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- Nov 9, 2005
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This was my second time taking it and Im a little disappointed being that I put in about twice the effort and only came out one point higher - although many of my sections did improve quite substantially.
I would like to thank everyone on this forum who helped me with my questions and who spent the time to give us feedback following their exams. I also would particularly like to thank Poc91 who literally spent hours on the phone with me going over the 10 million questions that I had. Thanks Poc!!! Also, Nancy and Dr. Romano - I have spent months on the phone with them and they have been there for me every step of the way - thank you!
Fist time: / Yesterday:
PAT: 19 / 19 (75.2%)
QR: 15 / 15 (38.3%)
RC: 18 / 20 (66.2%)
Bio: 19 / 21 (90.4%)👍
GC: 20 / 17 (47.5%)WTF!!!!!
Orgo: 19 / 20 (79.2%)
TS: 19 / 19 (73.6%)
AA: 18 / 19 (73.5%)
All I can say is that this exam felt a million times more difficult than my previous one which was taken in March. I felt like I had to work so hard to earn these scores. I had a migraine the size of China by the time I was done.
Materials:
Destroyer, Kaplan, Achiever, Schaums Bio, Barrons SAT II Math.
Destroyer truly helped the most. The way to do is to study the Kaplan Blue book until you're blue in the face and then hit the Destroyer and supplement with Wikipedia or other materials. Despite what many have said, I think that Schaums is overkill for the bio. If you know the kaplan bio section 100% and you elaborate on areas where its weak (i.e., development) you will almost be guaranteed an 18/19 range. I had 1000 flashcards for bio (no joke). Add Destroyer and know everything in that book and youre looking at something in the 20s in Bio for sure.
Dont waste your time with the Barrons math book. Its too detailed. If you know everything in the destroyer your content knowledge will be adequate for this section, but its all strategy from there.
Bio: This section was huuuuge on application like everyone has been saying. Its not only regurgitation but it really requires some deep thought and understanding about each topic. I think its more important to know a little about each subject than a lot about only a few subjects, and I think Kaplan and Destroyer do this very well.
QR: WTF! I worked so hard to raise my score in this section, went through all of destroyer and the barrons math book, and didnt improve at all. I think the bottom line for this section is timing and strategy. The questions are not difficult and I probably could have gotten a 30 if I had more time, but I dont work very well under timed, pressured situations, and I was just in too much of a rush here. Like everyone has said, lots of word problems show up here and just kill your timing. I got to the last question of this section, got the answer, but I had about 1 second left to put the answer down and the clock ran out of time. OUCH!
GC: 20 last time, 17 this time. This score is really just killing me. Usually GC is my strongest subject and I never scored anything less than 21 in my practice exams. Last time it was 95% conceptual and this time it was almost all calculations. I didnt expect to have to calculate much so it freaked me out, I got nervous, and I spent too much time on just a few questions. My strategy has always been to allow myself only 30 minutes for each of the 3 nat. science sections so I was forced to hurry through this section and skip some of the questions in order to give the orgo section a good chance. There were really no questions that I couldnt have answered here, it was just a timing issue which I dont deal well with at all🙁
Orgo: Destroyer is dead on. I thought I got a 30 here. I would love to see where I went wrong but Im guessing that I fell victim to some of the hidden tricks that are easy to look over.
RC: Maybe 5 tone questions. Not like everyone said. I didnt read the passage at all. I went straight to the questions and searched for the answers. Im not a very strong reader so Ill take this score here. I think the key here is to just go nuts on the sections. Dont sit back and leisurely read through. Go through the questions and find the answers as if your life depended on it.
PAT: Really easy compared to most practice exams. I was disappointed with a 19 here. I thought I did much better. Most people say achiever is good practice for this section but I disagree. Its way more difficult which makes it harder to understand what to look for. If you practice with simple materials for this section, like that of Kaplan, I think you will be better prepared to understand what to look for.
So what do you guys think? Do you think the majority of schools would look beyond that 15 in QR? I know most schools dont give much emphasis to the QR section so Im thinking that I will be OK. I really really really dont wanna take this exam again and Im just happy its over and done with!!!
