Getting "hard" questions right and "easy" wrong

[GCSDOC]

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So I took aamc 9. On PS, I got 91% of "hard" questions correct but only 25% of "easy" questions correct. My content is not the issue. It has to do with test strategy and inability to focus for the entire time. Any advice to stop getting "easy" questions wrong and/or how to ensure I stay focused throughout?

 

[NextStepTutor_1]

Focus on the trends - are you missing key words in these "easy" questions that hint towards a certain mindset?
You say your content is not an issue, ok. What I found helps is to try to simplify every question that doesn't immediately strike you as simple. That means pulling back the lens and starting very general.
For example, if a question asked about how much a raft floats on Earth and how much the same raft floats on Mars, it would behoove yourself to think not just in terms of intuition (I do recommend doing that), but also take a step back and ask "What's going on here? What are the forces and are they changing?" etc.
Broaden the lens first to make sure your thinking along the right track before you zoom to an answer.

Good luck!

 

[A7X]

I actually think AAMC 9's item difficulty is reversed. I'm f you compare the numbers of easy, medium, and hard questions to thee other AAMC exams, it seems that it's reversed. The number of easy questions right is actually the hard one, and vice versa. Pretty sure it's an error, I noticed the same thing, but that had never happened to me before.

 

[GCSDOC]

I actually think AAMC 9's item difficulty is reversed. I'm f you compare the numbers of easy, medium, and hard questions to thee other AAMC exams, it seems that it's reversed. The number of easy questions right is actually the hard one, and vice versa. Pretty sure it's an error, I noticed the same thing, but that had never happened to me before.

Yeh I was surprised by the breakdown of that too. Maybe it is an error or something.

 

[Cawolf]

The same, just as you said.

 

[NextStepTutor_1]

Have a question about the floating question you mentioned...

Would the raft float the same on both places? I think this because the F(gravity) is less but the F (buoyancy) is also just as less...assuming that the medium is water in both places

Not sure if I'm wrong...thanks

Haha, exactly! If the raft is in water in both places (great presumption made on your part, and thus great analytical skills!) then they would float to the same extent because the force pulling it down (gravitational, mg) and the force pushing it up (buoyancy, pvg) both take into consideration gravity. So these forces responds similarly to a change in gravity and thus this raft would float the same in either locale. Nice work!

This is specific example of starting general (i.e. with what forces are acting) as well as a good example of how intuition by itself can sometimes lead you astray (you may have initially thought the raft would float differently because gravity is changing).

 

[Quik]

Haha, exactly! If the raft is in water in both places (great presumption made on your part, and thus great analytical skills!) then they would float to the same extent because the force pulling it down (gravitational, mg) and the force pushing it up (buoyancy, pvg) both take into consideration gravity. So these forces responds similarly to a change in gravity and thus this raft would float the same in either locale. Nice work!

This is specific example of starting general (i.e. with what forces are acting) as well as a good example of how intuition by itself can sometimes lead you astray (you may have initially thought the raft would float differently because gravity is changing).

Wrong! The raft won't float! There's no liquid water on Mars, everybody knows that!

Kidding, please excuse my bad attempt at humor.

I've found a successful strategy in taking my VR strategy (eliminating obviously wrong answers) to the sciences and have had great results. There was a pdf of very good reasoning strategy floating around here last week, I'll see if I can find it...

Yes, here it is.