MCAT General Question

[ArkansasRanger]

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Ok, for the first time ever I looked at some sample MCAT questions last night. My background to answer the questions comes from a fairly decent biology background, and a nine year old general chemistry course. That said, I could answer almost nothing on the test.

Have any of you ever looked at the questions prior to taking the courses that teach you the material to take the test? How did you feel?

I presumed that one ought to be able to answer some of the questions, but largely I was lost. I'm thinking this is bad juju.

 

[MLT2MT2DO]

Ok, for the first time ever I looked at some sample MCAT questions last night. My background to answer the questions comes from a fairly decent biology background, and a nine year old general chemistry course. That said, I could answer almost nothing on the test.

Have any of you ever looked at the questions prior to taking the courses that teach you the material to take the test? How did you feel?

I presumed that one ought to be able to answer some of the questions, but largely I was lost. I'm thinking this is bad juju.

I felt the same way with the PS section. I did however feel comfortable with ~50% of the biology questions as most of the info was either in the passage or could be extrapolated from a table/chart/graph.

Even though the answer may be in the passage the authors of the test like to make it very vague and hide it under a pile minutia. The more you study and practice passages the better you get with the wording of the MCAT

 

[wagmanager]

i think the mcat requires you to have the knowledge at your fingertips so that nine year old chem course might not cut it. i did look at a few mcat passages before i started taking my prereqs and i got a lot wrong. It's not bad juju. Bad juju is when even after doing the courses you still can't answer any questions.
Don't despair, Good luck and God bless

 

[FrkyBgStok]

I am retaking Chem 1 now and have the feeling commonly that it was in greek. I took gen chem 5 years ago along with physics and bio. I started studying for the mcat heavily this week. Looking at the questions I was thinking "no friggin way. I am nuts for signing up for this mcat." It actually is coming back faster than I thought it would, but it definitely isn't fresh. And it is rough, but you'll be fine. Study hard and good luck.

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Thanks everyone. That was encouraging. I'll be taking gen. chem 1 & 2 this summer, and the o-chems, physics, and likely a couple bio electives over the next 2010-2011 school year. Hopefully, I'll learn something along the way. 😉

 

[Mr Karatepants]

Definitely take all the prereqs and study up until you feel more comfortable. The science on the MCAT is really not that deep and with a year of basic science under your belt you will feel much better.

When I took the MCAT, I felt like there was not a single question on the test I couldn't answer correctly. If I did make an error, it was because I misread, or extrapolated outside the scope of the question. I think that's a good place to be before you take it.

 

[vc7777]

Ok, for the first time ever I looked at some sample MCAT questions last night. My background to answer the questions comes from a fairly decent biology background, and a nine year old general chemistry course. That said, I could answer almost nothing on the test.

Have any of you ever looked at the questions prior to taking the courses that teach you the material to take the test? How did you feel?

I presumed that one ought to be able to answer some of the questions, but largely I was lost. I'm thinking this is bad juju.

People who aren't imtimdated the first time they try and tackle the MCAT are either liars or...well liars!

FWIW, some of the review courses have a semi-gimmicky pitch of guaranteeing an X number of points increase on your MCAT. How they accomplish this is making you take your first MCAT cold, much like you have tried questions. I know people who scored 9 on their first full-length exam. As in 9 total!

 

[Nasrudin]

If it makes you feel better. I honestly think I could continuously study for those subjects. By the time I finished studying one part I would forget the other thing. And then I would have to restudy that thing. And on and on. Like a dog chasing its tail.

It's just a lot of stuff. And kind of tricky format that one has to train for.

F'n hard test man.

 

[teddy bear doc]

The gen chem 1 and 2 will help. I took a practice test before and got a pretty dismal score. It went up a lot (like 6+ points!) just after those 2 classes and physics 1.

Also remember that while you do need the background knowledge in the subject material (more so for the physical section than any other), one of the most important things is to learn how to take the test. The info on it is actually pretty rudimentary, but the way it is presented is super difficult and confusing. Take practice test after practice test until you can do it in your sleep. That will help a ton too. Best of luck!!!

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Thanks again.

Just to make it known, I'm not foolish enough to attempt the test until after I've taken the prereqs. I just wanted to see what I was up against. 😛 Apparently, I'm up against a lot here, lol. We all are.

 

[da Vincis World]

Ok, for the first time ever I looked at some sample MCAT questions last night. My background to answer the questions comes from a fairly decent biology background, and a nine year old general chemistry course. That said, I could answer almost nothing on the test.

Have any of you ever looked at the questions prior to taking the courses that teach you the material to take the test? How did you feel?

I presumed that one ought to be able to answer some of the questions, but largely I was lost. I'm thinking this is bad juju.

I did well on the test but this is how I felt during the real MCAT....You'll be fine!

 

[mnoon1]

you are already doing the right thing by looking at mcat questions before even taking the courses. Me during gen chem: "enthalpy ah who cares". Me studying chem for mcat later: "OOOooHHHHhhh, shoulda paid attention"

 

[student1799]

Thanks again.

Just to make it known, I'm not foolish enough to attempt the test until after I've taken the prereqs. I just wanted to see what I was up against. 😛 Apparently, I'm up against a lot here, lol. We all are.

You betcha. IMO, the test itself was a much bigger challenge than learning the underlying material. In my case, it was the PS section that gave me trouble, and it was all about pacing: under real test conditions (due to nerves), I ran out of time before finishing all the questions, and scored poorly as a result. In order to do better, I had to tackle my PS speed problem, and I finally did (went from a 7 in that section to a 12). I found I had to UNLEARN the habits that had gotten me A's in physics, namely methodically working through all the calculations step-by-step. Instead, I learned to take shortcuts to estimate the right answer in a lot less time. I also had to learn when to stop working on a problem and just guess, in order to conserve time.

So my advice is to give the MCAT its due by allowing yourself plenty of time to prepare for the test (months if necessary), AFTER your prereqs are all done. Take a prep course, take as many full-length practice tests as you can stand (I did 12), and fix any problems you encounter before you take the real test. It's much better to apply a year later with a strong MCAT score than early with a weak one.

 

[NTF]

I wouldn't take too much stock in your initial feelings about the test. The first time I took a practice MCAT cold (I had a science background) I scored in the low 20s.

Once you plow through a review book and methodically dissect the questions you'll see how to approach the test. They tend to throw a lot of extraneous (and needlessly complicated) information in each passage so a lot of the skill is learning to dissect out the useful parts quickly. The key is not just to answer the questions correctly, but to ask yourself what the fastest line of reasoning you could have used to get the right answer. It's about time management and inference as much as the knowledge itself.

Don't worry. It'll start to make sense.

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Is there a way to save a thread for future reference?

For example, I have replied to others before just so I could go back and look later, yet after 500 posts I can't find them so will this would get pushed out of my list after 500 posts?

THANKS for all the above replies, btw. 🙂