How do you do well on physical sciences?

[take the shot]

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I would love some advice by those who have done well in physical sciences. I am currently doing Kaplan online and am almost done with all the content review. Although I aced organic, inorganic, and physics in school, and have done well on content review quizzes, I am really struggling with practice MCATs and full length Kaplan tests. I try to map the passages like recommended, but when I see the complex, confusing formulas and sentences I start to panic inside. Then I lose focus and don't have a clue how to summarize the passages or what to write down. Even though the questions aren't always that hard, I am spending so much time trying to figure out the passage that I actually am not finishing in the allotted time. I have none of these troubles with bio and verbal. Any ideas on how to get my **** together in the next 6 weeks? Thanks!

 

[Quantum Chem]

I'm not sure how well mapping a science passage works, but I think you should try something else. For the sciences passages a lot of the answers can be found in the passage. Yes there is outside knowledge that you have to apply to the questions as well, but for the most part you can eliminate some answers based on the passage. When I see a passage I quickly read it to get an understanding of what it is about, some people don't even read the passages.

If you see complicated formulas don't freak out. If you need to use the formula its right there in the passage, it should be an easy point to get. Also, if you can't remember a particular formula that's not given, then use dimensional analysis to get the final units as the units in the answer choices and then plug in the numbers. When you read the questions, read it carefully to make sure you're understanding it. Also, look at the answer choices, they do give hints if you have no clue what the answer should be. For example, I was taking a practice test yesterday and a question said something like "Which of the following anions would precipitate with cation X?" I looked at the answers and two of them were cations, not anions! Right there you can eliminate half of the answers. In this example though the answer was in a chart, so once again the passages do contain answers.

I also attack the sciences (PS and BS) with a strategy. I go straight to the free standing questions when the test starts as they generally tend to be easier and quicker for me to answer and it really boosts my confidence. I then do the passages, generally the chemistry ones first because I'm a chem major and they tend to be easier for me to do. I always skip and mark questions that I have no clue on the answer and then do those last. In general I have been finishing my PS section with 10-20 mins left depending on how well I know the subjects within the test and then go back through the ones I was shaky on and take my time to fully make sure I'm right (I don't rush through the test to finish the first time through either).

This is just what I do, its been working for me on practice tests (normally at least 12 on PS), but it may not apply to you. But I think you should try not mapping and try something else out because it might work better, and if it works keep improving that technique. Good Luck!

 

[CdanceNS]

When I first started practice tests I was struggling with timing on PS too. For me, it was the calculation questions that were slowing me down, so make sure you know the formulas and have done enough practice questions in your weak areas. As for mapping in PS I think its a waste of time. Just skim through the passage, know what the formulas are for and what the tables and graphs mean. Then if a question addresses those you can easily go back to the part of the passage.

 

[chickensandwich]

i was running out of time as well on my practice tests (i ran over by ~10 min without the timing feature on, or missed a passage with time on). the way i managed to finish with ~5 min left on the real thing was to skim the q's first and determine if i even needed to read the passage (there was only one passage that required full-on reading, everything else skimming was fine), and to skip the ones i didn't know how to do after thinking about it for 30 sec for later. i find that stops me from spending like 5 minutes on one question and when my physics juices get flowing and i go back to it, it's usually easier. 😛

 

[atomi]

I would love some advice by those who have done well in physical sciences. I am currently doing Kaplan online and am almost done with all the content review. Although I aced organic, inorganic, and physics in school, and have done well on content review quizzes, I am really struggling with practice MCATs and full length Kaplan tests. I try to map the passages like recommended, but when I see the complex, confusing formulas and sentences I start to panic inside. Then I lose focus and don't have a clue how to summarize the passages or what to write down. Even though the questions aren't always that hard, I am spending so much time trying to figure out the passage that I actually am not finishing in the allotted time. I have none of these troubles with bio and verbal. Any ideas on how to get my **** together in the next 6 weeks? Thanks!

If you're like me, all you have to do well is finish it. I got a 10 on it and that was guessing on 6-8 questions. If I had finished, I would have had at least 1 more point. Do enough practice test so that you are finishing it everytime.