recommendations to miss just 1-2 less questions?

[planetsars]

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so i was worried about my MCAT this upcoming week because a week ago i was doing TBR CBTs and was getting 8s on them. i only did PS and BS. my scores were as follows:

TBR1: 8, 8
TBR2: 8, 8
TBR3: 11, 8

that 11 in PS at the end finally gave me some hope. then I tried AAMC tests, the supposed "realistic" ones compared to the real MCAT. i was told that the AAMC tests should be the ones to predict your scores, not other companies. after doing some AAMC ones, i realized TBR are likely significantly harder than the real one. TBR showed me how to think, though, and reduce my stupid mistakes. so on the AAMC's I've taken I got (again only sciences and i accidently took AAMC8 PS and AAMC10 BS together ehh):
AAMC8 PS: 9 // AAMC10 BS: 10
AAMC10 PS: 9 // AAMC8 BS: 11
AAMC 7: 10, 10

on the last 3 subscores, I was 1 ? away from a 12 and 1 ? away each from 11s. so I was super close to 12 on AAMC8 BS and super close to 11 on AAMC7 BS....a high 10 and a high 11...i just averaged those at 11. on the last PS I took I was one away from an 11 and I made 4 completely stupid mistakes that would have given me a 13!

I have 5 min left over to review each section usually. I just need to catch more of these careless mistakes. i usually make 3-4 dumb mistakes everytime...if I just catch 2 of those on each section I see no reason why I can't get 12s.

here's where you guys come in...when i review answers i think about them in the same way as the first time, so it's hard to catch stupid mistakes b/c you're still thinking in that stupid mindset. i guess my question to you who managed to increase from 10-11 to 12+ in sciences, what did you do to catch those stupid mistakes? how do you make yourself rethink the questions in a new way when you're reviewing them? thanks!

 

[bozz]

so i was worried about my MCAT this upcoming week because a week ago i was doing TBR CBTs and was getting 8s on them. i only did PS and BS. my scores were as follows:

TBR1: 8, 8
TBR2: 8, 8
TBR3: 11, 8

that 11 in PS at the end finally gave me some hope. then I tried AAMC tests, the supposed "realistic" ones compared to the real MCAT. i was told that the AAMC tests should be the ones to predict your scores, not other companies. after doing some AAMC ones, i realized TBR are likely significantly harder than the real one. TBR showed me how to think, though, and reduce my stupid mistakes. so on the AAMC's I've taken I got (again only sciences and i accidently took AAMC8 PS and AAMC10 BS together ehh):
AAMC8 PS: 9 // AAMC10 BS: 10
AAMC10 PS: 9 // AAMC8 BS: 11
AAMC 7: 10, 10

on the last 3 subscores, I was 1 ? away from a 12 and 1 ? away each from 11s. so I was super close to 12 on AAMC8 BS and super close to 11 on AAMC7 BS....a high 10 and a high 11...i just averaged those at 11. on the last PS I took I was one away from an 11 and I made 4 completely stupid mistakes that would have given me a 13!

I have 5 min left over to review each section usually. I just need to catch more of these careless mistakes. i usually make 3-4 dumb mistakes everytime...if I just catch 2 of those on each section I see no reason why I can't get 12s.

here's where you guys come in...when i review answers i think about them in the same way as the first time, so it's hard to catch stupid mistakes b/c you're still thinking in that stupid mindset. i guess my question to you who managed to increase from 10-11 to 12+ in sciences, what did you do to catch those stupid mistakes? how do you make yourself rethink the questions in a new way when you're reviewing them? thanks!

Write down everything you missed... trust me, it can work. I'm very adamant about writing stuff down and think notecards are useless. Well you know what, try it. I got my scores up from the 12 range by doing this. Also the more you know about something, the less likely you are to make careless mistakes.

Think about it. Right now, it seems like 4 questions isn't that many. But the real MCAT nowadays seems to be tougher than the practice tests. On the real deal, you'll make 8 careless mistakes and that'll still be a 10. Although it seems like you can't fix 4 careless mistakes everytime, you definitely can and should. Those 4 mistakes will turn in 8 on the real deal.

 

[planetsars]

Write down everything you missed... trust me, it can work. I'm very adamant about writing stuff down and think notecards are useless. Well you know what, try it. I got my scores up from the 12 range by doing this. Also the more you know about something, the less likely you are to make careless mistakes.

Think about it. Right now, it seems like 4 questions isn't that many. But the real MCAT nowadays seems to be tougher than the practice tests. On the real deal, you'll make 8 careless mistakes and that'll still be a 10. Although it seems like you can't fix 4 careless mistakes everytime, you definitely can and should. Those 4 mistakes will turn in 8 on the real deal.

really?? -8 will give you a 10 on the real thing?? i guess that could be right...it only gives you an 11 on the AAMCs with -8.

okay, so...my test is next thursday...how do you suggest i catch these 4 careless mistakes? like i said, i have 5+ minutes usually to look back thru the section. it's just that you look thru it and don't catch them b/c you're still thinking about the question the same wrong, careless way as before. you know what i mean? the careless mistakes are always stupid as in i stupidly misread one of the answer choices and choose the wrong one...haha. the thing is i made twice as many careless mistakes just a week ago. i got them reduced down to half but still need some work. anyone?

 

[Little Etoile]

really?? -8 will give you a 10 on the real thing?? i guess that could be right...it only gives you an 11 on the AAMCs with -8.

okay, so...my test is next thursday...how do you suggest i catch these 4 careless mistakes? like i said, i have 5+ minutes usually to look back thru the section. it's just that you look thru it and don't catch them b/c you're still thinking about the question the same wrong, careless way as before. you know what i mean? the careless mistakes are always stupid as in i stupidly misread one of the answer choices and choose the wrong one...haha. the thing is i made twice as many careless mistakes just a week ago. i got them reduced down to half but still need some work. anyone?

