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
________________________________________________
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.

 

[DoctorInASaree]

@TBRBiosadist @mehc012 @DoctorInASaree

How do you score so high?

Discipline. Discipline.

Master the required MCAT content, and develop intuition for passages.

There are no miracle people.

 

[deleted388502]

Discipline. Discipline.

Master the required MCAT content, and develop intuition for passages.

There are no miracle people.

This was so inspiring to me. Omg. I'm leaving the internet for the week

 

[sherpame]

ur an idiot. sorry to say man.

Master the required MCAT content, and develop intuition for passages.

There are no miracle people.

finally some good advice! thank you!

Aww man.. I guess it's time to post screen shots @sillyjoe.

You know for someone that's so inclined to do medicine.. you seem to be awfully critical/judgmental of "people". You do know that besides a 4.0 and a 44 it is VERY essential that an ALLOPATHIC physician can interact with PEOPLE?

But what am I saying.. I actually want to also apply to DO and incorporate the OMM model to open a clinic helping the underserved.

I wish you the best dear.

i can tell ur someone who aims low and works hard

You have received multiple answers to your questions, and more likely would have been forthcoming if you had not become rude about it.
That being said, since you are clearly a new poster, I'm just going to ignore those other posts from now on and blame them on the internetz. So, here goes:
Definitely try to do it in 3-4mo. Your 3.5mo schedule sounds ideal. When you finish content review, take an AAMC and then, if not scoring where you want, the SAs.
Personally, I would then reorder the final 1/3s as such: chapters which the SA states you need to work on or which you got very low percentages on your first and second thirds get done first. They get the full workup: re-read chapters, do more EK1001s, maybe crack open an alternate review book or even a textbook to cover those topics. Take more time, even, than allotted in the schedule. Then, after those are done, work on ones where you scored well on the SA and the first ⅓s, prioritizing older ones (less need to review Ch10 than Ch1 given how recently you'll have seen them, right?) It's OK if you run out of time on those, because you prioritized your weaknesses and this is your third review of everything.

And above all, if your FLs are not scoring in the range you want 1.5wks prior to M-day: DO NOT SIT THE EXAM.


This came up after I finished...seriously, bro, keep treating other members of SDN this way, even those you deem 'less useful', and you're gonna have a bad time. Had this been posted before I wrote mine, you wouldn't have been getting a response, because you'd be on my ignore list. Remember that EVERYone can read what you write, not just those you are addressing.

Sorry. i didnt mean to offend u. seriously.

 

[sillyjoe]

ur an idiot. sorry to say man.



finally some good advice! thank you!



i can tell ur someone who aims low and works hard



Sorry. i didnt mean to offend u. seriously.

You don't get anywhere in life by being mean to people. It's gonna be real hard when you get called for interviews and then they actually meet you and see how you act. Regardless, basic respect for others is a requirement in life, let alone the medical field.

And if you don't respond to that, here's my other approach:

 

[DoctorInASaree]

ur an idiot. sorry to say man.

Here's another tip: Stop insulting Joe and Orangetea. Go study. I don't know what advice they showered you with, nor do I care, because there's no reason why you need to disrespect another human being in such a demeaning way.

I will be the first to admit that many in this thread have suggested study methods that I do not necessarily agree with, or said tactics are not harmonious with my framework. I don't go around berating and demeaning them in any way. All humans beings are worthy of our respect no matter what they have said or done, and recognize that there isn't a singular recipe to scoring well on the MCAT.

Would you like to really know why I am scoring well on MCAT FLs? Love. I love studying, and my thirst for knowledge and asking why is undying. I also love people no matter who they are. It is my indubitable love towards human beings (and cute rabbits) that allows me to succeed.

Recognize that in preparing for the MCAT you have set yourself upon an arduous task. So, too, have all of the other posters and viewers in this thread. I can't count on both of my hands how many people have, in the most condescending way, told me how incredibly imbecilic I am in pursuing an MD and writing the MCAT. Not only is the MCAT very very very difficult, but the negativity surrounding the MD profession and people's attitudes don't help either.

