EK 30-minute lecture exam scores

[dr.kicia]

I just though tthis could be a useful thread. Post what you think about exams, specific questions, your scores, tricks, techniques....anything that could be usefull for other MCATers.
to you all

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[0Complications]

I have the complete EK series 6th edition (2005). Is it worth the money to buy the 2007 edition or am I good?

I was wondering the same thing.

I was reading the VR book and the intro is a little out of date in reference to the exam times and format, but the rest seems good. Don't know for sure though.


Also, the 30 minute mini exams are designed to be more difficult and not representative of the MCAT itself. They state that it's because they threw out the easy questions and just went with the hard ones, so great job on all the high scores. I'll start posting mine as soon as I take some.

 

[bigman225]

Organic
Chapter 2: 12
Chapter 3: 14
Chapter 4 :12

Bio
Chapter 3: 10
Chapter 4: 12
Chapter 5: 15
Chapter 6: 10 (Second whoever mentioned the hellish passage on glomerular filtration rate, etc.)
Chapter 7: 13
Chapter 8: 12
Chapter 9: 8!!!! (Anyone else think this was pretty freaking hard considering the lack of detail in the actual chapter?)

Physics
Chapter 1: 12
Chapter 2: 10
Chapter 3: 10
Chapter 4: 12
Chapter 5: 10
Chapter 6: 11
Chapter 7: 13

Chem
Lecture 5: 11
Lecture 6: 12
Lecture 7: 12

Overall I think the tests are pretty challenging but not nearly as challenging as Kaplan's topical material, etc. Kaplan seems to murder me with ridiculous calculations on PS, which is irritating upon taking a real practice MCAT and realizing there might be 2 or 3 calculations per section.
Anyways, While I think these tests might be good for recognizing your really weak areas (I went back and did all 100 or so questions on Chapter 9 in EK1001 Bio) I think that time is better spent doing practice exams

 

[smeagol]

Finished Chem 1-3. Four more to go.

Inorganic Chem
1. 14
2. 14
3. 9

I had a hard time finishing exam 3 in 30 minutes...had to make a few guesses

 

[NYGirl12]

bump

Bio Lecture 1 - 13

 

[smeagol]

Finally done with inorganic chem. Only organic left and I'll be done with EK...then onto Kaplan and practice exams.

Lecture 1: 14
Lecture 2: 14
Lecture 3: 9
Lecture 4: 8
Lecture 5: 12
Lecture 6: 13
Lecture 7: 11

I also took two Kaplan topical tests to compare difficulty, one on acid/bases and one on electrochemistry. I think Kaplan's acid/base one was easier than EK's lecture 6 exam, but both of their electrochemistry tests were similar in difficulty. I really liked EK's coverage of acids/bases and electrochemistry.

Soon after reading lecture 3 I realized my intro courses never covered thermodynamics, namely its first, second and third laws - so that sucked. That heat engine passage... lol

I don't know what happened with lecture 4 since I usually feel very comfortable with solution chemistry. I wasn't thrilled about the acid/base question that was covered 2 lectures later but that was still only 1 point.

These exams seem pretty helpful in highlighting one's weaknesses. From reading some previous posts, however, it seems possible there's really no significant correlation between EK lecture exam scores and the real thing...

 

[NYGirl12]

Finally done with inorganic chem. Only organic left and I'll be done with EK...then onto Kaplan and practice exams.

Lecture 1: 14
Lecture 2: 14
Lecture 3: 9
Lecture 4: 8
Lecture 5: 12
Lecture 6: 13
Lecture 7: 11

I also took two Kaplan topical tests to compare difficulty, one on acid/bases and one on electrochemistry. I think Kaplan's acid/base one was easier than EK's lecture 6 exam, but both of their electrochemistry tests were similar in difficulty. I really liked EK's coverage of acids/bases and electrochemistry.

Soon after reading lecture 3 I realized my intro courses never covered thermodynamics, namely its first, second and third laws - so that sucked. That heat engine passage... lol

I don't know what happened with lecture 4 since I usually feel very comfortable with solution chemistry. I wasn't thrilled about the acid/base question that was covered 2 lectures later but that was still only 1 point.

These exams seem pretty helpful in highlighting one's weaknesses. From reading some previous posts, however, it seems possible there's really no significant correlation between EK lecture exam scores and the real thing...

good job on most of them, smeagol! quick question for you: i'm also doing the EK home study (coupled with Kaplan and maybe Nova Physics), but was wondering if you found EK Physics to be comprehensive enough. I did fairly well in college physics, but I need to reinforce it since I've forgotten some stuff obviously. i was thinking of getting nova physics for more practice if EK is lacking.

