SN2'd first day

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TexasSurgeon

TexasSurgeon

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EDIT: This was supposed to be a thread about the first day of SN2. However as with all intelligent life, things evolve. This thread has now become a support page for people following the SN2 plan. You can think of it as Alcoholics Anonymous for people studying to take the MCAT using the SN2 plan.

EDIT July 1, 2014:
If you are interested in @mehc012's Anki Deck, DO NOT SEND A PM. Here is the link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7if6wgaif98rkoa/mehc012 SN2edCh4s.apkg
**A NOTE: @mehc012 and several others (myself included) want to tell you guys that studying from another person's deck will probably not be as beneficial to you as creating your own cards. Yes you can take advantage of @mehc012's generosity, but you won't get the same advantage. Study the material. Create cards as you go along. You will find it more helpful to your studying. **

EDIT July 22, 2014:
The following is @TBRBiosadist's official MCAT Verbal Reasoning Strategy:
@TBRBiosadist's strategy that got [him] from a 7 average to scoring 13-15 average..

Spend the bulk of your time reading. Up to 3 minutes per passage.
  • Read the first and last paragraph thoroughly to begin with. Understand what the authors main point will be because 90% of questions require nothing more than a general idea.
  • After this, read the entire passage slowly enough where you dont feel like you need to reread sentences for understanding.
Next is just answer questions, there is a few tricks here that work about 90% of the time
  • Unless the passage is asking you about a specific detail, dont look back. READ EVERY ANSWER THOROUGLY AND THEN Answer what makes sense from the general point of the passage. Its very easy to prove a wrong answer to be somewhat correct if you dig hard enough, dont. Answer what your gut says and move onto the next question, dont contemplate to much. With that being said...
  • Answer like you were dropped on the head as a child. Alot of times if Im arguing between two answers, there is the answer that is 100% correct, and one that is 90% correct. Be an idoit and choose the one that seems like it is correct. However.....
  • "Always" is a word to avoid. If an answer uses this word, or definites like it, it is something to avoid. I would say 80% of the time the wishy washy answer is more correct then the highly affirmative one. This leads to my final point....
  • 100% of the time you are not actually looking for the "right" answer in verbal, this isnt PS or BS where 1+1 almost always equals 2 (unless we are talking about the different sedimentation values for Ribosomes). In verbal you are looking for the answer that isnt wrong. Often times an answer will seem very "right" but one aspect of it is clearly wrong, as compared to an answer that isnt wrong, but doesnt seem as right as that answer, these are meant to fool you. Choose the answer that isnt wrong.
I understand that I few of these tips may be at odds with each other. Ultimately you must adjust slightly for each passage, but it comes down to one thing. Read thoroughly. Read every sentence in the passage. Read every question. Read every answer. Then the correct answer will be fairly obvious. This may seem like it takes longer, but it takes much less time than skimming, and then trying to find the correct information later.

Or to summarize in one sentence

Understand what the hell the author is arguing

EDIT July 26, 2014:
@DoctorInASaree uploaded a guide to Verbal Reasoning. If you're interested, it's worth a look. Here is the link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2byivymmqwlvjms/MCAT VR Primer DRSAREE.pdf

EDIT 2, July 26, 2014: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/sn2d-first-day.1074344/page-52#post-15510851
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Just finished the first day of SN2...man is it long and exhausting.

The first day is BR physics chapter (translational motion) + 1/3 of the passages. I felt like I wasn't able to apply the stuff I read into the stuff I was tested on.

Has anyone felt this way when following the schedule? It just seems like the contents of the chapter didn't really stick in my head when I took the practice passages. Will this improve over time?

EDIT 3, March 4, 2015:

For verbal, if you are feeling lost and confused, I highly highly recommend you to look into the MCAT Strategy Course by @Jack Westin. I've been working with him, and nothing comes close to his course and teaching. It's a strategy course, so it will cover everything, not just the VR/CARS section.
 
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On day 4 of SN2ed and don't have the EK bio book yet so I'm reading BR bio instead... I swear every other word is bold in the first chapter.
 
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hitormiss8 said:
On day 4 of SN2ed and don't have the EK bio book yet so I'm reading BR bio instead... I swear every other word is bold in the first chapter.
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Yeah formatting is terrible on BR Bio. If you can actually endure the optical pain that is BR Bio, it's not a terrible interim book for EK Bio/TPR Bio.
 
