SN2'd first day

[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.

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

They dont seem to understand the difference between tricky questions and trick questions

and the fact that they don't seem to have hired someone to edit their books. For example, the keys on the first page usually have errors in them when you compare them to the answer explanations. All they had to do was get a few people to read their passages and comment on them.

Just like TBR though, little errors are rampant. I just don't understand why so many little errors.

 

[K1NG]

Like Spinach said, don't get too caught up with the explanations from other sources. Only explanations from AAMC really matter. I'm just using EK101 to practice my timing, which I still can't do lol. Still doing passages ~9 minutes and getting about 2 wrong on average. I'm averaging a 65% right now 🙁

 

[mehc012]

They dont seem to understand the difference between tricky questions and trick questions

I gave up on EK 101...I'm so inconsistent with my VR passage-taking anyway (oops) that I gave up on doing TBR+EK+TPRH and instead decided to do TPRH only until I run out, and then get the VR self assessment and use those passages (and the other MCAT packages from AAMC).

 

[TexasSurgeon]

EK101 is really irritating. I'm probably only going to use it as a last resort. I dumped the BR verbal book as well. The length of the answer keys for BR verbal make you feel like you're reading a Supreme Court dissent written by Scalia. Those two books are just a pain.

I'm going to do what mehc012 just said as well. Just gonna switch to TPRH. I've got the full SA package so that will definitely seem to come in handy since it's like a 3 hour verbal assessment

 

[DoctorInASaree]

EK101 can be sneaky, so I revisited the most commonly used logical fallacies. It really helped me sift through those strangely crafted passage questions.

I'm not sure if I can post a link here, but Google "logical fallacies" and the first link should allow you to download a pdf summary of the main fallacies.

To my surprise, I encountered so many straw man arguments!😛

Happy studying today everyone!

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

Hey has anyone taken the AAMC self assessments? It says you can only take it once, do I have to take it in one sitting??

 

[orangetea]

Hey has anyone taken the AAMC self assessments? It says you can only take it once, do I have to take it in one sitting??

You can only take it once as in you can only "assess" yourself once because they are assuming the second time your scores would be inflated(since you have seen all the questions). Once you buy them you can take it as many times as you want(just like the AAMC you purchase). I wouldn't recommend it in one sitting since it would take about 3 hours. Most people I know and myself included break it up into like 5 passages/sitting(or however you see fit).

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

You can only take it once as in you can only "assess" yourself once because they are assuming the second time your scores would be inflated(since you have seen all the questions). Once you buy them you can take it as many times as you want(just like the AAMC you purchase). I wouldn't recommend it in one sitting since it would take about 3 hours. Most people I know and myself included break it up into like 5 passages/sitting(or however you see fit).

It says these are real questions? Is this a joke? I did the first three passages in biology and I have never seen something that easy on AAMCs

 

[orangetea]

It says these are real questions? Is this a joke? I did the first three passages in biology and I have never seen something that easy on AAMCs

yea they're taken from earlier aamc and aamc 6(which isn't sold anymore). I read in a 30+ forum that someone religiously went through these and it really helped them on the test so they're good practice 🙂

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

yea they're taken from earlier aamc and aamc 6(which isn't sold anymore). I read in a 30+ forum that someone religiously went through these and it really helped them on the test so they're good practice 🙂

At the rate I am going I am can probably finish this in half time

 

[theyellowking]

Anyone here finding the BR Biology passages a bit too hard? Studying from EK's and doing the exams, but whenever I transition into doing BR passages, I'm sometimes completely stumped, and I'm even thinking of buying TPHR

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

Anyone here finding the BR Biology passages a bit too hard? Studying from EK's and doing the exams, but whenever I transition into doing BR passages, I'm sometimes completely stumped, and I'm even thinking of buying TPHR

Learn to extract information from the BR passages. They are loaded with information. For many of the BR passages background knowledge won't help you answer them, rather, careful reading of the passage itself will.

