Is the MCAT more science content or thinking based?

[sa012]

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I took the test yesterday (8/20) but voided it because it didn't go so well. Now that I think back to it, I feel it was impossible to study for, and was more thinking based, rather than science based. What do you guys think? More towards one or the other? Or both? Now to study for the one next year? I have been focusing on the science content more, but that didn't pay off. Any advice?

 

[zachjm2]

Back in May, I went in and took the MCAT basically blind - I reviewed content and did some practice passages but that was about it. I didn't take any full lengths or anything. I just figured it was a test of your knowledge and that you would have to apply it.

When I got my score back, it was a wake up call. The MCAT doesn't just test your knowledge of basic sciences. You have to know how to take their tests. If it just tested sciences, I would have gotten a great score. I spent the summer learning how to take the test basically and occasionally doing content review. My AAMC average was ~30 by the time I took the MCAT the second time on 8-13. I'm still waiting on the score but I'm expecting it to be around my AAMC average.

From that I concluded that doing well on the MCAT is based on... learning how to take the MCAT.

 

[apumic]

Well... you have a total of 8 semesters' worth of content to know -- that's really not that much. Also, 1/3 of the test has nothing to do with science. Since the PS & BS sections are largely application of simple concepts, I'm going to have to go with it being probably being ≥2/3 critical thinking/application, ≤1/3 science/content.

 

[mcgill2012]

sorry to hear about your void. i took it yesterday too and it was brutal, but i had it scored because i couldnt bear to void after devoting my summer to the mcat. my impression was that while you do need to know content (especially in BS - you cant get many discretes without having obscure details committed to memory) as a foundation, success is contingent upon critical thinking/ reading skills, good time management, and just knowing how to deal with the mcat.

 

[mcgill2012]

i think kaplan is really good at teaching and stressing good mcat habits.

 

[Silverfalcon]

It's a reasoning test, so yes, a lot of thinking is mandated to do well.

However, it must be said that there are some questions that you can only think if you have scientific knowledge fresh in your mind.

If anyone is curious about this debate, I recommend you to look at older threads regarding the necessity of content review. While everyone emphasized problems and passages more in each of those threads, everyone also concurred that certain amount of content review is essential.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

I guess my question would be how could you think critically if you didn't have the basic scientific knowledge to work from? The point of content review isn't to learn a bunch of esoteric facts and then answer discretes. It's so you have a solid basic understanding of the science and from there you can synthesize what's happening when they throw something at you that isn't bolded in the EK Physics book. I find it hard to believe that anyone could make a good faith effort in learning about and preparing for the MCAT and walk into it thinking that it's anything other than a test of thinking skills and reading comprehension. It's no secret that it's not a game of Trivial Pursuit, that's why all the test prep companies exist. If it was just memorizing a set of facts, well facts are facts. One company could cover everything there is to know with no room for improvement. The test prep companies all try to teach you a little bit different thought process and strategy for synthesizing that list of facts into something that can succeed on the MCAT.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

I took the test yesterday (8/20) but voided it because it didn't go so well. Now that I think back to it, I feel it was impossible to study for, and was more thinking based, rather than science based. What do you guys think? More towards one or the other? Or both? Now to study for the one next year? I have been focusing on the science content more, but that didn't pay off. Any advice?

This is a GREAT thread. The advice here is excellent, so hopefully it has a good lifetime before being relegated to the second page.

I've taken this exam and taught for a few years now, and my opinion has definitely evolved. When I took the exam, I personally needed to refamiliarize with a good deal of content, because I crammed for most of my classes in school. I did this by going really slowly through a few carefully selected passages and taking notes on my thought process through each question. I spent about twenty minutes to a half hour per passage going over each question and the material I needed. Once I completed about three to four passages in a chapter, I did all the rest timed, relying more on test strategies.

Now that I've taught for a while, I think what everyone needs depends completely on where they start. My method was perfect for me, because I needed more content review. But if you know your material really well, you might only need to do one or two passages per section the way I did them. Everyone needs something different. Observing from the teacher's perspective the last several years, I think 90% of students spend too much time trying to underline facts and absorb content. Things like flashcards may be useful in school, but they are often useless in studying for the MCAT because they emphasize raw information and give people a false sense of security. That false sense of security is quite harmful.

I see students get so caught up in taking content notes for every chapter, even subjects they know cold already, because that's what they did in school. Reviewing content if you already know something is a waste of time. Practicing with passages and going over the answers is key. It's learning to apply basic concepts to seemingly new situations. But when you look at the situations after the fact, often times they aren't really that new... just not what you normally see in textbooks in your courses.

To get ready for the exam, I am a major fan of the BR homework phases approach. For each chapter, there are three phases of homework. The first is a couple passages where you emphasize reviewing material, equations, definitions, and content. The second phase is timed, where you emphasize thinking quickly and test tricks. The last phase involves weird passages and atypical examples, so you learn to deal with your stress and anxieties. Their three phases can be applied to pretty much any materials except maybe EK (because they don't have many passages) if you can distinguish which passages are content heavy and which are weird applications of the material. You also need materials with passages that are broken down into subjects. This approach will develop both your techniques and skills as well as expose you to the information in context.

Preparing for this exam requires developing a balance between content knowledge of concepts, facts, equations, and definitions, and doing enough practice that you can apply the information quickly. It requires working on your weaknesses, which for most people involves taking a multiple choice exam more than learning the material.