 

[smeagol]

good job on most of them, smeagol! quick question for you: i'm also doing the EK home study (coupled with Kaplan and maybe Nova Physics), but was wondering if you found EK Physics to be comprehensive enough. I did fairly well in college physics, but I need to reinforce it since I've forgotten some stuff obviously. i was thinking of getting nova physics for more practice if EK is lacking.

My gripe with EK physics concerns their coverage of electricity, magnetism, and optics, basically, physics 2. They devote lectures 1-6 on physics 1 stuff and only 7 & 8 on physics 2. Not sure why it's so disproportionate...

However, since you did well in college physics I think EK combined with Kaplan should be fine. My older brother gave me some hand-me-down Kaplan books, pdf files, and they seem sufficient.

 

[DrDre2001]

I hope this thread can benefit all EK's students. Anyone who studies with EK please contribute to this thread with your EK "in class exam" scores and your EK Practice Test scores (1h, 1g, etc)

EK's practice tests can't possibly be at the exact same difficulty level as the real thing. Additionally, you take your "in class exams" under special conditions (you just read the material 5 minutes ago) so those scores aren't going to correlate to real MCAT scores. So the only way to know if you are doing good is by comparing with other EK students. I'm sure we'd all like to know how good (or bad) we are doing. This is the purpose of this thread.

Just post your scores for any EK Practice Exams or "in class exams" you have taken. Thank you


NEVERMIND!!!!! SORRY, I JUST FOUND BASICALLY THIS EXACT SAME THREAD HERE: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=366567

Go there and contribute.

 

[DrDre2001]

see above

 

[DrDre2001]

bumping ...nice thread...ive been averaging 9's in physics and bio so far (up to week 3)

 

[olemissbabydoc]

Merged with original EK 30 minute thread, DrDre.

 

[ratherberocking]

EK Bio in-class: 8
Now onto Bio 1001 passages...

 

[smeagol]

Mind as well post my last set of scores from organic chem.

Organic Chemistry

Lecture 1: 10
Lecture 2: 10
Lecture 3: 13
Lecture 4: 13

The second lecture was INSANE, particularly the first passage. I was beginning to feel like my school inadequately prepared me for organic chemistry. I had at least 2 lucky guesses and the time limit was murderous for this one.

Lectures 3 & 4 were more down to earth, so don't get worked up about the first 2 lectures too much.

For those interested in how these scores might correlate to FL exams I took my first Kaplan FL a few days ago and got a 31 (11 PS; 9 VR; 11 BS). I didn't take a diagnostic pre-study exam because I wanted to save freebies for later; I also thought it wouldn't too useful either.

Endurance was a huge problem for me and I took the paper exam . I'm seriously glad the CBTs will be shorter. I had trouble timing myself and the last 1-2 passages in each section I found myself rushing/guessing. Some of the VR passages were so boring I couldn't stay focused...

All I want is a 34 (12/10/12). But since I've heard Kaplan has the potential to inflate scores, I'll still be trying to study seriously until April. It's harder now since school has started again.

 

[The Madden Bus]

Hey guys, yea I started physics lecture 1 and got a 6, ugh. Do you Guys normally finish one section of physics and then go to the first section of chemistry and Bio and organic and verbal and so on or do you guys finish one subject completely and then go to the next one? I thought finishing all of physics first then gen chem then verbal then organic and bio but am I doing it wrong?

 

[The Madden Bus]

I have the complete EK series 6th edition (2005). Is it worth the money to buy the 2007 edition or am I good?

I was wondering this exact thing because I have 6th edition and I'm wondering if I should get the 7th.

 

[olygt]

So how is everybody getting 10's and above on those EK 30 minute exams? I'm getting 4-5 on them and don't know what to do at this point. I understand all the material, but just can't seem to do well on those 30 min., any advice? It seems like they don't cover what they cover in the lectures.

 

[DrDre2001]

So how is everybody getting 10's and above on those EK 30 minute exams? I'm getting 4-5 on them and don't know what to do at this point. I understand all the material, but just can't seem to do well on those 30 min., any advice? It seems like they don't cover what they cover in the lectures.

hmm..well how are you reading the lectures? Most people here, I guess, are following EK's recommendations and read it atleast twice. The first time just to read it and get familiar with its content....the second time while taking notes and more thoroughly going over the details.

 

[smeagol]

So how is everybody getting 10's and above on those EK 30 minute exams? I'm getting 4-5 on them and don't know what to do at this point. I understand all the material, but just can't seem to do well on those 30 min., any advice? It seems like they don't cover what they cover in the lectures.

