Eliminate the weaknesses

[HunterGatherer]

It's easy to get into that comfort zone of reviewing kinematics, the periodic table, macromolecules, steriochemistry, etc.

It's getting close to crunch time. Cut back on studying on the topics/subjects you are doing well in and try to bring up the lagging topics/subjects. Look at textbooks or other MCAT prep material to supplement what you are using now if it is not working out.

Look over the MCAT topic list and be sure that you have covered everything. There were about 4 topics that nobody knew anything about(posted in MCAT Question forum) from the topic list so don't freak out. I never saw them on MCAT practice exams or in MCAT review material. I'll try to find them later.

Don't be afraid to take a weekend off from taking a full length to really knuckle down on some of topics/subjects giving you trouble. If you do this please don't waste this weekend. A lot can be learned in 2 days if you already know what is your weakness.

The e-mcat website provides bar graphs showing your strengths/weaknesses by topic and I found them very useful for determining my weaknesses. More than likely they will confirm what you already know by now.

Master the material.

This is all relative.

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[Mr. Tee]

Thanks for your advice and support

 

[docolive]

It's easy to get into that comfort zone of reviewing kinematics, the periodic table, macromolecules, steriochemistry, etc.

It's getting close to crunch time. Cut back on studying on the topics/subjects you are doing well in and try to bring up the lagging topics/subjects. Look at textbooks or other MCAT prep material to supplement what you are using now if it is not working out.

Look over the MCAT topic list and be sure that you have covered everything. There were about 4 topics that nobody knew anything about(posted in MCAT Question forum) from the topic list so don't freak out. I never saw them on MCAT practice exams or in MCAT review material. I'll try to find them later.

Don't be afraid to take a weekend off from taking a full length to really knuckle down on some of topics/subjects giving you trouble. If you do this please don't waste this weekend. A lot can be learned in 2 days if you already know what is your weakness.

The e-mcat website provides bar graphs showing your strengths/weaknesses by topic and I found them very useful for determining my weaknesses. More than likely they will confirm what you already know by now.

Master the material.

This is all relative.

thank you. your advice is always helpful. I know that I am missing a bit of everything...little things that I need to hone in on. Physics-wise, I think learning how not to get enveloped by the passage is key. I feel like there is never enough time on that section---on the real test, that is. Did you go directly to the questions???

 

[RB69]

thank you. your advice is always helpful. I know that I am missing a bit of everything...little things that I need to hone in on. Physics-wise, I think learning how not to get enveloped by the passage is key. I feel like there is never enough time on that section---on the real test, that is. Did you go directly to the questions???

Based on experience, I think the only way to successfully complete the physical sciences section is NOT to read each and every word of the passage. Reading some of the experimentation/etc. stuff is not absolutely essential, but it is important to have an idea of what the passage is about if a questions refer to it. I found that on the real thing I took last August, for some reason most questions required an understanding of what had been presented in the passage, and as a result I barely finished that portion of the exam on time.

 

[docolive]

Based on experience, I think the only way to successfully complete the physical sciences section is NOT to read each and every word of the passage. Reading some of the experimentation/etc. stuff is not absolutely essential, but it is important to have an idea of what the passage is about if a questions refer to it. I found that on the real thing I took last August, for some reason most questions required an understanding of what had been presented in the passage, and as a result I barely finished that portion of the exam on time.

true, true. somehow all of the practice exams (aamc and ek) are so different from the august test. It seems as though you can answer a majority of the questions without the passage.

 

[HunterGatherer]

Did you go directly to the questions???

When reading the passages and then doing the questions I could never finish PS/BS on time so at the suggestion of a number of people in the MCAT Topic Forum I decided to hit the questions before reading the corresponding passage and then I was completing BS on time and improved my time on PS though still struggled.

On PS/BS practice exams I tried to go straight to the questions of each passage. After a while you can pick up what needs further info from the passages. I would then read the passage quickly after going over all of the questions in that passage. Sometimes a question may be answered without the passage but because of the experimental setup your answer choice will be wrong. After reading the questions I feel like I have an outline for the experiment and it is an easier read.

I freaked out on the PS on the real deal. the first passage required you to read the complicated experiment for all questions. I read the passage 2 times and could not figure anything out. I skipped it and looked over the whole test and became more anxious. I decided to work on free standing questions to regain my composure. I calmed down and then went back to passage 1. did not finish on time. still managed a 10.

