I'm dreadful at C/P and could use some advice myself. I've been using TBR. I went through the C/P books once and most of it flew over my head. I'm going through them a second time now, except this time I'm memorizing the formulas prior to reading the chapter, which is helping me understand better.
When you say you went through the books one time, does that mean you did all 150 passages (and corresponding 1090 questions), or do you mean that you read all of the chapters? About two-thirds of our test-taking suggestions, techniques, tricks, and strategies are embedded in the text portion. The other one-third are introduced in the answer explanations. The answer explanations also reiterate the techniques and shortcuts multiple times, so you master them through firsthand usage, which is essential if they are to stick. Reading and taking notes is scratching the surface in terms of preparation; you need to do every question at least twice, once in test mode and once in review mode. After that, you need to work through the answer explanations and take notes after reviewing the answers to get best results. But it is essential that you see the techniques used in context, not simply presented in the text.
For instance, consider the shortcut presented in Figure 1-10 of Book 1, page 19. The idea behind this is that if you can quickly generate (or recall) the free fall distances associated with whole number times (measured in seconds), then you can quickly estimate an answer within a small enough range to select a best answer. You then apply this approach on Question 1 from HW Phase 1, Question 3 from HW Phase 2, Question 19 from HW Phase 2, and Question 21 from HW Phase 2. All of this practice hopefully hammers the approach home. You then encounter three of these questions on the practice exams in the back of the book, such as Exam 1.1 Question 42, Exam 1.3 Question 43, and Exam 1.5 Question 40. It is important that these questions are spaced out as much as they are, because when you do the same type of question multiple times, you are not simulating the test environment. Under the circumstances of repeated exposure, you will do better, because you know what is coming already and you have spent time on previous questions getting into the midst of that specific type of question. But on the MCAT, topics will pop up randomly.
My question is, for someone with a horrible foundation in C/P and not much time left for content review, what chapters should I focus the most on? I believe I saw a post of yours one time about the highest yield things in the C/P books. If you could guide me to those, I can focus on at least mastering those chapters/concepts/tricks. I love the idea of mastering 300 shortcuts to get a 128 or above. Thanks!
I would dare say that if you have been through the books once, content review is not what you need at this point, no matter how it felt. You need to make a journal for your homework and start attacking passages. If you are asking what is most important, then please understand that is my opinion based on feedback from students in terms of what helped them most over the years. Your exam may very well emphasize different topics, so there is an inherent risk in cherry-picking subjects. But, that said, I would emphasize the following (in sequential order, not prioritized by importance) if I had limited time.
Chapter 1
The shortcut table for free fall and the range trick for 45 degree launches.
Chapter 2
Newton's Laws applied to everyday systems
Description of the back and the knees with respect to torque systems
Chapter 3
Bookkeeping of energy: Work + KE + PE = constant
Work-Energy applied to PV systems, such as heat engines, heat pumps, and the lung.
Chapter 4
Distinguishing features of transverse waves versus features of longitudinal waves (especially the impact of changing medium)
Standing Waves and the impact of the cord (tension and mass-per-length)
Chapter 5
Gauge pressure and objects at varying depths in stationary fluids
The buoyant force and objects floating at the top of a fluid
Moving fluids and how they are governed by Poiseuille's law and the continuity equation.
Pressure against the walls of a vessel as a fluid moves through it as governed by Bernoulli's effect
Blood flow as an ideal system
Movement of gas into and out of the lung during a normal tidal volume
Airfoils such as airplane wings and sails
The impact of spin of a projectile
Chapter 6
Fundamental rules governing electric and magnetic fields
Gel electrophoresis as viewed from the comparison m/q ratios and the drag associated with gels
The right-hand rule for determining the direction of magnetic fields and magnetic force
Applications of the Lorentz force
Chapter 7
The parallel between electrical conductivity in wires and electrolytic conductivity in neural systems
The basic circuit: series vs. parallel and the voltage source, resistors, and capacitors
The role of a dielectric in a capacitor
Applied circuitry in humans, such as pace makers, AEDs, and the impact of a taser
Chapter 8
The use of waves (in particular ultrasound waves) for imaging through echolocation
The Doppler effect applied to everything
Speed of sound in different mediums
How sound travels into the ear and the range of frequencies we hear
How vocal chords work and the range of frequencies we generate
Chapter 9
Practical applications of the various frequencies of light
How the cones and rods function
Total internal reflection and specifically fiber optic cables
Real life examples such as rainbows, remote controls, and cell phones
Medical imaging that takes advantage of waves (be it emission, absorption, refraction, or reflection)
Chapter 10
The rules used to described images made from lenses and mirrors
The shortcuts for quickly getting answers for diverging systems versus converging systems
How the lens focus light on the retina and issues that may arise (lens defects, varying position of an object, and light intensity)
Devices employing multiple lenses and/or mirrors, such as microscopes and telescopes
The problem with any list of the is nature is that it is subjective (although I have great confidence that after many years of teaching coupled with feedback from students that this is a very good list) and general. You should know those topics inside and out. What i would ask is that if there is something on the list you don't know, then post a specific question from the BR physics book and I'll do my best to give feedback. If there is something you don't recognize by description, it may be in a passage rather than in the text. The text contains a good majority of these topics, but it is the passages where you will find all of them.
Good luck!
