BS Section

[onedirection]

I actually am seeing a lot of people basically do really well on the BS Section on this site...people are just throwing out 14s like it's no big deal

I was wondering how you guys do it? Albeit Orgo I haven't finished yet and Bio was my worst of the pre-reqs

I feel like every time I go approach a BS Section, a new topic that I've never seen in my life just pops out or my conclusions are not exactly what the question was looking for...I feel like I'm simply not thinking correctly for this part of the section; it's not the fact that the ideas presented in the passage are weird or anything [except in orgo, then it's weird at times]. Sometimes it's something that I've never seen before in content review.

I'm still getting in the double digits, but looking at the curve, getting that 14 means you get like 1 question wrong

Is it content review or something?

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[SN12357]

I actually am seeing a lot of people basically do really well on the BS Section on this site...people are just throwing out 14s like it's no big deal

I was wondering how you guys do it? Albeit Orgo I haven't finished yet and Bio was my worst of the pre-reqs

I feel like every time I go approach a BS Section, a new topic that I've never seen in my life just pops out or my conclusions are not exactly what the question was looking for...I feel like I'm simply not thinking correctly for this part of the section; it's not the fact that the ideas presented in the passage are weird or anything [except in orgo, then it's weird at times]. Sometimes it's something that I've never seen before in content review.

I'm still getting in the double digits, but looking at the curve, getting that 14 means you get like 1 question wrong

Is it content review or something?

At that point it's content review, IMO. Content review that may or may not be worth it if you're already in the 12-13 range. At that point your hours studying: points gained ratio is pretty high.

 

[Chillbo Baggins]

I think part of it is that most members here (to my knowledge) are Bio or Chem majors, so taking so many of those types of courses beats all the fundamentals into your head, as well as gives you a sample of many different subjects that can come up on the MCAT.

 

[OneTwoThreeFour]

Got a 14 in Bio. For me, it was just recognizing that a significant (I would say >50%) of the answers are in the passage. Then the actual info you need is fairly basic.

 

[medemic]

Got a 14 in Bio. For me, it was just recognizing that a significant (I would say >50%) of the answers are in the passage. Then the actual info you need is fairly basic.

Word.

 

[onedirection]

I love how loosely you say "basic" it's a lot of material and I keep having trouble remembering it all

 

[HesitantManatee]

MCAT Bio is basic. If your having trouble remembering content, it probably because your focusing on the detail rather than concepts. You should also treat the BS section as a verbal section.

 

[onedirection]

This is exactly what I mean

looking at EK 1001 Bio

The question says what's the order of blood flow through the heart

the answer was Mitral valve --> Right Ventricle --> aortic valve --> aortic arch

I've never heard the word Mitral used ever, they could've just said bicuspid...but no

I chose Vena cava --> right atria --> left atria --> left ventricle because that was the only choice with the correct order [where I also knew what the stuff was]; but apparently it wasn't the right answer

stupid stuff like that which I find on exams are what mess me over

 

[HesitantManatee]

yea, knowing the names of the valves is a little too much. The MCAT will never ask you something that detailed unless its stated in a passage. What are you using for Bio content and question review?

 

[onedirection]

That's the thing, EK 1001 and TBR all seem to include a lot of detail oriented questions; even TPR, so I've undoubtedly seen lower scores; and by detail oriented questions. Passages seem to contain more discrete questions than anything else

For content review I used EK and went over some concepts in TBR, Also had to use Bio for dummies to get an overview on physiology. Watched some videos online to see the animations; then I just did questions and am learning stuff as I go along

The thing is I was scored a 10 on the BS of the AAMC 3 with little content review; and I haven't seen major improvements in that section 3rd party tests

 

[HesitantManatee]

I found EK Bio questions to be too easy and TBR Bio question to be too hard. That being said I don't think any prep company got the MCAT Bio question right. You should gauge your performance only on the exams AAMC.

 

[gettheleadout]

yea, knowing the names of the valves is a little too much. The MCAT will never ask you something that detailed unless its stated in a passage. What are you using for Bio content and question review?

Disagree, numerous, numerous people have come back to SDN after their tests reporting incredibly obscure, specific discretes.

