SN2'd first day

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
TexasSurgeon

TexasSurgeon

I don't pay state taxes
Verified Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2012
Messages
2,652
Reaction score
1,285
Members don't see this ad.
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
________________________________________________
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.
 
Last edited:
Sort by date Sort by votes
ramires said:
Bio day is officially the worst day, physics day Section III is a piece of cake Enjoy !!
Click to expand...
For me it's Chem...I last took it 7 or so years ago, so I have no flashcards and I know I need to make as many as possible...but it is so ingrained into my brain that it's hard to make myself study it.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
mehc012 said:
For me it's Chem...I last took it 7 or so years ago, so I have no flashcards and I know I need to make as many as possible...but it is so ingrained into my brain that it's hard to make myself study it.
Click to expand...
If you are using anki take a look at mcat-review.org AFTER reading the Br chapters their summaries are decent then all you have to do is copy paste into anki maybe that will cut you some time
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ramires said:
If you are using anki take a look at mcat-review.org AFTER reading the Br chapters their summaries are decent then all you have to do is copy paste into anki maybe that will cut you some time
Click to expand...
It's more the parsing of the info which takes time...but that's also the part that contributes most to learning, so perhaps I shouldn't complain!
I will look into that, though; it could make for some quick Clozing!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ramires said:
Bio day is officially the worst day, physics day Section III is a piece of cake Enjoy !!
Click to expand...
Hate bio so much, although I have been doing better. I changed it a little though. I'm not timing my passages as much right now (though I have a stopwatch going). I want to try and learn how to take the BS passages first. Timing hasn't been a huge issue for me so I think I can time a little bit later. Plus if I get the knowledge in first, I should get faster naturally
But yes bio is a B*&**. Takes so long.

mehc012 said:
For me it's Chem...I last took it 7 or so years ago, so I have no flashcards and I know I need to make as many as possible...but it is so ingrained into my brain that it's hard to make myself study it.
Click to expand...
Dang you really must learn well with flashcards. I find them so pointless after a certain point...so they almost never get made haha
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
TexasSurgeon said:
Hate bio so much, although I have been doing better. I changed it a little though. I'm not timing my passages as much right now (though I have a stopwatch going). I want to try and learn how to take the BS passages first. Timing hasn't been a huge issue for me so I think I can time a little bit later. Plus if I get the knowledge in first, I should get faster naturally
But yes bio is a B*&**. Takes so long.


Dang you really must learn well with flashcards. I find them so pointless after a certain point...so they almost never get made haha
Click to expand...
It took a few courses to train myself to really learn well from flashcards, but I thought it was a worthwhile goal considering how often I hear the "you'll learn everything, dump it, binge it for Steps, dump it, repeat ad nauseum" mantra...and how I've fallen into similar patterns in UG. The issue is that I'm REALLY GOOD at cramming, so I can easily read the chapter, do well on practice problems, maybe even hold it over for the MCAT, but then I will forget it all and that bothers me. If I'm going to put in the effort, I want to keep the knowledge long-term, and Anki lets me do that. Sitting at 96% retention on several thousand cards right now.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
mehc012 said:
It took a few courses to train myself to really learn well from flashcards, but I thought it was a worthwhile goal considering how often I hear the "you'll learn everything, dump it, binge it for Steps, dump it, repeat ad nauseum" mantra...and how I've fallen into similar patterns in UG. The issue is that I'm REALLY GOOD at cramming, so I can easily read the chapter, do well on practice problems, maybe even hold it over for the MCAT, but then I will forget it all and that bothers me. If I'm going to put in the effort, I want to keep the knowledge long-term, and Anki lets me do that. Sitting at 96% retention on several thousand cards right now.
Click to expand...
Haha man I am so bad at cramming. I crash and burn.

