BS Changing? How to prepare?

[JSA10C]

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Hey guys,
So a couple of my friends have taken the MCAT this summer and they informed me that the BS is nothing like the practice tests from AAMC. It seems like they think the passages were 100% conceptual, for example a passage explaining an experiment that one is never supposed to have seen and being asked about it. athey also thought that one could have reviewed almost nothing and been just as prepared. It seems like many people that have taken the MCAT recently in SDN agree with those statements. If so whats the best way to prepare? Read science Journals?????

I'm taking my test Aug 28 so please help. Also the people I am referring to are a group of 6 people, from many different test dates, find it hard to believe that it is mere coincidence.

 

[onedirection]

What else is new, isn't the MCAT at the end of the day supposed to be a thinking exam

 

[Heplayer92]

I mean, there's probably at least 1-2 from some of the AAMCs that are like that...

Random experiment, filled with concepts that you SHOULD be familiar with, but they throw you into a new setting.

Practice practice practice XD

 

[JSA10C]

I understand that the MCAT is a thinking exam. What I have heard though is that the exam centers not even remotely on content. At least from what I've heard. I was expecting some critical thinking questions on material that one has already studied, like TBR but a bit less content based.

Heplayer any suggestion on materials that I could use to practice such skills? Besides the two passages? lol.

 

[Synapsis]

I say they're at least partially wrong. Even if every single passage-based question required no thinking, there's still almost 10 bio discretes that require almost pure background knowledge. And I just did some discretes from the AAMC official guide - some of them can get specific.

I also did some of the passages in the AAMC official guide and they still require some background knowledge. While I've only taken AAMC 3 (which also requires some background knowledge) and these passages so far from the AAMC, I'm quite convinced that you need to know your stuff.

 

[Heplayer92]

From what I've read on forums, the Princeton Review Hyperlearning Science Workbook has some good ones but I personally have NOT gone through them.

Seems pretty pricy on Amazon too XD

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...443&rh=i:aps,k:hyperlearning science workbook

 

[Heplayer92]

From what I've read on forums, the Princeton Review Hyperlearning Science Workbook has some good ones but I personally have NOT gone through them.

Seems pretty pricy on Amazon too XD

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...443&rh=i:aps,k:hyperlearning science workbook

 

[JSA10C]

Any other suggestions? Bump.

 

[spiker268]

For me, it was helpful to treat some of the passages as a kind of extension of verbal review. What I mean for that, is that I concentrated more on thinking what the author was trying to say, and what their point was. I tried really hard to instead of relying heavily on background knowledge, to use the info in the passage and to supplement it with background knowledge.

 

[danny89]

for me, it was helpful to treat some of the passages as a kind of extension of verbal review. What i mean for that, is that i concentrated more on thinking what the author was trying to say, and what their point was. I tried really hard to instead of relying heavily on background knowledge, to use the info in the passage and to supplement it with background knowledge.

+1

 

[stinkytofu]

For me, it was helpful to treat some of the passages as a kind of extension of verbal review. What I mean for that, is that I concentrated more on thinking what the author was trying to say, and what their point was. I tried really hard to instead of relying heavily on background knowledge, to use the info in the passage and to supplement it with background knowledge.

seconded.

Do you happen to have any research experience? How have you been scoring on your bio sections? The MCAT definitely mirrors AAMC 11 the most but I would say my MCAT in May involved even more critical thinking. It is not necessarily "harder" per se but requires a lot more graphical interpretation, following biological pathways, etc. When taking the test, I would recommend basing your answers significantly on the passage. Frequently, the test will give you answers that sound right but are beyond the scope of what was given. In addition to science journals, perhaps you can try studying the G protein signaling pathway in the context of a prospective MCAT passage. You can ask yourself, what happens when a certain protein in this pathway gets switched off? What happens if protein A is switched off AND protein B is switched off, do the effects get negated? These are the kinds of questions that would show up on the MCAT. Finally, for the random discrete questions, I would recommend reviewing flashcards a week prior to your exam. Basically drill/cram a bunch of information and then do a mental vomit after the test. Doing these things really helped me in my case and I hope it does for you too! I ended up getting a 14 in BS.