 

[theyellowking]

Learn to extract information from the BR passages. They are loaded with information. For many of the BR passages background knowledge won't help you answer them, rather, careful reading of the passage itself will.

Yeah, unfortunately Biology is my weakest course, so going over the answers is essentially gathering new information for me.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Yeah, unfortunately Biology is my weakest course, so going over the answers is essentially gathering new information for me.

Ok I have had the same problem in this. A friend of mine helped me quite a bit, and I can start to see where I'm going wrong on in BS. Focus as much as you can on reading the passage closely. Seriously. EK is a good book for content review, but you honestly won't need to memorize too much in order to answer the questions. Try to approach it with the big picture concept. Reading the passage closely will definitely help you waaay more than memorizing the entire nervous system

 

[fugacitybrah]

How are you guys dealing with timing and mental math with PS passages? I usually time myself for 7-8min for each PS passage but don't really end up finishing because I get caught up with the arithmetic.

 

[orangetea]

How are you guys dealing with timing and mental math with PS passages? I usually time myself for 7-8min for each PS passage but don't really end up finishing because I get caught up with the arithmetic.

What I do at first when I learn a calculation based topic is try to learn how to solve problems without timing myself. That way that concept is solid inside my head. Then when I do similar passages I recognize the tricks and apply them to help get through it faster. You also have to recognize that you will get an OVER ALL time. So I try to do multiple passages in let's say 30 min. Because in reality there are going to be passages that take 5 min(hypothetically) and those that take 12 min. 🙂

 

[TexasSurgeon]

I do what orange says. Generally I time myself at 8 minutes per passage. That's not too bad considering you're given 70 mins in PS/BS with like 7 passages each.

Guys. I have begun to slay verbal.

 

[K1NG]

I do what orange says. Generally I time myself at 8 minutes per passage. That's not too bad considering you're given 70 mins in PS/BS with like 7 passages each.

Guys. I have begun to slay verbal.

Dude help me out with verbal lol I've taken the first 15 passages on TPR hyperlearning and averaging a 65%. Only started 2 weeks ago though. What's your process?

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Dude help me out with verbal lol I've taken the first 15 passages on TPR hyperlearning and averaging a 65%. Only started 2 weeks ago though. What's your process?

I read the questions before I read the passage, and quickly skim the answers (less emphasis on answers). Then I start to read the passage. As I'm reading the passage, I remember to go back to various questions because there's a key word in the passage that the question has in it, or there is something in the passage that I remember seeing in the question stem. So by doing this, I end up answering the questions as I'm reading the passage. For questions that have things like inferences and "which statement would author support", etc. BS, I find it better to get to those questions after you're done reading and answering all the questions. By that point, you should have a good grasp of the passage.

I've been doing this and I've gotten better at it. I've missed only like 1 question per passage. I would have gotten an 8/8 on a passage I just did but I double guessed myself. Don't double guess yourself. Trust your instincts, as hard as that is to say

 

[K1NG]

I read the questions before I read the passage, and quickly skim the answers (less emphasis on answers). Then I start to read the passage. As I'm reading the passage, I remember to go back to various questions because there's a key word in the passage that the question has in it, or there is something in the passage that I remember seeing in the question stem. So by doing this, I end up answering the questions as I'm reading the passage. For questions that have things like inferences and "which statement would author support", etc. BS, I find it better to get to those questions after you're done reading and answering all the questions. By that point, you should have a good grasp of the passage.

I've been doing this and I've gotten better at it. I've missed only like 1 question per passage. I would have gotten an 8/8 on a passage I just did but I double guessed myself. Don't double guess yourself. Trust your instincts, as hard as that is to say

Nice, thanks for the tips. I've been playing around with different strategies and I'm trying to narrow it down to one I can use consistently. I tried writing a little summary or key words about each paragraph but that kills too much time, even though I did understand some passages better. I'm doing the same thing now but just keeping the notes in my head. Answering questions as you go sounds good, I'm going to try that tonight. Good point on picking out which questions to do that for though. I think I'll skim over the questions (not the answers) real quick to give me an idea and then tackle the passage.

