibrium),which I believed was the easiest subject in Gen Chem II undergrad, and I was shock to get a wooping 55%. My question are: Should I redo this section, or read the equilbrium chapter on my Gen Chem undergrad textbook?
A side note: I see other people on this thread talk about (PHASE I, II) I don't see PHASE I, II on my textbooks. Am I using the right textbooks?

 

[feipar]

It refers to the passages at the back of each section. I think only chem and orgo have phase I, II, III, which are no more than simply recommended sets of passages taken in that order. Bio doesn't have phases, and phys is broken into a review set of 3 passages and a 7 passage set.

 

[Truestar01]

Hi guys,

for physics chapter eight on electromagnetism example 8.8, if a cation eneters into the magnetic field from the top, in which direction will the cation be deflected while traveling through the magnetic field?

So, the velocity vector is facing down, the magnetic field is out of the page and we have to find the force.

I did the palm rule and i keep getting the force is to the right. but the answer is to the left. I dont get it?

 

[Truestar01]

hah, nevermind figured it out. had my directions wrong.

Hi guys,

for physics chapter eight on electromagnetism example 8.8, if a cation eneters into the magnetic field from the top, in which direction will the cation be deflected while traveling through the magnetic field?

So, the velocity vector is facing down, the magnetic field is out of the page and we have to find the force.

I did the palm rule and i keep getting the force is to the right. but the answer is to the left. I dont get it?

 

[mzblue]

Don't get discouraged. The equilibrium chapter is hard. i got a 75% in phase 1 and a pathetic 61% which is the worst score i've had for a chem phase. If you're doing all the questions at once, i imagine your scores will be lower because the phase 3 questions incorporate a bunch of other stuff (i think).
If you're using a book that doesn't have the phases listed on the page prior to the beginning of the passages, download the file from sdn. I think it should be in this thread or somewhere.
Read the rationale for every question wrong and right and for the wrong ones, ask yourself why you got it wrong. Number one reason for me is i either don't read all the answer choices or i think i'm selecting a particular answer choice but i right down the wrong letter or in few cases, it's knowledge based and i didn't know it or sometimes (for bio) it's logic.

Keep practicing and studying. When you get discouraged, look at the back of the book : if you study, it will come.

I just started studying for my mcat using BR Gen Chem, Physics and Orgo...planning to take the test in June. I am getting discouraged with my performance on Gen Chem. For instance, Section I (Stoichiometry) I got 73% which was ok. Section II (Atomic Theory) I had a 68%, which was shocking considering that this section is somewhat easy. I just finished Section III ( Equilibrium),which I believed was the easiest subject in Gen Chem II undergrad, and I was shock to get a wooping 55%. My question are: Should I redo this section, or read the equilbrium chapter on my Gen Chem undergrad textbook?
A side note: I see other people on this thread talk about (PHASE I, II) I don't see PHASE I, II on my textbooks. Am I using the right textbooks?

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

I am retaking in jan and have just received my shipment of BR books. I looked through them and wanted to set up a schedule to stick with. Ideally, i wanted to finish going through all the passages and the books by dec 1. But for the past two days, i have been going through 2 sections and have realized that its extremely difficult to do more than one section from a book per day. For example, i wanted to do section 1 from chem and sec 1 from bio yest, but by the time i was done with reading through chem and doing all the passages, then reworking all my mistakes, i was pretty spent. Do you guys think i can extend my date of dec 1 for finishing up these books? Or is that allowing too much time to content review. I guess using these books isn't ALL just content, its passages too which is what i like. Also, for those of you that have actually used these books, and for BerkReviewTeach, is going through one section per day a good amount? Or should i be doing more than that per day. Thanks for the feedback!

I'm late in responding here, but this question gets PMed from time to time so it seems like a good general answer to put up.

Trying to do a section a day is insane for a couple reasons. First, it is a ton of work to read the chapter and do the multiple choice questions in that reading (two to three hours per section on average) and then do the 100 questions that follow (two hours and 15 minutes just to do the questions if you follow actual MCAT timing). That has you at five hours and then you need to review the questions thoroughly (which you have to do or you're missing the real strength of the books), which could take another couple of hours. To do a chapter right, you're looking at 6 to 8 hours total, which if you try to do for ten straight days, you'll burnout and your retention will drop.