How's everyone doing on verbal? I miss about 1-2 per passage right now.....slightly more in a few passages
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
today was the second day I practice verbal so really can't say but missing 2-3 on average which I guess will get better.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I actually like verbal. It's the time component that screws me. Idk about you guys but I cannot do the 6/7 minute per passage that SN2 suggests. I keep it at 8 minutes and it seems to work for me. But I find that 2-3 questions right can boost your score. And it's usually those 2-3 that I end up changing my answer too after I freak out by looking at the clock lol
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
The timing is messing with me too. I was fine when I had more time. Maybe they were easier passages too. But still. Now I am using a stopwatch rather than a countdown to time myself. Some I finish in 5:47 some I finish in 8:43 but in all I am missing a couple. I need to start doing them in the morning.

I am doing 4 a day so I might cut it down to two a day for now
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I do 3 at a time (unless I have a bunch of chapter reviews...then I make a Mini MCAT for myself by answering ~50-60qs for each science section and a full 40 verbal qs).
I average 5:01 on verbal passages (exactly that for TPRH, a bit higher for TBR, and a bit less for EK).
However, even when I try to slow down and take more time on the passages - up to 9min, I see absolutely zero change in my scores. My average is only 83%, which is 1-2/passage :/
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
listener23 said:
How d o you do your verbal passages?
Click to expand...

I quickly skim through the questions first and make note of any words or phrases that they ask for. Then I read the passage as actively as I can and underline things that stick out to me, especially places where the author makes his own point and claims. If I see the words/phrases from the question, I put brackets around them. Then I go through the questions and answer them. If I have a good grasp of the passage, I can answer almost all the questions in about 2 minutes or so. Sometimes I don't, though.

One thing I'm going to start doing is summarize each paragraph quickly on the side after reading it.

This link should help you guys. I'll read through Visashasss' post again tomorrow before doing my passages.

I can tell when I don't understand a passage and it worries me because I can miss like 4 on that one
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
TexasSurgeon said:
I quickly skim through the questions first and make note of any words or phrases that they ask for. Then I read the passage as actively as I can and underline things that stick out to me, especially places where the author makes his own point and claims. If I see the words/phrases from the question, I put brackets around them. Then I go through the questions and answer them. If I have a good grasp of the passage, I can answer almost all the questions in about 2 minutes or so. Sometimes I don't, though.

One thing I'm going to start doing is summarize each paragraph quickly on the side after reading it.

This link should help you guys. I'll read through Visashasss' post again tomorrow before doing my passages.

I can tell when I don't understand a passage and it worries me because I can miss like 4 on that one
Click to expand...
I'd just be careful with all of the fancy notation given that you will be limited on the actual MCAT, what with it being a CBT and all.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
mehc012 said:
I'd just be careful with all of the fancy notation given that you will be limited on the actual MCAT, what with it being a CBT and all.
Click to expand...
I've been trying to think of a method to do this on an electronic test. I gotta think of another system

I wish you could elect to take the test on paper! Who cares if it's on computer or not...the score doesn't even come in immediately so what's the point of doing it on comp
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Signed up for SDN because this thread is promising! I just found out about the SN2ED schedule last night and I think it's a great way of studying for the MCAT. That being said, I'm about a week behind the rest of you, so I hope I can catch up 🙂

I've been focusing on BIO and Physics (ch 3 / 4 respectively), so I'll be putting double shifts for Orgo and Gen. Chem. Looking forward to contributing to this thread!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
My verbal scores for the most part are staying the same, getting an average of 50-60% of the questions right. The only recent exceptions are that sometimes I'll get a perfect score or just 1 wrong. So far the best piece of advice that works well for me is to thoroughly understand the first paragraph and and last paragraph, and then focus mostly on the first and last sentences of the paragraphs in between. The only downside to this strategy is that its slow for me and I cant answer a full passage in 7 minutes, but hopefully that improves over the next 3 months.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
DoctorInASaree said:
Signed up for SDN because this thread is promising! I just found out about the SN2ED schedule last night and I think it's a great way of studying for the MCAT. That being said, I'm about a week behind the rest of you, so I hope I can catch up 🙂

I've been focusing on BIO and Physics (ch 3 / 4 respectively), so I'll be putting double shifts for Orgo and Gen. Chem. Looking forward to contributing to this thread!
Click to expand...

