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.

 

[wuhsabee]

Hi

How does it feel not having to study today? You all tinder'ed out?

 

[poop420]

Just 3 weeks away from finishing content review !! But just 16 days away from school starting .. This will def. be the hardest part of this schedule keeping up the intensity while doing classes !

 

[poop420]

Thinking about typing topics from the AAMC Bio syllabus into pub med and look at graphs and methods and try and break them down to aid in this new style of Bio questions ..

 

[pbrocks15]

Thinking about typing topics from the AAMC Bio syllabus into pub med and look at graphs and methods and try and break them down to aid in this new style of Bio questions ..

Wow, this is actually brilliant. I was thinking of spending more time reading Nature but I think this might be a great alternative.

 

[TexasSurgeon]

Thinking about typing topics from the AAMC Bio syllabus into pub med and look at graphs and methods and try and break them down to aid in this new style of Bio questions ..

wow. such smart. very impress. wow. much benefit. so help. wow

 

[orangetea]

Okay, so I'll admit it I am a total workaholic and I really don't believe in life outside of my job, Post-bacc, marathon training, ECs, and MCAT studying.

So when everyone on this site and my life would tell me that it's really important to take breaks ESPECIALLY for the MCAT, I kind of brushed it off and thought of it as a sign of weakness. And mind you, I am just speaking for myself. My though process was okay if I take breaks I could be using that time to study and learn WHY I always get the Lewis structure problem wrong.

HOWEVER. Rome was not built in a day. It's hard, you might feel super guilty, and you're probably going to think you'll hate yourself for it. BUT taking full days off is SO IMPORTANT. I am a true believer because yesterday I took a Orange Tea personal self day and did super girly things(not going to be politcally correct #sorrynotsorry) like my nails, hair.. also spent a lot of time with my family, went out with cousins, and watched a movie I've been meaning to see. It was probably the best day I have had in 3 months and I WAS SO HAPPY.

REGARDLESS. Do what makes you happy every once in a while. It really helps. Today I got one of the highest scores I have gotten on a practice test and it felt so damn good. Okay beautiful people, I am back to work but I had to share, so other workaholics out there could read and think about that well deserved break they haven't taken 🙂

<3T

 

[poop420]

Okay, so I'll admit it I am a total workaholic and I really don't believe in life outside of my job, Post-bacc, marathon training, ECs, and MCAT studying.

So when everyone on this site and my life would tell me that it's really important to take breaks ESPECIALLY for the MCAT, I kind of brushed it off and thought of it as a sign of weakness. And mind you, I am just speaking for myself. My though process was okay if I take breaks I could be using that time to study and learn WHY I always get the Lewis structure problem wrong.

HOWEVER. Rome was not built in a day. It's hard, you might feel super guilty, and you're probably going to think you'll hate yourself for it. BUT taking full days off is SO IMPORTANT. I am a true believer because yesterday I took a Orange Tea personal self day and did super girly things(not going to be politcally correct #sorrynotsorry) like my nails, hair.. also spent a lot of time with my family, went out with cousins, and watched a movie I've been meaning to see. It was probably the best day I have had in 3 months and I WAS SO HAPPY.

REGARDLESS. Do what makes you happy every once in a while. It really helps. Today I got one of the highest scores I have gotten on a practice test and it felt so damn good. Okay beautiful people, I am back to work but I had to share, so other workaholics out there could read and think about that well deserved break they haven't taken 🙂

<3T

Dam doing your hair and nails make you look that good ^^^^ ... You seem familiar did I see you in a video before lol jk ... I haven't taken a full break day always sneak in some studying !!

 

[lazyindy]

I've been hearing that nearly all of the passages on the real MCAT are getting more experimental. My university exams were like this for the hard biology courses and biochemistry so hoping my training in those will pay off. Although they did take a toll on my gpa 🙁

 

[pbrocks15]

I've been hearing that nearly all of the passages on the real MCAT are getting more experimental. My university exams were like this for the hard biology courses and biochemistry so hoping my training in those will pay off. Although they did take a toll on my gpa 🙁

I've been hearing this too. Not just from the people on this thread by many others.