 

[HesitantManatee]

Disagree, numerous, numerous people have come back to SDN after their tests reporting incredibly obscure, specific discretes.

Numerous people also come back to SDN and point to random things as the reason they do poorly on the exam. OP didn't ask for people who did poorly to give him their excuses, he asked for people who did well to give him their strategies.

I took the MCAT twice and did well on the science sections both times. On both occasions have never encounters a question in the science section that required any obscure detail to answer. The MCAT does like to hide the concept it's testing with complicated terminologies, but you handle this with test taking logic not content knowledge.

 

[oxelhs]

This is exactly what I mean

looking at EK 1001 Bio

The question says what's the order of blood flow through the heart

the answer was Mitral valve --> Right Ventricle --> aortic valve --> aortic arch

I've never heard the word Mitral used ever, they could've just said bicuspid...but no

I chose Vena cava --> right atria --> left atria --> left ventricle because that was the only choice with the correct order [where I also knew what the stuff was]; but apparently it wasn't the right answer

stupid stuff like that which I find on exams are what mess me over

How is what you put not the correct answer?

 

[Thisisthelife]

I found EK Bio questions to be too easy and TBR Bio question to be too hard. That being said I don't think any prep company got the MCAT Bio question right. You should gauge your performance only on the exams AAMC.

A friend of mine who took the test on July 2nd said that the aamcs were nothing like the actual exam. He also said that BR bio is good practice but nothing really captures the actual exam.

 

[MTHFR]

How is what you put not the correct answer?

Not part of the heart. It's the major vein (IVC + SVC) coming back to the heart.

 

[Synapsis]

Knowing the names of valves in the heart isn't obscure. There's no dodging the fact that you do have to know some anatomy, and I would hardly call that out of the scope of knowledge that we should have solidified.

 

[Temperature101]

Disagree, numerous, numerous people have come back to SDN after their tests reporting incredibly obscure, specific discretes.

Agree... That is what I have been seeing on SDN... This test is ****ty... The best way to prepare for that beast is by assuming everything is fair game. Gosh... I feel like having a catharsis when I think about this test....

 

[Laureatebarrel]

Okay... this is how I feel about the BS section: You should expect the passage to be unexpected, that is it is going to present some new information you do not expect to have. BUT think about what it said, and relate to what you know. Let's say they are talking about a HIV receptor factor, then what should you think about? Receptor, transmembrane protein, signal mechanism are a few things that should pop into your mind to start with. I have to agree that the basic knowledge is quite broad, but it is not required to be in-depth. What I would suggest is that when you review AAMC practice passage, try to list out those topics that are mentioned in the passage. The passage may be dense and complex, but the questions I have seen and done require basic knowledge understanding.

 

[Dr.Forssmann]

Got a 14 in Bio. For me, it was just recognizing that a significant (I would say >50%) of the answers are in the passage. Then the actual info you need is fairly basic.

Is this true? Should we treat the bio section like VR? With some background knowledge? Do you guys recommend reading the whole passage?

Or would it be better to skip the passage, look at the graphs, tables, charts, and just jump to the questions and answer them. If some of the questions give you some trouble go back to the passage?

 

[DocMC]

Is this true? Should we treat the bio section like VR? With some background knowledge? Do you guys recommend reading the whole passage?

Or would it be better to skip the passage, look at the graphs, tables, charts, and just jump to the questions and answer them. If some of the questions give you some trouble go back to the passage?

Never, ever skip a bio passage. As an above poster said, you better read that passage with care and understand it. The majority of answers can be inferred directly from the passage. Only use background info to support /arrive to an answer choice. It has to make sense and relate to the passage. You can not just use background information. After analyzing AAMC material (which I did NOT do the first time I took the MCAT), I can not believe the importance of info in the passage to arriving at the most logical answer choice. Just my 0.02. I scored 12 my first MCAT on BS.

 

[Dr.Forssmann]

Never, ever skip a bio passage. As an above poster said, you better read that passage with care and understand it. The majority of answers can be inferred directly from the passage. Only use background info to support /arrive to an answer choice. It has to make sense and relate to the passage. You can not just use background information. After analyzing AAMC material (which I did NOT do the first time I took the MCAT), I can not believe the importance of info in the passage to arriving at the most logical answer choice. Just my 0.02. I scored 12 my first MCAT on BS.

