Is there anyone..who is taking MCAT on 5th Aug,2011. How u all preparing???
Official 08/05/2011 MCAT Club!
- Thread starter Nirs90
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how are you going to do this?
I'm a retaker, as background knowledge, and my anxieties combined with brilliant laziness fed my destruction last august haha.
It's tough to focus on two subjects at a time. I know that if I continued with content review at the pace I'm going at, I'll be done when the test comes. So I think I'm going to stop and just start taking practice exams for the final month straight...
any thoughts on how to review "faster" ?
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Hey guys. I'm in for 8/5. Thought I was gonna do 7/28, but it was filled when I tried to sign up. How's everyone doing?
I'm retaking this beast after a solid score last August. This time I'm going for 36+. At this point, I'm doing straight TBR passages, FLs (10 total... AAMC 7-11, TBR 1-3 and EK 1H), and memorization.
@OnTheMoon -- If you have TBR, I would just work on doing their passages, and skip the content. That way, you'll be getting some good content review, while also working on your test-taking skills. Test-taking ability is just as important, if not more important, than background knowledge.
I'm retaking this beast after a solid score last August. This time I'm going for 36+. At this point, I'm doing straight TBR passages, FLs (10 total... AAMC 7-11, TBR 1-3 and EK 1H), and memorization.
@OnTheMoon -- If you have TBR, I would just work on doing their passages, and skip the content. That way, you'll be getting some good content review, while also working on your test-taking skills. Test-taking ability is just as important, if not more important, than background knowledge.
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I took all the AAMC practice exams, and still have access to TPR exams. Does anyone have any recommendations as to the next-best thing for practice exams? I know TPR exams are a little more difficult than the actual thing...
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I would go with Berkeley Review or Kaplan, though I'm almost positive you need to be enrolled with Kaplan to use theirs. I wouldn't mess around with TPR exams; I tried one of those last year - it was absolutely absurd and much more difficult than the real thing.
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Home stretch guys, 1 month left. I just ordered all of the EK 1001 question books today and it should be in in 2 days. I hopefully plan on knocking out as much of those as I can as well as the remainder of the AAMC CBT's I havent done. Good luck guys.
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Anything you would recommend after already taking it once? All you other re-takers feel free to comment too.
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I think having a schedule that you stick to will pay dividends. When I took it the first time, I hardly had a schedule that I stuck to - pretty much shotgun approached the whole doggone thing - that resulted in a lack of confidence which resulted in a horrid test score. This time around - Kaplan's schedule has probably instilled the structure and confidence that I didn't have the first time. Doing well on my science sections (That verbal is a beast though)
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How many FLs have y'all taken at this point? How many are you going to take total?
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Good to know. For the most part, i followed the Examcrackers schedule but i left about 2-3 weeks empty at the end. Those are paying off now because i got a little behind
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Good luck everybody.
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is this thread still alive ? the test is right around the corner ! .. hope everyones studying is going well... will start to post scores for practice exams , so far took aamc 6 ( 11/7/12) need to bring up that VR.. any suggestions ? im using EK 101 , but it seems im always stuck in that range of 3 to 4 questions which would put me in the 9 to 10 range....
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I posted my score for exam 6, got 8 more aamc full lengths to go.. I did all the Berkeley Review Full lengths too was averaging about 11's on sciences, those test were brutal !
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TBR is nuts, 100 questions are tough to go through, the problem I have doing the berkeley passages is that I got the PDF and some of the questions were done, but it really helped me to explain the reasoning that lead to the answer... Good luck guys 1 week to go
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EK101 is good, but I feel like there's at least 2 questions per test that you're supposed to get wrong...the wording is poor and the reasoning is too. So you automatically start out with a 13 max.
They say EK is harder than the AAMC ones, too. So it sucks you've been getting 10s on EK and a 7 on the AAMC.
My only advice I can give within the last 10 days is to make sure you are answering the question with no outside information. I know this seems silly, but when I started practicing I was answering and got a 7 on my first practice. I checked over my answers and noticed that I was being an idiot and extrapolating way too much. Immediately thereafter I started getting 10+ on every EK up through EK11 which I just took. Just be 100% objective. If you're using your brain, you're probably not going to get do as well as you hope. Just use the passage and the other questions to find the right answer.
