How to get past 10s in PS/BS

[ineedmcathelp]

---

Members don't see this ad.

I cannot pass a 10 in the PS and BS sections my last 5/6 exams GS 3-4 TPR 5-6 and AAMC 6-7 have all been 10s in those sections with the expection of TPR 6 which I took in bad conditions....


I keep a notebook of my errors and cannot find any correlation of the stuff I get wrong. I am currently doing as many TPR workbook passages as possible and am going to spread 8-11 AAMC exams over the next two weeks...


any suggestions on how to bump my score up?

 

[notbobtrustme]

It depends where you are missing your points. Is it the standalones or passages? If it's passages, make sure you are reading the passages thoroughly and not making assumptions that aren't warranted. If it's standalones, you have to have your knowledge to a T.

 

[salim271]

A varied selection of FLs doesnt really mean better. AAMCs are the most accurate, thats something everyone agrees on. That means the other ones are less accurate and therefore different from AAMC (and probably from each other). By taking different FLs you're exposing yourself to different formats every time. It has to be confusing as hell to your brain that really needs to get only one style of FL down, and thats the AAMC. My advice is to honestly focus on one type of FL at a time. GS is considered more difficult than AAMC, if you have the time take several GS's in a row (after a hard look at what you're getting wrong in GS and why) and then switch to AAMC tests only. I think that should help your brain get into the right format to take the real test.

 

[ineedmcathelp]

A varied selection of FLs doesnt really mean better. AAMCs are the most accurate, thats something everyone agrees on. That means the other ones are less accurate and therefore different from AAMC (and probably from each other). By taking different FLs you're exposing yourself to different formats every time. It has to be confusing as hell to your brain that really needs to get only one style of FL down, and thats the AAMC. My advice is to honestly focus on one type of FL at a time. GS is considered more difficult than AAMC, if you have the time take several GS's in a row (after a hard look at what you're getting wrong in GS and why) and then switch to AAMC tests only. I think that should help your brain get into the right format to take the real test.

My first two GS exams were 8/8/8 8/8/8 the last two GS exams were 10/8/10 10/8/10, I am finished taking the GS exams and TPR exams and have moved on to the AAMC but have taken 3-5 at a earlier time so I may still take them to get used to the format.

and it looks like i am averaging 3 stand alones wrong for my last 2 tests. Could it be that my practice is focusing more on Passage based questions? I'm doing very few stand alones and focusing on TPR passages mainly because I hate the EK 1001 questions.

 

[salim271]

My first two GS exams were 8/8/8 8/8/8 the last two GS exams were 10/8/10 10/8/10, I am finished taking the GS exams and TPR exams and have moved on to the AAMC but have taken 3-5 at a earlier time so I may still take them to get used to the format.

and it looks like i am averaging 3 stand alones wrong for my last 2 tests. Could it be that my practice is focusing more on Passage based questions? I'm doing very few stand alones and focusing on TPR passages mainly because I hate the EK 1001 questions.

Its as the responders said above, if you're missing discretes it speaks of a content problem. We all know how to deal with standalones, we've had tests upon tests of them since we were in elementary school. I dont think you really have to practice discretes, we've been doing them all our lives. Review the content behind the discretes is the only thing to do.

 

[mitchlucker]

The good thing is that they're in BS/PS. If it was 10 you were stuck on in verbal, then good luck raising it in 2 weeks. (Even though it's not a bad score).

For PS make sure you know every equation. Get a review book and know every equation. Just just the variables, but how they relate to eachother. I feel like this is half of PS.

For BS just keep reading BS. Watch Khan academy videos on topics you're weak at.

Do a lot of review before your next practice test.
It should bump you up a few points. Once you raise your score to these new levels, you'll have a hard time letting it fall.

 

[ineedmcathelp]

So I took AAMC 8 and guess what? another 10 and 10 in the science sections.

I spent Sat-Sun as review days just for PS and the couple weeks before that mostly practice with some review in between.

At this point I do not believe it is content review and must be the way I am approaching questions and the passages.

I really don't know what to do right now.

 

[Bumbl3b33]

So I took AAMC 8 and guess what? another 10 and 10 in the science sections.

I spent Sat-Sun as review days just for PS and the couple weeks before that mostly practice with some review in between.

At this point I do not believe it is content review and must be the way I am approaching questions and the passages.

I really don't know what to do right now.

I feel you, bro. Same boat.

 

[DallasCowboys22]

Watched all the Chad videos in physics today.. If I don't increase on aamc 7 tomorrow I will cry..can't get past 10s!

 

[kehlsh]

Watched all the Chad videos in physics today.. If I don't increase on aamc 7 tomorrow I will cry..can't get past 10s!

You should do some related practice problems to see if you REALLY got that concept down

Don't just waste a FL thinking you got it but after the test you realize u just wasted a FL!

 

[vin5cent0]

I've been stuck at 8 / 8 PS / BS lately. What I'm noticing when reviewing is that a TON of questions I get wrong on those sections are due to me not recognizing an easy problem in disguise. Do you notice the same thing? If so, it's not your content knowledge, it's your approach. I'm currently trying to get past this hurtle of reading too deeply into a passage and missing the simplistic question being asked. It's not easy!

 

[coyotelime]

Depending on how long you guys have until your test, I would highly recommend doing passages from TBR.

If given another go at SN2's schedule, I wouldn't do TBR content because it's so ridiculous, but the passages are awesome. They really helped me develop that intuition that allows me to figure out the easy question disguised as a more difficult one.

 

[ineedmcathelp]

Depending on how long you guys have until your test, I would highly recommend doing passages from TBR.

If given another go at SN2's schedule, I wouldn't do TBR content because it's so ridiculous, but the passages are awesome. They really helped me develop that intuition that allows me to figure out the easy question disguised as a more difficult one.

So Tue and Wed I did some passages from the TBR workbooks about 20 in physics, 2 passages per section and about 8 in the gen chem...

Todays AAMC 9 score 11 (1 question away from 12) PS and 10 BS

So it may have helped a little. I think I am going to keep at it this whole weekend and try to do most of them.