SN2'd first day

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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
________________________________________________
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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Ugh this weekend was so lazy. Hoping today will be better. Luckily I did some things last week so I'm still ahead but not by that much anymore...
Duuuuuuuude Im behind on 6 post passage reviews and one problem set. It sucks. It's 1000% due to me being lazy.......And steam summer sale.
 
Results. I have, and will continue to suck at verbal.

Got an effing 65% and overall my scores are mostly between 80-85%. So basically on practice I average a 9-10 with an occasional 12 and a little more than occasional 8-7 if a passage destroys me. I would trade a few points from the other sections just so I can bring up verbal.

Just going to start doing 8 passages a day and hope

Gonna try the "read it slowly and never look back" tactic in the morning since I tend to over think and try to prove answers.
MRW-I-miss-McDonalds-breakfast-by-just-a-few-minutes-james-franco-crying-pineapple-express.gif
 
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TRY BEING 12 DAYS BEHIND ON YOUR 17th DAY. AND ITS NOT EVEN DUE TO A LACK OF EFFORT/TIME. I AM SPENDING LIKE 6 HOURS A DAY.

HOW AM GUNNA B OPTIMIST ABOUT BEING STUPID BASTILLE? HOW?
 
TRY BEING 12 DAYS BEHIND ON YOUR 17th DAY. AND ITS NOT EVEN DUE TO A LACK OF EFFORT/TIME. I AM SPENDING LIKE 6 HOURS A DAY.

HOW AM GUNNA B OPTIMIST ABOUT BEING STUPID BASTILLE? HOW?
What is taking the most of your time?
Also are the 6 hours you mention you study quality where your sitting down maybe without your phone?
 
Yo so guys
Instead of doing 1/3 yesterday, I went and did all the passages. I'll do that this week and see how it goes. I don't have time to sit down and do the 2/3 and stuff. I'll probably get the Berkeley review FL's and do those to spend more time practicing tests
And then do 1001
 
TRY BEING 12 DAYS BEHIND ON YOUR 17th DAY. AND ITS NOT EVEN DUE TO A LACK OF EFFORT/TIME. I AM SPENDING LIKE 6 HOURS A DAY.

HOW AM GUNNA B OPTIMIST ABOUT BEING STUPID BASTILLE? HOW?

You're gonna have to devote more than 6 hours a day to this schedule. Instead of thinking you have a fixed amount of time to get through the day's work, you simply have to finish the day's amount of work. If you read earlier posts here you'll see that a lot of us spend 8+ hours a day getting through one day's worth of studying. Just keep truckin along and keep your chin up. Maybe you'll have to study on your break days until you're back on track, or maybe you'll just have to reschedule to a later date. You're not alone though.
 
Ok. Good. Time to start spending 12+ hours a day till I am caught up then. Here's a good old dose of motivation from one of my favourite movies:

 
What is taking the most of your time?
Also are the 6 hours you mention you study quality where your sitting down maybe without your phone?

Just understanding various topics thoroughly, considering my pre-reqs are a bit rusty (i.e., spent an enormous time on Ch 1 of TBR organic chemistry, but I think that's set the foundation for understanding all the upcoming reactions).

Also those are 6 hours of total effective studying out of like 8-9 hours. I use the pomodoro method so those are my clocked in hours of total study time. Reviewing the previous day's questions also takes a ton of time.
 
thank God for all the internet resources and You Tube....I was confused about a chem topic...after several hours of trying to figure the sht out....i watched a 9 minute You Tube tutorial and.....much easier for me now...

now i realize i can post a question to you guys....but i was kind of embarrassed because it was an easy topic:
ionic, covalent bonding, valence electrons...etc.

next time im stuck....i dont care if it is as easy as F=ma......i gonna post it a question and move on.... no more wasting hours trying to research or review something......just move on and wait until one of you guys can chime in....

another qualified ramble....
 
Just understanding various topics thoroughly, considering my pre-reqs are a bit rusty (i.e., spent an enormous time on Ch 1 of TBR organic chemistry, but I think that's set the foundation for understanding all the upcoming reactions).

Also those are 6 hours of total effective studying out of like 8-9 hours. I use the pomodoro method so those are my clocked in hours of total study time. Reviewing the previous day's questions also takes a ton of time.
Dude. You're placing too much emphasis on knowing all the topics in depth. The MCAT is a reasoning test which will test youon your ability to gather info. Spend time doing practice passages above all else. Do FL exams. Study the questions you get wrong. But don't sit and review and waste your precious hours. I'm just speakin from experience
 
Just understanding various topics thoroughly, considering my pre-reqs are a bit rusty (i.e., spent an enormous time on Ch 1 of TBR organic chemistry, but I think that's set the foundation for understanding all the upcoming reactions).

