Guess at Mcat physics

[listener23]

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Is it possible to do well on the mcat (30+) by guessing at all the physics questions your given during the physical science section and only doing the general chemistry stuff?

 

[Euxox]

No, of course not.

Physics is 50% of the physical sciences section, and if I remember correctly, you need about 80% correct to get a 10. You would need to get every single chemistry question right, and you would need to be extremely lucky at guessing on the physics questions (getting over half the questions correct rather than the expected 25%). And don't forget that there are questions that combine physics and chemistry as well.

 

[Elevencents]

Seriously?

 

[milski]

It's possible but it is not realistic. All you have to do is pull a 15/15 on the VR/BS and you are in the 30+ range.
Guessing on the physics questions in the PS section can easily net you 15+ wrong questions even if you are perfect on the gen chem, which will correspond to 6-7 on the PS section.

PS: Believe it or not, but I had to look up how many questions are in the PS section. 😀

 

[Command]

.

 

[nemo123]

... Why are you planning on guessing on all the physics questions? If physics is not your strong suit, go and do practice problems to improve your physics. Don't plan on guessing on all the physics questions and hope that you can pull a 30 based on the other two sections.

 

[deleted407021]

There is a very (infinitesimally) small probability that you could guess and get enough right to do "well", so I would say, go for it!

No. Actually study and do your best.

 

[Lambda Phage]

Assuming (a) you guess correctly 25% of the time (1 correct answer choice out of 4 total choices) on physics questions, (b) physics comprises exactly half of the questions in the PS section, (c) you don't miss any general chemistry questions, and (d) you don't miss any questions in BS and VR, your score would be a 37-38. So yes, it is possible.

 

[sinombre]

no you cant guess on physics.
you can guess on ochem. I didn't study for the ochem part and managed an 11 in that section

Yep, I basically did the same thing. I spent very little time studying ochem when I took it. It's probably at least partially because MCAT ochem is so much simpler than the year of ochem you have to take in undergrad.

 

[gettheleadout]

Anyone assuming 50% physics content in an actual PS section is making a mistake. My PS was probably three-fourths physics (and I had three organic passages on BS; don't plan on guessing on organic either).

 

[Jonathan Wilson]

You would need to get every single chemistry question right.

 

[Temperature101]

No, of course not.

Physics is 50% of the physical sciences section, and if I remember correctly, you need about 80% correct to get a 10. You would need to get every single chemistry question right, and you would need to be extremely lucky at guessing on the physics questions (getting over half the questions correct rather than the expected 25%). And don't forget that there are questions that combine physics and chemistry as well.

+1

 

[Bear Grylls]

No. Use BR. Physical sciences is the easiest section to master anyway. Scored a 14 with 8-9 weeks practice. Don't be foolish! This is your life at stake.

 

[mcloaf]

This is your life at stake.

SDN: always good for reminding you that if your MCAT is too low you die.

We're learning the pathophys of low MCAT death syndrome right now actually, it's ugly stuff.

 

[jeghaber]

No. Use BR. Physical sciences is the easiest section to master anyway. Scored a 14 with 8-9 weeks practice. Don't be foolish! This is your life at stake.

I know this is an unpopular opinion on SDN but I actually kind of hated TBR 😛 thought it was overly detailed and obfuscated simple concepts -- especially for physics. I only ended up using TBR for supplementary biology chapters for which I had no prior exposure. I mostly used TPR and EK and thought they were much clearer. I will say, though, that because the passages are on the more complex side, I did find doing a few passages at the end of my studying a few days prior to my actual test date to be helpful. Had I done them before I was fully prepared, however, I think I would have just freaked out

 

[mcloaf]

Had I done them before I was fully prepared, however, I think I would have just freaked out

Pretty sure this accounts for about half the threads in the mcat forum. 🙂

 

[IncognitoGuy]

OP, I guess you could give it a try.

 

[chem4ever]

Anyone assuming 50% physics content in an actual PS section is making a mistake. My PS was probably three-fourths physics (and I had three organic passages on BS; don't plan on guessing on organic either).

One thing I've learned from the MCAT is to not generalize what I had on my MCAT to what others got on theirs. The AAMC says that 50% of the PS section is physics. Obviously, that is an average, which means that some of us can get higher than that on the test.

I, like you, got a lot more ochem than expected. Yet, many of my friends got a lot less than expected. Again, there is an average that the AAMC says, but things can vary.

So, I don't think it's wrong to assume 50% physics content in the PS section.

 

[Zelda840]

Terrible, terrible idea. I took the mcat before taking physics II. I had gotten an A in physics I and still studied my a$$ off for 3 months, trying to teach myself physics II. Ended up with an 8 in the PS section. Your mcat study time should all be REVIEW of topics you've already learned. I wish I could go back and tell myself not to be so impatient.

 

[circulus vitios]

I would wait until taking physics. Physical sciences section in the easiest section on the MCAT and there's no point in screwing yourself out of easy points.

 

[davev]

Kind of a tangent, but organic was brought up, so I'll ask: For the current MCAT, is it safe to assume that taking a Kaplan course and studying organic material from MCAT prep books (2+ months) will be enough to cover more than what the exam will test?

