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My diagnostic was an 18 PS 8, VR 6, and BS 4. It was a Kaplan diagnostic, and 7 months later and about 1500 hrs of studying later, my score on the real deal was a 39 PS 15 VR 9 BS 15 WS T. I doubled my score through hard work, dedication and patience. A couple people have sent me PM about making a thread so here it is.
Disclaimer: I will not edit this post. This is my day off from the lab. I am 30 minutes from the D.C night life; I am a young and handsome guy, so I don't have the time to sit correct my mistakes. So try to read past the spelling or punctuation errors.
The first general thing I want to tell you is to use SDN as a motivational tool and a progress gauge. You should not get online and think that people are lying about their score. Instead, use it as a tool to let you know at what level you should be. It is because of my time on this site that averaging low 30s made me feel as if I was averaging 20s. Compare yourself to the best, and work to get at their level. Never mind what the national average is, that doesn't mean jack sh..t. If I can start off with an 18 and finish with a 39, you can too. I am was not smarter than the guy next to me, I just wanted it more than he did.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS I DID WHICH ALLOWED ME TO SUCCEED IN THE SCIENCES.
1) Take tests
2) I did every question I got wrong without looking at the solution until I could get the answer right.
3) retook the test and only after the retake would I allow myself to use the solutions and this was to figure not why I got questions right, but why every other question was wrong.
4) Reason:
Don't let yourself get in the habit of picking up that pen and pencil. Use your reasoning skills to rule out answers through conceptual understanding. Try solving problem without resorting to calculations, simply use the passage and do calculation in your head.
5) You should know how to manipulate and use proportionality relationships like the back of your hand. This is the easiest way to rack up quick points in the PS. You shouldn't have to write anything down for these types of problems. If you have to, than you aren't up to the challenge.
6) Be scrupulous
Throughout the whole PS section think units. I spent a whole day using an elementary math book, just to get faster at using scientific notations accurately.
7) Dimensional analysis. Learn how to use it and know it well. It's just like the stoichiometry they teach you in chemistry.
8) The best advice I can give you is use the passage, use the passage and than use it again. This is especially useful for the BS section. When you take practice tests, forget everything you know and only use it if it is absolutely necessary. They want to see how you think, not how many upper level classes you have taken. If you get in the habit of utilizing the passage properly and reasoning now, then you won't have any trouble on test day.
9) Leave no stones unturned. Don't let yourself have a weakness when you walk in on test day. When I felt weak on anything I spent one to two days just studying that one subject alone, going to my professors, doing problems on it using the TPR workbook, Kaplan, EK or whatever passages I could find. I even reverted back to my of my old science books to find more problems if there was a need for it.
10) practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice. I did all exactly 1001 problems in the EK physics and exactly 1001 in the EK chemistry, all the 1001 Orgo, and the Bio 1001. I didn't skip any questions in all four. I did every single problem in Kaplan's QBANK, did all Kaplan's topical tests, did all of Kaplan's section tests. I used the TPR science workbook to do problems in the areas in which I lacked confidence and probably did all the PS, BS, and Chem questions in that book and left about 1/3 of the orgo passages undone. The TPR workbook was extremely helpful for target studying. As for full lengths, I did about 9 Gold standards, all 11 Kaplans, 8 TPRs, all 7 AAMCS. I took about 35 practice tests and it took me about two days to review each one.
11) BE YOUR OWN SOLUTION MANUAL. When you get things wrong in the sciences don't be so quick to pull up the tab or to read the solution, go in the book read the relevant section and do the problem again and again until you get the answer right. It is easy to read a solution and say you would have gotten it right or that it was just a silly mistake but most time that silly mistake which may be something as small as forgetting a negative sign maybe a lack of conceptual understanding.
12) For Verbal, the best advice I can give is to read, read, read, read there is no other way or strategy that will improve your reading comprehension. I gave this section just as much time(if not more) as I did for th other sections. I was averaging 12s and 13s consistently on my diagnostics before the real thing but I ended up with a 9. If I had gotten a couple points lower on the sciences I would probably be retaking. Also, I posted something a while back about an unorthodox verbal strategy, you are welcome to read it and use it. I believe the reason I was left wanting in this section is because of my lack of confidence. So be confident.
13) DON'T NEGLECT ORGO. Treat all sections equally. You should be the best at all of them instead of hoping that it won't show up because I promiss you it will and when it does, it will hurt.
I spent 7 months studying, I reviewed the material with EK, TPR, and KAPLAN. I dedicated three months to simply taking and reviewing my tests.
Here is more details about how I reviewed my tests:
Ok the easy part was taking the test for the first time. On all the FL's, I would mark down the question which I got wrong without reading the solutions. I would then redo those problems again and again often using my books and other resources until I came up with the right answer myself. When I retook the test I would do so untimed, and threat every single question like a brand new one and I would convince myself that there was a different way of getting that answer and I can guarantee there almost always is. This is where reasoning patterns, utilization of the passage and an understanding of concepts came into play. For the Bio section the reviewing consisted of figuring out not only why a particular question was right, but why every other answer was wrong. So I would go down from A-D for each question, use my resources, and figure out why they were wrong. The last aspect of the retake was figuring out the pattern in AAMCs solution, passages, and testing style, How do they expect you to come to that answer? How they arrive at that answer? what type of reasoning is this? can that reasoning be categorized? what type of passage is this? etc.. etc.... There is just so much to tell that it's often difficult to know where to begin or where to end.
These are just a couple things that I could come up with off the top of my head. There is plenty I am not mentioning, about 7 months worth of tricks and little things that I learned after all this studying process. I just don't have the time to write a book. I hope that what I have written will help some of you guys. I will try to post advice on some of the things I am not mentioning and elaborate on some of the things I have mentioned whenever they come up in threads. Good luck to you all and I hope you guys get 45s on your MCATs.
