question about physical science section

[hippocampus]

for ppl who did well on the mcats, or scored 10+, do you read the passage when you do the questions? or, do you skim through the passages?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[psiyung]

for ppl who did well on the mcats, or scored 10+, do you read the passage when you do the questions? or, do you skim through the passages?

Read the passage. I didnt know anyone skimmed through MCAT passages

 

[el.harpo]

I haven't taken the MCAT yet but all my instructors for PS sections at TPR (G-chem and Physics) and other sections said to at least skim them. This is important because sometimes they present experiments, figures, tables, and equations that are used in the following questions. One of them said to read them carefully because sometimes the passages can provide special circumstances that might contradict what you have learned (what is generally accepted in the scientific community). Hope that helps.

 

[hippocampus]

i took TPR and the people said to skim them. they said if u need the equations, u can just go back and look at them.

 

[gluon999]

Read. Skimming will prevent you from answering those detail oriented questions.

 

[ernieraisin]

absolutely read the passages!!! you definitely have the time to read the passges in both ths pS and BS sections. if you are not careful in reading the passgaes, it is very easy to make simple mistakes which could make the difference between a single digit or a double digit score!

 

[DrChandy]

Read, think critically/understand the text, and most importantly practice; it exposes you to new problems/situations, and you learn where to correct mistakes before the real thing.

Good luck.

 

[flashmark]

Yah you've got to read the passage critically. If not, you will spend more time going back to it just to re-read a small detail that, if you had REALLY understood the passage the first time, you would already know. Although skimming might seem like it will save you time, in the end it is when you fully read the passage that you will master the passage. I found that this is true for all sections on the MCAT, especially the verbal section.

 

[RayhanS1282]

In case the previous posts didn't make it clear...READ THE PS PASSAGES. You don't have to memorize the data presented in the passage per se but while you are reading them think about the topics that might be involed and the types of questions they might ask. For Example, I see a passage talking about batteries that have chemical formulas....redox and electrochemistry. A passage about some astronaut on the moon driving a moon rover on his way to his Grandma's house while holding a balloon...I think WTF and then think about kinematics, dynamics, centripetal etc.

Same thing for Bio passages because a lot of the answers are straight in the passage. You can be a little loose with the organic passages that have a series of reactions....just skim over the reactions and then go to the questions or go to the questions directly.

 

[perfectmoment]

that's interesting.

this advice seems to be in direct contradiction to what shrike advocates and so many others advocate. i myself have wondered about this, and seem to be leaning towards skimming the passage and attacking the questions right away, but am still early enough in the game that i can change tactics.

 

[RayhanS1282]

that's interesting.

this advice seems to be in direct contradiction to what shrike advocates and so many others advocate. i myself have wondered about this, and seem to be leaning towards skimming the passage and attacking the questions right away, but am still early enough in the game that i can change tactics.

Do what works for you. Skimming doesn't work for me, so I read the passage and then go to the question. I am not going to say one technique is better than the other. The success of the technique vary from people to people. At the end of the day, you need to do what works best for you.

 

[Shrike]

As has been mentioned, I don't advise reading the passage. I also don't advise doing what feels best -- neither I nor you care about how the MCAT feels. What matters is results: correct answers in 100 minutes.

I stand by my advice. If you want to skim, it doesn't matter much. If you want to read, feel free, but don't complain if you can't finish the section or, more likely, you don't have time to double check your answers and consequently make silly mistakes.

Good luck.

 

[hippocampus]

i took tpr and they told me to skim the passage too. i took the mcat in april and i skimmed the passages. i never tried doing it by reading the passage.

i tried to read the passages recently and i was better at answering the questions. now i dont know what to do.

1) read, get more right, but have no time?
2) skim, get more wrong, but have a lot of time?

 

[it.]

i think it may depends on how comfortable you are with your background knowledge. the more comfortable--skim. the less comfortable--read

 

[newyorkcougar]

Read the entire passage! They ask questions that are lifted directly from the passage. You cannot possibly know all the information off the top of your head. This leads to a MAJOR pit fall... If you are answering questions from your own knowledge of the subject and you come to a question you don't know you will be tempted to skim the passage for the answer. In several of the passages they present one set of data, negate its validity and then offer a more correct set of data. If you just skim you may lift the wrong data and get the question wrong. Just read the whole passage so you get all the facts!!!