 

[Bear Grylls]

I know this is an unpopular opinion on SDN but I actually kind of hated TBR 😛 thought it was overly detailed and obfuscated simple concepts -- especially for physics. I only ended up using TBR for supplementary biology chapters for which I had no prior exposure. I mostly used TPR and EK and thought they were much clearer. I will say, though, that because the passages are on the more complex side, I did find doing a few passages at the end of my studying a few days prior to my actual test date to be helpful. Had I done them before I was fully prepared, however, I think I would have just freaked out

To each his own. I used solely BR + AAMC FLs and Self Assessment. Averaged 13.5 on my FLs in PS.

Edit: oh, and Wikipedia and sdn 🙂

 

[jeghaber]

To each his own. I used solely BR + AAMC FLs and Self Assessment. Averaged 13.5 on my FLs in PS.

Edit: oh, and Wikipedia and sdn 🙂

Definitely.

 

[kyamh]

Also OP, you don't have to be super good at ALL the physics. If you don't want to study all the material find 10-20 topics that almost always show up and know them well.

1. projectile motion
2. car stops in x meters, how fast was it going (and variations)
3. box sliding down a ramp with and without friction, with and without pulleys
4. gravitation law
5. calculate total resistance in a circuit
6. calculate electric field due to charge
7. right hand rule for forces, flowing charges, and magnetic fields
8. circular motion

....

If you ask around, you will easily get a manageable set of problem types to learn how to do. Get those questions right, combine with guessing and you'll be fine. The wonderful easy part about the PS section (especially physics but also chem) is that the same questions are asked over and over again with slightly different wordings. At the end of the day, there is a relatively small number of ways you can test these concepts on the MCAT if you expect students to solve questions in under a minute. Learn the patterns of what shows up on the tests, learn those topics, get 12+ 😀

 

[Zelda840]

I'd also add optics.

 

[Goro]

Nope.

Is it possible to do well on the mcat (30+) by guessing at all the physics questions your given during the physical science section and only doing the general chemistry stuff?

 

[gettheleadout]

The AAMC says that 50% of the PS section is physics.

I don't recall seeing a statement from the AAMC to that effect. Got a source?

 

[Captain Sisko]

Nope.

Possible but pretty unlikely to do well by guessing on physics questions. If you get a chemistry heavy test and get lucky you can score highly on the ps section, but you don't want to gamble on that, not for the mcat.

There is a variable percentage of physics v chemistry questions, and not all 52 questions are going to count either. I recall reading that there are experimental questions on each test that are not graded.

 

[gettheleadout]

Possible but pretty unlikely to do well by guessing on physics questions. If you get a chemistry heavy test and get lucky you can score highly on the ps section, but you don't want to gamble on that, not for the mcat.

There is a variable percentage of physics v chemistry questions, and not all 52 questions are going to count either. I recall reading that there are experimental questions on each test that are not graded.

That is indeed correct (as is everything else you wrote lol).

 

[mk04447]

Swing for the fence <cough> let me know how it goes.

 

[rolliespring]

Answer: according to the theory of infinite probability, yes.

 

[Goro]

Assuming 5 answers per question, then yes, it's possible to guess correctly, but quite low. The law of avgs says you'll get 20%.

Possible but pretty unlikely to do well by guessing on physics questions. If you get a chemistry heavy test and get lucky you can score highly on the ps section, but you don't want to gamble on that, not for the mcat.

There is a variable percentage of physics v chemistry questions, and not all 52 questions are going to count either. I recall reading that there are experimental questions on each test that are not graded.

 

[listener23]

Assuming 5 answers per question, then yes, it's possible to guess correctly, but quite low. The law of avgs says you'll get 20%.

My prep books (TBR) only have 4 answers per question. Is it 5 on the real thing?

 

[listener23]

*cough

 

[Jennyfishy]

I feel like I guessed on my entire PS section. Then again, I only got an 8 on that section

If I had scored my practice average in the BS section, I would've gotten over 30 though 😛

 

[Captain Sisko]

My prep books (TBR) only have 4 answers per question. Is it 5 on the real thing?

No, there are four. Not sure where he got five. Perhaps it was five when goro took it?

 

[chem4ever]

I don't recall seeing a statement from the AAMC to that effect. Got a source?

I do not remember where I saw it. I have a feeling that I saw it in one of the review books (TBR, TPR, Kaplan, or EK) and not from AAMC, which means my post is not very accurate. My apologies.

 

[mehc012]

No, of course not.

Physics is 50% of the physical sciences section, and if I remember correctly, you need about 80% correct to get a 10. You would need to get every single chemistry question right, and you would need to be extremely lucky at guessing on the physics questions (getting over half the questions correct rather than the expected 25%). And don't forget that there are questions that combine physics and chemistry as well.

If they're talking completely random guessing, yeah sure, 25%. However, if you're comfortable taking tests, you should be able to do far, far better than the probability predicts just by looking at the answer choices and how they overlap or don't overlap.