MCAT Practice Tests

[MercifulDoc]

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I have done 4 MCAT practice tests, and my score on the last practice test was 7PS, 7VR and 8BS. My test is on September 7th. I am getting very panicky and would like to know whether it is too late to raise my score >10 in each section?

Also, I am having the most trouble with PS (my first test score in PS was 4). I seem to run out of time for the section because I spend too much time on an earlier passage (especially on passages that offer equations or stuff I haven't seen before). Can I get tips on how to improve? Help would be appreciated!

Sorry if this is the wrong forum, as I am new here.

 

[Mornhavon]

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[MercifulDoc]

For verbal:

While reading the passage, highlight key concepts or quotes or information that you think you will likely be asked about in the questions.

In the AAMC FL's and the real thing you can highlight text...I find it really helps to go back to the passage, find the info quickly, and use it to answer the question...a lot of the verbal questions are dickish so going back to the passage is helpful; highlighting saves a lot of time finding your place.

That sounds like a very good idea! Thanks for your help! 🙂

Do you have any tips for PS? I do the questions too slowly (although I can get them right).

 

[SalemK]

If a question is taking you longer than a minute: guess, mark it, and move on. After you're done answering the questions you CAN finish quickly, if you have time left you can go back to the calculation-heavy ones you skipped. I had a lot of trouble finishing PS and while it sucks to run out of time and not be able to get back to the questions you marked (which happened to me on the actual test), it's a LOT better than running out of time and not getting to read, say, two entire passages of questions you might have gotten completely right.

Also: drill drill drill. Do the passages from the Berkeley Review books; I also found the ExamKrackers Mini MCATs book helpful in getting faster (they are 20 minutes per section).

 

[kehlsh]

stop wasting FLs if you are getting 7/8's and practice more passages and solidify ur content knowledge first

 

[Pigglyjuff]

stop wasting fls if you are getting 7/8's and practice more passages and solidify ur content knowledge first

+10000000000

 

[Temperature101]

Content review will definitely help in PS but I am not too sure it will help that much in BS. OP should definitely do more content review in PS but should use TPRH to do more passages in BS, which might help OP with his/her analytical skills. VR is a roll of a dice. If you are getting anything less than 9, you need to analyze what you are doing wrong. I am terrible at VR as well--cant give that much help in that regard.

 

[MercifulDoc]

Content review will definitely help in PS but I am not too sure it will help that much in BS. OP should definitely do more content review in PS but should use TPRH to do more passages in BS, which might help OP with his/her analytical skills. VR is a roll of a dice. If you are getting anything less than 9, you need to analyze what you are doing wrong. I am terrible at VR as well--cant give that much help in that regard.

What do you mean by content review? What I have been doing for PS is doing as many questions as I can from the TPRH science workbook. For BS I have done all the readings.
Is this the correct approach?

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

What do you mean by content review? What I have been doing for PS is doing as many questions as I can from the TPRH science workbook. For BS I have done all the readings.
Is this the correct approach?

You mean you haven't even reviewed material, you just went straight to doing practice tests and passages?

I think we found your problem.

 

[Temperature101]

What do you mean by content review? What I have been doing for PS is doing as many questions as I can from the TPRH science workbook. For BS I have done all the readings.
Is this the correct approach?

Content review is going over all the concepts tested on the test. You should do that before taking practice tests. You should be able to raise your PS score if you use TBR for the PS section. BS is more like VR, so you need analytical skills in addition to content review to be able to break 10+ on it.

 

[MercifulDoc]

You mean you haven't even reviewed material, you just went straight to doing practice tests and passages?

I think we found your problem.

I finished the TPR course, I independently did most of the readings. Finished the GChem book, same with Physics, did all physics FSQ (hence score increase from 4 in PS), and finished orgo, and all orgo questions/passages (need to review mechanisms a bit, but understand most of the concept and remember most of the reactions). For bio, I did the readings, but didn't make extensive notes. I remember the basics of bio, but not the details. I haven't done many passages for either Gchem or Bio. For bio I just read the chapter, try to understand it, and memorize as much as I can. Is my study method good, or can it be improved?

Perhaps I'm doing something wrong, that may explain my poor scores? Help would be appreciated!

 

[Mornhavon]

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[CaribbeanBlue]

stop wasting FLs if you are getting 7/8's and practice more passages and solidify ur content knowledge first

I think this would apply to sciences.

 

[bbvm16]

Something that really helped me with PS timing (and can work for BS too for that matter) is to write down times at the top of your scrap paper before you start a section. The times you write should correspond to the amount of time it should take you to do 2 passages. As you do the section, make sure you are on track for the timing and if not, guess the questions, mark them, and move on to the next passage. So here's what I mean:

On my scrap paper at the top I wrote:
After discretes: 57 mins, after 2 passages: 41 mins, after 4 passages: 25 mins, after 6 passages: 9 mins

I do the discretes first (about a minute per question) and each set of 2 passages is allotted 16 minutes. After I finish each timing section, I check it off and make sure I'm on track in terms of time. I really think this helped me and ensured I consistently finished every section on time. Try it out! 🙂