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September 2015 MCAT Thread
Started by DAF16
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Did anyone use EK Verbal 101 tests to prep for CARS? I know they are only 40 questions and 60 minutes long but are they good indication of where I stand in CARS? I've done 4 tests so far and I got 8 on the first 3 and 9 on the last one (Still trying to improve timing)
Do not use the score for anything. Seriously. Anything. Don't make yourself feel good if you did well and moreover, do not make yourself feel like dog guano if you do poorly.
How to use it? Take each question you get wrong, write it down, and answer the question "Why?" Go to Khan, reboot the videos covering it, make note cards, draw, whatever and then do that for every single question. Bar none.
FL 2 was a beast. I almost quit (again). Instead, I used it to change my studying habits and dig in.
If I had a dime for every time someone told me I was a lost cause, or judged me, or told me to quit; I'd have fully funded my retirement.
If there is one truth that I have learned in my almost 51 years is this: let you know your own inner truth and let no one else define that for you.
You can do this; just change your way of studying a little... and don't beat yourself up.
Here's a link for Psy/Soc theorists; know them, their theories ... from what I've been told.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1653OPZAz7wOTunsplr_QTQNmv9fDCsKwLSLRWz74NtQ/edit
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1653OPZAz7wOTunsplr_QTQNmv9fDCsKwLSLRWz74NtQ/edit
Thanks for the input, I've also nearly exclusively heard to make it the last thing you take which simply put, makes me nervous. I don't want to realize that it's a different game and start worrying a week before my exam. I figured that's what everyone was doing but I think I'll move it up to 2-3 weeks before my exam instead after reading this. I'd rather have my confidence be plummeted by an EK or Kaplan FL than the official AAMC that close to the test, because then I can - as my wonderful psy/soc book says- use the impression management strategy of aligning actions and just blame it on the harshness of the test.
@Ad2b I finally finished content review so spending the next month taking FLs and doing just that while reviewing them + more practice passages. Hopefully I start seeing improvements soon! Also that psy/soc document is wonderful! I've been wanting a nice cohesive list like that but haven't had the time or motivation to make one.
I wish I could give you all a big hug. 
Reading the above comments has reinstated motivation to keep studying. Within the last few days I almost wanted to just give up and push back the exam date to January 2016. I've taken one FL so far (two weeks ago) and I got a 498, with 122 (!!!!) for the C/P as my lowest score. Huge damage was made to the ego and it caused me to slow down my studies, especially psych/soc because I haven't finished reviewing for that. Thanks to you guys, I am motivated to finish up reviewing for psych/soc and get ready for a month-full of FLs. 😀
I am also planning to take the AAMC FL on August 30, too, before my Sept 12 date.
+ Also, thank you for the google doc @Ad2b!!
Reading the above comments has reinstated motivation to keep studying. Within the last few days I almost wanted to just give up and push back the exam date to January 2016. I've taken one FL so far (two weeks ago) and I got a 498, with 122 (!!!!) for the C/P as my lowest score. Huge damage was made to the ego and it caused me to slow down my studies, especially psych/soc because I haven't finished reviewing for that. Thanks to you guys, I am motivated to finish up reviewing for psych/soc and get ready for a month-full of FLs. 😀I am also planning to take the AAMC FL on August 30, too, before my Sept 12 date.
+ Also, thank you for the google doc @Ad2b!!
@Jennzilla @Ad2b That's right around when I have mine scheduled 29th or 30th so it'll be nice to discuss what we we all think after! I didn't expect such positive responses to my post it has definitely helped encourage me too!
Take a look at this spreadsheet you guys. Don't get too bogged down in your practice scores, because A LOT of other SDN users scored in the range that we are scoring and did extremely well on the real thing. I felt the same way that a lot of you are feeling now, but after looking at this, I felt a little better. We can do this!!!
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Yes, this is what gives me hope and this is why I'm still trying. Majority of all who took Kaplan scored at around 498-503 and got 510-519 on real thing! The harder the FL's and studying we are doing, the easier will be on real test.
Question, that's been bothering me for awhile. Everyone says know your AAs, but what exactly do we need to know? I can't imagine that structure, charge, grouping (polar/non polar etc) could constitute enough question that everyone says it is the most tested thing. Other test companies don't represent it enough in their FLs and Kaplan just goes over the basic stuff I listed so I'm not sure in which ways it will be tested.
