MCAT retake help

[The Brown Knight]

I got a 12 PS/6 VR/12 BS in the 10/21 test. I had been busy with finals the first couple weeks of Dec. so couldn't do much. But is it feasible to retake in late Jan? I was seriously shooting for a 37 and had AAMC FL averages of 36-37 with same distribution in the 5 tests leading up to test day: 14 PS/ 9-10 VR/ 13 BS.
I think the VR I can partially attribute to being thrown off by the PS section but primarily my lack of ability.
Is there any way I could raise it in a month to about 10 or should I consider new MCAT? My sciences still feel pretty solid based on the EK and Kaplan practice I've done recently.
If it's feasible, what would be an example schedule look like in general? I was just gonna take 6-7 VR passages and 15-20 science ones all timed daily and do some old Kaplan FLs along with redoing recent AAMCs.
Thanks.

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[Doug Underhill]

Don't redo the AAMCs, you've seen them before. Use EK 1001 for VR practice if you've used all your AAMCs.


The self-assessment also has like 21 VR passages

 

[The Brown Knight]

Don't redo the AAMCs, you've seen them before. Use EK 1001 for VR practice if you've used all your AAMCs.


The self-assessment also has like 21 VR passages

Thanks for the input.
I have 1 AAMC to use; I did all SAs except around 5 passages in VR.
But is this 1-month frame feasible for getting a 10 on retake? And is my strategy of doing timed 20-30 passages daily (and analyzing them) good? In looking back, I definitely struggled in reading under the pressure of the real test, especially after being thrown off by the PS section.

 

[The Brown Knight]

Anyone else??

 

[The Brown Knight]

bump

 

[The Brown Knight]

???

 

[The Brown Knight]

please, some advice would be greatly appreciated as to the feasibility of my plan and goal.
For the past couple days i've been doing 5-6 passages in every subject for about 20-30 per day from EK in class exams and kaplan subject tests

 

[Visible Ghost]

Anyone else??

Im following the Draupaudi method for verbal. It is a method developed by a user here. Scroll down and you will find the thread.

Im using TPR and EK for verbal practice. The only thing I am doing with the old AAMC VRs is looking at their explanations. I have the self assessment VR passages to use too.

 

[The Brown Knight]

Im following the Draupaudi method for verbal. It is a method developed by a user here. Scroll down and you will find the thread.

Im using TPR and EK for verbal practice. The only thing I am doing with the old AAMC VRs is looking at their explanations. I also have the self assessment VR to use

At the same time, I got to keep my PS and BS to par.

Thanks for replying.
Are you also retaking? I intent to do pretty much what you are doing except I might add Kaplan VR passages since I have very few EK and TPRH left. My biggest worry is that is a month (a little less now) enough? My 10/21 test was WAY more alien than anything i've had in the 20 FLs I did to prepare for it; VR was my biggest worry going in, but a tough PS seemed to have thrown me off. But is my plan of doing tons and tons of passages daily from various companies feasible? What's your daily practice like?

 

[Dreamstoo]

Thanks for replying.
Are you also retaking? I intent to do pretty much what you are doing except I might add Kaplan VR passages since I have very few EK and TPRH left. My biggest worry is that is a month (a little less now) enough? My 10/21 test was WAY more alien than anything i've had in the 20 FLs I did to prepare for it; VR was my biggest worry going in, but a tough PS seemed to have thrown me off. But is my plan of doing tons and tons of passages daily from various companies feasible? What's your daily practice like?

My honest opinion: try to erase answers you have for certain EK/TPRH passages you did a long time ago. Then redo them. You can even get a friend/family member to do it so you don't see the previous answers

 

[The Brown Knight]

My honest opinion: try to erase answers you have for certain EK/TPRH passages you did a long time ago. Then redo them. You can even get a friend/family member to do it so you don't see the previous answers

I might consider redoing some of those old passages since I didn't write in my books at all. My main question from original post is whether a little under a month is enough to bring up my VR score with tons of daily practice?

 

[deejaymd]

I might consider redoing some of those old passages since I didn't write in my books at all. My main question from original post is whether a little under a month is enough to bring up my VR score with tons of daily practice?