So, please, don't add to the negativity. I get enough of that in my personal life, and I certainly don't want this SN2'd thread to become anything like that. Let's keep the environment here fresh and positive - filled with hard working, loving, good-natured, and dedicated people.

At the very least, don't do it for me or anyone else in this thread, do it for yourself - to succeed as a doctor and a human being in life you will need to develop a love for knowledge and a love for other human beings.

 

[420skeptic]

.

 

[sharkbyte]

@sherpame If you're going to demean people and put them down, get off this thread and don't come back. It amazes me how you ask people for advice and "how they score so high" and then when they provide an answer, you call someone an "idiot" or say that you know someone "works hard and aims low". That's complete BS and you're not going to get anywhere in life treating people like that. Which means DOUBLE since you want to be a doctor.

We are all here to help each other. Each person uses different strategies and studies in different ways. We all have different goals for this test. If you don't like someone's strategies, then just please, keep your mouth shut and follow the advice that you think will help you, instead of putting people down. There's no place for that here, or anywhere on this forum. Thank you.

 

[mehc012]

ur an idiot. sorry to say man.

Aaand you're still going.

finally some good advice! thank you!

Absolutely no disrespect to Saree intended, as these are definitely good motivational words, but...this isn't advice so much as just you should study for the MCAT. If you seriously didn't know that, you have no place being rude to everyone. Or is hers just good advice because she scores well?

i can tell ur someone who aims low and works hard

If by 'low', you mean 'has a specific goal in mind and cares little for 'prestige'. Her goals are not low, they're just different, and perhaps even more difficult.

Sorry. i didnt mean to offend u. seriously.

No, you only meant to insult my fellow SDNers and friends. Whoopee, I am protected by my MCAT score 🙄
The point I was trying to get across earlier is that, even if you only say toolish things to a few people, you still come across as a tool to EVERYONE reading, not just those few. So maybe if you don't want to offend me, or Saree, you should try not to offend sillyjoe, or orangetea as well.

 

[mehc012]

I hear you, but the issue is that there aren't any exams in December. So I'm either going to study 3 months or 5 months, because there's nooo way I can sit on my hands for a month with me being as anxious as I am to improve my horrible diagnostic. As I stated earlier, I don't actually do any work while I'm at work so that could be 8 hours of minimally interrupted study time and I'm only attending school part-time this upcoming semester. So what do you guys think?

I mean, I'm gonna say go for it. I am currently in 2 jobs and though I am behind, I feel well-prepared. I wish I'd had an extra month or 2 though, so definitely go with the 5. I don't think the length will be an issue, as you recycle through all chapters in the final month.

 

[sillyjoe]

Aaand you're still going.
Absolutely no disrespect to Saree intended, as these are definitely good motivational words, but...this isn't advice so much as just you should study for the MCAT. If you seriously didn't know that, you have no place being rude to everyone. Or is hers just good advice because she scores well?

If by 'low', you mean 'has a specific goal in mind and cares little for 'prestige'. Her goals are not low, they're just different, and perhaps even more difficult.

No, you only meant to insult my fellow SDNers and friends. Whoopee, I am protected by my MCAT score 🙄
The point I was trying to get across earlier is that, even if you only say toolish things to a few people, you still come across as a tool to EVERYONE reading, not just those few. So maybe if you don't want to offend me, or Saree, you should try not to offend sillyjoe, or orangetea as well.

Not to mention that if you offend @orangetea, you have pretty much offended all of the SDN pre-med section.

 

[deleted388502]

Just gonna pipe in and say that there's something to be said for someone who has poor scores (like me) offering up what they wish they had known. Cause I would have done sooooo much differently. Like actually study TBR instead of work, shadow, do my other commitments, and skip through stuff because "I know this." I literally would "read" chapters at work instead of carefully study them like I should have.

If I could go back and yell at myself on May 1st I sooooooo would. I honestly don't even know what I did in May...

 

[sherpame]

Not to mention that if you offend @orangetea, you have pretty much offended all of the SDN pre-med section.

ok i get it- sorry @orangetea

 

[pbrocks15]

ur an idiot. sorry to say man.



finally some good advice! thank you!



i can tell ur someone who aims low and works hard



Sorry. i didnt mean to offend u. seriously.