Whaaaa..? In my AMCAS 8, -10 gives an 11 or 12 score, depending on the section. Am I missing something? I know it varies from test to test, but I can't imagine missing only eight questions would drop you all the way down to a 10. Am I misunderstanding?

 

[planetsars]

Whaaaa..? In my AMCAS 8, -10 gives an 11 or 12 score, depending on the section. Am I missing something? I know it varies from test to test, but I can't imagine missing only eight questions would drop you all the way down to a 10. Am I misunderstanding?

lol, i think bozz was exaggerating. i think he meant you'll go from 4 careless mistakes to 8 on the test. i don't think he was including another few questions you'll miss from simply not knowing the answers? i don't know...-8 would probably give you an 11 on the real thing. the point is you don't want to shoot for missing 8, though. you want to miss ZERO. that is your goal. always aim high.

 

[DrYanKu]

Whaaaa..? In my AMCAS 8, -10 gives an 11 or 12 score, depending on the section. Am I missing something? I know it varies from test to test, but I can't imagine missing only eight questions would drop you all the way down to a 10. Am I misunderstanding?

actually he is not exaggerating, think about it 44/52 thats barely 85% or so... and for science the curve is higher and even higher for the PS section. even the national average for PS is higher the the other two. so missing just 8 can bring down as low as a 10 especially if that sitting is easy and not many people are making that many mistakes. i think the curve goes exponential after 12 every almost +1.2 on raw = +1 on the real. but between 10 to 12 can be as many as +4 on raw = +1 on real. so if you have minimum raw for real 10 then you might have to not make those 4 dumb mistakes to get 11. on the other hand when you are at 12, by not making just 1 dumb mistakes can take you to 13 🙂

so my point is if your score is below 12, just do what you don't worry too much about making those dumb mistakes on the test, if you can avoid them it is good but don't stress too much about it and your other stuffs just flee out from the memory. that will be worse 😛 if you are getting 12+ then do it like that guy says... write down where you miss and why you miss or make the dumb mistake, it will improve your awareness for the mistake = better chance of avoiding it next time.

 

[planetsars]

actually he is not exaggerating, think about it 44/52 thats barely 85% or so... and for science the curve is higher and even higher for the PS section. even the national average for PS is higher the the other two. so missing just 8 can bring down as low as a 10 especially if that sitting is easy and not many people are making that many mistakes. i think the curve goes exponential after 12 every almost +1.2 on raw = +1 on the real. but between 10 to 12 can be as many as +4 on raw = +1 on real. so if you have minimum raw for real 10 then you might have to not make those 4 dumb mistakes to get 11. on the other hand when you are at 12, by not making just 1 dumb mistakes can take you to 13 🙂

so my point is if your score is below 12, just do what you don't worry too much about making those dumb mistakes on the test, if you can avoid them it is good but don't stress too much about it and your other stuffs just flee out from the memory. that will be worse 😛 if you are getting 12+ then do it like that guy says... write down where you miss and why you miss or make the dumb mistake, it will improve your awareness for the mistake = better chance of avoiding it next time.

hehe i think i understand what you're saying. its kinda hard to follow.

i consistently get 11s on the sciences on AAMCs 7-10. the AAMCs are very close to your real MCAT. even if the real one seems harder after you take it, for some reason everyone's scores generally still end up being the same as their AAMC ones even tho the real was "so much harder." i want to avoid those 3-4 careless mistakes b/c i know i am completely capable of getting 12s, maybe even 13s with luck. there's no reason i should miss those questions other than not paying close enough attention. i have no excuse why i should not be focusing the entire time. and i refuse to get anything lower than 12s on the sciences come this thursday!!!

 

[CommSNTS]

i want to avoid those 3-4 careless mistakes b/c i know i am completely capable of getting 12s, maybe even 13s with luck. there's no reason i should miss those questions other than not paying close enough attention. i have no excuse why i should not be focusing the entire time. and i refuse to get anything lower than 12s on the sciences come this thursday!!!

I'm definitely with you on that!

 

[engineeredout]

I have 5 min left over to review each section usually. I just need to catch more of these careless mistakes. i usually make 3-4 dumb mistakes everytime...if I just catch 2 of those on each section I see no reason why I can't get 12s.

Going back scares me, because I usually end up correcting mistakes, but then also changing correct answers to wrong ones, and I end up with the same grade.

Don't they say that the answer your mind first comes up with is 90% correct or something

 

[planetsars]

Going back scares me, because I usually end up correcting mistakes, but then also changing correct answers to wrong ones, and I end up with the same grade.

Don't they say that the answer your mind first comes up with is 90% correct or something

well, i don't go back and change my answers i was unsure on. i check to see if i made any careless errors. that usually means reviewing the ?s i had NO problem with the first time around. the "unsure" answers i came up with I leave alone. it's the ones i'm so sure of i recheck if possible since those are the ones i know with 100% certainty i made a careless mistake or not.

 

[Libtech]

well, i don't go back and change my answers i was unsure on. i check to see if i made any careless errors. that usually means reviewing the ?s i had NO problem with the first time around. the "unsure" answers i came up with I leave alone. it's the ones i'm so sure of i recheck if possible since those are the ones i know with 100% certainty i made a careless mistake or not.

I caught two careless errors on the real thing in my biology section. Definitely go back and look for those if you have ample time.

Heh I wish I was more abiding to the "first answer" for the unsure questions, I know I missed 3 on mine back in may (and remember those questions for the rest of my life cuz I kept thinking about them 👎)