I'd say it is possible. I brought my verbal score up 3 points in a month with constant practice. It just depends on how much you initially struggled with it, though.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Yeah it is possible to raise your score in a little under a month.

I would say keep practicing, but make sure you review thoroughly. Always be asking yourself "what's the main point of the author"? Instead of writing down main points, try doing it in your head for good practice. Honestly the 5-6 passages a day is solid man. Congrats to you on doing it. Use all the resources you have. But with about a month left, make sure you focus more on the AAMCs to understand their style.

Do you have any advice on how to improve BS and PS? Specifically PS?

keep up the solid work man

 

[The Brown Knight]

I'd say it is possible. I brought my verbal score up 3 points in a month with constant practice. It just depends on how much you initially struggled with it, though.

How much practice did you do? What did you do differently? Also, in FLs I was at 8-10 on VR, but crashed apparently on test day; I really need a 9-10 there.

 

[The Brown Knight]

Yeah it is possible to raise your score in a little under a month.

I would say keep practicing, but make sure you review thoroughly. Always be asking yourself "what's the main point of the author"? Instead of writing down main points, try doing it in your head for good practice. Honestly the 5-6 passages a day is solid man. Congrats to you on doing it. Use all the resources you have. But with about a month left, make sure you focus more on the AAMCs to understand their style.

Do you have any advice on how to improve BS and PS? Specifically PS?

keep up the solid work man

Thanks for the input. For PS, pre-reqs and TBR have helped me a lot in getting consistent 14s at least on AAMCs, but the real one was much different/tougher. So I definitely recommend going through as many of the TBR problems as possible. Also, in FLs I've noticed a majority of problems can be done quickly with good understanding of the basics, but there's always one or 2 tricky verbal-like passages that I try my best to save time on (20+ mins) - figure out your strengths (chem vs. physics for PS and orgo vs. physio vs. other biology for BS) and do those quickly

 

[deejaymd]

I didn't really do anything differently than my Kaplan mapping. I simply practiced the mapping more and it saved me a lot of time on test day.

 

[dbgehle]

Hey there, I PM'd you a bit last semester to give you some advice.

I think it is very possible that you could raise your score significantly within a month. I used TPR hyperlearning and EK 101 passages for verbal practice. Like others have said, it is really about understanding the author's point of view. What was most crucial for my improvement was looking over the questions that I got wrong and really digging deep to find where in my logic or understanding of the passage I messed up. You really have to recognize patterns in the word choices of the answers that make them ***almost*** right, but not quite the correct answer.

Another thing to work on is your reading speed, which can be a huge limiting factor if it's not up to par. Practice reading the actual passages within 4-5 minutes and eventually your reading comprehension will go up, leaving you more time to process the questions.

 

[The Brown Knight]

Hey there, I PM'd you a bit last semester to give you some advice.

I think it is very possible that you could raise your score significantly within a month. I used TPR hyperlearning and EK 101 passages for verbal practice. Like others have said, it is really about understanding the author's point of view. What was most crucial for my improvement was looking over the questions that I got wrong and really digging deep to find where in my logic or understanding of the passage I messed up. You really have to recognize patterns in the word choices of the answers that make them ***almost*** right, but not quite the correct answer.

Another thing to work on is your reading speed, which can be a huge limiting factor if it's not up to par. Practice reading the actual passages within 4-5 minutes and eventually your reading comprehension will go up, leaving you more time to process the questions.

Hi again! Yes I remember and your advice did help a bit in helping me calm myself down on my way to the test center (though i didn't have time to run). Hope your schoolwork and prep for upcoming app cycle are going well. As for reading speed, how did you improve yours? And can you concretely/via examples describe "patterns in word choices of answers"? Thanks.

 

[The Brown Knight]

I didn't really do anything differently than my Kaplan mapping. I simply practiced the mapping more and it saved me a lot of time on test day.

And how much practice did you go through in that month? Thanks.

 

[deejaymd]

And how much practice did you go through in that month? Thanks.

Maybe 5 practice passages per day and 3 FL total just to get a flow. I did lots of practice mapping the first couple days then built up to entire sections and FLs. Just grind it out!

 

[texan2414]

You are solid on the sciences but I would probably question the improvement in Verbal. But then again your practice averages for VR were significantly higher so your current VR score might've been a fluke.