Cool thanks so much for the advice!

So start reading the passages like vr?? Or what approaches have you guys used?

 

[HesitantManatee]

Knowing the names of valves in the heart isn't obscure. There's no dodging the fact that you do have to know some anatomy, and I would hardly call that out of the scope of knowledge that we should have solidified.

Knowing the names of the valves is way too much detail. If your gonna do that you might as well memorize the names of the small vessels or the cleavage site of pepsin. On my mcat their was a question on the glyoxylate cycle. Was the question really about the glyoxylate cycle? No, it was just a simple carbohydrate question hiding behind something I that looked intimidating.

So start reading the passages like vr?? Or what approaches have you guys used?

you should treat it as the VR section. Also practice interpreting graphs and figures, TBR is good resource for this.

 

[Dr.Forssmann]

Knowing the names of the valves is way too much detail. If your gonna do that you might as well memorize the names of the small vessels or the cleavage site of pepsin. On my mcat their was a question on the glyoxylate cycle. Was the question really about the glyoxylate cycle? No, it was just a simple carbohydrate question hiding behind something I that looked intimidating.




you should treat it as the VR section. Also practice interpreting graphs and figures, TBR is good resource for this.

Genius! I tried this and my scores junped today! And for physics would you use the same approach? Ive been doing pretty well in BR while skipping the passages i dont find them very useful, for physics that is. Would you recommend reading the passage?

 

[HesitantManatee]

Genius! I tried this and my scores junped today! And for physics would you use the same approach? Ive been doing pretty well in BR while skipping the passages i dont find them very useful, for physics that is. Would you recommend reading the passage?

You should never ever skip any passage. When you'er doing TBR passages you should be working on you timing. Time management is very important on the MCAT, it is just as important as content knowledge and test taking logic.

The PS section doesn't have as much critical thinking as the BS section. Some question just want you to set up and work with equations. What help me was know all the units in the boxed equations. You should know how the units are related and be able to break them down to MKS units. Also treat the equations as sentences that are trying to tell you something. The most important thing to remember is the science sections like to hide simple concepts in unfamiliar territory so try and find the simple concept being tested.

 

[Temperature101]

You should never ever skip any passage. When you'er doing TBR passages you should be working on you timing. Time management is very important on the MCAT, it is just as important as content knowledge and test taking logic.

The PS section doesn't have as much critical thinking as the BS section. Some question just want you to set up and work with equations. What help me was know all the units in the boxed equations. You should know how the units are related and be able to break them down to MKS units. Also treat the equations as sentences that are trying to tell you something. The most important thing to remember is the science sections like to hide simple concepts in unfamiliar territory so try and find the simple concept being tested.QUOTE]

You pretty much sum up what that ****ty test is about...

 

[Dr.Forssmann]

You should never ever skip any passage. When you'er doing TBR passages you should be working on you timing. Time management is very important on the MCAT, it is just as important as content knowledge and test taking logic.

The PS section doesn't have as much critical thinking as the BS section. Some question just want you to set up and work with equations. What help me was know all the units in the boxed equations. You should know how the units are related and be able to break them down to MKS units. Also treat the equations as sentences that are trying to tell you something. The most important thing to remember is the science sections like to hide simple concepts in unfamiliar territory so try and find the simple concept being tested.[/QUOTE]

You pretty much sum up what that ****ty test is about...

I see so... Don't skip any text in the passages. Read everything. Even for physics. Gotcha!

Correct me if i'm misinterpreting what you said.

 

[Dr.Forssmann]

Hey just curious so is br bad to study for bio. It seems like alot of the questions arent based on the passage and really fustrated me. Maybe im wrong. What are you guys using for bio practice?

