EK 30-minute lecture exam scores

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dr.kicia

dr.kicia

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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.
:luck: :luck: :luck: to you all:D
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is it just me or are these things sometimes impossible to finish in 30 min. Not to mention pretty hard to get double digit scores in.
 
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Aria88997 said:
is it just me or are these things sometimes impossible to finish in 30 min. Not to mention pretty hard to get double digit scores in.
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I agree with you. They take long time and cause me to end up making some "educational" guesses toward the end. Physics is the worst for me.
 
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Thought I'd revive this:

Bio Chapter 1: 14 :D and the one I missed is pretty iffy (# 4)
Bio Chapter 2: 10 - really need to study up on genetics
Bio Chapter 3: 14
Bio Chapter 4: 14
Bio Chapter 5: 14
Bio Chapter 6: 12
Bio Chapter 7: 12
 
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Verbal:
1 - 8-9
2 - 12
Gen Chem:
1 - 11
Physics
1 - 10
Bio:
1- 12

Taking the chapter 2 tests tonight. The questions I miss seem to be largely a matter of my inability to read. No, but seriously. I should work on that.
 
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I've taken the first 7 of those EK BIO in-class exams so far. I got 12s on each one of those 7 exams. Honestly I'm surprised with the consistency, I've either got 19 or 20 out of 23 on 7 straight exams...strange.

Exam 6 on excretory/digestive was killer. Seems like a physiology course would be really helpful for MCAT. I mean if you're gonna get passages on GFR, renal clearance and things, it would help A LOT for you to be familiar with it before reading the passage.
 
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EK 30 min exams:

Physics 1: 8
Chemistry 1: 10

I need to study more that kinematics chapter...For some reason I have a hard time processing that chapter while most people are saying it is the easiest chapter in physics.
 
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Temperature101 said:
EK 30 min

Physics 1: 8

I need to study more that kinematics chapter...For some reason I have a hard time processing that chapter while most people are saying it is the easiest chapter in physics.
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I'm not using EK Physics but I would also say some of the most complex/difficult problems are kinematics.
 
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gettheleadout said:
I'm not using EK Physics but I would also say some of the most complex/difficult problems are kinematics.
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I am using TBR physics for content review but I am following the SNed 3/4 month study, which requires to do EK 1001 and EK 30 min exams.
 
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Finished the rest of the EK Bio exams. Ended up getting 12s on the first 8 lectures and 14 on lecture 9.

But I've been neglecting Ochem, kinda convinced myself that it barely shows up on the real MCAT. This was stupid of me because after taking a full length I realize its impossible to break a 12on BS if you're not good at Ochem. So I started the EK Ochem exams today and got murked lol 13/23 for a 7. Gotta find some better material for Ochem, all EK does for ochem is give you an outline. And when I took Ochem in school, I'd just cram a few days before the test and forgot like 80% of what I knew.
 
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Shams al Deen said:
Finished the rest of the EK Bio exams. Ended up getting 12s on the first 8 lectures and 14 on lecture 9.

But I've been neglecting Ochem, kinda convinced myself that it barely shows up on the real MCAT. This was stupid of me because after taking a full length I realize its impossible to break a 12on BS if you're not good at Ochem. So I started the EK Ochem exams today and got murked lol 13/23 for a 7. Gotta find some better material for Ochem, all EK does for ochem is give you an outline. And when I took Ochem in school, I'd just cram a few days before the test and forgot like 80% of what I knew.
Click to expand...

Chad's videos ochem is comprehensive and outstanding

Sent from my SCH-I535 using SDN Mobile
 
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how are you guys calculating scores? i took lecture 1 from EK bio and got a 20/23 .. is that decent?
 
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Hey guys. New here, but I've been following this thread as an unregistered user.

First, I love how EK shows you what's necessary knowledge for the MCAT. TBR is super detailed, especially for biology, but I get their idea - the more background you know, the more comfortable you may be with a given passage. The only problem I have so far is that (in my opinion) passages in TBR only loosely resemble those in EK. With EK, answers can be deduced from information given in the passage, whereas with TBR I find questions answerable without reading the passage at all.