Everyone here is working hard. Work hard and you will reap the rewards.

Being rude to someone who has done nothing shows more about you than it does about themselves.

Just gonna pipe in and say that there's something to be said for someone who has poor scores (like me) offering up what they wish they had known. Cause I would have done sooooo much differently. Like actually study TBR instead of work, shadow, do my other commitments, and skip through stuff because "I know this." I literally would "read" chapters at work instead of carefully study them like I should have.

If I could go back and yell at myself on May 1st I sooooooo would. I honestly don't even know what I did in May...

And exactly what she just said. Not scoring well doesn't mean you can't give good advice, it means that you have learned what was not helpful and can now capitalize on what is.

 

[DoctorInASaree]

Absolutely no disrespect to Saree intended, as these are definitely good motivational words, but...this isn't advice so much as just you should study for the MCAT. If you seriously didn't know that, you have no place being rude to everyone. Or is hers just good advice because she scores well?

Actually, my blurb wasn't meant to come across as motivational nor an MCAT study tip. Viewers see people scoring 44 and 45, and they're looking for a recipe or formula to scoring well. The point I wanted to get across to viewers is that there is no formula or cookie cutter recipe I can bake in the oven and have it ready to go in thirty minutes. There are no miracle people. High scores are attained through discipline - hard work!

Oh look Kobe Bryant put up 81points, Usain Bolt set a new Olympic record, et cetera. To rationalize such breathtaking feats the layman concludes: Ah! It must be his or her inherent "talent" or their "genius" level intellect. Millennials, and most people I have encountered in life, are looking for easy answers - shortcuts. I felt that was a point that had to be addressed at some point in this thread.

ok i get it- sorry @orangetea

Hey! Start the schedule and begin studying. I for one will be looking forward to your contributions to this thread. All the best 🙂

 

[deleted388502]

Also, I'd like to add, I just remembered what I did in May.

2 seasons. Slept less than I do during studying. Even sat in the library pretending to study.
DON'T MAKE MY MISTAKES


#itwassoworthit

 

[sillyjoe]

Also, I'd like to add, I just remembered what I did in May.

2 seasons. Slept less than I do during studying. Even sat in the library pretending to study.
DON'T MAKE MY MISTAKES


#itwassoworthit

Make her mistake Orange is the New Black is da bomb.

 

[poop420]

ONE LOVE everyone!! This is a stressful time for everyone so lets be loving and helping ... Dude I wish you the best in your studies we all are going through it ...

 

[pbrocks15]

ONE LOVE everyone!! This is a stressful time for everyone so lets be loving and helping ... Dude I wish you the best in your studies we all are going through it ...

Where's Bob Marley when you need him?? Haha Thanks poop

 

[MrTaco92]

I hear you, but the issue is that there aren't any exams in December. So I'm either going to study 3 months or 5 months, because there's nooo way I can sit on my hands for a month with me being as anxious as I am to improve my horrible diagnostic. As I stated earlier, I don't actually do any work while I'm at work so that could be 8 hours of minimally interrupted study time and I'm only attending school part-time this upcoming semester. So what do you guys think?

In that case I would agree with mehc and go with studying for 5 months.

 

[poop420]

I would also like to add that @avenlea personally helped me stay on track with my studying ... And she is always willing to reply to my pm... She showed me the mistakes she made and made me aware of them so I wouldn't make the same ones . I think you can actually learn more from someone who didnt do it right the first time and sharing there lessons learnt from that

 

[mehc012]

Actually, my blurb wasn't meant to come across as motivational nor an MCAT study tip. Viewers see people scoring 44 and 45, and they're looking for a recipe or formula to scoring well. The point I wanted to get across to viewers is that there is no formula or cookie cutter recipe I can bake in the oven and have it ready to go in thirty minutes. There are no miracle people. High scores are attained through discipline - hard work!

Oh look Kobe Bryant put up 81points, Usain Bolt set a new Olympic record, et cetera. To rationalize such breathtaking feats the layman concludes: Ah! It must be his or her inherent "talent" or their "genius" level intellect. Millennials, and most people I have encountered in life, are looking for easy answers - shortcuts. I felt that was a point that had to be addressed at some point in this thread.



