Poor score on first MCAT please help

[theman88]

My problem has always been, with the MCAT, that i cant do well on the pasage sections. The discretes which are knowledge based i do fine on but the passages always get. I do well on verbal but the physical and biological sciences section always get me. I just cant seem to do well on the KAPLAN practice tests and or AAMC practice tests and the reason is because of my lack of an ability to do well on the passages are there any ideas for help?

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[capn jazz]

Practice with passage based Qs. TBR has 10-14 passages per chapter, the TPR Hyperlearning Science Workbook has hundreds and hundreds of science passages.

Honestly, there will probably be less than 15 discretes on the test, so this is a huge problem. What is it about the passages that you can't do?

 

[theman88]

well i dont know i just dont seem to pick out of the passages what i should be you know? And its weird because i do fine on the verbal, my best score on my previous MCAT but i tank the physical and biological sections. I am taking the Kaplan course where the passages are much harder and that is what i base most of findings on, i usually average 50 or 60 percent right when i do passages for kaplan but that isnt good enough for AAMC. And i only have 3 more AAMC tests left so i can burn those before aug 14 yet, is there anything that maybe you have done that helped you? Should i just keep drilling facts into my brain and maybe it wont matter?

 

[G1SG2]

well i dont know i just dont seem to pick out of the passages what i should be you know? And its weird because i do fine on the verbal, my best score on my previous MCAT but i tank the physical and biological sections. I am taking the Kaplan course where the passages are much harder and that is what i base most of findings on, i usually average 50 or 60 percent right when i do passages for kaplan but that isnt good enough for AAMC. And i only have 3 more AAMC tests left so i can burn those before aug 14 yet, is there anything that maybe you have done that helped you? Should i just keep drilling facts into my brain and maybe it wont matter?

I would suggest doing a few passages untimed and practice breaking down the passages, extracting information and learning how to apply that knowledge + applying/integrating your outside knowledge to the questions. Then go back to timing yourself/practice exams. And don't ignore it-simply "drilling facts" into your brain is futile-the MCAT is a thinking test.

 

[Mattabet]

This sounds like it might be a problem with the foundational science knowledge. It might be worth some time going over the topics that you don't know well. A lack of background information can easily come back and burn you on both BS and PS (but lack of background info can actually help with VR).