Some motivation for those who are struggling

[7ec13]

I just finished the Princeton Review hyperlearning course about a week ago and thought I'd share my experience in case there are people in a similar situation. Some background: just finished my undergrad in psychology, so I haven't taken basic science courses since first year (except a few anatomy electives). Going through the PR course, it was overwhelming how much info there was to absorb in a short amount of time, and all the practice tests and passages left me feeling really stupid and hopeless. Seemed like there was no way I could get a good score. But, there is hope!

Tests so far:
AAMC 10 (after 1 week of the course): 26 (8/11/7) <--- surprised by verbal, this entire test was basically a long guessing game for me
TPR 1 (after 3 weeks): 22 (6/8/8) <---- ("WHAT?! shouldn't I be improving?!")
TPR 2 (after 4 weeks): 23 (6/8/9) <---- ("well, some improvement at least")
TPR 3 (right after finishing the course): 28 (8/9/11)
TPR 4 (after reviewing all content again): 32 (10/9/13) <--- ("what? this has to be a joke! no way I scored above 30!")
TPR 5 (today): 31 (10/9/12)

Basically during the course I felt like achieving anything above 30 would take some kind of miracle, but it actually is possible! So for those who are struggling now with all the self-doubt and whatnot just know that it does get better (you just may have to be a bit patient ). Obviously I'm not scoring super high like most of the SDNers on here but it's nice to know that after all that work there's been some improvement.

Hoping the last two tests weren't flukes haha. Starting the AAMC tests in a couple days. Does anyone know how these compare to the TPR tests? Taking the MCAT on 7/27, so hoping the upward trend continues, and especially for some improvement in verbal...

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[conquer]

This is super awesome to hear! I've heard TPR tests are HARDER than AAMC. The style is different though.

How did you improve bio? I really need help with that.

 

[Temperature101]

TPR PS is a pain

 

[maybemed2013]

I have a question about TPR MCAT...... Are the TPR mcat only testing information that you already reviewed in the course. For example TPR 1 was one week after the course begun... does that MCAT only have info from week 1?

 

[7ec13]

I have a question about TPR MCAT...... Are the TPR mcat only testing information that you already reviewed in the course. For example TPR 1 was one week after the course begun... does that MCAT only have info from week 1?

Ugh no it was everything. Which was partly why it was so frustrating; we hadn't even learned most of the stuff yet that they were testing us on. As the course goes on you learn more of the stuff, but then you've forgotten the stuff from the beginning, cause there's no time to review with all the homework they give... I didn't start to see much improvement till I did a big comprehensive content review at the end of the course.

 

[7ec13]

This is super awesome to hear! I've heard TPR tests are HARDER than AAMC. The style is different though.

How did you improve bio? I really need help with that.

For bio, I just reviewed EVERYTHING that they taught in the course and the tests actually don't go as much in detail as the notes/textbook, so even if you don't know every last detail (I definitely don't!) you can still do decently. It's more the organic chem stuff that I'm having trouble with, I can't remember all the reactions!

 

[7ec13]

TPR PS is a pain

Agreed. I always felt like crap after I finished that section. Hoping the AAMC ones will be better!

 

[sciencebooks]

You might get a reallllly pleasant surprise before your exam! In the month before my MCAT, I took a two TPR exams and was so discouraged (I'd done some before, but was okay with the lower scores due to not knowing all the material) but then took my next AAMC... Went up NINE points on the first one and then pretty much consistently hit higher than that nine point increase. I don't think most people have that huge of a discrepancy but you'll probably like the results, .

 

[slwnstdy]

You might get a reallllly pleasant surprise before your exam! In the month before my MCAT, I took a two TPR exams and was so discouraged (I'd done some before, but was okay with the lower scores due to not knowing all the material) but then took my next AAMC... Went up NINE points on the first one and then pretty much consistently hit higher than that nine point increase. I don't think most people have that huge of a discrepancy but you'll probably like the results, .

7EC13/Sciencebooks: any thoughts or advice for the TPR course?

I am currently enrolled. Starting my 3rd week. Took my first practice test this weekend.

 

[DoctorForLifeMD]

I just finished the Princeton Review hyperlearning course about a week ago and thought I'd share my experience in case there are people in a similar situation. Some background: just finished my undergrad in psychology, so I haven't taken basic science courses since first year (except a few anatomy electives). Going through the PR course, it was overwhelming how much info there was to absorb in a short amount of time, and all the practice tests and passages left me feeling really stupid and hopeless. Seemed like there was no way I could get a good score. But, there is hope!

Tests so far:
AAMC 10 (after 1 week of the course): 26 (8/11/7) <--- surprised by verbal, this entire test was basically a long guessing game for me
TPR 1 (after 3 weeks): 22 (6/8/8) <---- ("WHAT?! shouldn't I be improving?!")
TPR 2 (after 4 weeks): 23 (6/8/9) <---- ("well, some improvement at least")
TPR 3 (right after finishing the course): 28 (8/9/11)
TPR 4 (after reviewing all content again): 32 (10/9/13) <--- ("what? this has to be a joke! no way I scored above 30!")
TPR 5 (today): 31 (10/9/12)

Basically during the course I felt like achieving anything above 30 would take some kind of miracle, but it actually is possible! So for those who are struggling now with all the self-doubt and whatnot just know that it does get better (you just may have to be a bit patient ). Obviously I'm not scoring super high like most of the SDNers on here but it's nice to know that after all that work there's been some improvement.

Hoping the last two tests weren't flukes haha. Starting the AAMC tests in a couple days. Does anyone know how these compare to the TPR tests? Taking the MCAT on 7/27, so hoping the upward trend continues, and especially for some improvement in verbal...

Ya I too am struggling with Verbal, any tips? On EK Verbal I am getting 10s but on TPR 1 I got a 7 and TPR 2 got a 5! Idk what is up...my overall scores are: TPR 1 8/7/14 and TPR 2 was 11/5/10....my test is August 23rd....any tips for verbal? I feel as though I am always 50/50 and I can NEVER get to the last passage without having only like 4-5 minutes left....AHH Verbal!