 

[r0703]

i totally agree with your friend cause i took over 20 practice tests, did over 10,000 questions, and was so upset after the second time i took the test because I felt like I shouldn't have studied for another month. I guess you just have to practice experimental passages to the point where you're thinking like the mcat writers

 

[MedOldAge]

seconded.

Do you happen to have any research experience? How have you been scoring on your bio sections? The MCAT definitely mirrors AAMC 11 the most but I would say my MCAT in May involved even more critical thinking. It is not necessarily "harder" per se but requires a lot more graphical interpretation, following biological pathways, etc. When taking the test, I would recommend basing your answers significantly on the passage. Frequently, the test will give you answers that sound right but are beyond the scope of what was given. In addition to science journals, perhaps you can try studying the G protein signaling pathway in the context of a prospective MCAT passage. You can ask yourself, what happens when a certain protein in this pathway gets switched off? What happens if protein A is switched off AND protein B is switched off, do the effects get negated? These are the kinds of questions that would show up on the MCAT. Finally, for the random discrete questions, I would recommend reviewing flashcards a week prior to your exam. Basically drill/cram a bunch of information and then do a mental vomit after the test. Doing these things really helped me in my case and I hope it does for you too! I ended up getting a 14 in BS.

i totally agree with your friend cause i took over 20 practice tests, did over 10,000 questions, and was so upset after the second time i took the test because I felt like I shouldn't have studied for another month. I guess you just have to practice experimental passages to the point where you're thinking like the mcat writers

+2.

I recalled i said something like that after the March 2012 MCAT. Not as precisely pinpoint as Stinkytofu said. I suspect AAMC gradually replacing those "direct content" or "high percentage correct" passages out of the pool just a few at a time and re-writing more "broader conceptual and/or experimental" ones. If the passage answer is still requiring the basic knowledge of the subject "in" the pre-requisite as stated in the syllabus, it is a fair game. They are no more rewriting the "front end description" to the answer. Unfortunately, the whole challenge is that "front end", I am convinced the writers/authors are those either professors or researchers in graduate level. If you have not seen/contacted enough to those wording or environment, it "throw" you off in a tightly timed test like MCAT. That is why it does not bother some testers who have extensive research in thier undergrad EC.The rest is history. This is why for every time now, we heard the tester coming out claiming "this is not even close to AAMC 11" or "well, it is a kind of but not quite".

Folks, I have a very chill feeling that it is going to be harder as it is approaching 2015. As the time goes by, not necesssory MCAT, but any given standard test e.g. LSAT, the testers get smarter as they use more advance material to study, the test provider has to change to meet this ever changing challenge. For MCAT, I strongly feel that the MCAT committee is adapting a more post 2015 testing environment for quite a while now. We just didn't notice as we ONLY saw a few questions/passages at any given time. Of course, they have no obligation to tell you. Tough, they say, it is a fair game 😕

 

[sdz7424]

Just thought I'd add my take on things as I'm nearing my retake due to a horrible, nightmarish experience with VR last summer (August 16, 2012).

I can tell you that the BS on my test last August was similar to AAMC 9-11 but with a twist to it, so yes, it did seem a bit more difficult. It was heavy with experiment-based passages and the topic distribution was quite narrow. I was surprised by how few topics actually came up, and I only utilized like 20% of the material I studied in BS. The discretes were far from being "gimmes".

I'd say like one or two of the BS passages on my real test actually mirrored specific topics that came up as informational/descriptive passages on AAMC tests, but were instead, experimental passages with charts and data you had to interpret on the real thing.

With that being said, I felt terrible after my BS. I legitimately felt like I guessed on 75% of the questions and convinced myself I probably scored a 6-7. Thankfully, I wound up doing much, much better than that and was pleasantly surprised by both my PS and BS scores. Just trust your first instinct as you're going through questions - my biggest weakness on practice tests was second guessing myself and changing my answers from correct to incorrect on 4-6 questions per section. I just went with my gut and moved on quickly with the questions I wasn't sure of on the real thing and it seemed to work out well for me (minus VR, on which I second guessed myself through the whole thing).