I would like to thank everyone on this forum who helped me with my questions and who spent the time to give us feedback following their exams. I also would particularly like to thank Poc91 who literally spent hours on the phone with me going over the 10 million questions that I had. Thanks Poc!!! Also, Nancy and Dr. Romano - I have spent months on the phone with them and they have been there for me every step of the way - thank you!
Fist time: / Yesterday:
PAT: 19 / 19 (75.2%)
QR: 15 / 15 (38.3%)
RC: 18 / 20 (66.2%)
Bio: 19 / 21 (90.4%)👍
GC: 20 / 17 (47.5%)WTF!!!!!
Orgo: 19 / 20 (79.2%)
TS: 19 / 19 (73.6%)
AA: 18 / 19 (73.5%)
All I can say is that this exam felt a million times more difficult than my previous one which was taken in March. I felt like I had to work so hard to earn these scores. I had a migraine the size of China by the time I was done.
Materials:
Destroyer, Kaplan, Achiever, Schaums Bio, Barrons SAT II Math.
Destroyer truly helped the most. The way to do is to study the Kaplan Blue book until you're blue in the face and then hit the Destroyer and supplement with Wikipedia or other materials. Despite what many have said, I think that Schaums is overkill for the bio. If you know the kaplan bio section 100% and you elaborate on areas where its weak (i.e., development) you will almost be guaranteed an 18/19 range. I had 1000 flashcards for bio (no joke). Add Destroyer and know everything in that book and youre looking at something in the 20s in Bio for sure.
Dont waste your time with the Barrons math book. Its too detailed. If you know everything in the destroyer your content knowledge will be adequate for this section, but its all strategy from there.
Bio: This section was huuuuge on application like everyone has been saying. Its not only regurgitation but it really requires some deep thought and understanding about each topic. I think its more important to know a little about each subject than a lot about only a few subjects, and I think Kaplan and Destroyer do this very well.
QR: WTF! I worked so hard to raise my score in this section, went through all of destroyer and the barrons math book, and didnt improve at all. I think the bottom line for this section is timing and strategy. The questions are not difficult and I probably could have gotten a 30 if I had more time, but I dont work very well under timed, pressured situations, and I was just in too much of a rush here. Like everyone has said, lots of word problems show up here and just kill your timing. I got to the last question of this section, got the answer, but I had about 1 second left to put the answer down and the clock ran out of time. OUCH!
GC: 20 last time, 17 this time. This score is really just killing me. Usually GC is my strongest subject and I never scored anything less than 21 in my practice exams. Last time it was 95% conceptual and this time it was almost all calculations. I didnt expect to have to calculate much so it freaked me out, I got nervous, and I spent too much time on just a few questions. My strategy has always been to allow myself only 30 minutes for each of the 3 nat. science sections so I was forced to hurry through this section and skip some of the questions in order to give the orgo section a good chance. There were really no questions that I couldnt have answered here, it was just a timing issue which I dont deal well with at all🙁
Orgo: Destroyer is dead on. I thought I got a 30 here. I would love to see where I went wrong but Im guessing that I fell victim to some of the hidden tricks that are easy to look over.
RC: Maybe 5 tone questions. Not like everyone said. I didnt read the passage at all. I went straight to the questions and searched for the answers. Im not a very strong reader so Ill take this score here. I think the key here is to just go nuts on the sections. Dont sit back and leisurely read through. Go through the questions and find the answers as if your life depended on it.
PAT: Really easy compared to most practice exams. I was disappointed with a 19 here. I thought I did much better. Most people say achiever is good practice for this section but I disagree. Its way more difficult which makes it harder to understand what to look for. If you practice with simple materials for this section, like that of Kaplan, I think you will be better prepared to understand what to look for.
So what do you guys think? Do you think the majority of schools would look beyond that 15 in QR? I know most schools dont give much emphasis to the QR section so Im thinking that I will be OK. I really really really dont wanna take this exam again and Im just happy its over and done with!!!