 

[lazyindy]

I've been hearing this too. Not just from the people on this thread by many others.

I mean I guess it's expected given that the average for accepted candidates is increasing every year (or so as they say). There are way too many people getting low to mid 30's now. I know a handful of people that graduated with me with scores above a 34. Though 39-40s are still few and far between (compared to the total number of people sitting for the mcat in a given year).

 

[poop420]

Honestly either SDN is freaking me out or the AAMC MCAT/GPA grid is total BS. A 24-26 for a AA has a 70% acceptance rate ..... WTF ??

 

[pbrocks15]

I mean I guess it's expected given that the average for accepted candidates is increasing every year (or so as they say). There are way too many people getting low to mid 30's now. I know a handful of people that graduated with me with scores above a 34. Though 39-40s are still few and far between (compared to the total number of people sitting for the mcat in a given year).

So your saying their doing this to increase the difficulty?

That sucks haha

 

[Rhino1000]

@TBRBiosadist Everyone's still waiting for explication on your method for drinking energy drinks.

I mean I guess it's expected given that the average for accepted candidates is increasing every year (or so as they say). There are way too many people getting low to mid 30's now. I know a handful of people that graduated with me with scores above a 34. Though 39-40s are still few and far between (compared to the total number of people sitting for the mcat in a given year).

Isn't it technically the same number of people as ever scoring in the low to mid-30s? I think the scaled score corresponds fairly consistently for a given percentile range, unless I'm very much mistaken. It's true that higher scores are being selected for by school though, more so than in the past.

 

[AwayFromReality]

.

 

[ayocaptain628]

omg ive been watching so much TV lately i think i'm behind now

 

[sharkbyte]

So working through SN2ed's method, the biggest problem I come across is during the EK days. The day when you re read all the previous chapters from the week and do the relevant EK101 problems. I just don't seem to have enough time to finish it all in one day since it involves five chapters. How have you guys been approaching this?

At first I spread it out over two days. But one thing I'd recommend is that if you feel pretty comfortable with the chapter and you do reasonably well on the passages, don't go back and read the entire passage again. It takes way too much time. Just skim through it. I'd only recommend re-reading a chapter if you're struggling with the material.

 

[aspiringMD/DO]

How do you guys deal with falling behind in the SN2'd schedule??

 

[MelloTangelo]

How do you guys deal with falling behind in the SN2'd schedule??

I think most people just start doubling up on days. Thankfully, I haven't had to do that yet!

 

[Rhino1000]

So working through SN2ed's method, the biggest problem I come across is during the EK days. The day when you re read all the previous chapters from the week and do the relevant EK101 problems. I just don't seem to have enough time to finish it all in one day since it involves five chapters. How have you guys been approaching this?

I decided to approach this by rereading the notes that I created as I read through the chapters. I never even attempted to reread all of the chapters. I know that that would be too time-consuming for me, as well.

 

[nugang]

I mean I guess it's expected given that the average for accepted candidates is increasing every year (or so as they say). There are way too many people getting low to mid 30's now. I know a handful of people that graduated with me with scores above a 34. Though 39-40s are still few and far between (compared to the total number of people sitting for the mcat in a given year).

This is just inaccurate. Even if the difficulty of the exam is more difficult, the distribution of scores have always remained the same with a bell curve. So its inaccurate to say that more people are getting in the low and mid 30's

 

[sillyjoe]

How does it feel not having to study today? You all tinder'ed out?

Okay, so I'll admit it I am a total workaholic and I really don't believe in life outside of my job, Post-bacc, marathon training, ECs, and MCAT studying.

So when everyone on this site and my life would tell me that it's really important to take breaks ESPECIALLY for the MCAT, I kind of brushed it off and thought of it as a sign of weakness. And mind you, I am just speaking for myself. My though process was okay if I take breaks I could be using that time to study and learn WHY I always get the Lewis structure problem wrong.