Second, that's not the optimal way to learn. You need some digestion time, which is the whole idea behind the strong suggestion you do homework in phases. In the time between phases, you have a few things incubate and you formulate new ideas to add to the concepts you learned. When you do each subsequent phase, you keep building on this pool of information. You also end up reassuring yourself that you're retaining the information, which is quite helpful in terms of building confidence.

Studying 6 to 8 hours a day is definitely doable, but you need to spread that out amongst subjects and not spend it all trying to complete one chapter.

 

[Truestar01]

ok so i need some advice on working with bio. I am reading EK bio and as im reading, i feel like im recalling info and at the time I feel as if understand. Then i do the in chapter questions but dont do so well. But after going over them, I feel like I understand. Then I do the BR Bio passages and I am constantly run over. Either i will get couple of questions right per passage or get nothing right at all. I just did one on circulatory system. I am a biochem major man.

What do you guys propose I change to become better at this. So far, I have doing the best in the orgo br.

 

[BestDoctorEver]

Don't get discouraged. The equilibrium chapter is hard. i got a 75% in phase 1 and a pathetic 61% which is the worst score i've had for a chem phase. If you're doing all the questions at once, i imagine your scores will be lower because the phase 3 questions incorporate a bunch of other stuff (i think).
If you're using a book that doesn't have the phases listed on the page prior to the beginning of the passages, download the file from sdn. I think it should be in this thread or somewhere.
Read the rationale for every question wrong and right and for the wrong ones, ask yourself why you got it wrong. Number one reason for me is i either don't read all the answer choices or i think i'm selecting a particular answer choice but i right down the wrong letter or in few cases, it's knowledge based and i didn't know it or sometimes (for bio) it's logic.

Keep practicing and studying. When you get discouraged, look at the back of the book : if you study, it will come.

What did you get for section I (Stoichiometry) and section II (Atomic Theory)?

 

[mzblue]

What did you get for section I (Stoichiometry) and section II (Atomic Theory)?

chapter 1. phase 1 = 82%. looks like i did phase 2 when i got lazy and didn't record the percentage score in my workbook. however, the total percentage of both phases is 78% so i must have done awful in phase 2.
chapter 2. phase 1 = didn't record the total percentage for phase 1 either for this. i guess i got serious in mid february. anyway, phase 2 core is 92.5%, total percentage for both phases is 85.5% so i must have done awful in phase 1. I keep a record of each score. i just can't sort it out without the book in front of me to figure out which ones belong to phase 1 and which ones belong to phase 2 which is why i gave the total percentages for all questions completed.

i think the more you do these, the more you get a hang of it. i've gotten good about keeping a record of my scores. i studied seriously for one week and went for about 4weeks before getting serious. i think in those 4 weeks i covered little and didn't keep record of the percentages. however, i have a table for every chapter and every passage and record the exact score for each passage. I sometimes make a comment in the workbook as to why i got the questions wrong. if i scored low because of a knowledge gap, i highlight it red so i know i have to repeat later. if i scored low because i failed to read answer choices or wrote down the wrong letter choice when i'd intended to write something else, i know to not go back and repeat.

Since i slept all day yesterday, i need to get back to my desk.

 

[zoner]

anyone getting low score ever post here ?

how did everyone do on Phy chapter 8 homework phase 3?

i just got brutally knocked out by it

 

[zoner]

but when I calm the f down and redo those problems I got wrong, I get most of them correct. The passage and the questions were actually freaking simple. holy s..t. My brain is just goes haywire when I run into what seems like complex passages and don't apply what I know... Ugh, omg, omg, omg, I am so frustrated. Gonna shxxt myself again

 

[BestDoctorEver]

but when I calm the f down and redo those problems I got wrong, I get most of them correct. The passage and the questions were actually freaking simple. holy s..t. My brain is just goes haywire when I run into what seems like complex passages and don't apply what I know... Ugh, omg, omg, omg, I am so frustrated. Gonna shxxt myself again

The same thing is happening to me.
Are there anyone here who was scoring between 65%-75% in BR Gen Chem and Physics who got a 10+ on PS section on the mcat? This is the situation I am finding myself in now. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to crack the 75%+ consistently.