The AAMC passages are boring as dirt compared to the EK so that might be part of your problem.
Jumped up from 31 on AAMC 8 to 36 on AAMC 9 which I'm pretty happy about. They're the only CBTs I've taken and I feel like going from BR passages to AAMC passages was a little weird, and I think it affected my reasoning and logic when I took AAMC 8. I didnt feel like AAMC 9 was much easier, I just wasnt looking at every question and wondering how it was going to trick me. It also helped that I actually turned on the timer for AAMC 9 (confusing as hell when you dont have the timer on and thinking you're being timed)
EK review + BR passages + BR rereview = ftw.
EK review + BR passages + BR rereview = ftw.
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i dont know when you plan on taking your test, but you better get in a habit of timing yourself and putting your self in TEST day mode ! The scores that you have achieved are great, but anyone can score big with no time on the clock. Take all remaining tests under timed conditions. Good luck ! Let me know how aamc 10 and 11 go for you and if you take any of the earlier ones. So far my best one has been aamc 5 11/7/12, the other ones that i took i got consistent 10's and 11's on Bio, but i was getting 9's on PS because I have timing issues on PS. what i have learned is you have to pace your self and learn how to let go of a question even when it itches you to find the right answer. I think of it as sacrificing one for the good of others ... My verbal score is horrible, but I finally figured out how to attack these damn passages after much hard work and sleepless nights. Its true , read the passage skip the details, and construct a MAIN IDEA, and before you answer any questions , read the question stem and think of an answer in the context of the passage and the author, BEFORE you look at the answer choices, this will help you develop what the answer should look like, before falling for the MCAT TRAPS ! I hope my strategy works on the real thing, but I have been using TPRH and it seems to work great. I went from scoring 7's to 10's .. So lets see. GOOD LUCK EVERYONE ! just one more week ! ANY INSIGHTS INTO MY POST WOULD BE APPRECIATED 🙂
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Hope everyone's doing well as we come in on one week from the big day. I've got 2 more FLs to take, and I'm 1 point from my goal, so I'm hoping to stretch just a little bit further. Good luck with the last push!
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anyone know the deadline for rescheduling? I registered for this date but I think I can use another 2 weeks to study : P
reread what i said, i DID time myself on both... its just that i took AAMC 8 with the timer off when I thought I turned it on... I spent the whole test anxious and rushing because I didnt know what the time was. I finished all three sections with more than ten minutes left based on my number of seconds per question and didnt go over any of the sections. For AAMC 9 I made sure to turn on the timer and was relatively more relaxed. Still finished BS and PS with about 10 minutes but verbal was down to the wire.
I've also done about 300+ passages from TBR over a three week period under timed conditions and if i had to guesstimate my average times on them it would be around 7-8 minutes, I also reviewed said passages and all of the corresponding TBR chapters.
Having extra time didnt really help me at all on the BS section, I got all the organic questions right but when I went back to review the marked bio questions I had, i changed two of them, probably knocked me down from 13 to 12 :/.
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get berkeley review bio , they have the best passages.. You need to do passages that are qualitative in nature. There will be passages that are quantitative as well, but they are turning BS into VR lol.. So thats my advice, .. Personally I think im going to wait untill 8/21 to take the test now. i could use a couple of more weeks. We will see, I might just go on friday and take it to see what i thought, cuz i always have the option to void. Good luck ! what are you thoughts on that ?
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It was like 7/23, too late now. Mine as well go and take it and void it to get a feel for the real thing.. Then just reschedule for a later date ! Good luck !
I used EK bio throughout studying starting in May but right before I started taking practice exams I started to read TPR hyperlearning bio ..I would definitely recommend using both..EK zones in on specifics that you need to know and TPR helps with background knowledge..I am currently getting 11 and 12s on all the BS sections of the aamc practice tests ..Good luck everyone!!
Crushedddd AAMC 11 😀 man I felt crappy that entire test but I went with my gut and made sure I picked my answers based on solid information from the passage and background knowledge. By the time I reached the end of BS I felt so sick of passages though, I thought I did at least two points worse in each section.
