Prepping for physics questions (Help)

[Calizboosted76]

Hello everyone, I am practicing for my MCAT and I am feeling really deficient in physics. I have taken both semesters of physics just in my previous consecutive semesters. However the professor was not all that great (yea I know, I cant blame the professor). I got an A in the class but it was done on a major bell curve and he did not give you your completed test back to review your mistakes. He also offered 250 points of extra credit by doing at home practice problems. He did not really teach as much as he talked about being bullied and how jocks who didn't make it into the NFL are now principles and he has lost a lot of job opportunities because of this. He was also this morbidly obese gentleman that if he stood up to write an equation on the board he was very dyspnic and had to sit down between each section of the equation. Is there any like crash course I can take to get ready for the physics portion of the MCAT?

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[Cornfed101]

Khan academy has a fairly good set of videos for physics. I love physics and I was pretty bummed that my MCAT had hardly any physics on it. Anyway... I digress. Here are some topics that you should know fairly well and you can learn easily with videos or other online resources:

• Optics - diverging and converging lenses and mirrors, magnification, etc.
• Electricity - simple circuits, direction current travels, etc
• Kinematics - simple parabolas, things falling
• Friction- trig, force equilibrium

I may have missed something, but these are the first to come to mind. Keep in mind that 3rd party physics practice often has long, multi step problems with lots of calculations. The AAMC rarely does this. If you see a multi step problem on the MCAT, skip it because it will take too much time.

 

[Lawpy]

Khan Academy is good. For MCAT prep, The Berkeley Review (TBR) books are awesome for really nailing down physics concepts cold.

 

[deleted853480]

Just to confirm, momentum, pendulums and rotational kinetics got removed from physics?

 

[Cornfed101]

Just to confirm, momentum, pendulums and rotational kinetics got removed from physics?

I don’t think momentum was removed, but I can’t confirm that. One thing I forgot from my list was fluids! The new MCAT likes fluids. Don’t forget to know that pretty well!

 

[Dochopeful13]

I don’t think momentum was removed, but I can’t confirm that. One thing I forgot from my list was fluids! The new MCAT likes fluids. Don’t forget to know that pretty well!

Is Newton’s laws/forces lower yield than the physics 2 stuff?

 

[Cornfed101]

Is Newton’s laws/forces lower yield than the physics 2 stuff?

It’s hard to say because there was so little physics on my MCAT. I would say know both, but don’t expect to get a full set of passage questions for either.

 

[Dochopeful13]

It’s hard to say because there was so little physics on my MCAT. I would say know both, but don’t expect to get a full set of passage questions for either.

I’m hoping so because I’m terrible at physics lol. What made up most of C/P section? I feel I know gen chem decent but the TBR passages are killing me. I hope the mcat is easier than TBR.

 

[Cornfed101]

I’m hoping so because I’m terrible at physics lol. What made up most of C/P section? I feel I know gen chem decent but the TBR passages are killing me. I hope the mcat is easier than TBR.

Biochem and Ochem, followed by gen chem

 

[Calizboosted76]

Khan Academy is good. For MCAT prep, The Berkeley Review (TBR) books are awesome for really nailing down physics concepts cold.

I started using KA yesterday and find it very helpful. Where I get all messed up is the equations I have to commit to memory. lol

 

[Cornfed101]

This is a good list of equations. As you are going through review, if the equation is on here, memorize it. If not, don't worry about memorizing it.

 

[Dochopeful13]

This is a good list of equations. As you are going through review, if the equation is on here, memorize it. If not, don't worry about memorizing it.

I see angular momentum and centripetal motion formulas. Is that pretty low yield for the mcat these days?

 

[Cornfed101]

I see angular momentum and centripetal motion formulas. Is that pretty low yield for the mcat these days?

Yeah I think so. Not a bad idea to just anki those equations though

 

[Dochopeful13]

Yeah I think so. Not a bad idea to just anki those equations though

Thank you. I’m short on time and just suck at physics. Obviously it’s impossible to know but if I just focus on optics, e&m, waves, sound, and projectile motion I should be covered?

