Need some insight

[Mehd School]

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So I'm scheduled for the 8/4 MCAT date. I've been studying since about mid may, and finished content review about three weeks ago.

Enter full lengths. AAMC 3: 20 ---- AAMC 4: 19 (fluke bio score) I know the material much better than the scores show. I'm having difficulties applying the knowledge.

I am enrolled in a Kaplan course, and already signed up for a Sept - Dec class just in case. I honestly don't think my content base is that bad (I obviously have some weaknesses) but I feel that I could get my sciences to 9's if I put my nose to the grindstone, which I plan on doing. I keep scoring 12's on EK 101 at 6ish minutes per passage. Scored 7's on both AAMC's.

My plan is to take the 8/4 administration and void it unless I get my scores up over the next two weeks. I'm also afraid of wasting AAMC full length's. I think seeing the actual test will benefit me during my study over the next couple of months.

Should I cancel and write in January? I'm taking a heavy course load, but some very relavent classes: Physics 2, retaking Gen Chem 1, Advanced Bio-physiology, and Biochem.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

PS: I used TBR for Gen Chem and Physics, which I feel strongly about (except for optics and circuits).

 

[Mehd School]

Anyone?

 

[nisarg2010]

Are the full length scores the total of 3 sections? I am assuming that its the total scores listed. If so than you definitely should not take the test in 8/4th. I believe the consensuses is that if you are scoring below 10s in each section, than the problem is content familiarity. You said you scored 7s on both VR which means that the total score of the other two sections were 13 and 12 respectively. These average to 6.5 and 6 per section, respectively. That's a very bad sign if you have finished content review. Your average AAMC score is 19.5. If we consider a score fluctuation of + or - 4pts (I think I am being very generous here. The average is around 2 pts) and assuming that you can be on the better end of the spectrum only gives you a score of 23.5. Considering that you only have approximately 2 weeks before your tests, I dont think you can even do better than a 25 on the real thing, let alone braking the 30 sealing.

I would HIGHLY recommend moving your date back cost of $70 I believe or taking it and VOIDING it (effectively wasting $240 I think). I think taking the jan date would be a good idea but you have to study a lot better (noticed I said better and not harder. Im sure you studied very hard during the content review this time around but it was not effective studying).

I know the TBR books are advertised here a lot but they may not be for everyone. I personaly did not think they were that great. Im using EK which I like a lot more. So just try out different books and see which ones fit your style the best. They all basically teach the same stuff.

Keep in mind that if you decided to take the jan test, you will not be able to apply this cycle if you were planning on it. You will have to take a year off.

 

[shaboobly]

Anyone?

high tier classes probably will help you with your reasoning skills through the sciences (i am a chem major and don't really ever score below a 10; 10 is a low score on any science section for me, except the 9 in bio on the real test.. and that 6 in verbal which is why im gonna retake on 8/4).

for me, i feel most of the science questions are easily reasoned through if you think about what the answer is telling you. a lot of the time, the wrong choices just don't make sense, or i just know right off the top of my head it is wrong. the questions i get wrong i feel it's from going too fast and not paying attention to the passage sometimes. i normally finish a section with 10-15 to sometimes even 20 minutes to spare. on the aamc 3 science sections i submitted with like 25 minutes left and still got a 12 and 11 on the sciences, but it was like that even with the later aamc versions.

how many aamc tests have you taken and what where the scores? or is aamc 3 and 4 the only ones you have done?

 

[Mehd School]

Are the full length scores the total of 3 sections? I am assuming that its the total scores listed. If so than you definitely should not take the test in 8/4th. I believe the consensuses is that if you are scoring below 10s in each section, than the problem is content familiarity. You said you scored 7s on both VR which means that the total score of the other two sections were 13 and 12 respectively. These average to 6.5 and 6 per section, respectively. That's a very bad sign if you have finished content review. Your average AAMC score is 19.5. If we consider a score fluctuation of + or - 4pts (I think I am being very generous here. The average is around 2 pts) and assuming that you can be on the better end of the spectrum only gives you a score of 23.5. Considering that you only have approximately 2 weeks before your tests, I dont think you can even do better than a 25 on the real thing, let alone braking the 30 sealing.