Make sure you thoroughly review your performance on AAMC 9-11, and understand why each answer choice is correct as well as why the other choices are incorrect. Reread passages during your post-practice test analyses and make sure you understand the objectives/results of experiments, as this will help you to interpret data quickly and accurately. It sounds tedious, but it's all about learning what to look for in the passages and how the AAMC tends to ask you specific sorts of questions over and over again. Just look for the patterns in question styles, learn from your mistakes on practice tests, and you will be fine!! 🙂

 

[Elevencents]

Take what you read on SDN with a grain of salt. Sure it might be different than AAMC 3-8 but its still the same content, just presented in a more experimental manner. From what you read on here you'd think they're testing quantum mechanics.

 

[MedOldAge]

Just thought I'd add my take on things as I'm nearing my retake due to a horrible, nightmarish experience with VR last summer (August 16, 2012).

I can tell you that the BS on my test last August was similar to AAMC 9-11 but with a twist to it, so yes, it did seem a bit more difficult. It was heavy with experiment-based passages and the topic distribution was quite narrow. I was surprised by how few topics actually came up, and I only utilized like 20% of the material I studied in BS. The discretes were far from being "gimmes".

I'd say like one or two of the BS passages on my real test actually mirrored specific topics that came up as informational/descriptive passages on AAMC tests, but were instead, experimental passages with charts and data you had to interpret on the real thing.

With that being said, I felt terrible after my BS. I legitimately felt like I guessed on 75% of the questions and convinced myself I probably scored a 6-7. Thankfully, I wound up doing much, much better than that and was pleasantly surprised by both my PS and BS scores. Just trust your first instinct as you're going through questions - my biggest weakness on practice tests was second guessing myself and changing my answers from correct to incorrect on 4-6 questions per section. I just went with my gut and moved on quickly with the questions I wasn't sure of on the real thing and it seemed to work out well for me (minus VR, on which I second guessed myself through the whole thing).

Make sure you thoroughly review your performance on AAMC 9-11, and understand why each answer choice is correct as well as why the other choices are incorrect. Reread passages during your post-practice test analyses and make sure you understand the objectives/results of experiments, as this will help you to interpret data quickly and accurately. It sounds tedious, but it's all about learning what to look for in the passages and how the AAMC tends to ask you specific sorts of questions over and over again. Just look for the patterns in question styles, learn from your mistakes on practice tests, and you will be fine!! 🙂

Very good points. Hopefully we all benefit from your comments.👍

 

[gumdrops]

Take what you read on SDN with a grain of salt. Sure it might be different than AAMC 3-8 but its still the same content, just presented in a more experimental manner. From what you read on here you'd think they're testing quantum mechanics.

Very good point. It's important to remain mindful that theoretically intro bio is enough to do well on the BS. Still, I'd cede an edge coming out of the gates to good test takers/people with experience reading scientific journals on the new BS section. People say on this forum to start reading Nature or Science. That's great if you're really that into science. Learning to read scientific literature just to do well on the MCAT is a horribly inefficient way to study for the MCAT though.

Instead, I would endorse practicing Kaplan's BS Section Tests if you can get your hands on them and AAMC/Kaplan exams after memorizing your respective bio study manual cold. Kaplan's BS section tests were remarkably similar to the the BS section I took today.

You may not get the same advantage from memorizing info that you would have on the old AAMC's. Having lots of background knowledge can help you eliminate wrong answers much faster and put the passage into context quickly. So you may not know, say, how a transfection works but you could understand how it works with no prior exposure (har har) if you understand how a virus replicates or what a vector is from knowing your EK Bio cold. Honestly, I'd still say that knowing your bio cold a far greater advantage than knowing how to read a scientific paper. So study hard!

 

[aspiring20]

the BS section i took today is shockingly straight-forward and close to the later AAMCs.

and for the most part, the standalone questions are pretty much "give-mes"

 

[amichel]

^ my discretes were far from gimmes. But otherwise I agree, not too bad at all.

 

[SSerenity]

BR Passages are excellent.

Heres something to think about. I found that studying too much in detail using BR's actual review content hurt me.

I'm learning I should be able to solve these passage based questions just by integrating 'new' knowledge in the passage with some fundamental background.