Example is this the type of AA aspect I should be studying (effects on health/more on the 'bio' side)? Or some other aspect?
http://www.streetdirectory.com/etoday/20-essential-amino-acids-ccjj.html
Example is this the type of AA aspect I should be studying (effects on health/more on the 'bio' side)? Or some other aspect?
http://www.streetdirectory.com/etoday/20-essential-amino-acids-ccjj.html
http://adoc2be.blogspot.com/2015/08/amino-acids-101.html
This. Draw it. At least 3 or 4 times. You won't have to memorize anything 🙂 it'll be there for you come the day of the exam. When asked what side chains are good for hydrolysis, you'll picture it, answer the question in your head, look at answer choices and know it.
This. Draw it. At least 3 or 4 times. You won't have to memorize anything 🙂 it'll be there for you come the day of the exam. When asked what side chains are good for hydrolysis, you'll picture it, answer the question in your head, look at answer choices and know it.
Can we actually eat lunch on 30min break or it's just formal naming of the break? If yes, can we bring our own lunch or there is a cafeteria? Will they provide some lockers to put our lunch during the exam or where can I keep it? Am I allowed to go outside the building during lunch? Thanks.
In addition to knowing the structures like @Ad2b commented, I also think it's a good idea to know what AA's have formal charges at physiological pH. Physiological pH ~7.4, so that means Arginine and Lysine are +1 (note that histidine side chain pKa is like ~6, so it's NOT protonated). Also glutamate and aspartate are -1. At 7.4 the N-terminal amino group is always protonated, and the C-terminal carboxyl group is deprotonated, leaving a net charge of zero for all the other amino acids.
So when you get a question asking like "what is the formal charge of this peptide chain at physiological pH?" or something (which I've been seeing all over the FL's), you'll be able to nail it 😉
Took an FL3 Kaplan and got 500: C/P 126/ CARS 125/ B/B 124/ P/S 125; subjectively hardest was C/P section (first one, I ended up rushing at the end, didn't have time to read last 2 articles properly) and Bio/Biochem (I still suck at enzymes, pathways, AA's, mRNA, transcription etc).
Yeah I think you're right, just after a quick glance I also noticed in Ad2b's drawing that lysine is abbreviated as "L" instead of "K". No idea why scientists picked "K" for lysine, but thus is life 🙄
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I am worried about it too, but judging from my experience - for me recent trend is that you improve gradually if you do a lot of FL's. So practice CARS more if that's your fear.
Thanks guys, so generally structure and charge effects rather than health effects? I've seen neither on any FLs yet so I wasn't sure, thanks for clearing things up. Do you think its a good idea to know the specific pH and pIs of the AAs or just general ranges?
Have you guys seen any questions relating chemical reactions and AAs like oxidation of cys, how tyrosine can be converted to l dopa, how histidine decarboxylates to histamine etc?
@Kariim Yes, I realized that! Kalpan also says knowing specific names in psych isn't important which isn't true at all -_-
I imagine so, I'm bringing my own lunch and a snack if I get hungry during the break. I can't imagine they wouldn't allow you to eat during that 7 hour period. Some test centers do however ask you to leave the building or room I believe so like @HopefulPilot says call and ask. Most test centers have lockers but if your exam is in an office building things may be different.
Does getting a 70% overall on EK FL #2 make me a bad person??
@geronimo11 - I just went through a diagnostic from ... one of the questions would definitely have been easier for those who knew what the structures looked like; or which one's had an OH on them or which ones had the S ... because with that information, you could eliminate wrong answer choices that had those in them related to a disease state.
I think that is a potential MCAT kind of question.
I think that is a potential MCAT kind of question.
What do you mean by health effects? Also I think it's a good idea to know the general range, like if pH is anywhere between 2 or 9 the AA backbone will have a neutral charge. I'm not going to sweat knowing every AA's pKa or pI
I haven't seen specific questions about specific reactions the amino acids can undergo, other than like cleaving the peptide bond and strecker/Gabriel synthesis.
I haven't taken any EK FL's but from browsing other threads most people agree that 70%+ is good!