HOWEVER. Rome was not built in a day. It's hard, you might feel super guilty, and you're probably going to think you'll hate yourself for it. BUT taking full days off is SO IMPORTANT. I am a true believer because yesterday I took a Orange Tea personal self day and did super girly things(not going to be politcally correct #sorrynotsorry) like my nails, hair.. also spent a lot of time with my family, went out with cousins, and watched a movie I've been meaning to see. It was probably the best day I have had in 3 months and I WAS SO HAPPY.

REGARDLESS. Do what makes you happy every once in a while. It really helps. Today I got one of the highest scores I have gotten on a practice test and it felt so damn good. Okay beautiful people, I am back to work but I had to share, so other workaholics out there could read and think about that well deserved break they haven't taken 🙂

<3T

 

[sillyjoe]

How does it feel not having to study today? You all tinder'ed out?

Everyone knows SDN > tinder for meetin the ladies 😉

 

[MercifulDoc]

How do you guys deal with taking too long to read one chapter, because you are sooo damn weak in GChem....ugh....dunno what to do 🙁

 

[sillyjoe]

How do you guys deal with taking too long to read one chapter, because you are sooo damn weak in GChem....ugh....dunno what to do 🙁

This is nothing to fret about! This means you are going through it and making sure you understand the concepts. Doing that is 1000x better than reading fast for completion. If you are doing SN2ed correctly, the chapters should take a long time to read. It is like 25-60 pages of intense scientific concepts coupled with problems. Just keep runnin the marathon and reminding yourself this isn't a sprint.

It would take me a whole week to do the re-read doing ~1 extra chapter a day.

 

[MercifulDoc]

This is nothing to fret about! This means you are going through it and making sure you understand the concepts. Doing that is 1000x better than reading fast for completion. If you are doing SN2ed correctly, the chapters should take a long time to read. It is like 25-60 pages of intense scientific concepts coupled with problems. Just keep runnin the marathon and reminding yourself this isn't a sprint.

It would take me a whole week to do the re-read doing ~1 extra chapter a day.

I usually feel bad for falling behind! You make me feel better thanks!

Should I focus on Gchem until I finish reading it or continue alternating subjects like SN2ed says?

 

[sillyjoe]

I usually feel bad for falling behind! You make me feel better thanks!

Should I focus on Gchem until I finish reading it or continue alternating subjects like SN2ed says?

I always made sure not to fall behind on the daily chapters, only fall behind on the re-reads and catch up by adding extra every day.

 

[wuhsabee]

Everyone knows SDN > tinder for meetin the ladies 😉

I'm shipping you and @orangetea 🙂

 

[ayocaptain628]

I usually feel bad for falling behind! You make me feel better thanks!

Should I focus on Gchem until I finish reading it or continue alternating subjects like SN2ed says?

I'm just like u except my weakness is physics!!!
I did sn2ed first on all the physics chapters just to provide a foundation and then intertwined it for a second pass alternating bio chem ochem. So i would do bio chapter and then review phys chapter on one day that way it still stays fresh and u alternate

 

[ayocaptain628]

How do you guys deal with falling behind in the SN2'd schedule??

I have certain days of the week where new episodes of my fav shows come on so i purposely double or triple up on chapters to keep up that way I'm free to "fall behind" when I want lol

 

[lazyindy]

This is just inaccurate. Even if the difficulty of the exam is more difficult, the distribution of scores have always remained the same with a bell curve. So its inaccurate to say that more people are getting in the low and mid 30's

the percentage of total test takers scoring low-mid 30's might be the same in the past few years but you also have to take into account that there has been a considerable rise in applicants.

https://www.aamc.org/download/321494/data/2013factstable17.pdf

2010 data
2011 data
2012 data
2013 data

So it's completely valid to state that the number of people scoring low - mid 30's each year increases. Each individual school is not going to accept a hundred more applicants who scored in the 34-37 range due to the limited number of seats available. This is why the MCAT is only a part of the admissions game albeit it's arguably one of the most important factor because it's standardized. This is why I speculated as to why AAMC is increasing the difficulty level of the MCAT and putting more experimental and conceptual content in there.