Haha I'm glad I made this thread then. It's a good way for people to track each others' progress. Plus, everyone here is +/- 1 week of each other, so you'll get good advice.
nice SDN username, I can't tell what ethnicity you are 😛

MrTaco92 said:
My verbal scores for the most part are staying the same, getting an average of 50-60% of the questions right. The only recent exceptions are that sometimes I'll get a perfect score or just 1 wrong. So far the best piece of advice that works well for me is to thoroughly understand the first paragraph and and last paragraph, and then focus mostly on the first and last sentences of the paragraphs in between. The only downside to this strategy is that its slow for me and I cant answer a full passage in 7 minutes, but hopefully that improves over the next 3 months.
Click to expand...

That's what I do as well. I can finish in under 7 minutes, I found that the way I improved my reading speed and comprehension was to follow the text with a pencil. I learned this a few years ago before college and it's worked wonders on improving speed + concentration
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
DoctorInASaree said:
Two SN2ED days in one. I think my head hurts. To be quite honest I don't know where my head is right now. Must. Sleep.
Click to expand...
Better than work+SN2ed. Now you've earned a day off!

I gave up on doing blocks after work. Instead I'll do maybe work+½block for a few days and then make up for lost time by doing 2-3 blocks on a (rare) day off. That way I can still take a few regular days off as well!
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
Also- does anyone feel like they're going to stagnate at some point? Let me explain:

The first two months of SN2 involve reading a chapter + 1/3. That in itself takes up so much time that I feel like I never get to perfect my knowledge in a certain chapter thoroughly. So I feel like I'm rushing to cover material and take questions when I may not have a full grasp of that material in the first place due to the nature of the schedule
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I think it all depends on how thoroughly you study the material. If you focus more on your weak areas and take note of them, you could periodically come back to those notes during the last month. If worst comes to worst, deviating slightly from the SN2ed plan wouldn't hurt- it might even end up helping you to devote a couple days to your weaknesses.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
TexasSurgeon said:
Also- does anyone feel like they're going to stagnate at some point? Let me explain:

The first two months of SN2 involve reading a chapter + 1/3. That in itself takes up so much time that I feel like I never get to perfect my knowledge in a certain chapter thoroughly. So I feel like I'm rushing to cover material and take questions when I may not have a full grasp of that material in the first place due to the nature of the schedule
Click to expand...
But you're taking time WHILE learning the material. It's not like you're spending endless time on something unrelated to your studies.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
How do ya'll handle the passages? Do you read through the chapter then immediately do the first 1/3? Or do you review for 'x' amount of time before hand? I am on day 2 and felt extremely confident while going through the BR chem chapter (got almost every question right in the text) but the passages spanked me with a 50-60% average score per passage.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Skizzard said:
How do ya'll handle the passages? Do you read through the chapter then immediately do the first 1/3? Or do you review for 'x' amount of time before hand? I am on day 2 and felt extremely confident while going through the BR chem chapter (got almost every question right in the text) but the passages spanked me with a 50-60% average score per passage.
Click to expand...
I read and highlight chapters (I don't write notes) and go straight to the questions. Don't even pay attention to percentages, the TBR practice passages aren't reflective of the real MCAT from what I've read; use the AAMC FLs if you wanna gauge your progress.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
TBR passages are hard. It seems like answering 50-60% right at first try is the norm. The second time around you should notice an improvement after reviewing and re-reading though.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
MrTaco92 said:
I think it all depends on how thoroughly you study the material. If you focus more on your weak areas and take note of them, you could periodically come back to those notes during the last month. If worst comes to worst, deviating slightly from the SN2ed plan wouldn't hurt- it might even end up helping you to devote a couple days to your weaknesses.
Click to expand...
True. I just feel like I have trouble making the facts "stick" when doing content review. I think it helps me a lot to work through questions and see the answers to my wrong ones- I learn a lot from those. Also the 1001's should help with a lot as well.

mehc012 said:
But you're taking time WHILE learning the material. It's not like you're spending endless time on something unrelated to your studies.
Click to expand...
Yeah makes sense. I just don't feel like I'm learning it haha.