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So, Day 5 now. Just gotta finish Physics, then rereading day tomorrow. Anybody find reread days that helpful? Or should I skim reread and do more discretes?
 
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Aerus said:
So, Day 5 now. Just gotta finish Physics, then rereading day tomorrow. Anybody find reread days that helpful? Or should I skim reread and do more discretes?
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Completely useless to reread all. Reread the parts you highlight and then head over to Princeton Review Hyperlearning science or do more passages
 
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just skim the chapters, im not completely against ek1001 because it does help nail down equations in my head (something that passages really dont do much), but if you dont feel it helps, definitely do something else.

In other accounts......god I hate verbal. Im still averaging 2 wrong per passage, but the actual spread is perfect scores mixed with bombed passages. I keep letting outside information and my own opinions leak into my answers.
 
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TBRBiosadist said:
just skim the chapters, im not completely against ek1001 because it does help nail down equations in my head (something that passages really dont do much), but if you dont feel it helps, definitely do something else.

In other accounts......god I hate verbal. Im still averaging 2 wrong per passage, but the actual spread is perfect scores mixed with bombed passages. I keep letting outside information and my own opinions leak into my answers.
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You're telling me...I was doing TPRH Verbal and was doing great on those. Then I take a full length verbal test from EK101 and bombed it. Now I don't know which verbal book is most indicative of my real potential
 
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TexasSurgeon said:
You're telling me...I was doing TPRH Verbal and was doing great on those. Then I take a full length verbal test from EK101 and bombed it. Now I don't know which verbal book is most indicative of my real potential
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Would you say EK 101 is more difficult of TPRH or just in a different format that you're not accustomed to?
 
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Apparently TPRH is more representative of the real deal than EK 101. Someone mentioned in an older thread I read on this topic that EK has harder questions with easier passages, but TPRH has harder passages with easier questions. I've been switching every week from one book to the other and find that generalization to be pretty accurate
 
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There is a whole thread on this
ExamKracker VERBAL 101 SCORES

Also, yes the TPRH is A LOT more representative of the real thing imo. I think the EK test 1-5 or 6 is also good but after that it just goes to ****s. I've also found princeton review helpful as well and also the AAMC self assessments.
 
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orangetea said:
There is a whole thread on this
ExamKracker VERBAL 101 SCORES

Also, yes the TPRH is A LOT more representative of the real thing imo. I think the EK test 1-5 or 6 is also good but after that it just goes to ****s. I've also found princeton review helpful as well and also the AAMC self assessments.
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Your post seems to match with @gettheleadout 's 30+ post, so I'm going to go with that as well. 😛
 
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Finished studying today!

I like both EK and TPRH. I'm doing well on both...may I have an ice cream cone?:flame:


Edit: For what it's worth I began my verbal preparation with EK, and I am sticking with their methodology for the most part. I have a proprietary methodology developed for myself, and I refuse to extricate that from my verbal bag of magic tricks regardless of what EK and TPRH says to do. It is working out so far 🙂
 
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DoctorInASaree said:
Finished studying today!

I like both EK and TPRH. I'm doing well on both...may I have an ice cream cone?:flame:


Edit: For what it's worth I began my verbal preparation with EK, and I am sticking with their methodology for the most part. I have a proprietary methodology developed for myself, and I refuse to extricate that from my verbal bag of magic tricks regardless of what EK and TPRH says to do. It is working out so far 🙂
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Wanna share those secrets? I'll buy you lunch
 
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MrTaco92 said:
Anyone else get frustrated with the half-assed explanations in EK 1001? There have been multiple times where Ive just said to myself "this book is dumb" and moved on without trying to understand the explanation.
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Amen to that. I'm following SN2ed pretty strictly so I keep trying to get myself to use the EK books, but after scouring these forums, I've pretty much concluded that it's a way to cement knowledge and figure out weaknesses. Some of the problems are really bull.

I would go as far to say that about some BR problems too. I think as long as you're getting the concepts down and seeing how they could be manipulated in a way that you would have to logically reason it out, you're pretty golden.
 
