How do you tackle those really long TBR Bio passages in less than 8 minutes?

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Whiteshoes

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How do you tackle those really long & convoluted TBR Bio passages in less than 8 minutes?

Some of the passages have long mechanisms and a long paragraphs worth of info and then after that you have questions with long questions that require critical thinking and calculations. I don't have a tough time during the TBR CBT's but while doing the passages out of the book I've had a hard time finishing within 8-9 minutes.

Any tips on how to attack these passages? (skim, spend more time understanding the passage, etc).
 
Ignore the mechanism initially and only read it if a question asks about it.
 
These passages are hard as hell. Please tell me the real mcat is not this freaking hard or I'll finally decide to become a cosmetologist instead.
 
Read the passage, get an idea of what everything is about but don't fret if you don't understand everything. After reading, go to the questions. If a question is asked that is referring to the passage where you didn't understand it, go back and re-read .
 
These passages are hard as hell. Please tell me the real mcat is not this freaking hard or I'll finally decide to become a cosmetologist instead.

I took my first MCAT a couple of months ago and I felt the same pressure of not having enough time to double check my answers as i usually am able to do during the aamc cbts.. so yeah the bio is definitely more time consuming similarly to these types of passages.
 
These passages are hard as hell. Please tell me the real mcat is not this freaking hard or I'll finally decide to become a cosmetologist instead.

The real mcat passages are about equivalent to TBR. TBR just expects you to know more random facts, so their questions are a little more detailed.
 
The real mcat passages are about equivalent to TBR. TBR just expects you to know more random facts, so their questions are a little more detailed.

Ok, that's not too bad I guess. I have the hardest time with their random factoids but the passages do get me to think.
 
Ignore the mechanism initially and only read it if a question asks about it.

Read the passage, get an idea of what everything is about but don't fret if you don't understand everything. After reading, go to the questions. If a question is asked that is referring to the passage where you didn't understand it, go back and re-read .

Thanks..
 
Ok, that's not too bad I guess. I have the hardest time with their random factoids but the passages do get me to think.

Yea the random facts are way more detailed than what you need to know.. most of the time.
 
map the mechanism as you read it. Calculations questions aren't common on the BS section and if they are, will be straight forward. I would suggest taking a look at the BS passages from "the official guide to the MCAT exam". These were most similar, or maybe even a little harder than my exam.
 
map the mechanism as you read it. Calculations questions aren't common on the BS section and if they are, will be straight forward. I would suggest taking a look at the BS passages from "the official guide to the MCAT exam". These were most similar, or maybe even a little harder than my exam.

So the first time around I should just ignore it and then if a question refers to it then carefully spend time to map it? those calculation problems in TBR are annoying.. (What is the net ATP produced from the break down of...) especially the ones that have convoluted mechanism in it showing that you actually consumed 2 atp along the way..
 
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