need advice for how to approach the physics and chem section

[morrisol]

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hi, so basically, i have a lot of trouble with the physics and chem section of the mcat. its not becaues i dont understand my material but i find that i get overwhelmed. i was hoping for some advice for the following

1) i struggle particularly with the physics passages and was wondering for some advice on how you approach the passages.

2) how do you deal with graphs and charts? like what process do you use to interpret them and make sense of them as quick as possible?

3) how would you suggest i prep for chem rxn based passages and ochem ones?

 

[Prestige88]

hi, so basically, i have a lot of trouble with the physics and chem section of the mcat. its not becaues i dont understand my material but i find that i get overwhelmed. i was hoping for some advice for the following

1) i struggle particularly with the physics passages and was wondering for some advice on how you approach the passages.

2) how do you deal with graphs and charts? like what process do you use to interpret them and make sense of them as quick as possible?

3) how would you suggest i prep for chem rxn based passages and ochem ones?

My answer goes for 1, 2, and 3: Read the questions first. I can't guarantee it will work for everyone, but it was the #1 time saver I had in my toolbox, and I ended up doing pretty well on chem.
A hybrid approach which can work well for passages is to simply read enough to get the very general sense of what the experiment describes such as "oh they wanted to try a new way to synthesize X, the reaction and way they did it is below." Don't worry about going farther than that. You're not presenting their research, you're answering a handful of questions and hopefully never worrying about it again.

 

[morrisol]

My answer goes for 1, 2, and 3: Read the questions first. I can't guarantee it will work for everyone, but it was the #1 time saver I had in my toolbox, and I ended up doing pretty well on chem.
A hybrid approach which can work well for passages is to simply read enough to get the very general sense of what the experiment describes such as "oh they wanted to try a new way to synthesize X, the reaction and way they did it is below." Don't worry about going farther than that. You're not presenting their research, you're answering a handful of questions and hopefully never worrying about it again.

like what i mean is that i get overwhelmed with the passages. i have trouble reading between the lines and was wondering if you had any strategies for that

 

[Prestige88]

like what i mean is that i get overwhelmed with the passages. i have trouble reading between the lines and was wondering if you had any strategies for that

From what I remember, you don't need to do much reading between the lines🙂. Everything that you need to answer the question is either in your brain from content review or in the passage in front of you. Read the lines themselves, not what's in between them. Try taking a question and thinking "where would I find the answer to this?" Then go find the answer.
Also, CARS practice can help a little too with learning to pick stuff out of passages - yes, even chem and physics passages.

 

[Blanky]

Just understand the basics of what they are going over. Then read the question and take what you are given. Plug and chug. I average 128-129 CP so my scores arent that high.