 

[Cornfed101]

Thank you. I’m short on time and just suck at physics. Obviously it’s impossible to know but if I just focus on optics, e&m, waves, sound, and projectile motion I should be covered?

And fluids! I would say fluids might be the most important because it is so easy to apply to a biological system. Blood vessels all day.

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

Just to confirm, momentum, pendulums and rotational kinetics got removed from physics?

I took the MCAT last year and can say with certainty that you should study pendulums.

And I agree 100% with Lawper's suggestion. I used nothing but TBR for chemistry and physics practice. For review I read most of their books and looked at an occasional video, and I was super happy with my score. You won't find a better method for C/P than that.

 

[deleted853480]

I took the MCAT last year and can say with certainty that you should study pendulums.

And I agree 100% with Lawper's suggestion. I used nothing but TBR for chemistry and physics practice. For review I read most of their books and looked at an occasional video, and I was super happy with my score. You won't find a better method for C/P than that.

Are there any other low yield physics topics that you saw on test day?

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

I've only taken one MCAT total, so there is no way I can say what is high yield or low yield. I'd be leery of anyone claiming to know high yield versus low yield, because based on my one exam, about half were things people were claiming were "high yield" and half were what people were saying was "low yield." So if I would have trusted complete strangers on an internet website to tell me what I should study, I would have been screwed.

The only absolute truth from what I've gathered is that you should know your amino acids and proteins. Other than that, the best thing you can do is get good at thinking your way through questions.

My point above about pendulums is that someone asked if they were not tested and I believe, based of my N = 1 survey, that they are tested.

 

[Cornfed101]

I would say there is a difference between knowing everything about a topic and being able to answer a few questions on it. If you actually know the equations on the equation sheet I posted above you will know how to answer nearly all physics questions the MCAT can throw at you... As @PlsLetMeIn21 said though, nobody knows what will be on every test. We just know what they focused on in the practice materials and I would say for the most part that's what was on my exam.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

Khan Academy is good. For MCAT prep, The Berkeley Review (TBR) books are awesome for really nailing down physics concepts cold.

Thank you so much for you kind comment. We take an enormous amount of pride in putting together books that help students excel at answer multiple choice questions. I'm hopeful that our tips are good for five to ten extra questions correct on a given section, such as C/P.

I agree 100% with Lawper's suggestion. I used nothing but TBR for chemistry and physics practice. For review I read most of their books and looked at an occasional video, and I was super happy with my score. You won't find a better method for C/P than that.

Thank you so much for your kind comment. I have read a few comments from you over the last year and find your insights to be incredibly helpful. I am glad that we could have been some part of your success.

I would say there is a difference between knowing everything about a topic and being able to answer a few questions on it. If you actually know the equations on the equation sheet I posted above you will know how to answer nearly all physics questions the MCAT can throw at you... As @PlsLetMeIn21 said though, nobody knows what will be on every test. We just know what they focused on in the practice materials and I would say for the most part that's what was on my exam.

You post such helpful comments to this community. Thanks for taking the time to share great insights about your MCAT experience. You nailed it with your comment above. Most people who feel confident they know material but do not score well, can trace their shortcoming back to failing to master how to answer questions on that material.

 

[PlsLetMeIn21]

Thank you so much for you kind comment. We take an enormous amount of pride in putting together books that help students excel at answer multiple choice questions. I'm hopeful that our tips are good for five to ten extra questions correct on a given section, such as C/P.



Thank you so much for your kind comment. I have read a few comments from you over the last year and find your insights to be incredibly helpful. I am glad that we could have been some part of your success.



You post such helpful comments to this community. Thanks for taking the time to share great insights about your MCAT experience. You nailed it with your comment above. Most people who feel confident they know material but do not score well, can trace their shortcoming back to failing to master how to answer questions on that material.

Nah, all thanks to you. Honestly, I'd kiss you if I could. Your books are seriously the best thing out there. I'm dumbfounded not everyone is using them. But like Syndrome says, "if everyone is super; then no one is." I can honestly say that you are the reason I got 132s in C/P and B/B. Too bad more people don't know about you. Everyone at my school who I know that did super well also used your books.