MCAT Success Inquiry

[uclabruin8]

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[dropper]

Jumping on this bandwagon.

For which subjects (B, O, P, G) did you feel that content review helped you the most? The least?

 

[V5RED]

Why do you think that doing a thorough content review and doing a lot of practice problems/practice exams are a pair from which you must choose one or the other?

It seems to me that it makes the most sense to study and practice content until you feel strong with it and do enough practice tests to where you feel comfortable with going through a full length MCAT exam in as close to realistic testing conditions as possible.

The idea of choosing one or the other or having a preset amount of studying you will do/#FL's you will do does not make much sense to me.

 

[NinjaMed]

If you intend to defeat your enemy, you must know him and you must know his sword.

The MCAT's main weapon is not to test you on content. But, you must have a basic understanding of the content in order to bear the challenge. The main weapon your opponent uses is testing your reasoning abilities. You must arrive at the correct answer by reasoning through and evaluating the evidence that is given to you.

 

[maybemed2013]

If you intend to defeat your enemy, you must know him and you must know his sword.

The MCAT's main weapon is not to test you on content. But, you must have a basic understanding of the content in order to bear the challenge. The main weapon your opponent uses is testing your reasoning abilities. You must arrive at the correct answer by reasoning through and evaluating the evidence that is given to you.

+1....I LOVE your response I think you should try to do both, I am trying to do both.

 

[uclabruin8]

Great response NinjaMed, suits your account name too! I am definitely trying to do both as well, hopefully it goes as planned. If s#!T hits the fan then its time for some creative adjustments. Good luck maybemed!

 

[Mehd School]

If you intend to defeat your enemy, you must know him and you must know his sword.

Username relavant.

 

[Josh7]

If you've completed your pre-reqs and done well you shouldn't have to do a ton of content review. I think the most beneficial part would be FLs so you will be able to get a feel for the sort of questions they throw at you.

 

[Icy Snow]

For those of you that have had success on the MCAT, would you attribute it more to intense content review with very little full length/analysis or more towards increased number of full lengths by sacrificing the thorough content review? Just curious.

I actually focused more on content review than anything else. For me, reviewing the full lengths was extremely boring so I spent less time doing it. I managed to get a 35 (PS11 VR12 BS12) doing it this way.

 

[TheShaker]

Of course, you should work on both but I personally felt like my content review helped me the most. I reviewed very intensely and when I finished, I did practice tests. I never really improved my FL scores, they hovered around 33-35 so I think that my score can mostly be attributed to content knowledge. If you know pretty much everything from the content and have fairly good reasoning skills, then you should not have a problem with the test. Still, you should be very familiar with the format and timing of the test for when things don't go ideally (ex. you spend 15 minutes on a passage).

 

[angldrps]

you can't sacrifice one for the other. you have to do both content and practice. its as simple as that. If you jump into practicing with FLs without having solid knowledge of all the content then you are wasting away good practice material.

 

[angldrps]

Of course, you should work on both but I personally felt like my content review helped me the most. I reviewed very intensely and when I finished, I did practice tests. I never really improved my FL scores, they hovered around 33-35 so I think that my score can mostly be attributed to content knowledge. If you know pretty much everything from the content and have fairly good reasoning skills, then you should not have a problem with the test. Still, you should be very familiar with the format and timing of the test for when things don't go ideally (ex. you spend 15 minutes on a passage).

most premeds don't have this which is why practicing is given so much importance so one can build on critical analysis/reasoning skills.

 

[eggs13]

content review every day for a month. then start taking a full length each weekend for the the next two months while doing content review during the week. yes, the MCAT tests reasoning ability, but you cant possible reason the right answer if you dont know the content. I was heavy on content review, scored PS 14 VR 10 BS 11

 

[NeuroSpeare]

I will keep my answer short: timed practice passages.

Time is power on the MCAT. Integrate timed testing into your content review - it worked very well for me.