 

[BWSTW]

The same thing is happening to me.
Are there anyone here who was scoring between 65%-75% in BR Gen Chem and Physics who got a 10+ on PS section on the mcat? This is the situation I am finding myself in now. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to crack the 75%+ consistently.

I am the same way. It's frustrating because I will do really well on a couple of the passages, then do bad on one and it brings down my score. I can't seem to get it above the 60-75% range. I'm not sure if it is because I am studying at night after a full day of working and I am fatiguing, or if I am just that average.

 

[raltima07]

The same thing is happening to me.
Are there anyone here who was scoring between 65%-75% in BR Gen Chem and Physics who got a 10+ on PS section on the mcat? This is the situation I am finding myself in now. No matter how hard I try, I can't seem to crack the 75%+ consistently.

Im in the same boat too

 

[YouNeverKnow22]

Finally feeling like I have a way to study consistently using BR (man who knew it felt so good!) and studying for the may date.

 

[dougkaye]

I love BR as well but I am upset about Orgo Chapter 5 (I hope a BR staffer reads this). The chapter is WAY too long and needs to be split up into carbonyl chemistry (one chapter) and the next chapter on named reactions and biochemical applications. Each of these deserves its own chapter plus passages instead of one gigantic chapter (over 40 pages of dense text!) They also crammed a very important topic - synthetic analysis/retrosynthetic analysis. I have found some unevenness in the amount of material covered by each BR chapter but this is really over the top. BR: please split this chapter up!

 

[dougkaye]

delete

 

[YouNeverKnow22]

I love BR as well but I am upset about Orgo Chapter 5 (I hope a BR staffer reads this). The chapter is WAY too long and needs to be split up into carbonyl chemistry (one chapter) and the next chapter on named reactions and biochemical applications. Each of these deserves its own chapter plus passages instead of one gigantic chapter (over 40 pages of dense text!) They also crammed a very important topic - synthetic analysis/retrosynthetic analysis. I have found some unevenness in the amount of material covered by each BR chapter but this is really over the top. BR: please split this chapter up!

I feel like Orgo for BR has way too much info for content review, I'll prolly use EK or Kaplan for content and BR for passages

 

[Etorphine]

If I got a 34-37 average on TBR cbts, what would you guys say would be my real score? Typical breakdown is 11-12-13 (36). I never get below 13 on tbr bio, minimum 11 for verbal. Similar scores on TPR cbts, but never taken a AAMC practice and am so curious.

 

[apumic]

If I got a 34-37 average on TBR cbts, what would you guys say would be my real score? Typical breakdown is 11-12-13 (36). I never get below 13 on tbr bio, minimum 11 for verbal. Similar scores on TPR cbts, but never taken a AAMC practice and am so curious.

This isn't really sufficient information. That being said, you should be pretty confident about breaking 30. Anything above that really requires more than what you've given us. It also requires some luck.

 

[ridethecliche]

I'm going to take my first TBR exam this weekend.

I'm nervous!!!

 

[Etorphine]

This isn't really sufficient information. That being said, you should be pretty confident about breaking 30. Anything above that really requires more than what you've given us. It also requires some luck.

Yea see it's tricky because that's about the same opinion I have. I'm 95% sure I'll break 30, but not sure by how much.

What I can tell you is that I've gone through every TBR chapter and question a minimum of two times, with some chapters read a maximum of 4 times. I've spent the most amount of time reviewing why I got things wrong, and I'd say I know how to systematically solve 95% of the topics in TBR.

In terms of CBT's, I've done all TBR, all TPR, some GS, and 4 Kaplan. I keep hearing the real deal has been a lot tougher in the last 6 months, which is why I'm not sure.

I'm starting to reach my limitations, as most of the points I get off are due to not reading the question correctly (60% of wrong answers), getting an unusual presentation of a common idea that I already understand (30%), or just not knowing/forgetting what they're asking (10%).