Skizzard said:
How do ya'll handle the passages? Do you read through the chapter then immediately do the first 1/3? Or do you review for 'x' amount of time before hand? I am on day 2 and felt extremely confident while going through the BR chem chapter (got almost every question right in the text) but the passages spanked me with a 50-60% average score per passage.
Click to expand...
Welcome to Berkeley Review. The first time you do 1/3's is gonna blow. You'll get used to it and by the end of the week you should be feeling confident more or less. If you're not feeling confident, the 1001s will improve your basic grasp of the sciences.

graden said:
I read and highlight chapters (I don't write notes) and go straight to the questions. Don't even pay attention to percentages, the TBR practice passages aren't reflective of the real MCAT from what I've read; use the AAMC FLs if you wanna gauge your progress.
Click to expand...
I do the same thing. Use BR to see where you're missing stuff and work on them. 1001s are great to back you up. Highlighting chapters is much more effective for me than writing notes. This way I can keep skimming through my highlights whenever.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
TexasSurgeon said:
True. I just feel like I have trouble making the facts "stick" when doing content review. I think it helps me a lot to work through questions and see the answers to my wrong ones- I learn a lot from those. Also the 1001's should help with a lot as well.


Yeah makes sense. I just don't feel like I'm learning it haha.


Welcome to Berkeley Review. The first time you do 1/3's is gonna blow. You'll get used to it and by the end of the week you should be feeling confident more or less. If you're not feeling confident, the 1001s will improve your basic grasp of the sciences.


I do the same thing. Use BR to see where you're missing stuff and work on them. 1001s are great to back you up. Highlighting chapters is much more effective for me than writing notes. This way I can keep skimming through my highlights whenever.
Click to expand...

I was thinking about that yesterday, it seems that I am forgetting stuff already. Not a nice feeling after putting this much time and effort, maybe its just that or the info will pop out when I get back to them.

I think I am starting to develop what I shall call berkely intuition, there was passage that I did not understand well and yet managed to get only 1 wrong by choosing the "odd one out".
Re-read day ahead hoping to master those couple of chaps. Good luck lads.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
pepocho said:
I've been doing flash cards for every chapter. Obviously it takes more time. So if youre crunching on time, I wouldn't recommend it. I try to make as few as possible. (I try ). I like to go over them before I begin my passages. Then during my review of the passages, I make a few more over the stuff I missed. Then I go over all the more difficult or sheer memorization flash cards on the re-read day or BR day. Like I said, much more time consuming, but I feel like it has been helping me, so maybe it could help you 🙂
Click to expand...
We have opposite flashcard theories...I go for as many cards as possible, as simple as possible!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Orgo and Gen Chem today. As someone who was studying from Kaplan; I'm thoroughly impressed with TBR and I'm loving their passages. Before doing the 1/3 passages I look to my white-board which has the chapter's "significant concepts" and I make sure I know them BEFORE attempting the passages - if I don't...I review my notes one more time.

Have fun today everyone! & Don't TGIF because tomorrow is yet another bright and sunny day of MCAT studying 🙂
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
DoctorInASaree said:
Orgo and Gen Chem today. As someone who was studying from Kaplan; I'm thoroughly impressed with TBR and I'm loving their passages. Before doing the 1/3 passages I look to my white-board which has the chapter's "significant concepts" and I make sure I know them BEFORE attempting the passages - if I don't...I review my notes one more time.

