SN2'd first day

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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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omg tbr phys ch7... fluids are ok but dang this stress and strain stuff is blowing my mind when combined with experiments
wishing i had taken my physics prereqs now lol
break before doing the other 52 questions
 
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Dreamstoo said:
You are studying for the MCAT without completing your pre-reqs?!
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ya im learning most physics from scratch
i took a physics class in high school but i ditched that class a lot to study for IB/AP exams so its practically all new material for me lol

any videos / people on youtube you'd recommend for understanding fluids better? ^o^
 
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ayocaptain628 said:
ya im learning most physics from scratch
i took a physics class in high school but i ditched that class a lot to study for IB/AP exams so its practically all new material for me lol

any videos / people on youtube you'd recommend for understanding fluids better? ^o^
Click to expand...

I simply have no comment...
 
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Monkeys4Lyfe said:
TBR for passage based questions? For all subjects?
What about content review? And since you are in the same boat as me, are you doing more content review?

Also, just curious, when did you first take the MCAT?
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Yeah so haha I'm in a unique situation. I took the July 12th MCAT after studying for about 2 months and despite decent AAMC practice scores, I just did not feel good about the actual exam on test day. I'm getting the score back next week and I just began the Sn2 schedule on Monday to cover my butt in the case it isn't good. I would have waited until after finding out to begin studying, but the only MCAT that is in November is on the 7th so I basically had to get started sooner to make the Sn2 schedule work.

Anyways, after going through TBR for a week, I have definitely spotted some holes in my understanding and especially application of concepts, but what I love about the passages is that they are not necessarily directly tied to their related readings so having some prior knowledge and intuitive grasps will definitely serve you well with them. Maybe some other people here can chime in too, but what I would do if you want to only study for 2 months is to hit up the passages without reading super in-depth beforehand. Then, review the passages after you score yourself using the chapters to flush out your understanding. I would definitely spread the chapters out by subject though so don't do all passages from a given chapter right away. The Sn2 schedule goes into how that works.
 
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bensmitty234 said:
Yeah so haha I'm in a unique situation. I took the July 12th MCAT after studying for about 2 months and despite decent AAMC practice scores, I just did not feel good about the actual exam on test day. I'm getting the score back next week and I just began the Sn2 schedule on Monday to cover my butt in the case it isn't good. I would have waited until after finding out to begin studying, but the only MCAT that is in November is on the 7th so I basically had to get started sooner to make the Sn2 schedule work.

Anyways, after going through TBR for a week, I have definitely spotted some holes in my understanding and especially application of concepts, but what I love about the passages is that they are not necessarily directly tied to their related readings so having some prior knowledge and intuitive grasps will definitely serve you well with them. Maybe some other people here can chime in too, but what I would do if you want to only study for 2 months is to hit up the passages without reading super in-depth beforehand. Then, review the passages after you score yourself using the chapters to flush out your understanding. I would definitely spread the chapters out by subject though so don't do all passages from a given chapter right away. The Sn2 schedule goes into how that works.
Click to expand...


Would you suggest doing sn2 at all then or even for my weak areas? I don't know if only passages would work well in weak areas like the rate laws and ph crap of gen chem and ochem? It sounds like you are kind of starting from scratch (which I may or may not do - if I did, I would skim my stronger points like physics and parts of bios). I will probably also aim for November 7 then or maybe sooner. I want to have a month to get my scores back and take the mcat again if I need to before they change to the new one.
 
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poop420 said:
whats a lebron ??
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Greatest of All time
AIR_BALL.gif
 
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Monkeys4Lyfe said:
Would you suggest doing sn2 at all then or even for my weak areas? I don't know if only passages would work well in weak areas like the rate laws and ph crap of gen chem and ochem? It sounds like you are kind of starting from scratch (which I may or may not do - if I did, I would skim my stronger points like physics and parts of bios). I will probably also aim for November 7 then or maybe sooner. I want to have a month to get my scores back and take the mcat again if I need to before they change to the new one.
Click to expand...