Hey! Start the schedule and begin studying. I for one will be looking forward to your contributions to this thread. All the best 🙂

Exactly...that's what I took from it. I tried to say a similar thing in one of my posts which got buried somewhere. I added the 'no disrespect to Saree' bit because there really was none, as you were clearly not trying to give advice.
I am scoring well and I haven't even studied 25% of the material. I don't think it's my study habits which are helping me here, and I can't explain what IS causing me to do well.

 

[mehc012]

Anyway, today I will get through Orgo 8 and Bio 8.
If I could crank out Chem 8 as well it would be nice.

Also want to take AAMC #4 today. And exercise. Let's do this thing!

 

[pbrocks15]

Anyway, today I will get through Orgo 8 and Bio 8.
If I could crank out Chem 8 as well it would be nice.

Also want to take AAMC #4 today. And exercise. Let's do this thing!

I'm pumped for your AAMC 4!

BTW, I dig the emphasis on the WILL.

 

[poop420]

Anyway, today I will get through Orgo 8 and Bio 8.
If I could crank out Chem 8 as well it would be nice.

Also want to take AAMC #4 today. And exercise. Let's do this thing!

how much weight have you lose or you didnt bother to take up the challenge?

 

[deleted388502]

I would also like to add that @avenlea personally helped me stay on track with my studying ... And she is always willing to reply to my pm... She showed me the mistakes she made and made me aware of them so I wouldn't make the same ones . I think you can actually learn more from someone who didnt do it right the first time and sharing there lessons learnt from that

Awwww Thank you so much lol I'm glad someone can learn from my mistakes. I've never really been a heavy SDN user before this summer but I really would not have known how to study for this test if not for this website and you guys so get a little give a little!

Exactly...that's what I took from it. I tried to say a similar thing in one of my posts which got buried somewhere. I added the 'no disrespect to Saree' bit because there really was none, as you were clearly not trying to give advice.
I am scoring well and I haven't even studied 25% of the material. I don't think it's my study habits which are helping me here, and I can't explain what IS causing me to do well.

I think @DoctorInASaree raises a good point and it's probably just the combination of your background (i.e., doing well in undergrad) and when you made that anki deck, you immersed yourself in the material. I've told a few people I've talked to that I was immersed like heck in the material in undergrad, i.e. why I did well in the classes, but it's long left me. Why I'm even scoring in the 20s is probably the little that I remember from undergrad because going over the content again the past few days has made me realize how little I actually learned this summer. But, I think the good part about this is you have a large piece of the puzzle - either the way the question writers want you to think, which considering your VR scores is probably a large part of it - and content down, and now it's just a matter of fine tuning. I'm excited to see how you do on the 27th. 🙂

I also believe that once you've identified your weaknesses and you know where to go, for me at least it's really easy to motivate myself to get it done. I think studying for an exam that was 3-4 months out, not knowing what to focus on and just doing a "general overview" was really unmotivating. I should have taken an AAMC FL to start out with to really show myself that I was in deep **** and not as smart as I thought I was content wise, and to focus on content I was not as strong with. I focused a LOT on physics, which is NOT my weak suit. I didn't focus as much on genchem because TBR genchem seemed like "stuff I knew," and looking back, it is not stuff I knew in the slightest, and in fact what I'm missing the most. The passages I've done on Physics in the AAMCs are like second nature because I've seen them all recently in my undergraduate classes, vs genchem has been years out- and I didn't focus on studying it as much this summer either. So find your weaknesses and attack them like the plague. This test doesn't stand a chance if you do that.

Shameless plug: coursesaver.com. Chad and his bald head. I love that man. I will mail him a fruit basket once this ordeal is over. I wish I had used him more instead of TBR. I think TBR is great but I got way too lost in the details and started skimming over everything. I should've used chad primarily and then TBR after using chad.

 

[acemcatthissummer]

Just gonna pipe in and say that there's something to be said for someone who has poor scores (like me) offering up what they wish they had known. Cause I would have done sooooo much differently. Like actually study TBR instead of work, shadow, do my other commitments, and skip through stuff because "I know this." I literally would "read" chapters at work instead of carefully study them like I should have.