AAMC 11 Total: 37
PS: 11
VR: 13
BS: 13
The ones I got wrong in VR I almost completely disagree with, at least one of them draws conclusions that are no more based on the passage than the answer choice I picked. PS had more calculations than previous tests true, but they werent harder (some were easier) since I'm extremely wary of PS and my knowledge of it (especially physics) I just went with the answers I got using passage knowledge, content knowledge and unit/dimensional analyses. Worked for most of the calculations and most of the simple knowledge based questions. I missed like three questions on angular velocities and such, mostly I think because I completely ignored them in review. As for BS, I got all but one organic question right, and the endocrine/nervous passage took three more. I was dead tired when I got to BS, I expected a 10-11 in that section tbh.
I wish could just give myself this as my MCAT score and not take the real test 🙁
AAMC 11 Total: 37
PS: 11
VR: 13
BS: 13
The ones I got wrong in VR I almost completely disagree with, at least one of them draws conclusions that are no more based on the passage than the answer choice I picked. PS had more calculations than previous tests true, but they werent harder (some were easier) since I'm extremely wary of PS and my knowledge of it (especially physics) I just went with the answers I got using passage knowledge, content knowledge and unit/dimensional analyses. Worked for most of the calculations and most of the simple knowledge based questions. I missed like three questions on angular velocities and such, mostly I think because I completely ignored them in review. As for BS, I got all but one organic question right, and the endocrine/nervous passage took three more. I was dead tired when I got to BS, I expected a 10-11 in that section tbh.
I wish could just give myself this as my MCAT score and not take the real test 🙁
That's an awesome score! My date is 8/5 and I just took AAMC 11 too and feel the SAME way. My score was 12/12/10 = 34 😀 (my highest to date). I felt awful on bio and was thinking I got about a 7-8ish so I was incredibly relieved, even though I feel like the curve was pretty generous based on my other AAMCs.
My goal was to get a 12 in each section and I feel like I'm so close I can taste it. I've gotten up to 11 on bio, so hopefully just a few more days of reviewing AAMC 11 and some weak points can make that happen.
Good luck to all for our last 5 days before the real deal!
Hey everyone!
I am also re-writing this day too. And I took AAMC 11 today...
PS: 11
VR: 9
BS: 14
AAMC 11 is the only "true" practice test I've taken, for my second go, in the sense that it's the only one I've taken that I've never seen before. I have been preparing like crazy with BR passages and content along with TPR books with Chad's videos for content as well. I was really nervous going into it today- almost as nervous as I was taking my first MCAT. I'm happy with my overall score although my breakdown scares me a little...everyone was saying how hard BS on 11 was so I'm getting worried that maybe my 14 was a fluke 😕?? I'm not really sure since I don't have any other tests to really base it off of. I'm a little upset about my PS score because I made a ton of stupid calculation errors that would've given me a 13 and I consider PS to be my strong point. Do you guys still think I can get a 13 on the PS in the real thing? And the VR was by far the hardest VR i've ever done...I felt really blessed to have even gotten a 9. But what did you guys think of AAMC 11?
I am also re-writing this day too. And I took AAMC 11 today...
PS: 11
VR: 9
BS: 14
AAMC 11 is the only "true" practice test I've taken, for my second go, in the sense that it's the only one I've taken that I've never seen before. I have been preparing like crazy with BR passages and content along with TPR books with Chad's videos for content as well. I was really nervous going into it today- almost as nervous as I was taking my first MCAT. I'm happy with my overall score although my breakdown scares me a little...everyone was saying how hard BS on 11 was so I'm getting worried that maybe my 14 was a fluke 😕?? I'm not really sure since I don't have any other tests to really base it off of. I'm a little upset about my PS score because I made a ton of stupid calculation errors that would've given me a 13 and I consider PS to be my strong point. Do you guys still think I can get a 13 on the PS in the real thing? And the VR was by far the hardest VR i've ever done...I felt really blessed to have even gotten a 9. But what did you guys think of AAMC 11?