By preparing yourself TOO much, you minimize the 'new' material presented in the passage, hence skrewing yourself out of valuable experience in connecting the dots.

I initially read through EK. I find EK is descriptive, and minimal enough. I supplemented with Princeton Review, which explicitly explains really important concepts. Having read EK Bio review lets me speed read thru PR material FAST. Understanding PR material has helps me solve the BR passages.

I've also been using TPR Workbook problems. But they are relatively easy, and seem too familiar after working thru PR review content.

 

[DocMC]

BR Passages are excellent.

Heres something to think about. I found that studying too much in detail using BR's actual review content hurt me.

I'm learning I should be able to solve these passage based questions just by integrating 'new' knowledge in the passage with some fundamental background.

By preparing yourself TOO much, you minimize the 'new' material presented in the passage, hence skrewing yourself out of valuable experience in connecting the dots.

I initially read through EK. I find EK is descriptive, and minimal enough. I supplemented with Princeton Review, which explicitly explains really important concepts. Having read EK Bio review lets me speed read thru PR material FAST. Understanding PR material has helps me solve the BR passages.

I've also been using TPR Workbook problems. But they are relatively easy, and seem too familiar after working thru PR review content.

YES! I agree! I think I have legit screwed myself over to some extent. When I use TBR Bio, I can score 13+. But on AAMC I am having trouble breaking a 10 despite receiving a 12 in BS on my real MCAT 2 years ago when I did not know content very well. What is the best resource for BS material that contains passages which incorporate new material and are not trying to make you "learn" the material at the same time? I mean, I do NOT want passages that explain pregnancy for 4 paragraphs and then asks details on it. I need passages that are heavily experimental. Any suggestions???? TBR is too detailed and is no longer beneficial to me.

 

[SSerenity]

YES! I agree! I think I have legit screwed myself over to some extent. When I use TBR Bio, I can score 13+. But on AAMC I am having trouble breaking a 10 despite receiving a 12 in BS on my real MCAT 2 years ago when I did not know content very well. What is the best resource for BS material that contains passages which incorporate new material and are not trying to make you "learn" the material at the same time? I mean, I do NOT want passages that explain pregnancy for 4 paragraphs and then asks details on it. I need passages that are heavily experimental. Any suggestions???? TBR is too detailed and is no longer beneficial to me.

I'd say continue using BR. Add TPR's Workbook and EK's 101 Bio questions. Except, don't do all the questions. Actively seek out the difficult scary looking passages in all these sources. Keep doing this until they become hard to find!

 

[medemic]

Try getting Kaplan45

 

[sakabato93]

Try getting Kaplan45

I did the physics from Kaplan 45 today. I thought it was pretty fracking hard. I liked it though. Rigorous, but fair.

 

[dillpgw]

I was expecting some critical thinking questions on material that one has already studied, like TBR but a bit less content based.

 

[medemic]

I did the physics from Kaplan 45 today. I thought it was pretty fracking hard. I liked it though. Rigorous, but fair.

Yeah if you want more try TPRs version of it

 

[sakabato93]

Yeah if you want more try TPRs version of it

Do you think their BS is similar to this newer MCAT BS? I haven't had any experience with it or Kaplan 45 BS yet, though.

 

[medemic]

Do you think their BS is similar to this newer MCAT BS? I haven't had any experience with it or Kaplan 45 BS yet, though.

Honestly I wish I had that answer myself. I'm going to wait and see what pops up in the 30+ thread to see if someone has detailed a good analysis about what to expect on the recent BS sections. People say that it's more like the verbal section. I get that, sort of. But how is that manifested. What would be an example of a question that wouldn't have shown up on prior exams. Or, is the frequency of certain questions that are on prior exams increased. If you check out the Official Guide to the MCAT they detailed the cognitive skills assessed. Has one of these sections increased in frequency of questions? Too many questions...not enough answers

 

[snowflakes]

Focus on the Official Guide and AAMC 11, as these passages are the most recently released and you'll see that compared to the earlier AAMC's, there's a trend towards more critical thinking, like bridging content knowledge with being able to draw conclusions from passage material. I think TPR was good practice in analyzing experiments.