If I could go back and yell at myself on May 1st I sooooooo would. I honestly don't even know what I did in May...

Its okay.
Stop being so hard on yourself.
You tried. You have a dream.
And if you dont make the cut this time, you will eventually.
Just dont give up.
If you think about it, you already are at an advantage compared to people you have not at all studied for mcat.
I am in the same situation as you are. Maybe even worse?
All I can say now is: just dont think and regret about the time already wasted.
Dont compare yourself to the people on sdn (especially those with 35+) cuz its just a tad bit depressing
commit all the time you have now, in the present, like now
and give this beast YOUR BEST SHOT!
Atleast thats what I am planning on doing.
It takes courage to do poorly but still keep trying and not giving up. And you definitely have that!
All the best! Im sure you will do just fine.

 

[DoctorInASaree]

Exactly...that's what I took from it. I tried to say a similar thing in one of my posts which got buried somewhere. I added the 'no disrespect to Saree' bit because there really was none, as you were clearly not trying to give advice.
I am scoring well and I haven't even studied 25% of the material. I don't think it's my study habits which are helping me here, and I can't explain what IS causing me to do well.

Oh, I take no umbrage from your statements. However, I do believe I was offering advice...anyways...all the best on AAMC 4. Happy studying today everyone.

 

[pbrocks15]

Awwww Thank you so much lol I'm glad someone can learn from my mistakes. I've never really been a heavy SDN user before this summer but I really would not have known how to study for this test if not for this website and you guys so get a little give a little!



I think @DoctorInASaree raises a good point and it's probably just the combination of your background (i.e., doing well in undergrad) and when you made that anki deck, you immersed yourself in the material. I've told a few people I've talked to that I was immersed like heck in the material in undergrad, i.e. why I did well in the classes, but it's long left me. Why I'm even scoring in the 20s is probably the little that I remember from undergrad because going over the content again the past few days has made me realize how little I actually learned this summer. But, I think the good part about this is you have a large piece of the puzzle - either the way the question writers want you to think, which considering your VR scores is probably a large part of it - and content down, and now it's just a matter of fine tuning. I'm excited to see how you do on the 27th. 🙂

I also believe that once you've identified your weaknesses and you know where to go, for me at least it's really easy to motivate myself to get it done. I think studying for an exam that was 3-4 months out, not knowing what to focus on and just doing a "general overview" was really unmotivating. I should have taken an AAMC FL to start out with to really show myself that I was in deep **** and not as smart as I thought I was content wise, and to focus on content I was not as strong with. I focused a LOT on physics, which is NOT my weak suit. I didn't focus as much on genchem because TBR genchem seemed like "stuff I knew," and looking back, it is not stuff I knew in the slightest, and in fact what I'm missing the most. The passages I've done on Physics in the AAMCs are like second nature because I've seen them all recently in my undergraduate classes, vs genchem has been years out- and I didn't focus on studying it as much this summer either. So find your weaknesses and attack them like the plague. This test doesn't stand a chance if you do that.

Shameless plug: coursesaver.com. Chad and his bald head. I love that man. I will mail him a fruit basket once this ordeal is over. I wish I had used him more instead of TBR. I think TBR is great but I got way too lost in the details and started skimming over everything. I should've used chad primarily and then TBR after using chad.

This was my problem unfortunately.

 

[acemcatthissummer]

Anyone feel like they are forgetting the stuff they learnt previously?
I was good at OChem and I tried doing practice exam yesterday and I just had forgotten the mechanism!

How do you go about fixing things like these!?

 

[K1NG]

Just tuning in to say I love your sig @avenlea (not sure how long you've had it but just noticed it now lol)

 

[sherpame]

Awwww Thank you so much lol I'm glad someone can learn from my mistakes. I've never really been a heavy SDN user before this summer but I really would not have known how to study for this test if not for this website and you guys so get a little give a little!



