TBR so hard!

[zoner]

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I am telling you, some passages in TBR is so freaking hard I want to cry....

 

[angleslam08]

just going to chime in for a sec since i went through all this during last summer:

If you actually searched through the forum you'll see that TBR is already well known to be difficult. People (including myself) will score only 50-60% correct and still wind up with ~12 on the actual thing. Its no surprise, so don't whine about it unless you are trying to make yourself feel better by ranting or w/e. there are plenty of those type of threads. its just rather annoying. lol, suck it up.

 

[ridethecliche]

I think the only proper response to this thread title is :

"That's what she said!"

 

[Bayonetwork]

Im in the middle of this TBR MCAT prep now...my simple take is that the MCAT tests how you THINK.

Finding the logic behind the best answer even if not an entirely correct answer, eliminating poor answers, and the timing of things makes this a test of thought process and not regurgitation of info/concepts in hopes you see a similar question on the MCAT. Finding your flaws in logic or thought process is the main goal and something TBR does well to elucidate.

In this sense, there is some degree of fate to this testing process as some will be better at this than others. This is not to say that hard work will not warrant a better outcome, it by all means should. Where you put your effort in improvement should not be in simply trying to get more answers correct however.

Focus on how and why you are answering the questions the way you are and relate this logic to the concepts being tested which are all fairly basic and should be well understood. Have a solid reason for the answer you choose even if it is just that all the other answers were poor.

 

[zoner]

My point was that it is not useful to worry about whether someone got that score after they reviewed again or not. The fact is that you need to review again, so if someone got a 45 after studying the material once and never reviewing it again, I certainly wouldn't use that as a guideline for me to not review material after working on it.

The OP has started a 'freakout' style of thread pretty often lately, and while that has led to some good discussion on studying tactics, it is my opinion that the OP is looking at datum instead of looking at trends and getting frightened every time a dip happens which is not optimal to doing well.

i agree n none wants to hear me freak out and whine these days.

 

[BestDoctorEver]

just going to chime in for a sec since i went through all this during last summer:

If you actually searched through the forum you'll see that TBR is already well known to be difficult. People (including myself) will score only 50-60% correct and still wind up with ~12 on the actual thing. Its no surprise, so don't whine about it unless you are trying to make yourself feel better by ranting or w/e. there are plenty of those type of threads. its just rather annoying. lol, suck it up.

This gives me hope...I am scoring mostly 60's and 70's on Gen Chem, and I was thinking I might end up with a 7 or less on PS...If what you said happen to most people who use BR, maybe I should calm my nerves. But I am still having a hard time believing that someone who scores consistently in the 50-60% will end up with even 10+ on the real test unless that person is extremely lucky or is a good guesser. Anyway, I will keep pushing the envelope to see if can increase my practice score to 75+ % consistently, which I believe might translate to 10+ on the real deal.

 

[Etorphine]

I am telling you, some passages in TBR is so freaking hard I want to cry....

wahhhhhh

 

[ModernAlchemist]

Stop freaking out. 90% of the people here feel just as intimidated as you while they're studying. Why don't they post threads about? Maybe pride. Maybe they feel embarrassed. Whatever it is, you're not alone. The thing you CAN do is find out what works for you. When TBR passages were killing me, I knew I had to go back and try to understand more. I mean... how many times can you see a projectile motion question ask you about mass and its effect on projectile velocity and still have it trip you up? How many times are you going to be like "oh I know the hormones and how they work. I just forgot for a second." No... you don't know... I'm being harsh because I'm kind of talking to myself here too. If you don't know it immediately off the top of your head, you don't know it. Go back and review the content. Don't look at the answers and just move on. Watch videos. Draw diagrams. Apply it to different scenarios that you yourself make up. THAT is how you up your scores.

I started off missing 5 per passage sometimes in TBR on some sections, but now I rarely get less than 80-85% on a set of 7 passages.