Are you doing well on the exam discretes? If so, then you probably could use practice extracting information from passages.

Also, how are you doing on time? You might just need to get used to the timing/thinking more quickly. For a lot of the 30 min exams, I would take 2 scores. First one is with the 30 min constraint (ones I posted). To boost self-confidence, I would go back over the exam and see what mistakes I made, what I needed more time on, etc for about another 5-10 minutes. The result would be the second score.

I noticed that for exams where I did terribly, such as physics L4, which I got a 6, it was because I didn't understand one or more of the passages. I couldn't do that lever passage in the alloted time. When I gave myself an additional 10 minutes, I finally understood it and got an 11. Since this score is 'fake' I didn't report it as the score I received. However, I felt more comfortable knowing that I could do it, meaning that reasoning was not so much a problem as quick thinking.

You might want to try what I did. Do a 30 min exam, write down answers, then spend a few more minutes going back to see if you'd change anything. The changes will reflect your score in 'untimed' conditions. If you're doing well given this extra time, then it's because you just need to think more quickly, which should come with practice.

However, if you're ending up with the same/similar score even after reviewing, then you'll know that there's something you misunderstood.

I agree, however, that it's strange they test you on things covered in the later chapters. I thought it was ridiculous that there was an NMR question in lecture 3 when NMR was covered in lecture 4 heh.

But you must practice under the timed conditions. I took my first AAMC (#3) and although I still did satisfactorily (31, same as my Kaplan), I ran out of time on the very last passage in each section.

 

[smeagol]

I just wanted to mention that a lot of people are probably performing similar to you so don't feel bad. People who post scores probably wouldn't do so if they didn't feel secure about them.

EK also doesn't seem to be that indicative with regard to your real score. SN2ed did much better on the real thing (34) than he/she did on the EK exams. Killinsound, whose consistently awesome EK scores frighten me, scored 2 points higher.

 

[PatchesNBrownie]

Biology
1: 14
2: 7
3: 12
4: 6
5: 11
6: 9
7: 7

Physics
1: 10
2: 9
3: 7
4: 4!!
5: 10
6: 10
7: 7
8: 6

Wow my scores are really inconsistent....... This is a great thread though, I didn't really think to go back and look at my In-Class Exam scores across the board, this really shows my weak areas.

By the way, I have been doing both 1001 for gen chem and physics, as well as these In-Class Exams, and I think the 30-min ones are better for practicing. Like the EK people say, the 1001 books are all discretes, good for drilling you on the concepts - so if you're getting 10+ consistently, I think you're all set. For me, I've been eating/sleeping with my 1001 books for the past few weeks and they do help a great deal.

 

[Caesar]

took the first one today... edit: did Physics 1 today.

Bio 1: 10

Phy 1: 11

VR 1: 7 :-(

 

[DrDre2001]

My Results: (and ill just keep updating this post as i take more as im doing the 10 week EK schedule)


Bio:

1: 9
2: 7
3: 8
4. 8

Chem:

1: 13
2: 10
3. 11 (last one taken, Jan 19)

Physics

2: 7
3: 8
4: 10

 

[Caesar]

My Results: (and ill just keep updating this post as i take more as im doing the 10 week EK schedule)


Bio:

1: 9
2: 7

3: 8
4. 8

Chem:

1: 13
2: 10

Physics

2: 7
3: 8

I'm doing the same with my post right above yours! we are post neighbors!!!

(I'm also doing the 10 week, but it appears you are ahead of me...)

 

[ChubbyChaser]

took the first one today... edit: did Physics 1 today.

Bio 1: 10

Phy 1: 11

good job withthe physics, Ialways found those challenging. I almost always got 9s in physics.

 

[DrDre2001]

I'm doing the same with my post right above yours! we are post neighbors!!!

(I'm also doing the 10 week, but it appears you are ahead of me...)

Oh nice . We can compete with each other. If this was real life id put some money on it to make things interesting since i fiend for gambling.

 

[olygt]

How is everybody doing on those mini-mcats? I'm on my fourth one and keep getting 50% of the questions right on every test so far, which is horrible and discouraging. Maybe everybody on here that's getting 90% of the questions right are geniuses.

 

[student11884]

I am a possible retaker, brushing up on my sciences. I took Kaplan the first time, and am trying EK this time around. On the real deal I got a 12 (BS), 10 (VR), 12 (PS). So far on the mini tests (I've only got through 3 of them), my scores are:

Bio 1:12
Bio 2:12
Bio 3:10

However, a lot of the questions on these tests, I was able to do only because I recalled facts from when I studied for the MCAT previously. Many of the questions require knowledge from chapters that I've yet to cover (and a first timer who has not read these chapters already, or not taken a course in physiology, might find answering these chapter tests very challenging!).