 

[deleted393595]

This is exactly what I mean

looking at EK 1001 Bio

The question says what's the order of blood flow through the heart

the answer was Mitral valve --> Right Ventricle --> aortic valve --> aortic arch

I've never heard the word Mitral used ever, they could've just said bicuspid...but no

I chose Vena cava --> right atria --> left atria --> left ventricle because that was the only choice with the correct order [where I also knew what the stuff was]; but apparently it wasn't the right answer

stupid stuff like that which I find on exams are what mess me over

Here's my crosspost, but my 14 is a n=1 situation only so don't place too much weight on it:

I just took AAMC #4 and got a 14 on BS without finishing my full content review, and the key things that I feel have helped me out content-wise is having taken AP Bio in high school, repeating Bio 101 and Bio 102 in college, and being a bio tutor. I've also taken a Physiology course. Together, I feel that these things have given me a strong bio background especially for physiology, which we did not go much into depth in my Bio 102 class.

TBR I've heard is harder than the actual MCAT, but EK imho seemed close to the AAMC questions. You might do a lot better on the corresponding EK 101 questions and 30 min practice tests (I missed not more than 1-2 questions on them which often were because they were poorly worded and not like the actual AAMC test questions).

That being said, if you won't be able to take a second intro bio class and a physiology class, your best bet would be to find a physiology textbook (and not PR or TBR) and take detailed notes of 1) GI System 2) CNS+PNS 3) Cardio 4) Nephro. These are the most complicated systems and knowing the nuances of these various systems will help you out greatly.

You also are doing well on ochem so I don't think that molecular bio is going to be your problem.

Additionally, I also have to find and read articles ranging from material science to math to molecular bio for my research and I spend maybe half-an-hour a day on this. I think that this has really helped my bio passage comprehension since having to comprehend such a weird array of subjects has helped me pick up on the concepts in the bio passages really easily.

What I'd recommend to you would be to access Nature Reviews (through your institutional access) since it's written for a grad-school audience rather than a superspecialist crowd. Read as many review articles as you can in maybe 1/2 to an hour, and focus more on comprehension than understanding. Try to see how the various pieces of the puzzle fit together, and critique it. That should boost your comprehension pronto

Check your PM.

Also, for the Nature Reviews, the point of reading them is that they're so out of context vis-a-vis your background info that it makes them hard to read. Which is perfect because your goal isn't to memorize and learn what the review is about, but rather to understand what is its position on various concepts that it's talking about. Essentially, think of it as the VR section except with a heavy focus on Bio.

For example, take a look at this article: MSP–RON signalling in cancer: pathogenesis and therapeutic potential

When you're reading it, you should focus on picking up just the basic rudiments on what MSP-RON is. Based on the stuff that you should have been taught in Bio 101, you should realize that MSP is a receptor-ligand while the RON is the receptor (tyrosine kinase receptor to be more exact).

Also use contextual clues to figure out what's happening: For example, in the section on MSP Gene Regulation and Proteolytic Maturation, you should be able to understand based on the section header that MSP is a gene that makes the relavant ligand protein, and that its mRNA is expressed mostly in certain liver cells, which means that they're producing the protein. Additionally, there are two major transcriptional factors that are binding to the DNA called HNF4alpha and NFY. CREB also acts as a co-activator.

Then, pro-MSP is secreted into the blood, where as a protein, it is dissolved in the plasma and cleaved by specific trypsin like proteins in various parts of the body in order to activate it.

--------------------

So essentially, all you're doing is deciphering the article rather than taking notes on it and learning about it as though you are going to be tested on it.

 

[deleted393595]

This is exactly what I mean

looking at EK 1001 Bio

The question says what's the order of blood flow through the heart

the answer was Mitral valve --> Right Ventricle --> aortic valve --> aortic arch

I've never heard the word Mitral used ever, they could've just said bicuspid...but no

I chose Vena cava --> right atria --> left atria --> left ventricle because that was the only choice with the correct order [where I also knew what the stuff was]; but apparently it wasn't the right answer

stupid stuff like that which I find on exams are what mess me over

Strangely enough I actually remembered the order of those valves from my 4th grade PE class.

We had a really enthusiastic PE teacher.

 

[Dr.Forssmann]

Here's my crosspost, but my 14 is a n=1 situation only so don't place too much weight on it:

Very cool! Thank you for your post! Very insightful!

Ive been studying TBR and I was wondering if it is safe to assume that the MCAT will be more passage based than "background-knowledge" based? What do you guys think???

I haven't taken any aamc's yet or ne thing so I don't exactly know how it will be.