Okay thanks! I've got the structures down but wasn't sure if I needed way more than just that. Only bad thing is I have to memorize them in a certain order to get the structure most of the time, I need to start remembering them on their own soon so I can save time come test day
Darn I was hoping striker/gabriel synthesis wouldn't show up 😛 and I was just searing on google about AAs and things like this came up http://www.imagerynet.com/amino/20_amino.html
Those aren't the type of things I would even think about but didn't know if AAs would show up in that way. From what everyone is saying it seems to show up in a more chemistry setting
If you're not sure what's going to be on the exam, just look at the AAMC Content outline! I've relied on that thing so much it's ridiculous. I've literally gone through it bullet point for bullet point, making sure I'm good on everything there.
@Doctor Dream Will do! I actually haven't looked at those outlines other than psych. Definitely have been taking them for granted and just assumed like the psy/soc section they would not list certain things or that it would essentially be a huge list of 'you need to know everything' and not be helpful
@Geronimo - no, don't memorize them in order ... draw them
1. Draw the backbone
2. Draw an H on the Carbon - you have glycine
3. Replace that H with a methyl - you have alanine
4. Replace that methyl with an ethyl and add two CH3 and you have valine
5. Replace that with ... and keep going.
At the next juncture you get to where the backbone is actually the original PLUS CH2 off the a-Carbon.
Now start with that and draw the rest of the amino acids.
With Proline look how it connects the a-Carbon back to the NH2 of the backbone - five membered ring
With Phenylalanine - what is common between it and Tyrosine??? 🙂
As you are drawing them, think: phobic, basic, acidic, polar? after you've drawn them a few times, you won't need to think about it anymore, you'll just "know" it ...
1. Draw the backbone
2. Draw an H on the Carbon - you have glycine
3. Replace that H with a methyl - you have alanine
4. Replace that methyl with an ethyl and add two CH3 and you have valine
5. Replace that with ... and keep going.
At the next juncture you get to where the backbone is actually the original PLUS CH2 off the a-Carbon.
Now start with that and draw the rest of the amino acids.
With Proline look how it connects the a-Carbon back to the NH2 of the backbone - five membered ring
With Phenylalanine - what is common between it and Tyrosine??? 🙂
As you are drawing them, think: phobic, basic, acidic, polar? after you've drawn them a few times, you won't need to think about it anymore, you'll just "know" it ...
@Ad2b That's actually how I draw them! but example: for me to to draw leucine I have to draw glycine, alanine and valine in my head first. That process of adding and moving methyl groups helps me get there, hopefully I'm making sense, not really sure how to word it. I have a seperate process like this set for every group of AAs which really helps but not sure if that's too time consuming.
Guess I should get to the whiteboard this week and just keep drawing them out until I don't have to go through that process anymore!
Guess I should get to the whiteboard this week and just keep drawing them out until I don't have to go through that process anymore!
Okay so valine is easy, right?
Leucine is really valine with the CH2 put on top of the "V" 🙂 The iso - well, that one just sucks, it is a rearrangement. BUT after those the backbone is with the CH2 (except for the wonky Proline and Threonine)...
Drawing them saved me. It helped me when I had to think of how to fit something into a pocket the was negatively charged...
you'll get there! As an aside, I STILL draw them daily.
Leucine is really valine with the CH2 put on top of the "V" 🙂 The iso - well, that one just sucks, it is a rearrangement. BUT after those the backbone is with the CH2 (except for the wonky Proline and Threonine)...
Drawing them saved me. It helped me when I had to think of how to fit something into a pocket the was negatively charged...
you'll get there! As an aside, I STILL draw them daily.
I've left the rote memorization things such as aa's last as well! I too draw at least a few of them each day and I think it does help to have some understanding of their "story", why they are important. It also helped me to examine the ranges by category. The pI range for example, and then to look at the ones that were most acidic or basic for their group ( ex: cysteine has most acidic pI and acid pH of the neutral polar molecules).
Adding on to @Ad2b's question, can we purchase TPR FL's without having taken the Princeton course?
i believe there's an easier way to memorize the nonpolar, nonaromatic amino acid structures, assuming you're familiar with organic chemistry nomenclature.
GAVLIP + M
Glycine has an H
Alanine is a methyl
Valine is an isopropyl
Leucine is an isobutyl
Isoleucine is a sec-butyl
You can't get proline and methionine wrong.