In terms of test-taking skills, I'd say I'm very good in this regard on days that I am not nervous. On some days that I've had too much caffeine, my mind goes blank and test taking goes to crap.

My gpa is >3.9 in a very hard major. I'm a URM, so I've got that luck thing down.

edit: I guess the best solution would be to take the AAMC's, but I don't start those until April 1st. The suspense is killing me though.

 

[YouNeverKnow22]

Yea see it's tricky because that's about the same opinion I have. I'm 95% sure I'll break 30, but not sure by how much.

What I can tell you is that I've gone through every TBR chapter and question a minimum of two times, with some chapters read a maximum of 4 times. I've spent the most amount of time reviewing why I got things wrong, and I'd say I know how to systematically solve 95% of the topics in TBR.

In terms of CBT's, I've done all TBR, all TPR, some GS, and 4 Kaplan. I keep hearing the real deal has been a lot tougher in the last 6 months, which is why I'm not sure.

I'm starting to reach my limitations, as most of the points I get off are due to not reading the question correctly (60% of wrong answers), getting an unusual presentation of a common idea that I already understand (30%), or just not knowing/forgetting what they're asking (10%).

In terms of test-taking skills, I'd say I'm very good in this regard on days that I am not nervous. On some days that I've had too much caffeine, my mind goes blank and test taking goes to crap.

My gpa is >3.9 in a very hard major. I'm a URM, so I've got that luck thing down.

edit: I guess the best solution would be to take the AAMC's, but I don't start those until April 1st. The suspense is killing me though.

well damn

 

[chiapet874]

Hello, a BR newbie here!

I have a question for those who are currently progressing through TBR passages...

I've been going through the passages for their "Biology Part I" book and I've noticed that frequently (imo at least), the questions they ask require knowledge that either were not found from the provided passage, or even from their content review (so one relies on knowledge from external sources i.e. undergraduate classes).

For example: Passage 1 from section 3 (question #2):

The conduction velocity of action potentials along smooth muscle fibers is low because activation of:

Answer: Calcium channels is slow

Now I happened to know that answer due to my Neuroscience major, but that factual information was not touched upon at all in their content review or the passage.

Do you guys notice this is other passages for other subjects? I'm worried because I feel like this will lead to a patch-work kind of learning (learning bits and pieces of previously unknown facts, while missing the bigger picture).

I hope I made sense

 

[chiapet874]

Sup fellow neuro buddy. I had the same feeling when I did that exact question. But for the most part, this question is an anomaly and TBR generally pulls from the passage directly or from knowledge you should know from the chapter. I didn't take the course, but have gotten by fine.

I remember on a few answer explanations(perhaps 1 or 2), the answer specifically said you needed background knowledge to answer, and said that's the way it is for some questions on the MCAT. I'll see if I can look up which this is.

Nonetheless, I've done thousands of TBR questions, and this issue has come up perhaps 1/1000 questions. I don't think they're at fault either, but trying to represent what the actual MCAT is going to be like. In other words, there might in fact be a question or two/144 that requires detailed background knowledge, and I'd rather hear it first from TBR than later.

Thanks for the wonderful response! I love TBR so far and I feel their passages are amazing.

I appreciate them putting questions that weren't covered in the content review so I learned that information SOMEWHERE. I just didn't want it to get too crazy.

 

[Bayonetwork]

Son of a vonder I cant get past an avg. of 4 or 5 correct out of 7 per passage on TBR!!!

Im only about 1/3 of the way into it all but the good news is I always time my passages (complete usually 7 min or less) and I sometimes feel like I learn a LOT more going over passages and answers than reading the content.

Today I did Physics Ch 4 on equilibrium/rotational/momentum and felt like after doing the seemingly basic passage 1 I learned about 5 concepts not even mentioned in the chapter content. Im assuming this is by design.

Do you guys/gals feel the chapter content is thorough?

Do you go straight to phase 1 passages after reading through once fairly thoroughly? Or warm up w/ EK 1001?

I definitely do better on the phase 2 passages after Ive read a second time and done phase 1 passages. (usually about 6/7)

I also dont want to waste passages by jumping into them too soon!