I think @DoctorInASaree raises a good point and it's probably just the combination of your background (i.e., doing well in undergrad) and when you made that anki deck, you immersed yourself in the material. I've told a few people I've talked to that I was immersed like heck in the material in undergrad, i.e. why I did well in the classes, but it's long left me. Why I'm even scoring in the 20s is probably the little that I remember from undergrad because going over the content again the past few days has made me realize how little I actually learned this summer. But, I think the good part about this is you have a large piece of the puzzle - either the way the question writers want you to think, which considering your VR scores is probably a large part of it - and content down, and now it's just a matter of fine tuning. I'm excited to see how you do on the 27th. 🙂

I also believe that once you've identified your weaknesses and you know where to go, for me at least it's really easy to motivate myself to get it done. I think studying for an exam that was 3-4 months out, not knowing what to focus on and just doing a "general overview" was really unmotivating. I should have taken an AAMC FL to start out with to really show myself that I was in deep **** and not as smart as I thought I was content wise, and to focus on content I was not as strong with. I focused a LOT on physics, which is NOT my weak suit. I didn't focus as much on genchem because TBR genchem seemed like "stuff I knew," and looking back, it is not stuff I knew in the slightest, and in fact what I'm missing the most. The passages I've done on Physics in the AAMCs are like second nature because I've seen them all recently in my undergraduate classes, vs genchem has been years out- and I didn't focus on studying it as much this summer either. So find your weaknesses and attack them like the plague. This test doesn't stand a chance if you do that.

Shameless plug: coursesaver.com. Chad and his bald head. I love that man. I will mail him a fruit basket once this ordeal is over. I wish I had used him more instead of TBR. I think TBR is great but I got way too lost in the details and started skimming over everything. I should've used chad primarily and then TBR after using chad.

thanks. i will keep this in mind when i study

 

[ayocaptain628]

do the AAMC full lengths have good answer explanations written by them?
i know kaplan and tpr have theirs but ya

 

[TBRBiosadist]

Wait you guys actually STUDIED???!!!!

Man I just found this magical fruit juice that was left behind after I killed a leprechaun, and I of course did the most American and sensible thing. I heated that stuff up and then injected it into my veins and boom a 40+ average on the aamcs. Is that the answer you're looking for @sherpame?

do the AAMC full lengths have good answer explanations written by them?
i know kaplan and tpr have theirs but ya

they aight, most pretty good, some may leave a tiny bit to be desired but overall pretty good.

 

[Dreamstoo]

13/9/14 in AAMC 3... I hate detailed oriented verbal sections

 

[TBRBiosadist]

13/9/14 in AAMC 3... I hate detailed oriented verbal sections

36 though for first test! you gonna be good

 

[Dreamstoo]

36 though for first test! you gonna be good

Thanks, need to go ham on practice. Tomorrow is going to be a verbal day for about 3-4 hours then some content review over some physics equations that weren't on the exam (thankfully) but I still need work on.

 

[Dreamstoo]

36 though for first test! you gonna be good

Would you say AAMC 3 was one of the harder verbals?

 

[TBRBiosadist]

Thanks, need to go ham on practice. Tomorrow is going to be a verbal day for about 3-4 hours then some content review over some physics equations that weren't on the exam (thankfully) but I still need work on.

hey these last two days ive been getting nothing done due to work. Its killin me having this less than a week before the test

 

[TBRBiosadist]

Would you say AAMC 3 was one of the harder verbals?

no, 10 though is supposedly, and I say that not only because I scored lowly on it, it apparently has a reputation

 

[TBRBiosadist]

Would you say AAMC 3 was one of the harder verbals?

3 is actually supposeedly the easiest on all fronts, but everyone always scores higher later so dont take it much for granted

 

[Dreamstoo]

no, 10 though is supposedly, and I say that not only because I scored lowly on it, it apparently has a reputation

Apparently AAMC 6R has a legendary rep for being ridiculously hard for verbal (just ran by an old 2003 SDN forum of people complaining about it), doing it tomorrow. I think it was first practice exams jitters, I hope.

 

[Dreamstoo]

3 is actually supposeedly the easiest on all fronts, but everyone always scores higher later so dont take it much for granted

Well you got a 11 in verbal from what I recall in AAMC 3 and for me, it was just too many detailed questions but I will try to find a better approach to detailed oriented passages tomorrow.