Also those are 6 hours of total effective studying out of like 8-9 hours. I use the pomodoro method so those are my clocked in hours of total study time. Reviewing the previous day's questions also takes a ton of time.

Also the first few organic chapters are huge. And also the Bio passages are front loaded (first two weeks have 12 passages each!). First few weeks I was spending all day studying and it was taking me days to finish the chapter. You'll get faster. Especially for physics because they are going to go down to only 14 pages a chapter (I would finish reading the chapter in 45 min to 1 hour) and then bio is also short chapters from EK and the passages you will need to do will drop a lot. Towards the middle the chemistry and organic chapters will also get shorter. After a few weeks I was able to cover two days worth on bio and physics days because I was also 3 weeks behind and I eventually caught up.

Set goals, like I have to get to at least page 30 by this time. Or I won't eat lunch until I'm at least here. Give yourself little rewards or something to look forward to. If you are sitting for hours and literally not moving in your studying then either take a 30 min break and go for a jog or walk, play with your dog, watch a motivating clip on youtube, or just sit and ponder about why you are studying for this test in the first place. If you really dislike a topic and really don't feel like studying that topic that day you could do something that I did. I hate organic, so if I really didn't feel like seeing organic a certain I would switch it with another day and come back to organic the next day. Or do half of the chapter, then do the next days chapter, then the following day come back and do the other half of organic and finish it. A few of the organic chapters took me four or more days to finish. I despise organic.
 
Dude. You're placing too much emphasis on knowing all the topics in depth. The MCAT is a reasoning test which will test youon your ability to gather info. Spend time doing practice passages above all else. Do FL exams. Study the questions you get wrong. But don't sit and review and waste your precious hours. I'm just speakin from experience

When I do passages, I don't feel comfortable in my pre-requisite knowledge. That's why I feel like I have to devote a bunch of time to learning the material inside out.
 
Dude. You're placing too much emphasis on knowing all the topics in depth. The MCAT is a reasoning test which will test youon your ability to gather info. Spend time doing practice passages above all else. Do FL exams. Study the questions you get wrong. But don't sit and review and waste your precious hours. I'm just speakin from experience
I am starting to think this is definitely key. I am definitely not top notch with my content by any means. I just hope to understand how the MCAT will ask questions on the real thing, which will hopefully give me a decent shot at a 27+
 
Yo so guys
Instead of doing 1/3 yesterday, I went and did all the passages. I'll do that this week and see how it goes. I don't have time to sit down and do the 2/3 and stuff. I'll probably get the Berkeley review FL's and do those to spend more time practicing tests
And then do 1001

Personally, I don't think this is a good idea. It's good when you come back and do 1/3 at a time. It's a review and seeing it multiple times should solidify your understanding.
 
Also the first few organic chapters are huge. And also the Bio passages are front loaded (first two weeks have 12 passages each!). First few weeks I was spending all day studying and it was taking me days to finish the chapter. You'll get faster. Especially for physics because they are going to go down to only 14 pages a chapter (I would finish reading the chapter in 45 min to 1 hour) and then bio is also short chapters from EK and the passages you will need to do will drop a lot. Towards the middle the chemistry and organic chapters will also get shorter. After a few weeks I was able to cover two days worth on bio and physics days because I was also 3 weeks behind and I eventually caught up.

Set goals, like I have to get to at least page 30 by this time. Or I won't eat lunch until I'm at least here. Give yourself little rewards or something to look forward to. If you are sitting for hours and literally not moving in your studying then either take a 30 min break and go for a jog or walk, play with your dog, watch a motivating clip on youtube, or just sit and ponder about why you are studying for this test in the first place. If you really dislike a topic and really don't feel like studying that topic that day you could do something that I did. I hate organic, so if I really didn't feel like seeing organic a certain I would switch it with another day and come back to organic the next day. Or do half of the chapter, then do the next days chapter, then the following day come back and do the other half of organic and finish it. A few of the organic chapters took me four or more days to finish. I despise organic.

++ the first organic chapter took me like 3 days of hard work to finish. It's a super loaded chapter. Thanks! This really encourages me.

Also I am not too hugely worried about bio. I am a physiology/neuro major so I should be okay in being able to complete the assigned readings/passages.
 
Dude. You're placing too much emphasis on knowing all the topics in depth. The MCAT is a reasoning test which will test youon your ability to gather info. Spend time doing practice passages above all else. Do FL exams. Study the questions you get wrong. But don't sit and review and waste your precious hours. I'm just speakin from experience

I agree. You just need to get the general idea. The specifics are usually given in the passage. Knowing specifics might help you with less than 10% of the questions (in my opinion).
 
Personally, I don't think this is a good idea. It's good when you come back and do 1/3 at a time. It's a review and seeing it multiple times should solidify your understanding.
I am actually leaving more than the "last 1/3" to do during the final month of the schedule. It looks like you will have two days to do each "last 1/3" passages for each chapter. Hopefully it will work out.

