MCAT PHYSICS

[pizza1994]

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Hi everyone,

I am using the Princeton review for physics and I get all there questions wrong. Literally if there are 7 questions I will only get about 1 or 2 right. I am panicking because I'm not good in physics.

Is Mcat physics difficulty the same as the princeton review or easier? I am pretty worried..... 🙁

 

[graden]

How long until your MCAT and how far are you into studying? You might wanna spend some more time on content review.

 

[havocgene]

Hi everyone,

I am using the Princeton review for physics and I get all there questions wrong. Literally if there are 7 questions I will only get about 1 or 2 right. I am panicking because I'm not good in physics.

Is Mcat physics difficulty the same as the princeton review or easier? I am pretty worried..... 🙁

Hey trust the process I am killing all the questions in the book now that I have had time to sufficiently learn the material. I would say the difficulty is about the same more/less but I feel a lot more confident thanks to TPR.

 

[pizza1994]

How long until your MCAT and how far are you into studying? You might wanna spend some more time on content review.

My MCAT is in August and so far all I have studied is chapter one which was displacement and chapter two and three which was forces and mechanics stuff....not very far at all

 

[pizza1994]

Hey trust the process I am killing all the questions in the book now that I have had time to sufficiently learn the material. I would say the difficulty is about the same more/less but I feel a lot more confident thanks to TPR.

Yeah but I'm not sure why I'm getting literally every single question wrong....I don't know. Like I will get the question wrong and then I will read the answer and it becomes kind of a memory thing and then next time I see a question like that then I will try to answer it the same way.

It is so frustrating...... don't know what to do anymore because I am so discouraged.

 

[havocgene]

Yeah but I'm not sure why I'm getting literally every single question wrong....I don't know. Like I will get the question wrong and then I will read the answer and it becomes kind of a memory thing and then next time I see a question like that then I will try to answer it the same way.

It is so frustrating...... don't know what to do anymore because I am so discouraged.

do the questions until you don't get them wrong...one of the stigmas on SDN is not repeating questions you've done, but I believe if you are learning it repetition is key. I wasn't getting questions right until i put hours into it

 

[Leah4sci]

Yeah but I'm not sure why I'm getting literally every single question wrong....I don't know. Like I will get the question wrong and then I will read the answer and it becomes kind of a memory thing and then next time I see a question like that then I will try to answer it the same way.

Without seeing your exact mistakes, here is my guess
Are you trying to 'force the information' into your brain without fully understanding the material?
I find that students attempt to learn in 2 different ways
Method 1: Absorb everything on paper, blindly, and get really good at spitting back the information - bad for the MCAT
Mathod 2: Read, try to understand, discuss, delve into... the topic at hand. Try to explain the information to yourself, your sister, dog... till you feel comfortable. Work with the equations, derive the solution, rearrange the units... make sure you GET IT before attempting the questions.
Doing practice quizzes without a solid foundation will just frustrate you without helping you learn.
Doing practice quizzes once you feel confident with the material will help you evaluate where you stand and how to move forward
Hope this helps

 

[pizza1994]

Without seeing your exact mistakes, here is my guess
Are you trying to 'force the information' into your brain without fully understanding the material?
I find that students attempt to learn in 2 different ways
Method 1: Absorb everything on paper, blindly, and get really good at spitting back the information - bad for the MCAT
Mathod 2: Read, try to understand, discuss, delve into... the topic at hand. Try to explain the information to yourself, your sister, dog... till you feel comfortable. Work with the equations, derive the solution, rearrange the units... make sure you GET IT before attempting the questions.
Doing practice quizzes without a solid foundation will just frustrate you without helping you learn.
Doing practice quizzes once you feel confident with the material will help you evaluate where you stand and how to move forward
Hope this helps

yeah so basically what I do is I will go through the entire chapter and do the questions embedded in the chapter and then I will do like 2 passage questions at the end (and obviously get all the questions wrong) and then I go do the online homework and get everything wrong again.

i think i will try just maybe doing it slower? but then again how can I go any slower....? I only do a chapter a day....

 

[Leah4sci]

I don't think it's about speed as much as your application of the information.
After reading the chapter, do you feel that you understand the material, or do you feel like you just shoved a bunch of concepts into your short term memory without processing what you've learned?
Getting a few questions wrong is normal, getting most questions wrong tells me that you probably don't know the information.
This isn't a bad thing, but maybe the book alone doesn't cut it for you. Try to find a video series or similar alternate learning method that clicks with you and review the information via this alternate method before attempting the questions.
In fact, let's go back to the chapter you learned today. Go on YouTube and search for 1-3 videos for EACH CONCEPT mentioned. This may take a few hours. Watch the videos, rewatch if you're not 100% clear AND THEN try the study and passage questions again.

 

[pizza1994]

I don't think it's about speed as much as your application of the information.
After reading the chapter, do you feel that you understand the material, or do you feel like you just shoved a bunch of concepts into your short term memory without processing what you've learned?
Getting a few questions wrong is normal, getting most questions wrong tells me that you probably don't know the information.
This isn't a bad thing, but maybe the book alone doesn't cut it for you. Try to find a video series or similar alternate learning method that clicks with you and review the information via this alternate method before attempting the questions.
In fact, let's go back to the chapter you learned today. Go on YouTube and search for 1-3 videos for EACH CONCEPT mentioned. This may take a few hours. Watch the videos, rewatch if you're not 100% clear AND THEN try the study and passage questions again.

yeah to be honest....yeah I dont understand much. like yeah i know Work= Force * Displacement but what the hell is work and energy ? I have not a damn clue......yep you are right I need to watch maybe a video or two and take it slow. I'll try this. Read a section or two and then ask myself questions and then watch a video or two on the concept. Thanks for the help!!! 🙂

 

[Leah4sci]

yeah to be honest....yeah I dont understand much. like yeah i know Work= Force * Displacement but what the hell is work and energy ? I have not a damn clue......yep you are right I need to watch maybe a video or two and take it slow. I'll try this. Read a section or two and then ask myself questions and then watch a video or two on the concept. Thanks for the help!!! 🙂

Not to sound like a know-it-all, but as an MCAT tutor this is a very common problem, and from your initial post I suspected it was your issue as well. Knowing W=Fd is NOT enough, if you don't get it, how will you solve a work question if presented with... velocity, or displacement and time... instead of the exact units you expect. If you memorize you only know what you memorized. If you UNDERSTAND you will be able to think, reason, derive and apply.
How much time remains till your exam?