Need Advice Regarding EK 1001

[WhiteCoatSyndrome]

I am going through the TBR gen chem book to refamilarize myself with gen chem topics by doing some content review before starting the SN2ed schedule. I just finished the first section over stoichiometry and have couple questions.

I feel that I understand the material presented in the section very well, however, when I did 1/3 of the appropriate EK 1001 problems (as you don't use all of them in the SN2ed schedule) I only got about 50% correct. The questions I missed were due to stupid math errors and not really being familiar at this point with MCAT question structure, even discretes.

Should this be of concern at this point, or is this normal for someone just starting MCAT questions? I want to move on to the next section because I feel I know the material, but scoring so low on discretes makes me think otherwise...

Again, I am simply using TBR for content review and EK 1001 for discrete questions to help determine comprehension. I am not using TBR passages, or any passages for that matter until the SN2ed schedule begins.

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[redsun2]

EK1001 Physics, and G chem is very, very helpful for me.

I started doing odd number first.
I got more than 50%, sometimes 60-70% wrong....when I was practicing.
It doesn't matter.
Once I review why I got them wrong, I write down what I don't know, what I should focus on, what concept I am not familiar in, then move on.

By doing that, it is much better than just reviewing text book or notes, and not knowing if you really understand the concepts.

And I did okay in both BS and PS, consistently 9-11 in AAMC, got 10 and 11 in the real one.

Good luck.

 

[mcloaf]

Well, obviously you don't want to be missing 50% by the time you take the MCAT but I wouldn't worry about it at this point since you're so far out from the real thing. I think most people make math errors when they start to study--I know I made a ton, but as you practice it should get pretty easy. Also, if you makes you feel less stressed about it I missed way more Q's in the GChem 1001's than the OChem or the Physics, but thus far it hasn't been reflected in my PS scores on the FLs.

 

[watchntv]

EK1001 Physics, and G chem is very, very helpful for me.

I started doing odd number first.
I got more than 50%, sometimes 60-70% wrong....when I was practicing.
It doesn't matter.
Once I review why I got them wrong, I write down what I don't know, what I should focus on, what concept I am not familiar in, then move on.

By doing that, it is much better than just reviewing text book or notes, and not knowing if you really understand the concepts.

And I did okay in both BS and PS, consistently 9-11 in AAMC, got 10 and 11 in the real one.

Good luck.

did you do ek for both chem and physics? and then ek 1001 to review what you knew?
did you do TBR at all?

 

[WhiteCoatSyndrome]

Well, obviously you don't want to be missing 50% by the time you take the MCAT but I wouldn't worry about it at this point since you're so far out from the real thing. I think most people make math errors when they start to study--I know I made a ton, but as you practice it should get pretty easy. Also, if you makes you feel less stressed about it I missed way more Q's in the GChem 1001's than the OChem or the Physics, but thus far it hasn't been reflected in my PS scores on the FLs.

I figured that most people need to adjust to MCAT, I just needed another opinion. As I said before, I am really just doing all this for content review to make things easier when it comes time for hard study. Most of the questions I missed were not due to lack of understanding, but it still feels weird to move onto the next section having missed that many questions. As you said, however, I think I will adjust to the MCAT-style questions and improve my scoring, especially once I really begin practicing passages later on and not just discrete questions.

 

[redsun2]

did you do ek for both chem and physics? and then ek 1001 to review what you knew?
did you do TBR at all?

Yeah I finish reviewing EK for Chem and physics first, then 1001.

I use TPR, kind of to supplement some detail that EK doesn't mention. (like physics)
But I find that EK way make more sense on MCAT questions.
I would suggest you to use extra supplements besides EK review books, cause they really just don't go through subjects that thoroughly.
(Once you find out what area / topic you are weak at, then you can use those other review books to study more in those area)

 

[mcloaf]

I figured that most people need to adjust to MCAT, I just needed another opinion. As I said before, I am really just doing all this for content review to make things easier when it comes time for hard study. Most of the questions I missed were not due to lack of understanding, but it still feels weird to move onto the next section having missed that many questions. As you said, however, I think I will adjust to the MCAT-style questions and improve my scoring, especially once I really begin practicing passages later on and not just discrete questions.

This is all true. I think most people see noticeable improvements that are more related to format adjustments rather than more content learning (i.e. big differences between the first few FLs). Additionally, as I indicated above, the GChem 1001 book is a little finnicky compared to the other two and spends a lot of time on definitional minutiae that are not important for the MCAT, per se. I've used the 1001's mostly as a tool to make sure my mechanics of parsing simple discretes and performing meat and potatoes calculations on common types of MCAT problems are solid--which is exactly what it sounds like you're doing as well. Keep at it.