EDIT: I am still doing most of them though. Just maybe two extra passages + the last 1/3
 
So my update on this schedule:
Some days I have such a hard time getting up ...not because of a lack of motivation so much but because I am just so physically/emotionally tired. But then I come and read everyone's beautiful comments and I get motivated to do some verbal passages 🙂

ALSO. Just did fluids/solids yesterday and totally got demolished at first because I remember absolutely NOTHING from undergrad (given that it was a while back 🙂) but after like 20 passages I think I can calculate gauge pressure and density #bringit.

As far as verbal goes I am using Kaplan just to try and get my reading speed up and answer questions a bit more accurately but I fail miserably at their passages, but once I switch to EK and TPRH my scores improve. 😀

although it's hard and sometimes really depressing when I get every question wrong I think the point is to just review and keep going.
TODAY SHOULD BE BETTER..maybe ill make myself pancakes
 
I am actually leaving more than the "last 1/3" to do during the final month of the schedule. It looks like you will have two days to do each "last 1/3" passages for each chapter. Hopefully it will work out.

EDIT: I am still doing most of them though. Just maybe two extra passages + the last 1/3

Yeah, I think that will be OK. Should work out.
 
You guys should come on over to reddit.com/r/1000pomodoros! It was an accountability subreddit that I made for pomodoro tracking for people taking tests/exams in the summer (ideally the MCAT). It didn't get much traffic but I am updating my own imgur album with my tracker regardless.
 
So my update on this schedule:
Some days I have such a hard time getting up ...not because of a lack of motivation so much but because I am just so physically/emotionally tired. But then I come and read everyone's beautiful comments and I get motivated to do some verbal passages 🙂

ALSO. Just did fluids/solids yesterday and totally got demolished at first because I remember absolutely NOTHING from undergrad (given that it was a while back 🙂) but after like 20 passages I think I can calculate gauge pressure and density #bringit.

As far as verbal goes I am using Kaplan just to try and get my reading speed up and answer questions a bit more accurately but I fail miserably at their passages, but once I switch to EK and TPRH my scores improve. 😀

although it's hard and sometimes really depressing when I get every question wrong I think the point is to just review and keep going.
TODAY SHOULD BE BETTER..maybe ill make myself pancakes

My verbal didn't start improving until this week, almost three months later! I was constantly getting 8-9. But the last three EK 101 tests I got 11's. I don't know if it's just a phase, but I hope it stays this way. What did change though, is to take less time. I didn't ponder too much about the questions, just went with what I thought was right, tried not to look back at the passage. Before I would keep going back to passage and reading paragraphs over and over.
 
When I do passages, I don't feel comfortable in my pre-requisite knowledge. That's why I feel like I have to devote a bunch of time to learning the material inside out.
Even though I have read the chapter before doing the passages, I still don't feel comfortable. If you're doing BR passages, this is to be expected. BR does this on purpose so don't get sad.
I am starting to think this is definitely key. I am definitely not top notch with my content by any means. I just hope to understand how the MCAT will ask questions on the real thing, which will hopefully give me a decent shot at a 27+
Personally, I don't think this is a good idea. It's good when you come back and do 1/3 at a time. It's a review and seeing it multiple times should solidify your understanding.
The thing is that for me, I learn it better when I practice as much as I can the first time around. So I'm going to save those days that have "do the second 1/3" for more practice tests. I'm probably gonna get the BR FL's for more practice. And those EK1001's are I think perfect for me. Since I get to apply all the content review into questions that just test basics. Which is what's is needed at the most basic level.
I agree. You just need to get the general idea. The specifics are usually given in the passage. Knowing specifics might help you with less than 10% of the questions (in my opinion).
Yeah exactly.

So here's the TexasSurgeon method:
  • Read chapter
  • Do those 3 BR "practice passages" untimed so solidify concepts.
  • Break- go work out
  • Shower, come back and do all the passages in the 70 minutes
  • Sleep
  • Review next day
  • On Break Days and reread days, do TPRHSW passages + EK1001
This seems to be working for me. Also do about 5 verbal passages/day and review those quick
The main idea is to review quick and efficiently. Idk about you guys but my motivation to review drops after taking a test because I don't want to read anymore

also, make notecards for everything you miss, and have a word document going for all your questions. Try reading through that every day or so, just real quick. Anki for notecards is a godsend. Thanks to @mehc012 for the inspiration to make them.

Edit: you can also just move ahead on break days and save TPRHSW for the end parts.
 
Was lifting 5 days a week. Getting mad gainz. Put deadlifts into my rotation (I ****ing hate deadlifts). Pull out my back. Thinking herniated disc. FML. Atleast being a hermit isn't all that bad considering I have the MCAT coming up.

