Shrike's Approach to PS

[roycer]

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What does everyone think of Shrike's advice on approaching PS passages? I have the problem of not being able to finish this section on time and having to guess like 7 - 10 questions at the end of the section! Although it does seem odd to not really read a physics passage before attempting the questions, has anyone really tried it and have improve their results?

To Shrike: How do you approach reading Chemistry passages? BS passages?

 

[scotties123]

What does everyone think of Shrike's advice on approaching PS passages? I have the problem of not being able to finish this section on time and having to guess like 7 - 10 questions at the end of the section! Although it does seem odd to not really read a physics passage before attempting the questions, has anyone really tried it and have improve their results?

To Shrike: How do you approach reading Chemistry passages? BS passages?

i dont know how shrike does it, but i barely look at the passages. Graphs and tables i see what theyre comparing and why, but i do NOT try to analyze data values. If they give information, such as speed, angle, etc. then i write it down to apply to questions. That way, when i read the questions i have all variables that could be asked about written in front of me, and I now just have to remember equations/concepts. Very rarely do I ever get conceptual information from a passage. and The same goes for BS. Ive mentioned in other posts that i have tried doing an entire BS section without looking at passages AT ALL and scored like 10 or 11, cant remember.

 

[JackofAllTrades]

I think you have to read the passage. Isn't Shrike in grad school for physics? If so, she/he will be a lot more familiar with the abstract stuff that they put on there. You don't have to read it and get 100% because you can always go back. But you don't want to freak yourself out by looking at the questions and think "I have no idea."

Of course, this is just my opinion and you have to see what works for you.

 

[roycer]

I think I'm going to stick with reading the passage, but I'll read very quickly the text portions and spend more time looking at pictures, graphs, charts etc.

 

[jochi1543]

Not familiar with this author, but from your post, it sounds like s/he recommends attempting the questions before you read the passage....for PS (and Orgo on BS), I do agree. I remember doing that for a few passages on the real MCAT, and generally I could answer 4 out of 5 questions for each passage without even looking at the passage. And then for that 1 last question, you know what exactly you're looking for, so you can skim over the majority of the passage until you spot what you need. I got a 12 and I'm a self-proclaimed physics ******, so Shrike must be on to something.

 

[roycer]

Does "not really reading the passage" work for chemistry passages too?

 

[jochi1543]

Does "not really reading the passage" work for chemistry passages too?

I don't think I tried that for chem passages, just for physics and orgo, so I can't speak for that. Hey, give it a shot now, while you're still practicing, it might work for you. I didn't try this until the actual exam.

 

[artaxerxes]

most information in a passage is not relavent, so looking at questions first for science passages is fine. You'll notice immediately though that you do need to read the passage for some question, but at least half of the questions only have minimal relation to the passage (e.g you need the voltage or ressistance of something from the passage, which takes about 10 secs to find)

 

[BrokenGlass]

What does everyone think of Shrike's advice on approaching PS passages? I have the problem of not being able to finish this section on time and having to guess like 7 - 10 questions at the end of the section! Although it does seem odd to not really read a physics passage before attempting the questions, has anyone really tried it and have improve their results?

To Shrike: How do you approach reading Chemistry passages? BS passages?

Where is sadpanda?

 

[Swiperfox]

To each their own. Personally, I preffer the more conventional approach of reading the passage and attempting to answer the questions after. If you cannot finish the section, then either you are wasting too much time on a small handful of hard questions or you simply need to go back and review content (and practice discretes). Hit the questions in order, take no more than 45s-1min each. If you cannot answer it in this amount of time mark the question for review, guess, and move on.

 

[roycer]

To each their own. Personally, I preffer the more conventional approach of reading the passage and attempting to answer the questions after. If you cannot finish the section, then either you are wasting too much time on a small handful of hard questions or you simply need to go back and review content (and practice discretes). Hit the questions in order, take no more than 45s-1min each. If you cannot answer it in this amount of time mark the question for review, guess, and move on.

Thank you. I am going to use your advice.

 

[ilovelucy]

I don't think I tried that for chem passages, just for physics and orgo, so I can't speak for that. Hey, give it a shot now, while you're still practicing, it might work for you. I didn't try this until the actual exam.

The Shrike method works for me. By using it I have improved my PS score by 3 points. I think it works better for the chem passages. I have noticed in the chem passages there are more questions that are not relevant to the passage or just require looking at data or a graph. If I don't understand the graph or data then I just read the paragraph above it.

Using this method I always finish early, and then have time to go back and catch mistakes I may have made.

Try the method on an AAMC practice test and see what it does for your score. If it doesn't work out, practice with a different approach for a while and then take another practice test. 🙂

 

[HippocratesX]

The "Shrike" method (as its now being called), was not so successful on recent mcats which were highly theory based and low on calculations. If you don't read the experiments/passage, then you have no idea what it is they are asking in the questions. Those that ask you to do a calculation were rare on the May 25th MCAT...and from what I can gather about the May 31st MCAT..the physical sciences section was similar in nature.

I think that AAMC caught on that their tests were doable without reading the passage (in physical sciences) and stopped making them mostly calculation based.

I also want to add that the practice AAMC MCAT physical sciences sections can be done easily using Shrike's method....but the MCAT they are testing these days is not like those sections at all. You have enough time to read the passage, but u either know the underyling basic science, or you don't. You dont have much time, while answering the questions, to figure out what they are asking.