Need MCAT Advice

[NotYY4U]

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Hey everyone, will try and make this short and sweet. I posted this in the MCAT sub-forum as well.

My 2nd attempt at this thing is 5/18 (subject to change of course) I'm only applying DO so time is more on my side. My first attempt was July 2017 and I scored a 498.

Content wise, I seem to be ok. When there are questions on amino acids, periodic trends, general content knowledge etc., I get the answer on my practice material right more times than not.

The problem is interpretation...always has been.

So basically comprehension, which is funny because writing and English were some of my strengths in undergrad. Questions like "Why did the scientists likely use this instead of that?".

Is there a straetgwey anyone can recommend or to just practice?

Right now I'm taking questions like this slowly so I can really think about them and then work on speed.

My target score is a 505 and anything over 500 I will honestly be jumping up and down (pre MDs can come in and laugh now).

I honestly believe I have what it takes to be a physician based on all my experience in this incredible field and I refuse to give up on my dreams. This is not plan A or B, it's plan Z as well...

 

[MakeLifeHappen13]

What practice materials have you been using?

 

[NotYY4U]

Last time was Kaplan materials with AAMC QPacks, Section Banks and FLs towards the end (I believe this is where I went wrong).

This time is content review from anywhere, and ONLY practicing with AAMC materials thus far. I'm taking my first FL this week.

 

[sky778]

Hey everyone, will try and make this short and sweet. I posted this in the MCAT sub-forum as well.

My 2nd attempt at this thing is 5/18 (subject to change of course) I'm only applying DO so time is more on my side. My first attempt was July 2017 and I scored a 498.

Content wise, I seem to be ok. When there are questions on amino acids, periodic trends, general content knowledge etc., I get the answer on my practice material right more times than not.

The problem is interpretation...always has been.

So basically comprehension, which is funny because writing and English were some of my strengths in undergrad. Questions like "Why did the scientists likely use this instead of that?".

Is there a straetgwey anyone can recommend or to just practice?

Right now I'm taking questions like this slowly so I can really think about them and then work on speed.

My target score is a 505 and anything over 500 I will honestly be jumping up and down (pre MDs can come in and laugh now).

I honestly believe I have what it takes to be a physician based on all my experience in this incredible field and I refuse to give up on my dreams. This is not plan A or B, it's plan Z as well...

Personally I believe each person’s optimal studying strategy will be different. Have you considered enrolling in a prep course? It worked wonder for me. There is a 60 percentile difference between my first and second attempt (although I didn’t study much the first time). I used Princeton review and I think their prep material is better than Kaplan. Again n=1 so this is just some suggestion.

 

[AnxietyNation]

CARS sucked for me. I got a decent score on that subsection (126 from a 124 baseline) but I really never improved with practice as much as the other sections.

What always tripped me up would be that I would select the two technically correct answers, but I'd always miss the one that was "more correct". Watch out for the use of verbs, some small difference like "disliked" vs "disdained" make a difference in standardized tests like this. The strength of the language and subtle tone nuances always messed me up. Sorry if this all was too obvious, but just thought someone could learn from my mistakes.

 

[Scrubb]

In addition to ongoing content review, I’d advise taking FLs under actual testing conditions once a week from here on out. That means no outside resources during the test and take only the same breaks you’d get during the real thing. No music. Eat the breakfast you’ll eat on your testing day; eat the lunch you’ll eat on your testing day. The closer you can get mimicking the actual day, the better.

The night after you finish a FL, take a break. The next 2-3 days after a FL, do a thorough review of all questions (not just the ones you got wrong). The straight recall ones shouldn’t be a problem for you it sounds like, so don’t spend much time reviewing those except for content gaps. Spend more time reviewing the ones that require critical thinking. Read the explanations for all possible answers, making sure you understand why each was wrong or right. This is the key - skimming isn’t helpful, you need to really understand why. This should help with what you’re struggling with, as you’ll start to see patterns within different types of questions and answers. You’ll get better at elimination and spotting the more likely answers.

Really utilize the review tools they give you with the FLs. Those are your best friend.

After you’re done reviewing an FL, either take a day break then hit another real testing condition FL (the more the better) and repeat the cycle, or spend a couple days on content then hit another FL.

You should try to get 8 or so real condition FLs in with a very thorough full review of each.

This worked for me at least...I got about 90 percentile. I feel like you should get close to your target if you’re very diligent about this and solid on the basics.

Good luck!

 

[NotYY4U]

Thanks everyone!!!

 

[Ho0v-man]

wikipremed.com

It’s free but the physics flash cards are money. In general for VR/CARS I think the best thing to do is grab that EK 101 and just hammer them out. Cars is the toughest to improve but when you start learning how to read between those lines, you should see improvements in every section.