TL;DR **** DEADLIFTS
 
Was lifting 5 days a week. Getting mad gainz. Put deadlifts into my rotation (I ******* hate deadlifts). Pull out my back. Thinking herniated disc. FML. Atleast being a hermit isn't all that bad considering I have the MCAT coming up.

TL;DR **** DEADLIFTS

I did everything right. No gains for months. Must be the damn cortisol thanks to the MCAT.
 
I wish I could do squats. Worked with two trainers. They gave up on me. I literally can't get into squat or deadlift form.
Aww damn
Was lifting 5 days a week. Getting mad gainz. Put deadlifts into my rotation (I ******* hate deadlifts). Pull out my back. Thinking herniated disc. FML. Atleast being a hermit isn't all that bad considering I have the MCAT coming up.

TL;DR **** DEADLIFTS
Thats almost why I never do deadlifts just cause it's so risky if your form goes out by even a little
 
hello everyone....
im about 3 weeks into this massive MCAT review....
well actually on day 2-week 4

the first week i spent about 4 hrs a day.(2 hrs/twice daily-am/pm)
the second week.....7 hrs a day.( 3 1/2 hrs/twice daily-am/pm)
the third week....8 hrs a day. (4 hrs/twice daily-am/pm)


now my brain is officially worn out....it seems like the last part of the second session is cerebral mush.

do you think i should try doing 3 hr sessions three times a day intead?

what time schedule do you guys use?

thanks in advance for your help.
 
hello everyone....
im about 3 weeks into this massive MCAT review....
well actually on day 2-week 4

the first week i spent about 4 hrs a day.(2 hrs/twice daily-am/pm)
the second week.....7 hrs a day.( 3 1/2 hrs/twice daily-am/pm)
the third week....8 hrs a day. (4 hrs/twice daily-am/pm)


now my brain is officially worn out....it seems like the last part of the second session is cerebral mush.

do you think i should try doing 3 hr sessions three times a day intead?

what time schedule do you guys use?

thanks in advance for your help.
No, I don't think you should compensate for burnout by increasing your hours to 9 daily.
I would see which of the study methods is the most draining to you, and spread that out a bit more.
 
Anyone have tips on answering the graph questions that show up in passages? I know TBR always suggests narrowing down answer choices by considering extremes. I still get about half those questions wrong but I feel like those should be some of the easier questions to answer on the exam.
 
Holy crap, you guys, the extra efforts I put into the Repro and Development TBR chapter (which I was dreading and then hated every second of studying) paid off...just did my 2nd ⅓ and I only missed ONE QUESTION!!!!!!!!
Plus, it was one where I totally knew the answer, I just got confused by the Roman Numerals and did something silly. Which, of course, is utterly frustrating because HOLY COW I WAS 1 STUPID MISTAKE AWAY FROM 100%!!!
:soexcited:

Sorry, I know this kinda goes away from the theme of the thread, but I was really excited and wanted to thank you guys, cuz this thread has definitely been helping me to put in the extra hours.
 
Anyone have tips on answering the graph questions that show up in passages? I know TBR always suggests narrowing down answer choices by considering extremes. I still get about half those questions wrong but I feel like those should be some of the easier questions to answer on the exam.
Use limiting cases to eliminate them. Think now the graph would look at cos90 for example. If you don't see a 0 then the graph is incorrect. It's from te BR physics book
 
Holy crap, you guys, the extra efforts I put into the Repro and Development TBR chapter (which I was dreading and then hated every second of studying) paid off...just did my 2nd ⅓ and I only missed ONE QUESTION!!!!!!!!
Plus, it was one where I totally knew the answer, I just got confused by the Roman Numerals and did something silly. Which, of course, is utterly frustrating because HOLY COW I WAS 1 STUPID MISTAKE AWAY FROM 100%!!!
:soexcited:

Sorry, I know this kinda goes away from the theme of the thread, but I was really excited and wanted to thank you guys, cuz this thread has definitely been helping me to put in the extra hours.
Nicee!
Gonna be up till like 3 am today doing passages and reading. Thank god tomorrow is break day
 
Holy crap, you guys, the extra efforts I put into the Repro and Development TBR chapter (which I was dreading and then hated every second of studying) paid off...just did my 2nd ⅓ and I only missed ONE QUESTION!!!!!!!!
Plus, it was one where I totally knew the answer, I just got confused by the Roman Numerals and did something silly. Which, of course, is utterly frustrating because HOLY COW I WAS 1 STUPID MISTAKE AWAY FROM 100%!!!
:soexcited:

Sorry, I know this kinda goes away from the theme of the thread, but I was really excited and wanted to thank you guys, cuz this thread has definitely been helping me to put in the extra hours.

I hate that chapter.

Things I hate studying: reproduction and development, especially the female hormones and cycles, mitosis/meiosis, stereochemistry, standing waves, electrostatics and magnetism, and galvanic and electrolytic cells.
 
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