I will copy and paste this in the 30+ thread.
Disclaimer: I will not edit this post. This is my day off from the lab. I am 30 minutes from the D.C night life; I am a young and handsome guy, so I don't have the time to sit correct my mistakes. So try to read past the spelling or punctuation errors.
The first general thing I want to tell you is to use SDN as a motivational tool and a progress gauge. You should not get online and think that people are lying about their score. Instead, use it as a tool to let you know at what level you should be. It is because of my time on this site that averaging low 30s made me feel as if I was averaging 20s. Compare yourself to the best, and work to get at their level. Never mind what the national average is, that doesn't mean jack sh..t. If I can start off with an 18 and finish with a 39, you can too. I am was not smarter than the guy next to me, I just wanted it more than he did.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS I DID WHICH ALLOWED ME TO SUCCEED IN THE SCIENCES.
1) Take tests
2) I did every question I got wrong without looking at the solution until I could get the answer right.
3) retook the test and only after the retake would I allow myself to use the solutions and this was to figure not why I got questions right, but why every other question was wrong.
4) Reason:
Don't let yourself get in the habit of picking up that pen and pencil. Use your reasoning skills to rule out answers through conceptual understanding. Try solving problem without resorting to calculations, simply use the passage and do calculation in your head.
5) You should know how to manipulate and use proportionality relationships like the back of your hand. This is the easiest way to rack up quick points in the PS. You shouldn't have to write anything down for these types of problems. If you have to, than you aren't up to the challenge.
6) Be scrupulous
Throughout the whole PS section think units. I spent a whole day using an elementary math book, just to get faster at using scientific notations accurately.
7) Dimensional analysis. Learn how to use it and know it well. It's just like the stoichiometry they teach you in chemistry.
8) The best advice I can give you is use the passage, use the passage and than use it again. This is especially useful for the BS section. When you take practice tests, forget everything you know and only use it if it is absolutely necessary. They want to see how you think, not how many upper level classes you have taken. If you get in the habit of utilizing the passage properly and reasoning now, then you won't have any trouble on test day.
9) Leave no stones unturned. Don't let yourself have a weakness when you walk in on test day. When I felt weak on anything I spent one to two days just studying that one subject alone, going to my professors, doing problems on it using the TPR workbook, Kaplan, EK or whatever passages I could find. I even reverted back to my of my old science books to find more problems if there was a need for it.
10) practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice. I did all exactly 1001 problems in the EK physics and exactly 1001 in the EK chemistry, all the 1001 Orgo, and the Bio 1001. I didn't skip any questions in all four. I did every single problem in Kaplan's QBANK, did all Kaplan's topical tests, did all of Kaplan's section tests. I used the TPR science workbook to do problems in the areas in which I lacked confidence and probably did all the PS, BS, and Chem questions in that book and left about 1/3 of the orgo passages undone. The TPR workbook was extremely helpful for target studying. As for full lengths, I did about 9 Gold standards, all 11 Kaplans, 8 TPRs, all 7 AAMCS. I took about 35 practice tests and it took me about two days to review each one.
11) BE YOUR OWN SOLUTION MANUAL. When you get things wrong in the sciences don't be so quick to pull up the tab or to read the solution, go in the book read the relevant section and do the problem again and again until you get the answer right. It is easy to read a solution and say you would have gotten it right or that it was just a silly mistake but most time that silly mistake which may be something as small as forgetting a negative sign maybe a lack of conceptual understanding.
12) For Verbal, the best advice I can give is to read, read, read, read there is no other way or strategy that will improve your reading comprehension. I gave this section just as much time(if not more) as I did for th other sections. I was averaging 12s and 13s consistently on my diagnostics before the real thing but I ended up with a 9. If I had gotten a couple points lower on the sciences I would probably be retaking. Also, I posted something a while back about an unorthodox verbal strategy, you are welcome to read it and use it. I believe the reason I was left wanting in this section is because of my lack of confidence. So be confident.
13) DON'T NEGLECT ORGO. Treat all sections equally. You should be the best at all of them instead of hoping that it won't show up because I promiss you it will and when it does, it will hurt.
I spent 7 months studying, I reviewed the material with EK, TPR, and KAPLAN. I dedicated three months to simply taking and reviewing my tests.
Here is more details about how I reviewed my tests:
Ok the easy part was taking the test for the first time. On all the FL's, I would mark down the question which I got wrong without reading the solutions. I would then redo those problems again and again often using my books and other resources until I came up with the right answer myself. When I retook the test I would do so untimed, and threat every single question like a brand new one and I would convince myself that there was a different way of getting that answer and I can guarantee there almost always is. This is where reasoning patterns, utilization of the passage and an understanding of concepts came into play. For the Bio section the reviewing consisted of figuring out not only why a particular question was right, but why every other answer was wrong. So I would go down from A-D for each question, use my resources, and figure out why they were wrong. The last aspect of the retake was figuring out the pattern in AAMCs solution, passages, and testing style, How do they expect you to come to that answer? How they arrive at that answer? what type of reasoning is this? can that reasoning be categorized? what type of passage is this? etc.. etc.... There is just so much to tell that it's often difficult to know where to begin or where to end.
These are just a couple things that I could come up with off the top of my head. There is plenty I am not mentioning, about 7 months worth of tricks and little things that I learned after all this studying process. I just don't have the time to write a book. I hope that what I have written will help some of you guys. I will try to post advice on some of the things I am not mentioning and elaborate on some of the things I have mentioned whenever they come up in threads. Good luck to you all and I hope you guys get 45s on your MCATs.
I will copy and paste this in the 30+ thread.
