Mcat 515+

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irule285

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Im taking the jan mcat and I'm aiming for 515 and above. Can anyone tell what they did? Did you do practice problems after each chapter in a book or waited until you did the whole book and then move on to questions? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

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I'm not a 515+ scorer, but I can tell you that doing problems at the back of the chapter helps reinforce what you just read. If you wait to do the questions after finishing a book, you are more likely to forget information. Active learning is king. Also, be sure to do a lot of practice passages. Reading and working examples is great, but it can only get you so far. Doing passages and practice tests will be what will teach you skills necessary for a high score.
 
I didn't score 515+ either (514) but I did 3 run throughs of each chapter in EK. First time I just skimmed through, looked at all the figures and the bolded terms. Second time a couple days later I went through the chapter and read it in more detail and reviewed what I looked at the first time, then did the questions. Third time about a week later I went back and redid the questions I got wrong.

Also look at the 509+ MCAT Strategies thread stickied here for some more ideas.
 
When you're doing content review, my advice echos @El-Rami 's. At first pass, doing practice questions related to the subtopics as you review the material will help reinforce the concepts, and will confirm whether or not you have a fundamental grasp of the topic. If you're missing a lot of the stand-alone memory based questions, it is an indicator that you need to review the topic. I would recommend to not just do stand-alone, memory-based questions though. Try finding passages related to the subtopic (Princeton Review nicely organizes their online passages by topic, and other companies may do something similar). If you want a 515+, my advice is to get through content review with some discrete questions along the way, but the bulk of your studying should focus largely on passages (as the MCAT is a test of how you interpret data and apply what you know in unfamiliar contexts), and work up your testing stamina to sustain your concentration in blocks of ~90 minutes. In the final stages of your studying, practice tests and reviewing them shortly afterwards is crucial.

I scored barely above your goal, 516 (129/127/130/130). Just my two cents.
 
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