When I started BS on the real deal I decided to do all free standing questions first to relax myself and BS turned out to go quite well.

If I had to take the MCAT again I would do free standing questions first to calm myself down and then do passages in order. I'd attempt to do the questions of each passage first and then read the passage. If you spend time on a passage and decide to come back later you will need an extra 5 minutes to reorient yourself.

 

[HunterGatherer]

Based on experience, I think the only way to successfully complete the physical sciences section is NOT to read each and every word of the passage. Reading some of the experimentation/etc. stuff is not absolutely essential, but it is important to have an idea of what the passage is about if a questions refer to it. I found that on the real thing I took last August, for some reason most questions required an understanding of what had been presented in the passage, and as a result I barely finished that portion of the exam on time.

Not reading a PS/BS passage and doing questions first should not be a strict rule. If you go through all the questions and are lost read the WHOLE thing. If you are comfortable with the questions AT LEAST skim the passage before moving on. For questions you may want to go back to you SHOULD put an answer down and mark it to come back to it later. You might find you don't have time at the end to go back to it.

My first PS passage required reading the whole passage to answer most of the questions and it threw me off a lot because I had no plan for this. Luckily I snapped out of it. For the remaining passages I kept the faith and started with the questions first and then read/skimmed the passage.

 

[docolive]

thank you again.

 

[RB69]

Not reading a PS/BS passage and doing questions first should not be a strict rule. If you go through all the questions and are lost read the WHOLE thing. If you are comfortable with the questions AT LEAST skim the passage before moving on. For questions you may want to go back to you SHOULD put an answer down and mark it to come back to it later. You might find you don't have time at the end to go back to it.

My first PS passage required reading the whole passage to answer most of the questions and it threw me off a lot because I had no plan for this. Luckily I snapped out of it. For the reamining passages I kept the faith and started with the questions first and then read/skimmed the passage.

Right on Hunter, thanks for the advice.

 

[Ugly Boy]

When reading the passages and then doing the questions I could never finish PS/BS on time so at the suggestion of a number of people in the MCAT Topic Forum I decided to hit the questions before reading the corresponding passage and then I was completing BS on time and improved my time on PS though still struggled.

On PS/BS practice exams I tried to go straight to the questions of each passage. After a while you can pick up what needs further info from the passages. I would then read the passage quickly after going over all of the questions in that passage. Sometimes a question may be answered without the passage but because of the experimental setup your answer choice will be wrong. After reading the questions I feel like I have an outline for the experiment and it is an easier read.

I freaked out on the PS on the real deal. the first passage required you to read the complicated experiment for all questions. I read the passage 2 times and could not figure anything out. I skipped it and looked over the whole test and became more anxious. I decided to work on free standing questions to regain my composure. I calmed down and then went back to passage 1. did not finish on time. still managed a 10.

When I started BS on the real deal I decided to do all free standing questions first to relax myself and BS turned out to go quite well.

If I had to take the MCAT again I would do free standing questions first to calm myself down and then do passages in order. I'd attempt to do the questions of each passage first and then read the passage. If you spend time on a passage and decide to come back later you will need an extra 5 minutes to reorient yourself.

With enough practice, you can read through every passage in the allowed time. I always end up with 10 minutes to spare in BS even after reading every single passage thanks to doing the independent questions first. As the MCAT BS is getting more reading comprehension-oriented, it's quite difficult to skip the passages.

 

[ND2005]

Based on experience, I think the only way to successfully complete the physical sciences section is NOT to read each and every word of the passage. Reading some of the experimentation/etc. stuff is not absolutely essential, but it is important to have an idea of what the passage is about if a questions refer to it. I found that on the real thing I took last August, for some reason most questions required an understanding of what had been presented in the passage, and as a result I barely finished that portion of the exam on time.

Another trick for physical sciences: Take all the Kaplan PS tests.

The Kaplan tests are a lot harder than the real thing. Test day will seem like a breeze if you're used to the Kaplan PS. I only once finished a Kaplan PS section on time, then on the real thing I had 10 minutes to spare.

Seriously, my MCAT started off with passage one being my weakest subject (electrochemistry), but the passage was SO EASY compared to the Kaplan passages that I just nailed it, and then I felt so confident the rest of the time, knowing I'd just dominated my biggest weakness.