 

[orangetea]

Studying for MCAT during 4th of July weekend I am like...

while all my friends are..

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Nice, thanks for the tips. I've been playing around with different strategies and I'm trying to narrow it down to one I can use consistently. I tried writing a little summary or key words about each paragraph but that kills too much time, even though I did understand some passages better. I'm doing the same thing now but just keeping the notes in my head. Answering questions as you go sounds good, I'm going to try that tonight. Good point on picking out which questions to do that for though. I think I'll skim over the questions (not the answers) real quick to give me an idea and then tackle the passage.

You can learn a lot about the passage from the Q stems. So yeah read those. The thing is that different strategies work for different people. I can't remember if it was @TBRBiosadist who said this but he/she simply reads the passage or something. His method is pretty different from mine so yeah try a few of them out

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Studying for MCAT during 4th of July weekend I am like...

while all my friends are..

LOL. Man, i've been sloooow today. Oh well, at least fireworks tonight!
I'm probably gonna take another MCAT practice exam tomorrow or sunday, just to take one and see my progress.

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

I am about to lose it. I am so fed up of studying. And so is my dog, he grabbed my TBR Bio book and ran away, then later he took my bag of ear plugs, bolted away and shook the bag as he ran. Ear plugs everywhere.

 

[mehc012]

I am about to lose it. I am so fed up of studying. And so is my dog, he grabbed my TBR Bio book and ran away, then later he took my bag of ear plugs, bolted away and shook the bag as he ran. Ear plugs everywhere.

At least you're getting somewhere. I keep getting behind due to work, and then my scores plummet from the combo of:
stressed because behind + stressed because work + several days out of practice + burnt out because when I come back I need to do like 3-4block days.
My latest percentages have just been demoralizing - I'm not really falling, per se, but I'm getting behind and I'm definitely not improving, so...

 

[poop420]

Hey guys could u give me some advice about how you found what passages you had to do in the BR to match up with the EK..Sned listed it as ( Passage #: 1-13, 6-3, 6-8) but im still confused and how do you keep track of what 1/3 passages you do if they are scattered around the book??

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

Hey guys could u give me some advice about how you found what passages you had to do in the BR to match up with the EK..Sned listed it as ( Passage #: 1-13, 6-3, 6-8) but im still confused and how do you keep track of what 1/3 passages you do if they are scattered around the book??

There is nothing to keep track of, just do every third one on the list.....

 

[poop420]

There is nothing to keep track of, just do every third one on the list.....

Thank you for your quick reply. But for example 1-13 is the (Tryptophan and serotonin experiment) that was not even briefly mentions in the EK book.. Not even the concepts to apply to this chapter was not discussed

 

[jebelali]

Feeling bummed. I can't manage more than 5 hrs of pure studying a day (not counting breaks). Exam is on aug 21 and I am way behind on practice. It takes me forever to do post game (e.g. All 5 hours today to post game 16 passages and 50 FS. any tips please????

 

[orangetea]

Feeling bummed. I can't manage more than 5 hrs of pure studying a day (not counting breaks). Exam is on aug 21 and I am way behind on practice. It takes me forever to do post game (e.g. All 5 hours today to post game 16 passages and 50 FS. any tips please????

what does your post game consist of?
Also when do you study best during the day or at night?

It's a tough schedule but just keep going! 🙂

 

[jebelali]

I study best in the afternoon I find. Post game is re-reading questions and passages, trying to quickly pick right answer again and then reading explanation for every question whether I got it right or wrong. Wrong answers go into my notebook and useful info from the explanations also go into my notebook.

 

[jebelali]

I should also say I did TPR Content review so when I see something interesting in the BR chapters I go over them quickly before passages. At this point I am just doing passages.