 

[ridethecliche]

Took that first TBR cbt today #1.

The physics was, I thought, manageable. I got a 10 on the section.
Bio was hard. I haven't reviewed orgo yet so it was very challenging. I ended up with an 8.

The VR threw me off. The questions look absolutely nothing like the AAMC exams. I don't think I'm getting anything out of doing them because they require totally different thinking. Did anyone else find that?
I actually didn't do the verbal. I stopped after 2 passages because I didn't think it was helping.

The BS and PS sections didn't look very similar but the passage structures were great and the content is difficult. I can see that the PS/BS sections will prep me well, but the VR question stems and answer choices are nothing like AAMC.

What say you folks? Anyone agree? Disagree? Should I just shut up and do it anyway because it'll help?

Thanks!

 

[ridethecliche]

Took that first TBR cbt today #1.

The physics was, I thought, manageable. I got a 10 on the section.
Bio was hard. I haven't reviewed orgo yet so it was very challenging. I ended up with an 8.

The VR threw me off. The questions look absolutely nothing like the AAMC exams. I don't think I'm getting anything out of doing them because they require totally different thinking. Did anyone else find that?
I actually didn't do the verbal. I stopped after 2 passages because I didn't think it was helping.

The BS and PS sections didn't look very similar but the passage structures were great and the content is difficult. I can see that the PS/BS sections will prep me well, but the VR question stems and answer choices are nothing like AAMC.

What say you folks? Anyone agree? Disagree? Should I just shut up and do it anyway because it'll help?

Thanks!

Thinking about it, I think I was being a dolt.

The passages were similar in style, but even though the question stems, etc were a little off, the things they were asking 'main idea' etc, were pretty comparable to EK and aamc. I'll go back and do the VR section tomorrow to see how it compares.

 

[mzblue]

I think sometimes they leave something out of the content with the intent of covering it in the end of chapter passages. I've also found reading the rationales helpful and I've think some of the passages/questions are meant to teach something.

Son of a vonder I cant get past an avg. of 4 or 5 correct out of 7 per passage on TBR!!!

Im only about 1/3 of the way into it all but the good news is I always time my passages (complete usually 7 min or less) and I sometimes feel like I learn a LOT more going over passages and answers than reading the content.

Today I did Physics Ch 4 on equilibrium/rotational/momentum and felt like after doing the seemingly basic passage 1 I learned about 5 concepts not even mentioned in the chapter content. Im assuming this is by design.

Do you guys/gals feel the chapter content is thorough?

Do you go straight to phase 1 passages after reading through once fairly thoroughly? Or warm up w/ EK 1001?

I definitely do better on the phase 2 passages after Ive read a second time and done phase 1 passages. (usually about 6/7)

I also dont want to waste passages by jumping into them too soon!

 

[ridethecliche]

Took the vr part today and cut out the time from the passages that I'd read before and put in the same answers.

Got 6/40 wrong. Making my score a 12 by TBR standards.
So thats 10 PS/12VR/8BS. Hit 30 on my first tbr.

Not a bad way to start things off with TBR 1.

My judgment is that the VR isn't as good as EK but should be good practice. The BS and PS made my head hurt and made me think pretty hard. I'm sure they're going to be great practice. I can't wait to take the rest of these tests.

I think that I'll take a gold standard one soon as well, just so I can see how that is in comparison as well. Of course, I'm not even going to touch their verbal, having seen the reviews on how terrible it is.

I think the TBR exam did a good job with the formulae, i.e. including the ones that the AAMC probably would have or making those questions conceptual in nature.

 

[ridethecliche]

Took TBR-2 today.

Halfway through the PS section my housemate gets a phone call and is talking really loudly into her phone. I can't concentrate at all after that, so I basically write off the test and just take it for what it is.

I got pwned though...

PS 11
VR 7
BS 9

The BS section was really hard, and the verbal was insane. I need to get my game together for these verbal sections. I've never scored below a 10 on aamc and never below a 9 on EK 101 so this was crazy.

Also, I'm buying earplugs so I can sit down undistracted and get through exams. I plan on doing TBR 3-5 between april 1-10. Should be rad.