I mean it's just a matter of what you want to do. I've been graduated for a year and I left my job as a chemist to study for the MCAT to hopefully start medical school next year. What ended up happening was that I rushed my preparation more than I should have so I likely ended up not doing as well as I should have. I spent the last month figuring out what I was going to do. I decided to withdraw my AMCAS application and take another year to get more shadowing experience and do more clinically related things. I also read that retaking the MCAT should be a start from scratch type-approach. My previous schedule wasn't very organized and I only just started practice passages about a month before the actual exam with my first full length being only 3 weeks before. This time and with this schedule, you hit up passages and questions every day and go over them twice in a given week. I can't say enough how much more confident this schedule has made me. You'll probably find that you already know a lot, but this schedule will really help you perfect your application of that knowledge for passages. The fact that it's layered three times over means that you don't feel rushed with any particular topic as you near test day. This approach definitely is a huge commitment, but when it comes to getting to where you want to be in life, there's no reason you should be afraid to make that commitment now.

(steps off soapbox)
 
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Well said bensmitty234. I think the sn2d method is the one that has popped up the most. I actually heard about it months before starting to study for this previous mcat. If only I did that instead of wasting money on Kaplan. I thought them being a large company and one of the widest known prep courses they would have their **** together, but it was terrible. Even the material schedule was poorly organized, discussing things that weren't even taught yet. Anyways, I should have just done sn2d from the start.

So you are restarting. And your life is just studying now correct (as you said you left your job)? Do you think it would be maneageable with a whole semester of coursework?? I guess that is what is stopping me. Obviously I don't want to study all the time, I don't know if I could commit without losing sleep. I could at least do 2-3 hours a day hopefully and more on the weekends. Whatdya guys think?
 
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Monkeys4Lyfe said:
Well said bensmitty234. I think the sn2d method is the one that has popped up the most. I actually heard about it months before starting to study for this previous mcat. If only I did that instead of wasting money on Kaplan. I thought them being a large company and one of the widest known prep courses they would have their **** together, but it was terrible. Even the material schedule was poorly organized, discussing things that weren't even taught yet. Anyways, I should have just done sn2d from the start.

So you are restarting. And your life is just studying now correct (as you said you left your job)? Do you think it would be maneageable with a whole semester of coursework?? I guess that is what is stopping me. Obviously I don't want to study all the time, I don't know if I could commit without losing sleep. I could at least do 2-3 hours a day hopefully and more on the weekends. Whatdya guys think?
Click to expand...

I did this last summer and it was a disaster. I remember asking my classmates during breaks what they were averaging on practice tests and most of them said in the low 20s. Highest score I heard in my class was a 28 on an AAMC #3. I was only a sophomore and was fiddling with the idea of taking the MCAT early but decided not to because I was averaging along the lines of 9/7/8. Was a very busy summer in terms of other engagements I had. Teacher was piss poor and really didn't seem to care that much (he was way too laid back about it). Last summer, I probably would have been better off just doing verbal all summer and examkrakers. I think only one person actually took the MCAT right after that class, most others canceled. More than one person asked our teacher how refunds were given, it was pretty obvious most of us were not satisfied at all.
 
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sillyjoe said:




For anyone that took AAMC 10, did you find physical sciences hard?
Click to expand...

