Staying Positive

[OrdinaryDO]

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Hey, it has been a little bit since I have been around this board. I just wanted to say to those of you who are still dreaming to be the next physician, keep on keepin' on.

Really, though, I am here to say a few words about my average day prepping for this rugged new MCAT, keeping up with school and a full time job, and still managing to have some sort of life (right?).

I am a senior, 5th year undergraduate student, awaiting to take the new MCAT 2015. I took a gap year to get my situations in life all straightened out and I moved universities in the process. This MCAT is the only thing keeping me from starting a new life, away from the undergraduate rush and money stress and into the world of serving our people at the highest level. If you are excited as I am, then you shouldn't have much of a problem keeping your motivation up for this MCAT...yeah, who am I kidding, this test prep will ware anyone down.

Anyways, on to my main point. I know there are "Official MCAT...blah blah" threads out there, but, to me the DO section is more that just another spot to post a universal thread, I see DO's as a different breed of physicians, the blue collar physicians who can mostly relate to the stresses of hardship and working your ass off for even the tiniest of things. Now, not to take away from the allopathic field, but this is just how I have molded my feelings based on my experiences shadowing, working in a hospital, and most importantly being a patient of many DO's. So, I leave you with this, if anyone is studying for the MCAT and just wants to sort of keep in touch with me or anyone else on here, that would be amazing and motivational at the same time. I, for one, am going to be posting updates on a regular basis, hopefully. *fingers crossed*

As of now, I am trying to build up my strengths in physics and gen chem. since it has been so long since I have taken them in class. It is seemingly hard for me to remember equations in a quick enough manner to really make noticable progress. As for biology and biochemistry, I am just reviewing and I do quite well on the review sections for both of them. I do believe I need to memorize the Amino Acids and polarity/charge of each AA, but we will see how it plays out. My verbal reasoning has looked promising, while I am not betting on my scores so far, I have scored a 10 three times in a row now. My first VR was a 10 and the trend has stuck. I am about to start my 4th VR test a little later today. Lastly, Sociology and Psychology are a pain in the ass. I decided to take up a Social Psychology class to help supplement the knowledge I had lost over the years, and so far many of the terms seem ambiguous and daunting. It definitley is NOT my favorite section of the MCAT.

My materiala are as follows:

Gen Chem. - Berkley Review
Physics - Berkley Review
Biology and BioChem - Kaplan
CARS - Exam Krackers
Sociology and Psychology - NextStep

Thank you to all of you who took the time to read this thread, and with any luck maybe I will meet a few nice/motivated future testers.

Best of Luck, Mike

 

[Goro]

Suggest that you change your screen name to OrdinaryDO?

 

[OrdinaryDO]

Lol, I knew someone would mention that. I made this screen name a while back just to get on and get going. Had no intention of sticking with it at first. I will see what I can do, though. The irony :\

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

I did the same thing as you. Took a fifth year, spent my spring semester studying for the MCAT, working, shadowing, etc. Its tough but its such a small piece of time in your life, you can do it.

Just do as many practice problems as you can. If I could go back and do it again, I would have spent a heck of a lot less time reading about the topics (passive) so that I could spend my time physically doing mountains and mountains of practice problems along side the AAMC practices tests. You will learn about the science via doing practice problems, and you will get your speed and confidence up too which never hurts.

 

[OrdinaryDO]

Thank you, Awesome Saucesome, I do have a question if anyone is willing to give a little input.

I have heard from nearly every person who has taken the MCAT that they wished they had spent a lot more time doing actual practice problems and practice tests, and for that I am thoroughly convinced it is probably a very good strategy, BUT, does the MCAT material vary a great deal as far as what topics they test on? I ask this, because, what if I spend an enormous time doing practices and very little time going through review material and I get to the test only to find out I am terrible at a certain category? Does that seem plausible, or am I just overthinking the situation?

 

[NeuroMaster316]

Do NOT and I mean DO NOT underestimate content review. A lot of people go on test day, sit in the comfy chair of doom, begin the test, feel the test is completely unfair and testing topics they never heard of, then cry and complain. You know what most of these people have in common? Bad prep. You might think that doing as much practice as possible is the best way to go but that's unwise for a couple of reasons:

1- No amount of exercises can cover all the concepts in all the possible different ways they can be asked
2- Understanding a concept allows you to manipulate it comfortably in your head and thus avoid panicking when it's presented in a weird way in the exam.

Now I'm not saying everyone who did bad didn't study properly, but I'm just telling you one of the major mistakes people commit. Add to that the fact that the new MCAT will focus more on critical thinking and analysis, meaning if you didn't adequately study your subjects you're most probably doomed.
Now I'm not saying don't do any practice either but make sure you nail down the concepts first while simultaneously practicing.
BTW I would use an old edition of Princeton for bio and Berkeley for biochem (incorporated into bio and orgo books).