Here's my results so far:

EK Biology

1 - 13
2 - 12
3 - 11
4 - 12
6 - 12
7 - 14

EK Chemistry

1 - 12
2 - 10
4 - 10

The 30 minute exams are definitely challenging, especially for general chemistry. I don't intend on taking anymore exams until I feel completely confident with the material beforehand.
 
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Do you guys review a lot before taking these? I mean, I'll post my scores, but they are by no means good. I'd love some tips for improvement, but honestly I take them without being confident as a way to make myself work more later xD

Bio #1 - 11
Bio #2 - 8
Bio #3 - 8 (I think I only got one right on the first passage lol)

I think I'm scoring somewhere around 50-60% on TBR Bio, but honestly I have no clue what's going on in those passages.
 
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sworzeh said:
Do you guys review a lot before taking these? I mean, I'll post my scores, but they are by no means good. I'd love some tips for improvement, but honestly I take them without being confident as a way to make myself work more later xD

Bio #1 - 11
Bio #2 - 8
Bio #3 - 8 (I think I only got one right on the first passage lol)

I think I'm scoring somewhere around 50-60% on TBR Bio, but honestly I have no clue what's going on in those passages.
Click to expand...

For biology at least (since that's what I've done the most so far), I generally read EK first so that I know what's emphasized. If there's anything I need clarification on or more information about, I crack open my textbook or TBR. The moment I feel confident with the material in lecture, I take the exam.
 
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Update:

EK Inorganic Chemistry

1 - 12
2 - 10
4 - 10
5 - 15

By far my best one so far, though I found the third passage to be a bit too straightforward to be representative of the real thing.
 
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gettheleadout said:
As far as the EK books go, yes. I'm using TBR for all other subjects. So unfortunately, I won't be taking the 30-minute exams for any of the other sections.
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Same. I began using EK for chemistry then realized an abridged approach to the physical sciences probably wouldn't be enough. I now read EK (so that I know what's important), color in the detail with TBR, then do passages from each.

The semester started today so I'm expecting my pace to decelerate significantly :thumbdown:.
 
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Not so happy anymore. I have serious work to do. The third passage was definitely the easiest to read, yet I got most of those questions wrong.

EK Verbal (not 101):

1 - 9

Anyone else doing the 30-min exams for VR?
 
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Endure said:
Not so happy anymore. I have serious work to do. The third passage was definitely the easiest to read, yet I got most of those questions wrong.

EK Verbal (not 101):

1 - 9

Anyone else doing the 30-min exams for VR?
Click to expand...

I wasn't aware that such exams exist. Are the passages taken out of the 101 book, or are they entirely different?
 
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Endure said:
Not so happy anymore. I have serious work to do. The third passage was definitely the easiest to read, yet I got most of those questions wrong.

EK Verbal (not 101):

1 - 9

Anyone else doing the 30-min exams for VR?
Click to expand...

I did the first two and got 8's on them. I've heard these 30 minute EK exams are pretty difficult and I wouldn't worry about scaling your score to the MCAT score. Use your practice tests for that. Also, the scaling of the score is out of 23 questions when there are what..21 questions? So who knows how the hell they jacked that up.
 
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gettheleadout said:
Lecture 4: 14 - Yeah! I think I'm getting the hang of this.
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There is most definitely a strategy to the 30 minute exam questions. I was simply trying to muscle through them and got like 7-8's on the first 3. Test 5 killed me, but every other one I was any where from a 10-12. You start to pick up their method and you can easily get above 10 after 2 or 3 reviews and review of the in lecture problems. I can't speak for the other subjects, I'm just doing bio and verbal right now.
 
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Update:

Endure said:
Here's my results so far:

EK Biology

1 - 13
2 - 12
3 - 11
4 - 12
6 - 12
7 - 14

EK Chemistry

1 - 12
2 - 10
4 - 10
5 - 15

EK Physics

1 - 13

EK Verbal:

1 - 9
Click to expand...