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Does anyone else just go away to a corner and do a verbal passage every now and then when they're frustrated? Sometimes if I've been reading a lot from BR, I just close everything and do a quick TPRH verbal passage in like 6 minutes just to read something else
 
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TexasSurgeon said:
Does anyone else just go away to a corner and do a verbal passage every now and then when they're frustrated? Sometimes if I've been reading a lot from BR, I just close everything and do a quick TPRH verbal passage in like 6 minutes just to read something else
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No, but sounds like a good idea. I enjoy doing verbal much more than content review. Much more.
 
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Aerus said:
No, but sounds like a good idea. I enjoy doing verbal much more than content review. Much more.
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I can do verbals all day...just as long as it's not from EK101...that book is nowhere close to MCAT passages compared to my boy Princeton

Longest chapter was that gen chem one you referred lol. but get ready for orgo chapters
 
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TexasSurgeon said:
I can do verbals all day...just as long as it's not from EK101...that book is nowhere close to MCAT passages compared to my boy Princeton

Longest chapter was that gen chem one you referred lol. but get ready for orgo chapters
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Haha, I'm looking through the Organic Chemistry ones and while they aren't quite as long as 55 pages, they might as well be. :rage:
 
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TexasSurgeon said:
Wait so how have you been using the TPRH book? Has it been as helpful in cementing concepts down? I'm just planning on doing passages that I've had content review on. Is that how you use it?
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so on review days I do passages from there maybe like 3 or 4.. I mainly just do them to make sure I have certain topics down.. but it has been super helpful. Then on "break days" ill do flash cards and EK1001 .. I just can't sit around and do nothing mcat related =/ fml lol
 
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orangetea said:
so on review days I do passages from there maybe like 3 or 4.. I mainly just do them to make sure I have certain topics down.. but it has been super helpful. Then on "break days" ill do flash cards and EK1001 .. I just can't sit around and do nothing mcat related =/ fml lol
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So, @gettheleadout says this about TPRH Science
Hyperlearning Science Workbook (2009): An incredible source of practice material. Nearly a thousand pages, containing hundreds of passages and discretes, with adequate explanation in answer keys. Though this book is only available secondhand, and as such price can drive up quite high, I would say it's "worth it" as a source of practice material. It's the best source of biology passages I've seen, beating out both TBR and EK. Physics and chemistry problems can be challenging as well. There are enough discretes (hundreds) in the book that I would consider this a sufficient replacement for the EK 1001 series. A final interesting note, there is a particular passage that appeared in both my TPRH SW and my TBR Bio books, nearly identical in both passage and questions. I wonder how that happened?
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So I think I'll be using that book in replacement for EK1001 mostly. Maybe some calculations will be done from EK1001. I can't do nothing on break days either lol. So I've decided to watch Wikipremed videos and do some verbal, light review of questions I got wrong, etc.
 
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TexasSurgeon said:
Wait so how have you been using the TPRH book? Has it been as helpful in cementing concepts down? I'm just planning on doing passages that I've had content review on. Is that how you use it?
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What I've started doing is 2 passages from each section every other day, and on the days I don't do TPRH science, I do TPRH verbal.
I think this just helps so much in cementing concepts and keeping motivation up because I'm finding I realize I've learned a lot from failing miserably at BR
 
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avenlea said:
What I've started doing is 2 passages from each section every other day, and on the days I don't do TPRH science, I do TPRH verbal.
I think this just helps so much in cementing concepts and keeping motivation up because I'm finding I realize I've learned a lot from failing miserably at BR
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I've missed my fair share on BR as well! So I guess you do better on the TPR passages then? I've been hoping this whole time that my mistakes from BR will translate into knowledge gained when I do more passages
 
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TexasSurgeon said:
I've missed my fair share on BR as well! So I guess you do better on the TPR passages then? I've been hoping this whole time that my mistakes from BR will translate into knowledge gained when I do more passages
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Haha I literally just did a physics passage where I got 2/10. Granted it's 1am and I'm exhausted, but literally BR Physics is the sole reason I feel like scrapping my doctor dreams during my MCAT prep.

And that being said, I've been getting close to perfect on TPR Physics. I think BR is really a learning experience, which I believe someone on this thread posted before when I said I was struggling with BR. I spend a LOTTTTT of time doing post-passage analysis, and I learn a lot from that. I just really suck at BR Physics, really badly.
 