 

[TBRBiosadist]

Well you got a 11 in verbal from what I recall in AAMC 3 and for me, it was just too many detailed questions but I will try to find a better approach to detailed oriented passages tomorrow.

yeah, Iwasnt so hot on it either. I think its mostly getting used to the aamc format and timing beyond anything else

 

[mehc012]

Awwww Thank you so much lol I'm glad someone can learn from my mistakes. I've never really been a heavy SDN user before this summer but I really would not have known how to study for this test if not for this website and you guys so get a little give a little!



I think @DoctorInASaree raises a good point and it's probably just the combination of your background (i.e., doing well in undergrad) and when you made that anki deck, you immersed yourself in the material. I've told a few people I've talked to that I was immersed like heck in the material in undergrad, i.e. why I did well in the classes, but it's long left me. Why I'm even scoring in the 20s is probably the little that I remember from undergrad because going over the content again the past few days has made me realize how little I actually learned this summer. But, I think the good part about this is you have a large piece of the puzzle - either the way the question writers want you to think, which considering your VR scores is probably a large part of it - and content down, and now it's just a matter of fine tuning. I'm excited to see how you do on the 27th. 🙂

I also believe that once you've identified your weaknesses and you know where to go, for me at least it's really easy to motivate myself to get it done. I think studying for an exam that was 3-4 months out, not knowing what to focus on and just doing a "general overview" was really unmotivating. I should have taken an AAMC FL to start out with to really show myself that I was in deep **** and not as smart as I thought I was content wise, and to focus on content I was not as strong with. I focused a LOT on physics, which is NOT my weak suit. I didn't focus as much on genchem because TBR genchem seemed like "stuff I knew," and looking back, it is not stuff I knew in the slightest, and in fact what I'm missing the most. The passages I've done on Physics in the AAMCs are like second nature because I've seen them all recently in my undergraduate classes, vs genchem has been years out- and I didn't focus on studying it as much this summer either. So find your weaknesses and attack them like the plague. This test doesn't stand a chance if you do that.

Shameless plug: coursesaver.com. Chad and his bald head. I love that man. I will mail him a fruit basket once this ordeal is over. I wish I had used him more instead of TBR. I think TBR is great but I got way too lost in the details and started skimming over everything. I should've used chad primarily and then TBR after using chad.

Just as a note - I did terribly in undergrad, graduated with below a 3.2

 

[Dreamstoo]

yeah, Iwasnt so hot on it either. I think its mostly getting used to the aamc format and timing beyond anything else

Exactly that format had me pissed but I have to get used to it. I'm used to do doing printout AAMC verbal (ala Self Assessment).

 

[TBRBiosadist]

yeah, Iwasnt so hot on it either. I think its mostly getting used to the aamc format and timing beyond anything else

What AAMC likes to trick you into doing is to think their passage are super detailed oriented when a large number of those details can be presumed from logical leaps. This takes tthough a good understanding of the passage and the balls to pull that kind of ****

 

[jigga5]

if it means anything, i found aamc 3 very detailed oriented. I have taken 4 and 5 since and found them much more "main idea" based. I jumped from an 8 on aamc3 to a 10 on aamc 4 and an 11 on aamc 5 because the last two were less detailed based imo.

 

[mehc012]

how much weight have you lose or you didnt bother to take up the challenge?

Definitely need a longer timeline to answer properly...I can change ~4lbs between morning and night and at least as much again in just a day or two depending on the date (more specifically which day of the month it is). Now, I used those facts to my advantage for weigh-in, so I've "lost" about 9lbs if I pick my weigh-out carefully...but not really.

 

[mehc012]

if it means anything, i found aamc 3 very detailed oriented. I have taken 4 and 5 since and found them much more "main idea" based. I jumped from an 8 on aamc3 to a 10 on aamc 4 and an 11 on aamc 5 because the last two were less detailed based imo.

That sucks...I prefer detail oriented. I miss the main idea ones. 🙁

 

[sillyjoe]

13/9/14 in AAMC 3... I hate detailed oriented verbal sections

You deserve it man. Don't worry about verbal at all on that first FL, you are getting your strategy and timing down for that section.

To me, your first FL score is VERY indicative of someone who will get a 40+... So now that you got the MCAT out of the way, let's work on you getting a better avatar. 😛