Scattered through the AAMCs and Official Guide are lots of hard questions to look over and practice with. Spend a lot of time analyzing the question stems in the later AAMC practice material to try to generalize the type of question they're asking--i.e, what is the type of logic you need to follow? You'll find that while the material itself changes from practice AAMC to practice AAMC, sometimes, the essence of the question stem remains the same.

 

[MedOldAge]

Snowflakes, very interesting analysis. Thank you!

Just curious, when was your test?

 

[Punjabi Prince]

Ok so wasnt BS always conceptional? It was never really straightforward like "Where do post transcriptional processes occur in a Eukaryote?" If any of us were really expecting it to be that easy than we have fooled ourselves.... I also dont want to be offensive, but nothing here besides snowflakes post was really that helpful. Idk if its bc some users just dont want people to do better bc they didnt have the advice or preparation that we may get or they are just trying to be as vague as possible, but on behalf of all the SDNers, we would appreciate it if replys were more in depth and not "The BS section was nothing I had seen before, it is not like any of the material from prep". Really? Studying for the MCAT all this time Im sure all of us could deduce that from the title of the thread "BS Changes?" We are asking how and what is changing, not "I got screwed so... Im going to remove all hope of doing well and discourage everyone." So could the attitude be a little more positive and possibly helpful if that isnt too much to ask?

 

[DocMC]

Ok so wasnt BS always conceptional? It was never really straightforward like "Where do post transcriptional processes occur in a Eukaryote?" If any of us were really expecting it to be that easy than we have fooled ourselves.... I also dont want to be offensive, but nothing here besides snowflakes post was really that helpful. Idk if its bc some users just dont want people to do better bc they didnt have the advice or preparation that we may get or they are just trying to be as vague as possible, but on behalf of all the SDNers, we would appreciate it if replys were more in depth and not "The BS section was nothing I had seen before, it is not like any of the material from prep". Really? Studying for the MCAT all this time Im sure all of us could deduce that from the title of the thread "BS Changes?" We are asking how and what is changing, not "I got screwed so... Im going to remove all hope of doing well and discourage everyone." So could the attitude be a little more positive and possibly helpful if that isnt too much to ask?

Lol agreed!

 

[Punjabi Prince]

Also, these "experimental passages" are new types of passages? Or it is like experiment based passages that show up more frequently now and no one was prepared bc they didnt practice them enough? I think the most of our scattering around is because we just dont know what to expect. I asked my friend who took it on July second how his went and he said 4 out of the 7 passages were definitely doable and he "felt good", the other 3 were "experimental and much harder than he expected". He is also a pretty brilliant kid, graduated in 3 years, although he is really arrogant and underestimates just about everything so I dont know how his prep was, but basically what im asking is..... What are these experimental passages?

 

[MedOldAge]

Ok so wasnt BS always conceptional? It was never really straightforward like "Where do post transcriptional processes occur in a Eukaryote?" If any of us were really expecting it to be that easy than we have fooled ourselves.... I also dont want to be offensive, but nothing here besides snowflakes post was really that helpful. Idk if its bc some users just dont want people to do better bc they didnt have the advice or preparation that we may get or they are just trying to be as vague as possible, but on behalf of all the SDNers, we would appreciate it if replys were more in depth and not "The BS section was nothing I had seen before, it is not like any of the material from prep". Really? Studying for the MCAT all this time Im sure all of us could deduce that from the title of the thread "BS Changes?" We are asking how and what is changing, not "I got screwed so... Im going to remove all hope of doing well and discourage everyone." So could the attitude be a little more positive and possibly helpful if that isnt too much to ask?

Lol agreed!

You both are absolutely correct. We all were dancing around the wagon including me concerning saying something off the limit. At the top of it, we don't have all the "evidence" and only trying to feel the "scene" with "restrict" facts. That is why I said snowflakes's comment was most interesting.

I for one, analize it to death hoping that it will raise the understanding of future SDNers such that they know lab/research experience will be most helpful to tackle those BS passages. Yes, lab/research experience is the solution. In my opinion, it will not help those who will have the MCAT within a few months. I was ONLY begging to bring out the "AWARENESS" as I have said way back to March 2012.

To all SDNers, anyone?