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avenlea said:
Haha I literally just did a physics passage where I got 2/10. Granted it's 1am and I'm exhausted, but literally BR Physics is the sole reason I feel like scrapping my doctor dreams during my MCAT prep.

And that being said, I've been getting close to perfect on TPR Physics. I think BR is really a learning experience, which I believe someone on this thread posted before when I said I was struggling with BR. I spend a LOTTTTT of time doing post-passage analysis, and I learn a lot from that. I just really suck at BR Physics, really badly.
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That's awesome to hear! I miss quite a bit on TBR passages as well and I find that learning from the answers and reviewing that way helps way more than simply rereading a paragraph or part of a chapter. I'll do some passages from TPRH and update you on how it goes tomorrow!
 
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TexasSurgeon said:
That's awesome to hear! I miss quite a bit on TBR passages as well and I find that learning from the answers and reviewing that way helps way more than simply rereading a paragraph or part of a chapter. I'll do some passages from TPRH and update you on how it goes tomorrow!
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For sure! I think I need to take a break because I'm not doing so hot on my TPRH passages either right now haha, but I think in general TPRH makes you feel like you've learned something from BR because even when you do miss something you look at the solution and you're like AH CRAP I totally knew how to do that and it's like a mental note (or in my case you write it out lol) of what not to do next time.

Good luck! TPRH rocks. Their bio passages are so hard but I'm sure like the real thing
 
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avenlea said:
For sure! I think I need to take a break because I'm not doing so hot on my TPRH passages either right now haha, but I think in general TPRH makes you feel like you've learned something from BR because even when you do miss something you look at the solution and you're like AH CRAP I totally knew how to do that and it's like a mental note (or in my case you write it out lol) of what not to do next time.

Good luck! TPRH rocks. Their bio passages are so hard but I'm sure like the real thing
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Thanks! I feel like bio is my weakest section, just because I've been focusing a lot more on the PS and VR side of it all. Then again, I haven't taken physiology so all this stuff I'm about to learn on organ systems is gonna hit me hard, so I def need more content review in the BS side.
 
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So on test day when we take verbal, does the screen automatically switch over to the next passage after 8 minutes? I've been giving myself 21 minutes for 3 passages for the past 2 weeks, which has been going pretty well for the most part, but today I just tried giving myself 7 minutes per passage which was a disaster.
 
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MrTaco92 said:
So on test day when we take verbal, does the screen automatically switch over to the next passage after 8 minutes? I've been giving myself 21 minutes for 3 passages for the past 2 weeks, which has been going pretty well for the most part, but today I just tried giving myself 7 minutes per passage which was a disaster.
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You can scroll around and back and forth as much as you want. Except once you leave the page, your highlighted portions won't be saved
 
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Ok so my verbal scores are all over the place. Yesterday and the day before I got 70% and 80%, today 95%, and 3 days before a 95%, then last week 80%, 60%, and a 70%. I know my weakness is that I tend to become too opinionated on the pieces (the problems with being familiar with many of the topics already) because when I feel like I have just read the material for the first time and don't know what I'm doing is when I get hundreds. All my other stuff I'm rockin with my lowest scores being low 80s (including TBR Bio) and highest in the mid 90s

The thing is I know this is my problem but I'M HAVING A REALLY HARD TIME NOT DOING IT. It lessens the amount of time I go back looking at the piece and makes my gut instinct (which is what I use in all the other sections) wrong.

HELP! I don't want to be the guy that is (14/13/2).

EDIT: For reference I got 5's on AP lit and lang, and a 780 on my SAT reading section
 
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Review/Re-read day! Gonna be chill. I can't wait until this weekend. The first week of SN2ed is so long, haha.
 
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juice31 said:
Consistently getting ≈ 60% on my BR passages the first time around. It doesn't seem very good to me.
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There's a specific way of thinking that BR requires that you must get used to. My first and second Physics BR passage = 70% ish. My next 3 = 100%. There IS a way!
 
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This is the equivalent to how it feels when you finish a Part I Berkeley Review book

1935027_1.jpg
Equivalent feeling to when you finish Part I to any of the BR books
 
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