Mcat help

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travoltage

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hey everyone. i took the mcat last july and did awful in it. prior to it, i took the kaplan course which i could not fully utilize during the semester due to a rigorous course schedule. now im taking it again in march. i have all the kaplan books, audio osmosis mp3s. my question for all of you who did well on the mcat using the books only, how did you structure your studying. im taking my last semester kind of light in terms of coarse load so i can have full attention to the exam. my weakest subject is organic so im going to put the most emphasis in the biological sciences section. can someone tell me how they structured their studying habits? was it one day verbal, next bio, etc and you rotated this etc? thanks!

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First off, about the schedule, I would rotate and do a different topic everyday. So one day physics, next gen chem, o-chem, etc. However, if you have the material definitely take a TIMED verbal test or at least a passage every day. The more passages you can take everyday the better.

Secondly, you do not have enough material. Flat out, just relying on the Kaplan books and Audio Osmosis will get you nowhere. This is especially true if you've already used these materials. You MUST get more new material. If you have the Kaplan big book (i.e. NOT the classroom books), then I'm guessing you've already taken those practice tests. If you have the classroom books and no online access, you stand no chance of improving your score without additional material (unless you simply choked on exam day which happens).

Lastly, before you even pick up your MCAT books again, you MUST sit down and analyze what went wrong.


Originally Posted by TheBoondocks
This question gets asked like every three days. In short, EK series are stripped down with the basics you need to know. Get EK bio, it is by far the best for bio, all the responses on SDN say this. Know this book cold. If you don't believe me, type in EK bio in the search function. Personally, you learn the best from passages, If you have time and the cash I highly suggest purchasing Berkeley Review Gen Chem and Ochem. There physics is good too, but with PR it may be redundant. You will thank me later. You'll probably want EK biology review and EK 101 biology passages and EK verbal 101. PR is good, however, if you want to kill the MCAT you have to be able to integrate material. That's what BR does better than anyone else. Like, be able to answer questions if you see the circulatory system wired in parallel series.

bio - 1. EK bio and 101 bio passages 2. Kaplan 3. PR/BR however, these don't suck, they're just detailed which turns off many people.

Physics 1. BR/Nova 2. PR 3. Kaplan I really think BR but they're are a lot of people who swear by Nova on this site

Verbal 1. Ek verbal and 101 passages 2. PR 3. BR 4. Kaplan (read stay from)

Gen Chem 1. BR by far 2. PR 3. Kaplan/EK

O Chem 1. BR by far 2. toss up between Kaplan/PR/Ek

That is a general list of what i have read on SDN for the past 4 years, i came here and lurked throughout highschool. Good luck and hopefully this will help. EK is for people who KNOW the material and want review. If you are weak in something BR is the best since it's the most detailed and PR is detailed too, Kaplan is in the Middle, and EK is the least detailed but that doesn't mean it's bad. Just depends on the person. If you can I would buy the BR Chemistry books and Physics book. If you complete the PR science workbook along with BR passages and EK bio, you will kill the sciences. Ek Verbal should help you out with verbal.
 
I think it's better to master one subject before moving on to the next. For example, I set aside a week for gchem when I was doing content review, and I didn't move on to ochem until I felt comfortable with all, or at least the majority of the concepts. Others may suggest mixing and matching, doing gchem one day and then physics the next and verbal after that, etc. But I think it comes down to preference. I just feel that I get a better grasp of the material if I focus on that subject for several consecutive days. It sort of simulates taking those prereq classes again and because the material is all inter-related, it helps to link/chunk the information together. That's my take on review.

The next and more important aspect of MCAT preperation is practice. Getting your hands on as many practice tests as possible and working on them with as much energey and focus as you can is the best way to prepare. Of course you should also thoroughly review exams afterwards, re-learn what you already know and try to pick up concepts that were giving you trouble.
 
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