 

[Punjabi Prince]

Wait... So you are saying research is what will help you do better on BS? Doesnt that kinda screw all the people who arent Science majors? Considering research positions are given out in accordance to your major.... I dont think they would be that discriminative and give a disadvantage to those who werent privileged enough to attain such a spot. I mean, acceptances are now being evaluated on socioeconomic dispositions. Thats just my take, although I do not disagree that it will be helpful. I just dont think they are changing it so that people start researching more. Not only that, but if that is the case... wasnt research something to set applicants apart? Not something to make us all herd up again :\. Honestly, why are they trying to f*ck us.

 

[snowflakes]

You should be spending a lot of time analyzing the practice questions to see how to generalize the question stem. Practice AAMCs have lots of good passages that require critical thinking. When you find a question that is more reasoning based, mark it, and when you review, analyze the thought process usd in arriving at the right answer after you take them.

For example, AAMC PRACTICE TEST SPOILER SPOILER

Look at the AAMC 11 BS 135: this is a good example of bridging content knowledge with information presented in the passage.

AAMC 10 BS 121:
The way I would generalize this question: Correlation vs Causation. Question--how can you prove x causes y? the correct answer is cause X to occur and see if Y follows. This is the only way to prove causation. Choice "A" is a correlation, which can take two forms: when Y is present, X is also present, or when X is present, Y is also present. Both would be incorrect logic.

Doing this type of generalization for all of the critical thinking questions you encounter will be really helpful in learning how to approach the more conceptual questions.

 

[MedOldAge]

Wait... So you are saying research is what will help you do better on BS? Doesnt that kinda screw all the people who arent Science majors? Considering research positions are given out in accordance to your major.... I dont think they would be that discriminative and give a disadvantage to those who werent privileged enough to attain such a spot. I mean, acceptances are now being evaluated on socioeconomic dispositions. Thats just my take, although I do not disagree that it will be helpful. I just dont think they are changing it so that people start researching more. Not only that, but if that is the case... wasnt research something to set applicants apart? Not something to make us all herd up again :\. Honestly, why are they trying to f*ck us.

I understand. Point well taken.

 

[Punjabi Prince]

This thread needs to be revived.

 

[mbaumann1123]

I have the TPR ICC and I have yet to come across a passage that wasn't experimental in nature, so that might be good practice if the MCAT relies heavily on critical thinking. However the passages are very difficult and there are no explanations in the book, only an answer key. Even in class the explanations given were confusing and the instructors didn't always understand them. I'm skimming through my lab books from my upper division biology classes to get more comfortable with experiments in general, although I'm sure the ones on the mcat are more advanced than those I came across in undergrad

 

[MedOldAge]

I have the TPR ICC and I have yet to come across a passage that wasn't experimental in nature, so that might be good practice if the MCAT relies heavily on critical thinking. However the passages are very difficult and there are no explanations in the book, only an answer key. Even in class the explanations given were confusing and the instructors didn't always understand them. I'm skimming through my lab books from my upper division biology classes to get more comfortable with experiments in general, although I'm sure the ones on the mcat are more advanced than those I came across in undergrad

+++0011

In my 2 cents opinion, the "exposure" for those in undergrad who had "more" lab/research "experience" will have a leg up. Just a chance to access those lab/research papers/reports/journal others wrote, the "may be" unusual structure/format/wording the research people defined/presented (they can be of different background & that may dictate the way they expressed), and possibly same paper been that were written by multiple people (sometimes very confused from paragraph to paragraph) were eye opening.

Everybody is looking for a ONE to ONE swap of perfect match/representation/comparison from Practice FLs to Real Test.

This is MCAT, folks........it surely is possible that the real thing is longer, more unnecessary stuff threw in the passage to challenge (confused) you. Hey, it is a fair game. The medical community is expecting doctors who can "systematically" interpret/analysis bunch of stuff the patient throw at them (some of the information are either not related or partial true) and smart enough to "FILTER" out the what and what not (just like those charts/graphs/tables) and come up a treatment (or in our case a,b,c, or d) for that patient in a timely fashion. (The patient is standing in front of you or in our case only have 70 minutes for 52 questions).