Do you want to buckle down and really learn it or do you want to be an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone? (check the avatar haha)

 

[ilovemcat]

I find that I understand a lot of Physical Science topics well, I'm just not a fast thinker when it comes to finding an approach for a problem. I've done hundreds of Chemistry & Physics problems, and still it could take me a good 30 - 40 seconds to analyze what the question is telling me, and then another 20 to 30 seconds to find the appropriate approach and about another 20 to 30 seconds calculate/select the appropriate answer choice and so for me personally, timing is a major problem for me when doing passages. And the irritating thing about it is that it's really hard to improve. It seems like I've reached my maximum capacity to comprehend and solve the problem. This is what I personally think separates people from low 30s to high 30s. Another problem I have is that I have a little bit of ADHD which is horrible to overcome but it's something I'm learning to deal with.

 

[YouNeverKnow22]

To bring this all back to MCAT terms, think of studying like to an enzyme. Your natural science aptitude is Vmax, while your ability to learn is Km. With no study time, your score (Vo) will be VERY low. With maximal studying, you will approximate your Vmax (but never actually reach it). Beware of competitive inhibitors (friends, other homework); noncompetitive inhibitors (your girlfriend, who will take over your life regardless of whether you need to study or not); and uncompetitive inhibitors (anxiety, illness).

We all begin at some level and our scores on practice exams, passages, etc. correlate with where we begin and end. Yes, there is bound to be improvement, but realize that the improvement you will make is directly related to your ability. It's not like the TBR books are some magic stuff that's going to suddenly make a radical change in your science abilities.

nice biochem reference

I started studying end of January and basically spent a month "studying wrong" I would haphazardly go through the chapters, do like 2 passages and move on, retaining zero information. FINALLY as of beginning of this week I started a new method. Read a chapter and take minimal notes on one sheet to stay "active" in my learning. Then do 3-4 passages, grade my work and for EVERY problem write the concept that was tested. Then write the concepts on my notes page again. This is helping ALOT because you will notice a trend and what concepts you need to hammer home. Take with a grain of salt everyone learns different, but I feel like this has been effective for me.

 

[Etorphine]

To bring this all back to MCAT terms, think of studying like to an enzyme. Your natural science aptitude is Vmax, while your ability to learn is Km. With no study time, your score (Vo) will be VERY low. With maximal studying, you will approximate your Vmax (but never actually reach it). Beware of competitive inhibitors (friends, other homework); noncompetitive inhibitors (your girlfriend, who will take over your life regardless of whether you need to study or not); and uncompetitive inhibitors (anxiety, illness).

We all begin at some level and our scores on practice exams, passages, etc. correlate with where we begin and end. Yes, there is bound to be improvement, but realize that the improvement you will make is directly related to your ability. It's not like the TBR books are some magic stuff that's going to suddenly make a radical change in your science abilities.

Genius. Although I do think there are ways to increase your natural aptitude in a short amount of time without training or learning (this actually happens to be what I do my research on), but not so inclined to freely share this information on SDN in this application cycle. Perhaps I'll post about this technique after this application cycle is over.

 

[BWSTW]

Genius. Although I do think there are ways to increase your natural aptitude in a short amount of time without training or learning (this actually happens to be what I do my research on), but not so inclined to freely share this information on SDN in this application cycle. Perhaps I'll post about this technique after this application cycle is over.

🙄

 

[ridethecliche]

Genius. Although I do think there are ways to increase your natural aptitude in a short amount of time without training or learning (this actually happens to be what I do my research on), but not so inclined to freely share this information on SDN in this application cycle. Perhaps I'll post about this technique after this application cycle is over.

"It's like steroids! FOR YOUR BRAIN!"

 

[dougkaye]

TBR rocks first of all. Second of all, I just got rocked on Orgo Ch. 7 which sucks because orgo is supposed to be one of my better subjects. I got 4.0 in orgo 1 and 2. But I did find Ch. 7 to be full of information and moreover the passages to be really challenging. I am using the phasing in Sn2ed's post (gives me more practice that way.) I got a 64% on that set (20/31) - P. 1,4,7,10 + two stand-alones. I guess the only thing to do is pick up the pieces, go over the mistakes carefully and then learn the material as well as possible... but MAN those were tough. there was one answer that I didn't agree with, the others were fine though. Lesson: acid-base chemistry is tough and is also high-yield. OK back to work!