I would HIGHLY recommend moving your date back cost of $70 I believe or taking it and VOIDING it (effectively wasting $240 I think). I think taking the jan date would be a good idea but you have to study a lot better (noticed I said better and not harder. Im sure you studied very hard during the content review this time around but it was not effective studying).

I know the TBR books are advertised here a lot but they may not be for everyone. I personaly did not think they were that great. Im using EK which I like a lot more. So just try out different books and see which ones fit your style the best. They all basically teach the same stuff.

Keep in mind that if you decided to take the jan test, you will not be able to apply this cycle if you were planning on it. You will have to take a year off.

Well, this was very blunt. I appreciate your input, though.

I plan on taking just one more aamc test so that I'll still have 7-11 if I need to retake. I'm not sure what I think about the TBR books.

I understand fully that not taking the exam will end my application cycle this year. The last thing I want is a 24 on my record.

 

[Mehd School]

high tier classes probably will help you with your reasoning skills through the sciences (i am a chem major and don't really ever score below a 10; 10 is a low score on any science section for me, except the 9 in bio on the real test.. and that 6 in verbal which is why im gonna retake on 8/4).

for me, i feel most of the science questions are easily reasoned through if you think about what the answer is telling you. a lot of the time, the wrong choices just don't make sense, or i just know right off the top of my head it is wrong. the questions i get wrong i feel it's from going too fast and not paying attention to the passage sometimes. i normally finish a section with 10-15 to sometimes even 20 minutes to spare. on the aamc 3 science sections i submitted with like 25 minutes left and still got a 12 and 11 on the sciences, but it was like that even with the later aamc versions.

how many aamc tests have you taken and what where the scores? or is aamc 3 and 4 the only ones you have done?

I have only taken 3 and 4. on 3 I got a 6/7/7 and on 4 I got a 7/7/5. On PS and VR I was one question away from an 8. I know "what if's" are useless, but I was also one question away from a 5 on PS for aamc 3 so it's an obvious improvement (like 6 more correct). I feel the BS 5 was a fluke score. I've never scored below a 7 on that (even on the diagnostic). I'm a bio major.

I feel with a bit of tweaking I can hit 10+ on VR just like I am on any other practice quite easily. PS I was almost at an 8 with four dumb mistakes. I think I can do this, and I'm going to give it my best shot.

I guess my plan at this point is to work my ass off the next two weeks, maybe squeeze in a Kaplan full length or two, and take AAMC 5 about 3 days before my test date. If my aamc 5 is 26 or lower, I will void my test regardless of feeling on test day.

 

[shaboobly]

the next aamc you take: don't rush anything, slow down with reading question stems to figure out what they really want (this will help with your dumb mistakes i believe because this happened to me).

actually use to mark tool to mark questions to come back to if you for sure dont know the answer, if you still have no idea after returning to the question, don't change your answer as you could change it to the wrong choice 🙂. try using your scientific intuition to immediately eliminate the completely wrong choices (answers that don't make sense pertaining to our physical world).

what i do for the sciences is right when the timer begins, i skip right through and do every discrete. after i finish them all i start back at passage one and continue (it's kind of a good warm up to answer some questions on their own before doing the passage based i think).

i have no advice for verbal as i am still pretty ****ty at it. what i have been doing though is that i eliminate every choice that the author doesn't explicitly mention (for example there are questions asking you to make an assumption or an inference and the wrong choices usually are talking about something unrelated not mentioned in the passage. also the extreme choices are usually wrong; there was one question that i did i remember i got it wrong because the 3 wrong choices used words like ALL people or NEVER.. ALWAYS.) i was getting 7-8 now its consistently 9-10 with the occasional 7 or 8 every 3-4 tests i take. some of the choices they give you in ek 101 are so stupid.. for example i remember a question from like a hairstyling passage and the answer i picked had to do with keeping the hair longer, but the real answer was something else which kept the hair longer... its like wtf lol

 

[sdz7424]

what i do for the sciences is right when the timer begins, i skip right through and do every discrete. after i finish them all i start back at passage one and continue (it's kind of a good warm up to answer some questions on their own before doing the passage based i think).

