MCAT Bio overwhelming

[dapmp91]

Hey guys, I have the TPR hyperlearning books and the EK 101 books, I'm taking the tpr class, I find that the biology is overwhelming me out of all the subjects there is. And I'm a Bio major Do you guys have any suggestions on how to tackle this section. It seems like there can be an infinite amount of stuff to memorize for the bio section and I don't know how to study it?

 

[DrDre2001]

Hey guys, I have the TPR hyperlearning books and the EK 101 books, I'm taking the tpr class, I find that the biology is overwhelming me out of all the subjects there is. And I'm a Bio major Do you guys have any suggestions on how to tackle this section. It seems like there can be an infinite amount of stuff to memorize for the bio section and I don't know how to study it?

I dont know what to say because i dont know more about your situation.

I do know though, that even if you are a bio major, it's probably been a few years since you've seen much of this intro level content (im guessing this past year you took genetics or other advanced level bio stuff). So you shouldn't really be looking at it like you are an idiot because you arent doing great with this mcat stuff even though you are a bio major. It will still take a lot of effort from you. I was a bio major and kinda fell into the same trap of being super confident about my bio abilities because i was a bio major.

 

[dapmp91]

bump

 

[phEight]

Hey you should realize TPR Bio is much more detailed based. If you're a bio major then chances are you have a pretty decent grasp of the foundations... you should really look into getting EK Biology. I'm sure its not nearly as overwhelming.

 

[stockraider]

Hey you should realize TPR Bio is much more detailed based. If you're a bio major then chances are you have a pretty decent grasp of the foundations... you should really look into getting EK Biology. I'm sure its not nearly as overwhelming.

one word of advice, get the ek bio book in order to review bio as a supplement to the tpr book cause the tpr book misses a lot of critical concepts that do show up on the mcat. on my test day the mcat covered granulocytes and agranulocytes, if i had just relied on tpr..i wouldn't know what the hell they were talking about, but i had reviewed immune system in EK as well and was thankfully saved by that. make sure you definitely cover your weakest bio sections with both tpr and EK.

as far as bio being overwhelming...it is because the curve is steep due to all the bio and science majors that take this exam. you have to master one concept at a time and make sure you constantly, constantly review the material while you are moving on to new bio concepts. i know its deftly laborious, but there is absolutely no way around this. for orgo memorize till your eyeballs fall out and be familiar with the material in ANY CONTEXT. for example, be able to recognize an aldol condensation even with a wierd looking ketone...bottom line is to always boil down information to the simplest concepts when it comes to orgo.

 

[Seraph 84]

Print off AAMC 2009 Bio topics and study those topics. If it's not on that list, then don't worry about.

 

[sv3]

one word of advice, get the ek bio book in order to review bio as a supplement to the tpr book cause the tpr book misses a lot of critical concepts that do show up on the mcat. on my test day the mcat covered granulocytes and agranulocytes, if i had just relied on tpr..i wouldn't know what the hell they were talking about, but i had reviewed immune system in EK as well and was thankfully saved by that. make sure you definitely cover your weakest bio sections with both tpr and EK.

as far as bio being overwhelming...it is because the curve is steep due to all the bio and science majors that take this exam. you have to master one concept at a time and make sure you constantly, constantly review the material while you are moving on to new bio concepts. i know its deftly laborious, but there is absolutely no way around this. for orgo memorize till your eyeballs fall out and be familiar with the material in ANY CONTEXT. for example, be able to recognize an aldol condensation even with a wierd looking ketone...bottom line is to always boil down information to the simplest concepts when it comes to orgo.

Aside from that one example, what else does TPR miss? I am using it so your post has me concerned. Can you remember other topics?

thanks
sv3

 

[dapmp91]

is there one material out there that will be both concise and not extraneous in terms of MCAT biology, or is mix and match the best situation?

 

[Baboo Bhaiya]

is there one material out there that will be both concise and not extraneous in terms of MCAT biology, or is mix and match the best situation?

No

Repetition worked for me.. when I first read a chapter, I would read from a brief source like the EK Bio book and I would not care about memorizing any detail. Next, I would look up terms that I did not understand from my first reading either in a textbook or online. (In textbooks and online, you often find nice charts, tables, and pictures, that help a lot in understanding the material). Finally, I would read the EK Bio lecture again. By this time, I would have gained a pretty good understanding of the big picture. I would also follow this up with practice questions and passages to see if I have understood the material well. Remember - Repetition is the KEY to Biology.