That last passage was ridiculous

Like I could literally just talk all about what the passage was about and you still wouldn't have any help for it
But the curve was nice in aamc 10 for ps, you could miss i think one or two and still have a 15
 
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Dreamstoo said:
I did this last summer and it was a disaster. I remember asking my classmates during breaks what they were averaging on practice tests and most of them said in the low 20s. Highest score I heard in my class was a 28 on an AAMC #3. I was only a sophomore and was fiddling with the idea of taking the MCAT early but decided not to because I was averaging along the lines of 9/7/8. Was a very busy summer in terms of other engagements I had. Teacher was piss poor and really didn't seem to care that much (he was way too laid back about it). Last summer, I probably would have been better off just doing verbal all summer and examkrakers. I think only one person actually took the MCAT right after that class, most others canceled. More than one person asked our teacher how refunds were given, it was pretty obvious most of us were not satisfied at all.
Click to expand...
Hah oh man. That wasK@plan I am assuming. Our teacher wasn't great either but it sounds like you had it worse. Most everyone in our class reschedule too I believe. I was originally taking it in May but decided August due to both class and the poor quality of the course. Our teacher would not prepare before the class, at least for the first few lectures. If asked a question, he sometimes bulls#itted his way through it and sometimes other students would have to correct him. He would look like a deer caught in the head lights, like he had a tapetum lucidum!! :claps:
 
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Monkeys4Lyfe said:
Hah oh man. That wasK@plan I am assuming. Our teacher wasn't great either but it sounds like you had it worse. Most everyone in our class reschedule too I believe. I was originally taking it in May but decided August due to both class and the poor quality of the course. Our teacher would not prepare before the class, at least for the first few lectures. If asked a question, he sometimes bulls#itted his way through it and sometimes other students would have to correct him. He would look like a deer caught in the head lights, like he had a tapetum lucidum!! :claps:
Click to expand...

We had the same issue. Some person in our class who was in a direct BS/MD program was taking the class just to get a feel of the MCAT and he proved our teacher wrong. Heck, I gave him the wrong answer once to see what he would do and he just moved on thinking I was right :wtf:
 
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lazyindy said:
feeling guilty about going to an edm concert tonight rather than studying...oh mcat
Click to expand...
Its fine, I took a few days off on this schedule too, and heavan knows I could have put in far more time than I have. Enjoy yourself........while you still can
 
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Just finished Physics, Ch.2...! The passages were nice, but I've always struggled with rotational motion. The problem here is that none of the questions I did involved rotational motion. Okay, there was one discrete, but asides from that! I guess it'll probably be fixed when I do my 2/3 in a few days, but still...I feel like I have a lot of work to do to get up to par with rotational motion.

Edit: Quick question. When you guys do your 1/3, do you like. Count a single discrete as 'one', or do you count the set of discretes as 'one'. am i making sense
 
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MelloTangelo said:
Just finished Physics, Ch.2...! The passages were nice, but I've always struggled with rotational motion. The problem here is that none of the questions I did involved rotational motion. Okay, there was one discrete, but asides from that! I guess it'll probably be fixed when I do my 2/3 in a few days, but still...I feel like I have a lot of work to do to get up to par with rotational motion.
Click to expand...
If its any consolation, I dont think Ive seen a single rotational motion question for AAMCs 3-10
 
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TBRBiosadist said:
Its fine, I took a few days off on this schedule too, and heavan knows I could have put in far more time than I have. Enjoy yourself........while you still can
Click to expand...

If I were scoring 40's, I'd be taking days off like a boss. Don't worry I'll get to that level by the end of this...or atleast get close 😛
 
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I just want to add, given the novels above, that if your Anki cards only require memorization, you're doing them wrong.
A fair number of your cards should require thinking in addition to knowing things.
 
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yay finished tbr phys ch7 after so many breaks lol.
yay! i finished book 2 then oh and tomorrow is saturday yay! that means i get a break tomorrow
 
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mehc012 said:
I just want to add, given the novels above, that if your Anki cards only require memorization, you're doing them wrong.
A fair number of your cards should require thinking in addition to knowing things.
Click to expand...
how is ur mcat studying doing, have you finished content review?
 
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So I'm almost done with content review (did Electrochemistry today). It's funny, people always talk about how they have a really bad feeling about their MCAT right afterwards and how they almost voided, but then they end up scoring 35+. I've been feeling uneasy about my practice passage scores the last few days and then I end up getting 90-95 after I score them...anyone else experience this with practice passages or the FLs? I don't get it.
 