GAVLIP + M
Glycine has an H
Alanine is a methyl
Valine is an isopropyl
Leucine is an isobutyl
Isoleucine is a sec-butyl
You can't get proline and methionine wrong.
Yes you can, I bought the TPR Psych and Soc book which came with all 3 of their FL's. I think it was like 30$ off amazon, pretty good deal!
Awesome, thanks for your help! Are the three FL's online or in the paperback?
Online! The book comes with an online access code and instructions on how to get at the exams.
Absolutely, 100%!! They're pretty difficult, but after taking them Next step exams seem much easier. Also 3 exams for 30$ is an amazing deal. EK charges 50$ per exam, and even the AAMC FL is 25$ I think.
I also think they're the same 3 as everyone else, I think I read TPR only has 3 FL's out right now.
I took my second FL (NS1) yesterday and my score for both P/C and P/S went up by 2-3 points. B/S and CARS didn't budge because I didn't properly review the content when I was reviewing my first FL.
P/C 125, CARS 125, B/S 125, P/S 128. Overall: 503. At least everything is average! Onward to 508!! haha
Also, regarding the AA structures, I used this video to learn how to draw them:
click for youtube vid
dope af
P/C 125, CARS 125, B/S 125, P/S 128. Overall: 503. At least everything is average! Onward to 508!! haha
Also, regarding the AA structures, I used this video to learn how to draw them:
click for youtube vid
dope af
To those thinking of getting the TPR practice test, you should definitely do them if you have the time and resources. If anything, it'll help you practice your timing and endurance, and figure out which topics you really know by heart and which ones you don't.
I just finished the demo actually! Pretty lopsided 501 (124/125/124/128), but I'll take it for my very first FL and especially if these as supposedly more difficult than the real thing. What did you guys think of the TPR Demo?
Couple of thoughts:
P/C wasn't that terrible. Didn't remember some formulas so I couldn't answer some Qs, and also a few questions I didn't read completely (I always miss the words LEAST, MOST, STRENGTHEN....). Plus, I took a bathroom break, and I didn't realize that I didn't pause the timer, so I wasn't able to answer super easy questions at the end of exam. Not enough experiment based passages though so it's hard to gauge how well this score will translate to the real thing.
CARS is CARS. I thought I was improving but this practice test and the official Q packet passages are just so much more difficult than the EK101 passages... just gotta practice reading denser passages I suppose.
B/BC I thought was the most terrible section of all. There were many concepts that I wasn't familiar with, and apparently I'm terrible with the reading comprehension and experimental aspect of it... Not surprising since I haven't done a lot of bio passages yet. Hopefully, more practice helps boost this score up.
The P/S was pretty much recall of all the theories that were in the prep book, and not a lot of experimental analysis, so I don't know how well this score will translate to the real test either. Felt really nice to know a lot of things though especially after my difficulties in the bio section.
Good luck to everyone!!!
I just finished the demo actually! Pretty lopsided 501 (124/125/124/128), but I'll take it for my very first FL and especially if these as supposedly more difficult than the real thing. What did you guys think of the TPR Demo?
Couple of thoughts:
P/C wasn't that terrible. Didn't remember some formulas so I couldn't answer some Qs, and also a few questions I didn't read completely (I always miss the words LEAST, MOST, STRENGTHEN....). Plus, I took a bathroom break, and I didn't realize that I didn't pause the timer, so I wasn't able to answer super easy questions at the end of exam. Not enough experiment based passages though so it's hard to gauge how well this score will translate to the real thing.
CARS is CARS. I thought I was improving but this practice test and the official Q packet passages are just so much more difficult than the EK101 passages... just gotta practice reading denser passages I suppose.
B/BC I thought was the most terrible section of all. There were many concepts that I wasn't familiar with, and apparently I'm terrible with the reading comprehension and experimental aspect of it... Not surprising since I haven't done a lot of bio passages yet. Hopefully, more practice helps boost this score up.
The P/S was pretty much recall of all the theories that were in the prep book, and not a lot of experimental analysis, so I don't know how well this score will translate to the real test either. Felt really nice to know a lot of things though especially after my difficulties in the bio section.
Good luck to everyone!!!