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I'll be joining you guys this Saturday! Since it's a retake, I already took all the AAMC exams and have just been taking TPR ones.
Just finished TPR4 and got 12PS 11V 12BS - anyone know how well that corresponds to what I might get on the actual thing?
Just finished TPR4 and got 12PS 11V 12BS - anyone know how well that corresponds to what I might get on the actual thing?
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Just finished AAMC 10...12PS/11VR/12BS, but I made a few silly mistakes on Bio which came back to bite me in the ass. I have time left at the end of every section these days, so I'll have to make a point to read a little more slowly and critically.
Bio felt kind of hard on 11 but mostly because I felt so tired for some reason while taking the test, I did well on it too. VR felt harder than bio, looking back over my answers I know i got lucky on at least a couple, narrowing them down and picking the right answers.
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How are you guys preparing for the writing sample, if at all? Right now I'm just going through various sample essays and basically digging for tons of examples to use for thesis/antithesis, as well as to get a good feel for the kinds of directions you can take for synthesis.
thats a good plan. if your comfortable making stuff up I'd def. recommend that. On my first MCAT all examples I used were 100% made up and I got an R lol. They don't fact check you. The only reason people say stay away from making stuff up is because "lies" tend to be unspecific. I guess I'm just a really good bull****ter 😀
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Hahaha legit. One of the practice prompts was that "progress complicates more than it simplifies," and I needed a counterexample fast. So I decided that the calculator was invented by an Austrian named Johann Schmidt, who did so to allow his engineer son to complete his work more efficiently. Then I went on to describe how the calculator has been accepted almost universally except for a few critics who feel that kids ought to know how to do basic math. Naturally, prohibiting calcs on exams pretty much addresses that so calcs seemed to be a solid enough example.
Danke, Herr Schmidt!
It seems like the difference between a 35 and 37 for me, personally, is rushing and missing about two questions in each section due to misreading either the question or the answers. Need to curb that habit ASAP.
Ugh AAMC 10... Got a 11 on PS which seems to be the average there for me and its frustrating that everything I get wrong comes from physics with maybe one or two questions from chem. I got an 11 on VR, and what irks me is the questions I got wrong have poor explanations for why they're right. I got a 13 on bio which seems to be the only place I consistently score well in. My total score was 35, and if i got one more question right in each section I would have gotten 38 🙁. I hate the MCAT, lol.
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Okay only three days left..you know when you have a bad dream, they say to tell someone so it won't come true. Well I hope there is nothing that throws me off..I'm going to be going jogging these last couple of days to clear my thoughts..
yeah weeks of passage practice and months of content review really paid off, all thats still frustrating for me is the fact that basically everything I get wrong in PS is physics. I'm trying to hone in on my problems which seem to center around optics and electrical but I still feel a little iffy. Electrical seems to be okay now although optics are still giving me a bit of trouble. EK1001 for physics helps.
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Go to youtube.. there are some videos on the subject of optics.. They are Very cute:
I I U U
R R V V
S M M S
I'm actually watching Khan academy again, its simplistic but man it really helps you nail concepts down. I've studied optics and all that stuff but watching someone give visual images and examples really helps me think about things in a different way.
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Hey guys, what are you all doing on Thursday? Chilling, relaxing, or review? I honestly want to know which one would be better the day before the exam, especially since I've only ever studied like a crammer in college, I'm used to jamming info into my brain before the exam, obviously I have been studying for months now, just nervous. If you are relaxing, how so?
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Everyone have sex before the exam... Blow off some steam
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Most people recommend relaxing the day before the exam.
Uh yeah day before the exam I'll probably be studying electrical and optics for physics and revieiwing units... its not going to make me that tired after all the MCAT studying stamina I've gathered (been taking it pretty easy, other than pract tests my studying has been minimal) and it will give me peace of mind that i reviewed all I could.
I'm gonna do some light reviewing as well...like 2 weeks ago I took an entire week off so I am pretty fresh. I feel confident except for the verbal... =\. I've taken about 9 verbal tests and got either a 10, or a 9 with exactly one question away from a ten- the split is about even. And I also got one 11 lol. Hopefully I can pull a 10 test day
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Guys we got this!