So, the bottom line: I wouldn't be too discouraged about low scores on these tests, because much of the material tested comes from chapters that you may not have read already.

 

[tncekm]

I am a possible retaker, brushing up on my sciences. I took Kaplan the first time, and am trying EK this time around. On the real deal I got a 12 (BS), 10 (VR), 12 (PS).

Just out of curiosity, why are you retaking with a 34? That's like top 4-7 percentile?

 

[tncekm]

How is everybody doing on those mini-mcats? I'm on my fourth one and keep getting 50% of the questions right on every test so far, which is horrible and discouraging. Maybe everybody on here that's getting 90% of the questions right are geniuses.

Doesn't have anything to do with being a "genius" from my experience. My brain works pretty good, but I cannot seem to nail these 30 min EK VR exams.

I think all the years of not reading and relying on my ability just to "figure it out" has really hindered me in this passage-based stuff.

 

[student11884]

Just out of curiosity, why are you retaking with a 34? That's like top 4-7 percentile?

I was just doing a lot better on the practice tests, and just froze on test day. I was so nervous that I was unable to fingerprint (because of shaky hands) for well over five minutes. The lady doing the fingerprints asked me to take a seat and return later. I was a wreck!

 

[tncekm]

but a 34 is good enough to get you into medical school. did you not apply so you could retake and get an ever higher score or is your GPA low and you're compensating?

 

[student11884]

but a 34 is good enough to get you into medical school. did you not apply so you could retake and get an ever higher score or is your GPA low and you're compensating?

It was for neither. (Fortunately!) Had to take a year off to fix things with immigration, here in the U.S. (and the INS really drags its feet!). But in the mean time (while being so stressed out about it all) I was able to test the waters in medicine, so to speak, and gain some experience in a clinical setting.

 

[l7anxtl7lvln2n]

Guess I might as well too...

Biology:
1 14
2 11
3 ---
4 14
5 13
6 11
7 12
8 14
9 9 <--- Population... Hardy-Weinberg =(

Orgo
1 11
2 9
3 13
4 13

Physics
1 12
2 10
3 9 I totally forgot how to figure out pulley problems
4 11
5 12
6 10
7 Just taking Electricity
8 and Magnetism... Hope is not too late

Chem
1 13
2 11
3 12
4 11
5 10
6 11
7 10

Best of luck to everyone!

 

[biocmp]

I've just begun taking the EK 30 min tests and going over material, but these are the first two tests.

Bio 1 -- 13
Phys 1-- 10

I take the verbal tonight, so I will report back here daily with how I've done! Keep up the good work everybody. It is worth it in the end.

 

[Phlame217]

EK Bio: (my january project)
1 - 15 (missed 4)
2 - 15 (missed 2)
3 - 15 (missed 1)
4 - 15 (missed 3)
5 - 15 (missed 1)
6 - I am waiting to do this until we cover it in human anatomy
7 - I am waiting to do this until we cover it in human anatomy
8 - 15 (missed 1)
9 - 15 (missed 2)

EK Chemistry (Starting Today)

EK Organic Chem (Starting Today)

 

[0Complications]

EK Bio: (my january project)
1 - 15 (missed 4)
2 - 15 (missed 2)
3 - 15 (missed 1)
4 - 15 (missed 3)
5 - 15 (missed 1)
6 - I am waiting to do this until we cover it in human anatomy
7 - I am waiting to do this until we cover it in human anatomy
8 - 15 (missed 1)
9 - 15 (missed 2)

EK Chemistry (Starting Today)

EK Organic Chem (Starting Today)

I'm not sure how you're calculating your score, but from my EK 6th Ed. Book it shows that your scores would be:

1) 12
2) 13
3) 14
4) 12
5) 14
8) 14
9) 13

Great job though! Keep it up, man! (if you want to find the conversion table it is below and to the right of the answers for the In-Class exams).

 

[Phlame217]

I have 7th edition and you can miss up to 7 and have a 15 and then it drops rapidly from there.

 

[0Complications]

I have 7th edition and you can miss up to 7 and have a 15 and then it drops rapidly from there.

How many questions per exam?

 

[Phlame217]

30

 

[0Complications]

30

Ahh, that must be the major difference. The 6th only has 23 q's per section.

Either way, you're doing a great job thus far, man!