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

Thank you, Awesome Saucesome, I do have a question if anyone is willing to give a little input.

I have heard from nearly every person who has taken the MCAT that they wished they had spent a lot more time doing actual practice problems and practice tests, and for that I am thoroughly convinced it is probably a very good strategy, BUT, does the MCAT material vary a great deal as far as what topics they test on? I ask this, because, what if I spend an enormous time doing practices and very little time going through review material and I get to the test only to find out I am terrible at a certain category? Does that seem plausible, or am I just overthinking the situation?

It can vary a great deal as far as what topics they test on. There were things on my MCAT that I never even imagined could have been tested. But again, thats why the cure is practice. The more you practice and run into challenging topics (that you might not expect) the more comfortable you will be when you go to sit for the real deal. I would argue that the practice IS review. You dont see med students just reading review stuff and reading textbooks 24/7 for their boards; they are going through massive question banks (thousands of questions -sometimes multiple times) and using the review sources as a way to check wrong answers and strengthen concepts that they are rough on.

After doing thousands of practice problems you will have effectively run into any type of topic that would be on there. You will know where your weak spots are. After you do a chunk of practice problems, go through them and read up on the topics that you were getting wrong. THAT is the way to do it. What I did was to go through the review books and basically read them from to cover, try and remember it all, then doing all the practice tests - that is absolutely the wrong way to do it. THAT is how you pass a college exam, not the MCAT. Its not necessarily a knowledge based test at its core. I mean obviously you need to have some core stuff before you start testing, but again, the majority of your "review" will come from looking into details after getting problems wrong.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

The key point from Neuro that I would highlight is "make sure you nail down the concepts first while simultaneously practicing." Your review-to-practice ration should probably be like roughly 50/50. Do them both at the same time. Dont just read the stuff, answer a few problems and then move on. Dont try and save all of the knowledge/content up for the AAMC full lengths. Solidify the knowledge with practice.

 

[NeuroMaster316]

@Awesome Sauceome while I can see your point, I really have to disagree about how practice problems cover everything. First, the MCAT IS knowledge based as in it will test your understanding of a subject and that understanding, while can be tested in a lot of ways in practice problems, must first be mastered through good ole review books.

Secondly, I highly disagree with your comparison to med students as that's an entirely different thing. The MCAT is in reality an exam that tests basic concepts in complex ways, so you do need to focus primarily on the content review. Don't believe me? check out the different MCAT threads where people are blindsided by the questions. Is that due to lack of practice or lack of conceptual understanding of a subject?

But I agree on the solidifying knowledge with practice.

That's my opinion anyway.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

@Awesome Sauceome while I can see your point, I really have to disagree about how practice problems cover everything. First, the MCAT IS knowledge based as in it will test your understanding of a subject and that understanding, while can be tested in a lot of ways in practice problems, must first be mastered through good ole review books.

Secondly, I highly disagree with your comparison to med students as that's an entirely different thing. The MCAT is in reality an exam that tests basic concepts in complex ways, so you do need to focus primarily on the content review. Don't believe me? check out the different MCAT threads where people are blindsided by the questions. Is that due to lack of practice or lack of conceptual understanding of a subject?

But I agree on the solidifying knowledge with practice.

That's my opinion anyway.

I mean obviously you have to physically know the material... You cant solve physics problems if you dont have the equations memorized or you dont know how to use them. The same applies to all sections...

And yes they are indeed different things, I agree. Boards require dramatically more knowledge and memorization and not as much complex thinking from what I hear. But the only way to get used to those complex problems is by actually doing them. You dont get good at performing complex problems by reading a textbook. You get good by doing tons of them in slightly different ways until you are rounded for most situations.

We will probably disagree until the sun goes down. For all I know you may have done too much practice and then realized you needed more review. On the other hand I did too much review and not enough practice. We are sort of bound by our own biases heh... But either way, I stand by what I said above. The OP can do whatever with them, its no skin off my back, different strokes for different folkes.

 

[OrdinaryDO]

what I have been doing is reading a chapter out of the bio and doing the practice exam after each one, then I check every answer even if I got it right and I figure out my strong and weak points. As for doing actual practice problems, would you guys recommend the AAMC practice bundle or do you know of anything better?

 

[NeuroMaster316]

I mean obviously you have to physically know the material... You cant solve physics problems if you dont have the equations memorized or you dont know how to use them. The same applies to all sections...

........

Hah yes let's agree to disagree.
I actually took the content review approach first backed by proper practice of course.

