Not seeing improvement

[biancadoc]

Hi everyone, I could really use some advice. I'm a non-trad, first-time applicant, undergrad GPA (graduated in 2005) is only a 3.2, but I have a 4.0 from post-bacc classes including Gen Chem 1, Orgo 1 and 2, Biochem, and Genetics. I'm supposed to be taking the MCAT on 5/13, which means I have til Friday to decide if I want to push it back (albeit with the $ down the hole ).

So here's my exact situation: I've been taking all these NS FL's and consistently hovering at 509 for the past month. I got 516 on AAMC FL 1 two weeks ago and 514 on AAMC FL 2 this past weekend. I'm okay with those scores, but I've been really hoping to use my MCAT to demonstrate science skills and hopefully counteract the low GPA. My target has been 518, but I'm thinking that's an unlikely hike this close to the exam. I'd be okay with a 514+ on the real deal, but I'm slightly worried about nerves being an issue. I have a friend who got 5 points LOWER on the actual exam than on AAMC 1, which is making me totally paranoid. The AAMC Section Banks are freaking me out too, cause I'm finding them way harder than the practice FL's, more like the level of difficulty of the NS exams.

Anyone have any thoughts? Strong arguments for/against postponing?

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[5words]

Don't postone , and so long as you have been reading scholar articles on science and else, you should be fine. And if i were you, i'd totally ignore the Section Banks, so long as you understand the concepts. FL1 and 2 are most similar to the exam. 516- 514 is a nice range.

 

[Smelt]

Like above, don't postpone. I scored a 509-511 on the NS test and scored a 517 on test day. I even scored LOWER on some of my later practice tests. Its such a small sample and you can't expect constant improvement on practice test scores considering the weird stuff they throw at you. Just go with your official practice tests and as long as you are ok with scoring +-2 points of the average between AAMC practice test 1 and 2, definitely take it.

 

[biancadoc]

Thanks guys, I'm not postponing. Good news is I got 512 on my last practice FL this weekend, so feeling slightly better. Just can't wait to be done with these 10+ hour days. My kids miss me!

 

[DameJulie]

Could you share what have you done differently to see improvements?

Also stucked here not seeing improvement after series of passages drills.

 

[biancadoc]

Could you share what have you done differently to see improvements?

Also stucked here not seeing improvement after series of passages drills.

Oh man, if only I knew! Actually my results this weekend seriously surprised me, especially bc I didn't feel particularly better while working on this exam. I'll share what I've been doing, but YMMV. Also it's possible this test was just a fluke. *Shrug*

So I've taken 10 practice tests now. For every test I go over my answers extensively and use a coding system to be able to easily look through my review notes and see what I need work on. RV = review content, meaning go back over a whole topic for better understanding; CR = closer reading, answer was pretty apparent from either passage or question stem, DT = deeper thinking, meaning logic was really clear upon reading answer explanation, and finally DA = dumb answer/easy point, meaning I flubbed the math, misread the question, or just needed to know one tiny bit of content as opposed to a huge concept (e.g. what type of linkages are in the main polysaccharides vs. let's learn carbohydrates and everything about them).

I've been finding as I go along that the majority of my missed points for C/P were DA or CR, sometimes as many as 10 - 12 in just one section! In response to that, I've tried to work on math, but also while testing just reminding myself not to panic, not to assume that there's some concept I'm totally missing and to make sure to look back over the passage for an obvious answer. CARS has always been my strong suit, so not much to say there other than eliminate wrong answers as much as possible, and then really reason through and avoid making assumptions based on external knowledge. My main issue in B/B has been being able to figure out the gist of the study in a short amount of time...for that NOTHING other than a ton of practice passages will help. It's helped me to recognize that the majority of passages are in a standard format:

Paragraph 1 - explanation of some physiology and proteins/pathways that make things break down
Paragraph 2 - mechanism, often pointing out biochem concepts like what amino acids are in the active site
Paragraph 3 - knock out a gene or alter it with a.a. substitutions
Paragraph 4 and on - data, more experimental methods etc.

I've also started to notice that there's often a ton of extraneous info that you won't be asked about, so I make short notes with the gist, e.g. WTgene --> up insulin, R345Q --> down insulin --> down glucose in cells --> hyperglycemia. This also helps with double negative or "which of the following would LEAST blah blah blah" type questions which always trip me up. It's also really useful to recognize when the independent variable is operationalized by something else. According to Wikipedia this means "defining a fuzzy concept so as to make it clearly distinguishable, measurable, and understandable in terms of empirical observations." So you want to try to parse whether the thing being recorded matters in and of itself, or if it's an indication of another relationship.

For P/S, my issue is almost exclusively minute little things where I just need to know some psychologist's name, so for that I've been making an effort to look those things up as I'm reviewing.

Anyway, these are all techniques that are super specific for me, so I don't know how much help they'll be for you. Probably the most helpful thing, which I think everyone emphasizes on here, is figuring out what your weaknesses are -- do you need content review? Are you struggling with grasping the overall take-home of the passages in a short time? Etc.

Oh also, I ALWAYS time every single practice session I do (usually at least 30 questions at a time), and shave off at least 5 minutes from the time I would have for the test, i.e. if I'm doing 30 Qs, I go 30 * 1.6 (equal to 95/59) = 48 min, so I'd give myself 40 min.