Should've had a 14 on the first physics lecture, but I misread the second to last question. Good day though – got a 14 on the TBR translational motion chapter. I have to be honest, the explanations EK gives for some of their answers are pretty lackluster, especially when compared against TBR exams.
 
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Bio
1 - 12
2 - 11

Anyone else need way less than 30 minutes to finish these? I'm usually done in 20 and wondering if I should slow myself down on Bio. Then again, on TBR passages I feel unbelievably rushed sometimes.
 
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phunky said:
Bio
1 - 12
2 - 11

Anyone else need way less than 30 minutes to finish these? I'm usually done in 20 and wondering if I should slow myself down on Bio. Then again, on TBR passages I feel unbelievably rushed sometimes.
Click to expand...

I was finishing the Ochem ones in around 15-18 minutes and getting 10-12. The Bio ones I was at about 25 minutes. Verbal...easily 29:59 haha.
 
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Endure said:
Not so happy anymore. I have serious work to do. The third passage was definitely the easiest to read, yet I got most of those questions wrong.

EK Verbal (not 101):

1 - 9

Anyone else doing the 30-min exams for VR?
Click to expand...

I just did the first one.... Most of the questions I missed were on the third passage as well, which the reading is/was the easiest to comprehend. 6/7... 5/7.... 3/7.

1 - 8
 
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Dynamo24 said:
I did the first two and got 8's on them. I've heard these 30 minute EK exams are pretty difficult and I wouldn't worry about scaling your score to the MCAT score. Use your practice tests for that. Also, the scaling of the score is out of 23 questions when there are what..21 questions? So who knows how the hell they jacked that up.
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Wow...I just noticed that. However, I think the scale is fair (to some extent). For instance, I got 14/21 (8) on the first exam...This is 66.66%. If you mutiply that by 40 (0.66666667x40), it's like 26.66 (~27) out of 40. On most, if not all the AAMC VR scale, it's is also an 8. Obviously, the scaling will not be fair to someone who got anything from 19 to 21.
 
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Temperature101 said:
Wow...I just noticed that. However, I think the scale is fair (to some extent). For instance, I got 14/21 (8) on the first exam...This is 66.66%. If you mutiply that by 40 (0.66666667x40), it's like 26.66 (~27) out of 40. On most, if not all the AAMC VR scale, it's is also an 8. Obviously, the scaling will not be fair to someone who got anything from 19 to 21.
Click to expand...

Just noticed it myself a couple days ago. I guess the idea is that it doesn't matter how accurate their scale is. Like they mention in the begging of each EK book, their books are for educational purposes only and shouldn't be viewed as predictors of actual MCAT performance.

It still hurts to see a 9 though.
 
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Update:

Endure said:
Here's my results so far:

EK Biology

1 - 13
2 - 12
3 - 11
4 - 12
6 - 12
7 - 14

EK Chemistry

1 - 12
2 - 10
4 - 10
5 - 15

EK Physics

1 - 13

EK Verbal (not 101):

1 - 9
2 - 11
Click to expand...

Not sure if I actually got an 11 on the second VR exam. I got 4 wrong. Regardless, I'm hoping my score shoots up significantly once I begin TPR and EK 101 next week. Right now I'm just trying to get my sciences down.
 
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30-minute VR.

1- 8
2- 6
3- 5

I am having major issue with VR and I feel like giving up at this point.
 
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Temperature101 said:
30-minute VR.

1- 8
2- 6
3- 5

I am having major issue with VR and I feel like giving up at this point.
Click to expand...

Don't! I struggled mightily with VR when I first started and, although it was incredibly discouraging and I *still* haven't quite gotten the hang of it, I'm seeing great improvements. I'm sure the same will happen for you in time. Besides, the 30-minute EKs are designed to be very difficult, so don't give up! Learn from your mistakes and try to improve your reading comprehension.
 
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The EK verbal scale is all over the place. I recommend sticking with EK 101 (scored high 90th percentile on verbal.) When I needed more, I went with TPRH sw. To me the EK verbal workbook scale is not at a good indication of actual performance.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using SDN Mobile
 
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Update:

EK Inorganic Chemistry

3 - 11

I'm starting to hate that there's only 23 questions.
 
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