Then again, I did not take the actual MCAT yet so I can't compare the difficulty level of this year's MCAT to previous years'. But it makes sense considering the increase in the number of applicants each year and the level of competition.

 

[pbrocks15]

the percentage of total test takers scoring low-mid 30's might be the same in the past few years but you also have to take into account that there has been a considerable rise in applicants.

https://www.aamc.org/download/321494/data/2013factstable17.pdf

2010 data
2011 data
2012 data
2013 data

So it's completely valid to state that the number of people scoring low - mid 30's each year increases. Each individual school is not going to accept a hundred more applicants who scored in the 34-37 range due to the limited number of seats available. This is why the MCAT is only a part of the admissions game albeit it's arguably one of the most important factor because it's standardized. This is why I speculated as to why AAMC is increasing the difficulty level of the MCAT and putting more experimental and conceptual content in there.

Then again, I did not take the actual MCAT yet so I can't compare the difficulty level of this year's MCAT to previous years'. But it makes sense considering the increase in the number of applicants each year and the level of competition.

Well writen, with the way you put everything together the numbers are on your side. Read: Now I have to score higher than I wished.

 

[deleted388502]

Okay, so I'll admit it I am a total workaholic and I really don't believe in life outside of my job, Post-bacc, marathon training, ECs, and MCAT studying.

So when everyone on this site and my life would tell me that it's really important to take breaks ESPECIALLY for the MCAT, I kind of brushed it off and thought of it as a sign of weakness. And mind you, I am just speaking for myself. My though process was okay if I take breaks I could be using that time to study and learn WHY I always get the Lewis structure problem wrong.

HOWEVER. Rome was not built in a day. It's hard, you might feel super guilty, and you're probably going to think you'll hate yourself for it. BUT taking full days off is SO IMPORTANT. I am a true believer because yesterday I took a Orange Tea personal self day and did super girly things(not going to be politcally correct #sorrynotsorry) like my nails, hair.. also spent a lot of time with my family, went out with cousins, and watched a movie I've been meaning to see. It was probably the best day I have had in 3 months and I WAS SO HAPPY.

REGARDLESS. Do what makes you happy every once in a while. It really helps. Today I got one of the highest scores I have gotten on a practice test and it felt so damn good. Okay beautiful people, I am back to work but I had to share, so other workaholics out there could read and think about that well deserved break they haven't taken 🙂

<3T

Was the movie "The Fault In Our Stars"

 

[Lokkja]

Thinking about typing topics from the AAMC Bio syllabus into pub med and look at graphs and methods and try and break them down to aid in this new style of Bio questions ..

I might have to do something like this after scoring that 9 on BS on AAMC 11. I think I'm going to read through Section II of TBR Bio to buff my understanding of molecular bio.

Test in ten days, getting more nervous! Hopefully I can pull out a 10/11+/10+ on the AAMC 10 to make myself feel better about 11. I never thought I'd feel nervous about BS considering how well I perform in all of my biology classes.

 

[TBRBiosadist]

Yaaa.......just got my first assignment due on the first day of the semester. #onedayoffisplenty #itsalmostlikeineverstopped

 

[pbrocks15]

Yaaa.......just got my first assignment due on the first day of the semester. #onedayoffisplenty #itsalmostlikeineverstopped

You start pretty early. Usually people are moving in right now but I don't usually here of people starting this early. I'm sure anything your college throws at you will be just another thing for you to crush like the MCAT lol

 

[ayocaptain628]

Yaaa.......just got my first assignment due on the first day of the semester. #onedayoffisplenty #itsalmostlikeineverstopped

omg ur post just reminded me that I have two more weeks until school
Wtf at time moving so fast 🙁 *im devastated*

 

[Rhino1000]

Any thoughts on taking AAMC 9-11 in reverse order? I plan on taking AAMC 11 in 30 minutes, unless someone stops me.