 

[Awesome Sauceome]

I don't know specifically for the AAMC bundle (not sure what that is). But obviously the AAMC tests are your best gauge for where you are at so save them until you are ready. (Ie as neuro is suggesting, until you are essentially done content review).

I found the Berkeley practice problems were super challenging and solid. But the problem with them is they are obviously on paper. Some people will claim it's better to practice like you play - in this case finding a series of practice problems online. All the same, I wished I used Berkeley more. My first physics problem I distinctly remember being very challenging and at that moment wished I had pushed myself more with them.

 

[OrdinaryDO]

I will look into the BR practice questions. I have been doing some diagnostic tests based on mainly free-standing questions and if what they say is trustworthy, then I am above the "average" mark on most of my stuff. I want to keep my verbal reasoning skills going for sure, as well as the sociology and psychology sections. It seems like the scoring system the AAMC has now closely resembles that of the LSAT scoring system.

 

[YourMD]

I have two words for you " Chad's videos" Use them!

 

[OrdinaryDO]

I have two words for you " Chad's videos" Use them!

Chad's videos? are you referring to MCAT Wiki videos?

 

[IslandStyle808]

Chad's videos? are you referring to MCAT Wiki videos?

No it is different. The MCAT wiki videos are free and are pretty good. Chads videos focuses on test prep for different tests (dental, med school, etc.), but is extremely good for MCAT chemistry, physics, and o-chem. You need to pay for the videos though.

 

[YourMD]

Chad's videos? are you referring to MCAT Wiki videos?

I spent 4 months studying with traditional materials ie Berkeley prep, Exam krackers, with minimal improvement. It wasn't until I discovered Chads videos that i really started to improve my practice test scores. Check out Coursesaver.com. Again, I highly recommend them.

 

[WastedTime]

I strongly second all of chad's content... it was my sole resource for my MCAT studying aside from practice questions from a bank online (which i forgot). I do want to add that I did have a strong foundation in all of the subjects beforehand so it was kinda of like a review but only focusing on topics that were mentioned on the AAMC list. He really gives good tips and tricks that will help you solve questions much faster and approximate answers so that you can work much quicker through problems. best money i ever spent to be honest

 

[OrdinaryDO]

Had a pretty rough weekend with work and whatnot. I took my first social psychology exam last Thursday and received an A. I have 3 exams this week in Calculus (Yeah, calculus, as a senior), Organic Chem, and Evolutionary Bio. I am trying to fit in my MCAT studying, but it can be a daunting task at times. I wanted to ask a general question..Do you all take notes when studying for the MCAT or do you just taken notes when you do your practice questions and record what you missed? I, personally, have been taking many notes..but, I rarely look at them unless I miss something on a practice test or review questions. Not sure if I am spending my time adequately or if I need to re-evaluate how I am studying.

 

[OrdinaryDO]

Okay, I went to coursesaver looked up the videos. They are kind of expensive given the payments are monthly reoccurring..but, I figured I will give him a try since my physics is rusty as ever.

 

[YourMD]

Okay, I went to coursesaver looked up the videos. They are kind of expensive given the payments are monthly reoccurring..but, I figured I will give him a try since my physics is rusty as ever.

Great decision, you will not regret spending the cash. Good luck!

 

[NonTrad16]

Had a pretty rough weekend with work and whatnot. I took my first social psychology exam last Thursday and received an A. I have 3 exams this week in Calculus (Yeah, calculus, as a senior), Organic Chem, and Evolutionary Bio. I am trying to fit in my MCAT studying, but it can be a daunting task at times. I wanted to ask a general question..Do you all take notes when studying for the MCAT or do you just taken notes when you do your practice questions and record what you missed? I, personally, have been taking many notes..but, I rarely look at them unless I miss something on a practice test or review questions. Not sure if I am spending my time adequately or if I need to re-evaluate how I am studying.

I'm still in my content review phase, but I am taking a lot of notes. Using the prep materials, the material is pretty condensed already but I make an effort to write the most important pieces down. For my organic and biochem courses (post-bac) I'm weeding out a lot of extraneous bits for my MCAT prep. I need to do something active when reading or else there's no chance I'll remember any of it. Furthermore, it will serve as a short stack of material to study as I review material later. (Easier to take away a section of notes than constantly ignore sections of a review book once you've got it 100%.)

 

[OrdinaryDO]

I have watched his first 3 videos of physics (my worst subject by far) and he seems pretty good. I have noticed some things he does differently that makes the math much easier and faster, but he also skips a few very easy and quick tricks to keep from having to work some of the problems out. I think I will really enjoy this guy.

 

[thestrugglingtraveler]

You should stop going to parties and getting drunk, and study instead. Why is partying so important for you?

 

[OrdinaryDO]

You should stop going to parties and getting drunk, and study instead. Why is partying so important for you?

Who are you talking about?