What do people think of the TBR verbal sections compared to the AAMC's?

 

[SmurfinUSA]

Took TBR-2 today.

Halfway through the PS section my housemate gets a phone call and is talking really loudly into her phone. I can't concentrate at all after that, so I basically write off the test and just take it for what it is.

I got pwned though...

PS 11
VR 7
BS 9

The BS section was really hard, and the verbal was insane. I need to get my game together for these verbal sections. I've never scored below a 10 on aamc and never below a 9 on EK 101 so this was crazy.

Also, I'm buying earplugs so I can sit down undistracted and get through exams. I plan on doing TBR 3-5 between april 1-10. Should be rad.

What do people think of the TBR verbal sections compared to the AAMC's?

I feel you on the verbal- took tbr2 yesterday, and got an 8. My avg is about a 10-12

 

[ridethecliche]

I feel you on the verbal- took tbr2 yesterday, and got an 8. My avg is about a 10-12

I should have scored higher, but I need absolute silence for verbal. Coming from someone who listens to music while doing everything, that's weird. I took finals in college with an ipod because the professor said it was cool.

For verbal, forget it. I'm buying those foam earplugs asap to make the conditions as close to the real deal. Seriously, if I could take a drug to cut my hearing off for 5 hours during the MCAT, I'd do it!

 

[SmurfinUSA]

I should have scored higher, but I need absolute silence for verbal. Coming from someone who listens to music while doing everything, that's weird. I took finals in college with an ipod because the professor said it was cool.

For verbal, forget it. I'm buying those foam earplugs asap to make the conditions as close to the real deal. Seriously, if I could take a drug to cut my hearing off for 5 hours during the MCAT, I'd do it!

haha, I feel you on the noise issue!!!!! my roommate started to clean the backyard or something and made lots of noise while I was doing my verbal passages, luckily I had my Peltor's for the bs, lol. http://www.amazon.com/Peltor-H10A-Optime-Over-Earmuff/dp/B00009LI4K

 

[ridethecliche]

I feel you on the verbal- took tbr2 yesterday, and got an 8. My avg is about a 10-12

I think I'll try earplugs first, but I might order these to have. Look like they'd be awesome on test day as well. I study a lot in coffee shops and sometimes there's too much ambient noise going on.

Thanks!

 

[ridethecliche]

If I got a 34-37 average on TBR cbts, what would you guys say would be my real score? Typical breakdown is 11-12-13 (36). I never get below 13 on tbr bio, minimum 11 for verbal. Similar scores on TPR cbts, but never taken a AAMC practice and am so curious.

How do you 'gel' on the verbal? I've been doing fine on the EK and aamc's but the TBR just nailed me hard.

 

[epsilonprodigy]

Holy eff. I just took phase II of the Buffers and Titrations chapter. During it, I felt like I was getting owned and was really pressed for time. Kind of sad to be thrilled about this, but I got 78%!

This is lower than my usual average on the gen chem passages (usually upper 80's) but I'm still pretty happy. I found the phase II passages SO incredibly wordy and convoluted. How did others do on this chapter?

Oops, I just finished going over the passages and actually I got 88%. Apparently I don't know how to calculate percentages. Would gotten through with only two wrong total in phase II if it wasn't for stupid mistakes and rushing! Ugggh.

 

[akdas988]

Hi, new to posting but been lurking for a while. Started doing the TBR in january and I am finished with the content review and all phase I's and currently working on finishing up phase 2 and 3. Taking the mcat on April 29.

I am also using the TPRH science workbook. I will post my scores up since this thread has seem to be a lot less active after Don, boosh and cap' jazz left. It is in an excel format and the black number at the bottom denoted the average of the all phase I's coupled with the subjects, feel free to used the setup or format if you wish.

Got molested in metabolic pathways, esp. passage 5, good grief the whole damn thing was painful, got like 2 questions right. Anyways I have used ek, taken the kaplan SIP (and still have access to online material), and use TPRH verbal/science workbook, and TPR PS content book. So I guess I am kind of a mcat prep course slut. If you have any questions ask away.