 

[Rhino1000]

Yaaa.......just got my first assignment due on the first day of the semester. #onedayoffisplenty #itsalmostlikeineverstopped

What's your major?

 

[neoneurohocuspocus]

Any thoughts on taking AAMC 9-11 in reverse order? I plan on taking AAMC 11 in 30 minutes, unless someone stops me.

I did them in this order: 10, 11, 9.
One plus: I went below my average on 10 and 11 which was disappointing, but went back up on 9 which was a bit of a confidence boost (at least to previous baseline). So now I won't go into the real thing scared out of my mind because my last score was awful.
One negative: I've read that some people score what they got on AAMC 10 or 11. So now I'm wondering: "Well my AAMC 10 and 11 scores weren't that great... If I had done AAMC 9 before them, would I have learned from my mistakes on 9, and done better on 10 or 11?" Basically just being (perhaps unrealistically) hopeful that I'll score better than 10/11 on the real deal.

 

[deleted388502]

HELLO FRIENDS.

I hope you all had a stellar weekend, this is the first period of consecutive days I have taken off since May and it was absolutely glorious because I took three days off and did absolutely nothing MCAT related. I decided today I'm pushing my date to October 25th and taking leave from two of my jobs/dropping a class to be able to continue to study into the semester....I can't tell you how good it feels to not think about this test 24/7, although I definitely had a dream about UV-Vis absorption spectra last night and it made me reevaluate how many days I'm taking off lol.

Either way, for those of you who are still in school, enjoy the heck out of welcome week...I know it's my senior year and the last one I'm going to have and the memories that come with this week and my friends are more important than stressing over this test for at least a few hours this week.

Happy Monday! 😀

 

[ayocaptain628]

HELLO FRIENDS.

I hope you all had a stellar weekend, this is the first period of consecutive days I have taken off since May and it was absolutely glorious because I took three days off and did absolutely nothing MCAT related. I decided today I'm pushing my date to October 25th and taking leave from two of my jobs/dropping a class to be able to continue to study into the semester....I can't tell you how good it feels to not think about this test 24/7, although I definitely had a dream about UV-Vis absorption spectra last night and it made me reevaluate how many days I'm taking off lol.

Either way, for those of you who are still in school, enjoy the heck out of welcome week...I know it's my senior year and the last one I'm going to have and the memories that come with this week and my friends are more important than stressing over this test for at least a few hours this week.

Happy Monday! 😀

yay welcome to the oct25th team!!! ^o^

 

[JMMTB]

I'm going to echo avenlea and orange. Took the weekend off and I feel so much better. My 2/3 scores from this morning also reflect it as well. My personal opinion is that the SN2ed schedule should be a tad longer to include more breaks and longer breaks.

If you start feeling burnout and just utter dread to study then it is time to take a break. You'll get more accomplished by taking a day off then hit it hard the next day than if you try to push through it.

Good luck to everyone studying before school starts up.

 

[DoctorInASaree]

October 25th is officially the....

This thread hasn't been quite active as of late..I hope you are all doing well 🙂

 

[Lokkja]

So I just finished writing AAMC 10...

AAMC 11: (9/10/9) for a 28.
AAMC 10: (10/12/13) for a FREAKING 35!

 

[Lokkja]

Any thoughts on taking AAMC 9-11 in reverse order? I plan on taking AAMC 11 in 30 minutes, unless someone stops me.

I suggest it. 11 Demolished me and I think it had a combination to do with being nothing like 3-8. The 10 I took today seemed pretty similar to 11, the differences being VR was a tad easier (but harder curve) and the BS passages were less convoluted (By convoluted I don't necessarily mean less difficult, I think they were just better written.)