Have fun today everyone! & Don't TGIF because tomorrow is yet another bright and sunny day of MCAT studying 🙂
Click to expand...
How've you been doing on the BR passages? I love that I can learn a lot from them but I still miss quite a few questions
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
pepocho said:
Im trying to limit myself because I am still in college mode (trying to memorize all the details) instead of truly understanding the concepts. The first time I did flashcards I made a large amount of them. After spending so much time on them, and finally studying them, I realize that all those small details were unimportant. So I am just trying to stop myself from making "useless" flash cards
Click to expand...
Content review is so boring
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
pepocho said:
Im trying to limit myself because I am still in college mode (trying to memorize all the details) instead of truly understanding the concepts. The first time I did flashcards I made a large amount of them. After spending so much time on them, and finally studying them, I realize that all those small details were unimportant. So I am just trying to stop myself from making "useless" flash cards
Click to expand...
Ah. I do a large amount, but I usually make them ones with simple answers...if you remember concepts or interrelate them. Kind of like what EK1001 is going for.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
TexasSurgeon said:
How've you been doing on the BR passages? I love that I can learn a lot from them but I still miss quite a few questions
Click to expand...

Today so far: 11 on Verbal (It will take me a few days to forgive myself for my careless mistakes...). BR GenChem Passage roughly ~75% of questions answered correctly.

That's it for me today. I think I'll do another two-in-one day tomorrow.

If anyone is interested in my Verbal mistakes: 1) Usually after reading a passage I take a moment and ask myself what the passage is about...the crux of the passage if you will...and what the author's main perspective is. For some fantastical reason I didn't do that today and I think that reflected on my poor score! 2) Secondly, I, again for some fantastical reason, rushed through the passages today...maybe I shouldn't have a huge stop-watch in front of me - I found it to be quite intimidating.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
DoctorInASaree said:
Today so far: 11 on Verbal (It will take me a few days to forgive myself for my careless mistakes...). BR GenChem Passage roughly ~75% of questions answered correctly.

That's it for me today. I think I'll do another two-in-one day tomorrow.

If anyone is interested in my Verbal mistakes: 1) Usually after reading a passage I take a moment and ask myself what the passage is about...the crux of the passage if you will...and what the author's main perspective is. For some fantastical reason I didn't do that today and I think that reflected on my poor score! 2) Secondly, I, again for some fantastical reason, rushed through the passages today...maybe I shouldn't have a huge stop-watch in front of me - I found it to be quite intimidating.
Click to expand...
Nice!; haha I have no idea how you're moving through this so quick
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
DoctorInASaree said:
Today so far: 11 on Verbal (It will take me a few days to forgive myself for my careless mistakes...). BR GenChem Passage roughly ~75% of questions answered correctly.

That's it for me today. I think I'll do another two-in-one day tomorrow.

If anyone is interested in my Verbal mistakes: 1) Usually after reading a passage I take a moment and ask myself what the passage is about...the crux of the passage if you will...and what the author's main perspective is. For some fantastical reason I didn't do that today and I think that reflected on my poor score! 2) Secondly, I, again for some fantastical reason, rushed through the passages today...maybe I shouldn't have a huge stop-watch in front of me - I found it to be quite intimidating.
Click to expand...

what scale and what book are you using to find you verbal score?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
TexasSurgeon said:
Nice!; haha I have no idea how you're moving through this so quick
Click to expand...

You must be kidding...I'm in full jumpy squirrely panic mode right now. I take it that most of the posters in this thread are sifting through CH 4 of Phys/Chem/etc.? I'm on Ch2 now for most of the subjects. I'm a little bit worried if I'll finish SN2ED in time to write the MCAT at the end of August.

listener23 said:
what scale and what book are you using to find you verbal score?
Click to expand...

EK.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

G
100 day mcat study plan questions!
Replies
1
Views
1K
JAH_
J
I
First Post - Looking For Study Tips
Replies
1
Views
1K
JAH_
J
PONS
Is worth spending a day scouring over my Blueprint FL?
Replies
2
Views
2K
PONS
PONS
DestinyRoseAndrews
Lower score on actual MCAT than first FL diagnostic?
Replies
5
Views
4K
DestinyRoseAndrews
DestinyRoseAndrews
D
MCAT Two day accommodation Question
Replies
0
Views
2K
doc12bq
D
Top