Edit: I thought I had a much better understanding due to TBR till I took Kaplan FL 1 and 2 a few days ago.
Kap 1: 9PS;8BS; whocaresVR(I scored a 10 on my last mcat)
Kap 2: 9PS;8BS

 

[akdas988]

PS is was by far my worst section with my score being around a 6. Ability(lack thereof) of doing quick calculations was killing me. For people stuggling with this problem I highly suggest doing Secrets of Mental Math, in addition to TBR PS books.

Since my verbal score is stagnating at 10-11, I started reading Logical reasoning bible, which is meant for the lsat but I think should be applicable to the mcat. I will give an update if it helpful at all.

 

[ridethecliche]

Status: Slightly discouraged

Took TBR 3 today.

9PS, 10VR, 9BS.

I thought I did well on the PS, but apparently not. It seemed like half the questions on bio just made no sense to me...

I wanted to take AAMC 5 this weekend, but I think I might take TBR 4 and keep studying till I feel like I have a better grasp on some of the stuff. Maybe I'll just finish all the TBR exams in the next couple of weeks and then switch gears to the AAMC's. I need atleast 3 weeks for all the AAMC's so I'll let that be my guide.

I just want to break 32!!!!

 

[SmurfinUSA]

rtc, don't even worry about it. I took tbr 3 last week and got a 26 lol.

tbr 6 and 7 were 34 and 36 respectively. I think you shouldn't put too much stock in the scores. Just post-game, review, and stay confident and up!

 

[ridethecliche]

rtc, don't even worry about it. I took tbr 3 last week and got a 26 lol.

tbr 6 and 7 were 34 and 36 respectively. I think you shouldn't put too much stock in the scores. Just post-game, review, and stay confident and up!

I think this is why I want to get done with TBR before moving only to AAMC. I know the TBR scores don't 'mean' anything other than how you do on TBR, but internal consistency and improvement is good. I've been pretty consistent thus far. I'm going to go back and review all my exams soon because I haven't been so good about doing that well.

I.e. I read through them and go "oh i get that". I bought a notebook, and I'm going to go back through all my exams and record everything that I get wrong in them in PS and BS.

That's for 2 AAMC's and 3 TBR's. I have 1-9 TBR. I want to finish those before doing the 6 AAMCs that I have left. The priority will be the AAMCs but I'm hoping to be able to finish all of them, even if I have to break up some of the exams to PS/VR sections.

 

[ridethecliche]

rtc, don't even worry about it. I took tbr 3 last week and got a 26 lol.

tbr 6 and 7 were 34 and 36 respectively. I think you shouldn't put too much stock in the scores. Just post-game, review, and stay confident and up!

Guess I made a mistake counting how many things I got wrong on TBR 3. I thought I had a 9 in the BS. I had a 7.

28--->26. Ouch.

Looks like we were on the same page lol. Unless there was an issue and for some reason some of the answers got changed as I was editing? Who knows. I thought I counted things right. Whatever.

 

[akdas988]

.

 

[ridethecliche]

Just took 4 today and I did terribly.
7PS/12VR/7BS.

My science scores are coming down since tbr1 and I've put in a lot of study time and such.

I guess I'm taking 5 tomorrow. (edit: decided I was better off reviewing old exams instead)

 

[akdas988]

Just took 4 today and I did terribly.
7PS/12VR/7BS.

My science scores are coming down since tbr1 and I've put in a lot of study time and such.

I guess I'm taking 5 tomorrow.

Are you burnt out? I noticed my scores start to downtrend with all work and no play. Night of pummeling my liver with alcohol seems to do wonders for my brain. Must be a negative feedback loop.

 

[ridethecliche]

Are you burnt out? I noticed my scores start to downtrend with all work and no play. Night of pummeling my liver with alcohol seems to do wonders for my brain. Must be a negative feedback loop.

I don't think so?

I've Been studying a lot, but I've taken time out to hang out with friends etc.
I do really need to do more orgo review. I'm planning on going through the kaplan book over the next week or so.

I wonder if its anything to do with not using the tbr books. I guess i'll know in 2 weeks when i take another aamc.