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

Thank you for your quick reply. But for example 1-13 is the (Tryptophan and serotonin experiment) that was not even briefly mentions in the EK book.. Not even the concepts to apply to this chapter was not discussed

Everything is not going to be mentioned in the EK book. It's like 1/10 the size. A lot of passages won't be relevant to the chapter, but the passage gives you the information you need to know. That passage (1-13) is about analyzing an experiment, that is not going to be taught to you in any of the chapters.

 

[orangetea]

I should also say I did TPR Content review so when I see something interesting in the BR chapters I go over them quickly before passages. At this point I am just doing passages.

That's a really great way to do post game analysis I don't think you should try to cut down because it is only going to help you in the future! Maybe you can take more breaks to spread out your studying? That usually helps me!

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

Feeling bummed. I can't manage more than 5 hrs of pure studying a day (not counting breaks). Exam is on aug 21 and I am way behind on practice. It takes me forever to do post game (e.g. All 5 hours today to post game 16 passages and 50 FS. any tips please????

If you are falling behind at 5 hours a day then you are going to have to put in more hours. Maybe do 4 hours at home, take a lunch or dinner break, then go to the library and spend another four hours; change of environment might help.

 

[poop420]

Everything is not going to be mentioned in the EK book. It's like 1/10 the size. A lot of passages won't be relevant to the chapter, but the passage gives you the information you need to know. That passage (1-13) is about analyzing an experiment, that is not going to be taught to you in any of the chapters.

Thank you so much!! Im going to tackle them and see how i do.....!!

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

At least you're getting somewhere. I keep getting behind due to work, and then my scores plummet from the combo of:
stressed because behind + stressed because work + several days out of practice + burnt out because when I come back I need to do like 3-4block days.
My latest percentages have just been demoralizing - I'm not really falling, per se, but I'm getting behind and I'm definitely not improving, so...

Aww keep your head up! Are you able to take a few days off of work to destress and maybe get a little ahead in your schedule?

 

[mehc012]

Aww keep your head up! Are you able to take a few days off of work to destress and maybe get a little ahead in your schedule?

Nope. I just got a raise if I'd increase my hours at one job, and the new employee at the other just quit so there are unfilled shifts in the ER that they expect us to fill.

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

Nope. I just got a raise if I'd increase my hours at one job, and the new employee at the other just quit so there are unfilled shifts in the ER that they expect us to fill.

What if you happened to.....slip down the stairs...........

 

[mehc012]

What if you happened to.....slip down the stairs...........

Sadly, at one job my diagonal-boss (as in, not the one who hired me or gave me the raise, or who I work directly with, but the one in charge of the other half of the company) is my mother...who I live with...in a 1-story house. And there's no calling in sick to the ER!
I think the only plausible scenario that would get me out of both would be a car accident...in the car I just bought...which would necessitate me working MORE hours to cover the damages!

 

[TexasSurgeon]

I've fallen behind a few days as well.
Solutions that work for me:
1. Get out of your house. I don't care if your house has a library, I just can't study in it because i associate home with freedom and relaxing
2. Do a few verbal passages to get into the flow. Doing a few verbal passages for me is the equivalent of stretching before working out
3. Start from a fresh sn2 day and once you're done, work on the stuff you fell behind at. Seriously this has helped me stay in the flow.

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

Sadly, at one job my diagonal-boss (as in, not the one who hired me or gave me the raise, or who I work directly with, but the one in charge of the other half of the company) is my mother...who I live with...in a 1-story house. And there's no calling in sick to the ER!
I think the only plausible scenario that would get me out of both would be a car accident...in the car I just bought...which would necessitate me working MORE hours to cover the damages!

Ask a friend to pull some fuses out of your car 30 minutes before your shift, then forget that you asked him...

 

[orangetea]

I watched Monster's University and got my inspiration back.

 

[mehc012]

Ask a friend to pull some fuses out of your car 30 minutes before your shift, then forget that you asked him...

My mom and I work on the cars together, lol. I'd have to teach my friend about cars first!
Also, 30min before your shift? Bro, I have to leave 90min before my shift to get there on time!

Thanks, though, the jokes are getting me pumped back up. I think I'll tackle a few passage reviews tonight, some VR, and maybe a chapter of physics and then call it quits!