 

[Rhino1000]

I suggest it. 11 Demolished me and I think it had a combination to do with being nothing like 3-8. The 10 I took today seemed pretty similar to 11, the differences being VR was a tad easier (but harder curve) and the BS passages were less convoluted (By convoluted I don't necessarily mean less difficult, I think they were just better written.)

Well, I did it, and scored 36 with a 14 on PS. Felt like I crashed/lost focus somewhere about halfway through VR, but overall, definitely not displeased with this. I look forward to AAMC10 in three days (might take it in two, instead).

So I just finished writing AAMC 10...

AAMC 11: (9/10/9) for a 28.
AAMC 10: (10/12/13) for a FREAKING 35!

Wow! Excellent improvement, what do you think was responsible for this?

 

[Lokkja]

Well, I did it, and scored 36 with a 14 on PS. Felt like I crashed/lost focus somewhere about halfway through VR, but overall, definitely not displeased with this. I look forward to AAMC10 in three days (might take it in two, instead).




Wow! Excellent improvement, what do you think was responsible for this?

Every time I've done verbal I've been on the upper limit of 11 (except 10 which had a lot of ambiguity), so I finally broke that barrier today - I started using TBRBio's advice for erbal, I can't assume it was the reason I did better, but I found it more natural way of approaching the VR, of the three I got wrong, two of them I was debating down to the last minute over and both of them I went against my intuition and got wrong, I thnk I've just gota figure out when to trust that intuition and when not to.

PS I've been getting 9's since AAMC 5, but I spent two weeks focusing on BS, and only started reviewing PS last week, so I think the final 10 is just evidence that reviewing the concepts everyday is making me more consistent.

For BS I think a part of it had to do with my attitude answering questions. On 11 I thought the questions were more complicated than they actually were, this time I just told myself the answer is simple - the cause and effects are all there, just don't get bogged down by the at times unnecessary complicated details. The experiments definitely seemed like their methods were more easy to identify whereas in 11 the experiments seemed purposely complicated, which can easily distract you. I think the real thing will be harder than this one, but I've heard from others that it's the discretes that are particularly more difficult, not the passages. I don't see any reason why I can't score an 11+.

 

[Rhino1000]

Every time I've done verbal I've been on the upper limit of 11 (except 10 which had a lot of ambiguity), so I finally broke that barrier today - I started using TBRBio's advice for erbal, I can't assume it was the reason I did better, but I found it more natural way of approaching the VR, of the three I got wrong, two of them I was debating down to the last minute over and both of them I went against my intuition and got wrong, I thnk I've just gota figure out when to trust that intuition and when not to.

PS I've been getting 9's since AAMC 5, but I spent two weeks focusing on BS, and only started reviewing PS last week, so I think the final 10 is just evidence that reviewing the concepts everyday is making me more consistent.

For BS I think a part of it had to do with my attitude answering questions. On 11 I thought the questions were more complicated than they actually were, this time I just told myself the answer is simple - the cause and effects are all there, just don't get bogged down by the at times unnecessary complicated details. The experiments definitely seemed like their methods were more easy to identify whereas in 11 the experiments seemed purposely complicated, which can easily distract you. I think the real thing will be harder than this one, but I've heard from others that it's the discretes that are particularly more difficult, not the passages. I don't see any reason why I can't score an 11+.

I've never scored above 11 on VR (good job!), and am only hoping for an 11 on the real deal. We'll see how it goes though. My problem is actually the speed. I wonder if I spend too much time debating to myself on Q's, or else if it's that I'm reading too slowly. I'm going to have to pay attention to that on my last two AAMCs.

I wonder if I made similar mistakes on 11. A couple of the passages were definitely fairly difficult. Thanks for the reply!

 

[poop420]

dam spend all my money on MCAT stuff. School starts in a couple of weeks and cannot add a piece of clothing to my wardrobe *sigh* .... Back to focusing on whats really important

 

[lazyindy]

I do have my quirks and an obsession for biology but it was really refreshing to actually enjoy reading BR bio after a week of boring PS. Haha yes I'm wierd.