Developing Criticle Thinking

[UofRochesterMed]

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Hey, I am planning to take the MCAT within the next couple of months. I have also signed up for the Kaplan course and just finished up my diagnostics. I didn't score as well as I hoped on the MCAT diagnostic. It may be the case that its because I haven't fully engaged myself in the material yet. All in all, I was looking for some advise on how to develop into a better critical thinker? Should I be reading some sort of book on this subject or does it just come naturally with time? I would like to hear your opinions and what has helped those of you who have already taken the MCAT and done well on it. As always, your advice is much appreciated!

 

[johnisles2011]

First, there is an entire MCAT forum devoted to topics like this.

As far as developing critical thinking skills, I think they are pretty specific for the MCAT, and the best way to do that is to continue to take practice tests and do practice problems/passages. These things come with time, and I'm sure most people would agreee that their diagnostic and first test were not what they were hoping for. I know the Kaplan course is pretty heavy on test taking strategy, so I think you'll be in good hands in that regard. Just be sure always be monitoring what does and doesn't work for you so you can develop the best plan for yourself.

 

[MedPR]

Hey, I am planning to take the MCAT within the next couple of months. I have also signed up for the Kaplan course and just finished up my diagnostics. I didn't score as well as I hoped on the MCAT diagnostic. It may be the case that its because I haven't fully engaged myself in the material yet. All in all, I was looking for some advise on how to develop into a better critical thinker? Should I be reading some sort of book on this subject or does it just come naturally with time? I would like to hear your opinions and what has helped those of you who have already taken the MCAT and done well on it. As always, your advice is much appreciated!

Critical thinking is something you develop, but it doesn't necessarily "come naturally with time." Some people are better critical thinkers than others, obviously, but everyone can improve their critical thinking skills. I think doing passages and trying to never blindly guess is a great way to develop critical thinking. If you have no idea how to approach a question, quickly run through all the concepts in the passage and the question stem and see if you can relate the two.

Even if you get the wrong concept, you worked through a thought process and got to an answer. Obviously on the real MCAT you don't care why you get something right, as long as you get it right, but when preparing, knowing why you got an answer right is just as important as knowing why you got something wrong.

 

[nuance]

I would suggest doing as many practice tests as possible. Practice reading dense texts (philosophy, economics, literary criticism etc.) and ask yourself questions about what you just read. Also, I'm not sure how much of an impact it had, but I made a few lifestyle changes in the months before the test. I started getting a lot more sleep, working out (cardio), and didn't drink (etc..) for about 3 months before my test.

I took a two month Kaplan course as well. I think I scored in the low 20's on my diagnostic. I ended up scoring a 38 on the real test. The course will prepare you well, if you take advantage of all of the extra practice tests and go to all of the classes.

 

[sector9]

Moving to "MCAT Discussions"

 

[UofRochesterMed]

I would suggest doing as many practice tests as possible. Practice reading dense texts (philosophy, economics, literary criticism etc.) and ask yourself questions about what you just read. Also, I'm not sure how much of an impact it had, but I made a few lifestyle changes in the months before the test. I started getting a lot more sleep, working out (cardio), and didn't drink (etc..) for about 3 months before my test.

I took a two month Kaplan course as well. I think I scored in the low 20's on my diagnostic. I ended up scoring a 38 on the real test. The course will prepare you well, if you take advantage of all of the extra practice tests and go to all of the classes.

Thanks! I am glad to hear the positive encouragement