 

[Sed8&Intub8]

My mom and I work on the cars together, lol. I'd have to teach my friend about cars first!
Also, 30min before your shift? Bro, I have to leave 90min before my shift to get there on time!

Thanks, though, the jokes are getting me pumped back up. I think I'll tackle a few passage reviews tonight, some VR, and maybe a chapter of physics and then call it quits!

!!! Yay!

and omg. I would go completely mad if I had to drive that much. I flip out if I have to drive 15 minutes somewhere. I prefer everything to be within 3 miles of where I live.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

My mom and I work on the cars together, lol. I'd have to teach my friend about cars first!
Also, 30min before your shift? Bro, I have to leave 90min before my shift to get there on time!

Thanks, though, the jokes are getting me pumped back up. I think I'll tackle a few passage reviews tonight, some VR, and maybe a chapter of physics and then call it quits!

Dude if you can do all that tonight, you have my respect

 

[mehc012]

!!! Yay!

and omg. I would go completely mad if I had to drive that much. I flip out if I have to drive 15 minutes somewhere. I prefer everything to be within 3 miles of where I live.

Yup...hospital shifts mean 80min drive (I leave 20min for traffic/gas stops), required to get there 10min early minimum, 12+ hr shift, 60min drive home (no traffic or gas stations open at night). Some days I'll do 3hrs work at my other job beforehand to free up a half day somewhere else in the week.

When I was working 4 shifts/wk there and 2 at the other, plus classes at 2 locations and volunteering elsewhere, I was driving 12hrs/wk. That's why I keep bedding in the back of my station wagon...that way if I'm tired on the road I can just crash!

 

[mehc012]

Dude if you can do all that tonight, you have my respect

Sorry, should have clarified...I already took notes for the chapter of physics, just gotta do the passages.

Today was:
Do Bio Ch6 passages
Review Orgo Ch 4b and Ch5a passages and 2d worth of verbal
Do 150 Orgo EK problems
Study Physics Ch5
And of course, Anki.

So for the rest of the night, I just want to:
Do Physics first ⅓
Do 3 VR passages
Review the EK problems + do another 20 (the ones I missed, doubled)
Review Bio Ch4b, 5a, and 6a passages

Then tomorrow I can:
Review Physics 4b and 5a
Do Physics EK1001
Review Physics EK1001
Review/do VR
Read the TPRH chapters for all subjects (EK already done for all at that point)
Do the 2nd ⅓ of all chapters

If I'm lucky, I can squeeze in a chapter in the evening tomorrow as well. I'll still be behind at that point, but far, far less so.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Sorry, should have clarified...I already took notes for the chapter of physics, just gotta do the passages.

Today was:
Do Bio Ch6 passages
Review Orgo Ch 4b and Ch5a passages and 2d worth of verbal
Do 150 Orgo EK problems
Study Physics Ch5
And of course, Anki.

So for the rest of the night, I just want to:
Do Physics first ⅓
Do 3 VR passages
Review the EK problems + do another 20 (the ones I missed, doubled)
Review Bio Ch4b, 5a, and 6a passages

Then tomorrow I can:
Review Physics 4b and 5a
Do Physics EK1001
Review Physics EK1001
Review/do VR
Read the TPRH chapters for all subjects (EK already done for all at that point)
Do the 2nd ⅓ of all chapters

If I'm lucky, I can squeeze in a chapter in the evening tomorrow as well. I'll still be behind at that point, but far, far less so.

Insane. How long does this all take you?

 

[mehc012]

Insane. How long does this all take you?

I don't know...so much of today has been wrapped up in procrastination. I got up around 10:30, stopped working around...I wanna say 5 to 6ish? Took a break somewhere in the middle to cook food. In the middle I played Super Smash bros, did the dishes, and made it through an entire story arc in my fav webcomic's archives. Oh, and watched 2 episodes of Scrubs. Trying to pump myself up to jump back in and finish my 'second half' work.