 

[Fp02c]

I have a question for the bio kings ( those who get 13-15 in the biology tests) How do you go about answering questions. Usually I read every paragraph carefully and then go answer the questions. I have found however that this takes up alot of time and most of the info covered in the pasages is not tested. Alot of the questions can also be answered with background knowledge. I tried the following method that was recommended by a friend and it worked pretty well. I very briefly scan the passage so i know the topic and what charts or graphs are given then i go to the questions. If i know a question I answer it, if it relates to passage material I go back to the passage and find the relevant info. This takes up much less time. How do you guys go about answering the biology passages

 

[smeagol]

Wait, does that mean the 7th edition is significantly different from the previous in terms of 30-min lecture exams? Are the lecture exams still 30 min in duration if there are 30 questions instead of 23?

 

[0Complications]

Wait, does that mean the 7th edition is significantly different from the previous in terms of 30-min lecture exams? Are the lecture exams still 30 min in duration if there are 30 questions instead of 23?

My guess is yes, or someone would have commented about how their exam isn't a 30-minute exam.

I wasn't aware of this difference until now... I might have to go take the new 30-min exams at the local bookstore... Unless they are just adding more stand-alone questions in which case I'll just go with the 1001 Q's series. (still kinda miffed about that though).

 

[Phlame217]

Theres three passages and then 2-5 stand alone questions.

My method for attacking the bio questions is to read through the passage once and while reading it, underline definitions, circle key words, and summarize the passages in my head. I then move on to the questions and can typically answer most of them off the bat and I usually refer back to the passage on one or two questions for specific terms or experimental results etc. If i absolutely get confused or cant answer, then I mark it and come back after finishing all others.

 

[0Complications]

I have 7th edition and you can miss up to 7 and have a 15 and then it drops rapidly from there.

I just checked this out today at the local bookstore and unless you got a really special 7th edition set of books then your 30-minute exams are out of 23 not 30.


Are you sure you're not referring to something else?

 

[Phlame217]

i dunno i got mine second hand so i dont have the entire box or anything, just the books and I just checked and and theres 30. weird.

 

[tncekm]

Re: Missing 7 questions and getting a 15

That doesn't make any sense. If I had to guess they forgot to scale the raw score chart, much like they did in the Verbal book of EK v 6 (which has 21q's per exam and is based off a raw score of 23--obvious mistake).

I think that you folks are very much mislead if you believe you can miss 7 q's and still get a 15.

To reiterate, the old RAW conversion chart had 23q's and 23/23 was a 15. So, if you're getting a 23/30 and you THINK you're getting a 15, you're probably close to an 10 based off of my calculations because EK most likely didn't remember to rescale their RAW score conversion chart.

I think this explains why so many people were getting 13-15s though, LOL.

 

[tncekm]

I'm not sure how you're calculating your score, but from my EK 6th Ed. Book it shows that your scores would be:

1) 12
2) 13
3) 14
4) 12
5) 14
8) 14
9) 13

Great job though! Keep it up, man! (if you want to find the conversion table it is below and to the right of the answers for the In-Class exams).

These are probably correct. Still great scores though.

 

[smeagol]

Re: Missing 7 questions and getting a 15

That doesn't make any sense. If I had to guess they forgot to scale the raw score chart, much like they did in the Verbal book of EK v 6 (which has 21q's per exam and is based off a raw score of 23--obvious mistake).

I think that you folks are very much mislead if you believe you can miss 7 q's and still get a 15.

To reiterate, the old RAW conversion chart had 23q's and 23/23 was a 15. So, if you're getting a 23/30 and you THINK you're getting a 15, you're probably close to an 10 based off of my calculations because EK most likely didn't remember to rescale their RAW score conversion chart.

I think this explains why so many people were getting 13-15s though, LOL.

Yea the weird thing is that he has 30 questions. I'm using the 5th edition and I was told it was just like all the others, 23 questions per exam.

But even if you think about the time limit, 30 mins for 30 questions is a bit rough! Thats only 1 min per question. Taking into account that you need to read passages, you pretty much have less than a minute to think about each.

 

[0Complications]

Yea the weird thing is that he has 30 questions. I'm using the 5th edition and I was told it was just like all the others, 23 questions per exam.

But even if you think about the time limit, 30 mins for 30 questions is a bit rough! Thats only 1 min per question. Taking into account that you need to read passages, you pretty much have less than a minute to think about each.

The 7th edition still only has 23 questions per 30-min exam. I'm not sure why he seems to have a book that has more, but I checked about 4 at the local bookstore and they only have 23, so don't sweat it if yours only has 23.