^^^ That is also what I do as soon as I begin the PS and BS sections on practice tests. In the beginning of my prep my biggest downfall during was the time constraint on PS and BS. I seemed to always run short for time so would wind up quickly marking random answer choices on like two passages. As we all know, the AAMC scaled scores have a narrow range, leaving little room for error. So even though I would get most of the questions correct that I had spent time on, I would wind up with a subpar score because I would get virtually all of the questions wrong that I had to guess on that very last minute. This was so frustrating because my scores were a huge misrepresentation of my comprehension. So I sort of structured my own technique to help me with time management during FL tests. If time seems to be a problem for you then feel free to try this out:

-As soon as the timer starts for PS, I spend the first 30-45 seconds skipping through each page to take a mental note of passage topics and also the question distribution among the passages (because one passage may have only 4 questions pertaining to it, another may have 7). This way, it kind of prepares me for the topics I'll be working with, and I'll know which passage(s) topics are my weaker areas that I'll need more time on and have more difficulty answering, and also the passage topics that I am extremely comfortable with.

-I then go on to answer the discretes first. I allot a maximum of 10 minutes to answering all 13 discrete questions. It should usually take you much less than 10 minutes because discretes are very hit-or-miss; you know it or you don't. If you have no clue, make a quick educated guess and move on. The only circumstance when it should take you all 10 minutes is if there's a lot of calculations involved.

-I then move on to passages I'm most comfortable with because I know I'll be able to correctly answer most of the questions and in a shorter amount of time than the passage topics that are more difficult for me. I also pay attention to the number of questions that correspond to each passage I'm working on so that I don't spend too much time on one with a lower amount of questions. It's all about damage control. If by chance I'm going to be a little rushed for time at the very end, I'd rather it be for the passage questions I'd be making educated guesses on anyways rather than the ones I could've easily, confidently answered. Capitalize on your strengths.

-Usually there will be one, maybe two passages I'm less comfortable with and save for the end. So having answered all the discretes and passages I'm most comfortable with first, I then have reserved more time to dedicate to these 1-2 difficult passages. Sometimes for these difficult passages, you'll recall having seen subtle bits of information from an earlier passage or discrete that can help you answer some of the questions, or at least narrow down the answer choices.

-Usually, this will leave with a few extra minutes to go back and quickly check all of your answers, make sure you've marked all of the questions, or go back to the discretes you felt rushed on in the beginning.

Hopefully this helps. Some people are very quick test-takers and have no problem with the time constraints, but for most that's not the case. So if you fit into the latter group, then realize that it's just important to devise time management strategy as it is to mastering the material. Good luck to you!

 

[grapepopsicle]

The 2013 test dates won't be announced until October so I don't think you can switch to a January date. I think you'll have to register for a 2013 date at full price.

 

[TwinsFan]

I have only taken 3 and 4. on 3 I got a 6/7/7 and on 4 I got a 7/7/5. On PS and VR I was one question away from an 8. I know "what if's" are useless, but I was also one question away from a 5 on PS for aamc 3 so it's an obvious improvement (like 6 more correct). I feel the BS 5 was a fluke score. I've never scored below a 7 on that (even on the diagnostic). I'm a bio major.

I feel with a bit of tweaking I can hit 10+ on VR just like I am on any other practice quite easily. PS I was almost at an 8 with four dumb mistakes. I think I can do this, and I'm going to give it my best shot.

I guess my plan at this point is to work my ass off the next two weeks, maybe squeeze in a Kaplan full length or two, and take AAMC 5 about 3 days before my test date. If my aamc 5 is 26 or lower, I will void my test regardless of feeling on test day.

You should consider doing the AAMC self assessment to get a boatload of practice and diagnose where you're going wrong ASAP. Figure out what is tripping you up, question stems, passage format, over-analyzing? It will also help expose content weaknesses.

Keep in mind the MCAT is a critical thinking oriented problem solving test, not a biology exam or many of the other course types that require simple regurgitation. Use the self assessment solutions to really analyze and experiment with how you systematically think, organize, and problem solve with the content base you have. Figure out how you think, why you chose or didn't choose particular answers, what you think the question is asking etc. Learning how to process the information and problem solve are two of the most important skills to succeed on this exam.

This will be lengthy and time consuming, but if you aren't scoring 8+ in each section then the fundamentals really need to be addressed.