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bensmitty234 said:
Yeah so haha I'm in a unique situation. I took the July 12th MCAT after studying for about 2 months and despite decent AAMC practice scores, I just did not feel good about the actual exam on test day. I'm getting the score back next week and I just began the Sn2 schedule on Monday to cover my butt in the case it isn't good. I would have waited until after finding out to begin studying, but the only MCAT that is in November is on the 7th so I basically had to get started sooner to make the Sn2 schedule work.

Anyways, after going through TBR for a week, I have definitely spotted some holes in my understanding and especially application of concepts, but what I love about the passages is that they are not necessarily directly tied to their related readings so having some prior knowledge and intuitive grasps will definitely serve you well with them. Maybe some other people here can chime in too, but what I would do if you want to only study for 2 months is to hit up the passages without reading super in-depth beforehand. Then, review the passages after you score yourself using the chapters to flush out your understanding. I would definitely spread the chapters out by subject though so don't do all passages from a given chapter right away. The Sn2 schedule goes into how that works.
Click to expand...

I took July 12th too. It sucked. Especially BS. Ugh. I'm so damn nervous about Tuesday.
 
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SwedishMD2B said:
It was one of my lower PS scores.
Click to expand...
For that whole test, I was suffering from questioning my own answers. I find its ok to change your answers if you found something OBVIOUSLY WRONG but other than that go with your gut. I looked through aamc 10 today again and if I had stuck with my orginal answers my breakdown would have been a 44. so annoying
 
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organesha said:
So I'm almost done with content review (did Electrochemistry today). It's funny, people always talk about how they have a really bad feeling about their MCAT right afterwards and how they almost voided, but then they end up scoring 35+. I've been feeling uneasy about my practice passage scores the last few days and then I end up getting 90-95 after I score them...anyone else experience this with practice passages or the FLs? I don't get it.
Click to expand...

This doctor I know who got a 44 on his MCAT said if someone said the MCAT was a breeze... it's likely they got tricked up on the ones that were tricky. He had no clue how the MCAT went and predicted in the 40s but didn't know how well he did till he got his score.
 
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Dreamstoo said:
This doctor I know who got a 44 on his MCAT said if someone said the MCAT was a breeze... it's likely they got tricked up on the ones that were tricky. He had no clue how the MCAT went and predicted in the 40s but didn't know how well he did till he got his score.
Click to expand...
That's a good point. It's just in such stark contrast to a lot of exams in undergrad, where if you killed it you usually know that you killed it and if you bombed you know you bombed. That's how it was for me, at least.
 
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organesha said:
That's a good point. It's just in such stark contrast to a lot of exams in undergrad, where if you killed it you usually know that you killed it and if you bombed you know you bombed. That's how it was for me, at least.
Click to expand...

First thermo midterm, I walked out finding out I got pretty much everything wrong and still got a B :hungover:. I walked out of my second thermo midterm thinking I might have better taking that exam with a bottle of vodka. Got it back and got a low 80 which was a super high A with the curve 😛.

By far one of the funniest classes I have taken in terms of everyone arguing over answers after class.
 
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Dreamstoo said:
First thermo midterm, I walked out finding out I got pretty much everything wrong and still got a B :hungover:. I walked out of my second thermo midterm thinking I might have better taking that exam with a bottle of vodka. Got it back and got a low 80 which was a super high A with the curve 😛.

By far one of the funniest classes I have taken in terms of everyone arguing over answers after class.
Click to expand...

Pchem was the worst. 25% average = B, 32% average = A
 
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pbrocks15 said:
Has thermo helped you on the MCAT at all?
Click to expand...

Never had to use multivariate calculus, diff eq, crying, and praying for partial credit has played a factor in my MCAT studying. For the general terms and general concepts, it has slightly.
 
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