rysr.
Congrats👍 on good scores,
wanted to get your feedback on the following:
1. How long did you review the content for the MCAT?
2. How far ahead of the MCAT date did you start taking the practice exams.
3. What did you use for the practices? I am looking at the EK 1001 Bio/Chem/Orgo, any opinion on them? My verbals suck like a sump pump, started to do the EK 101, improved a bit, but still at 6/7s.
4. In retrospect, are the AMCS practice exams, any thing like the real stuff?
Thanks a bunch.
okay...i am back for round 2 of this question.
😡
1. First off, the material i used for content review was kaplans premier program book. its one fat book with all the sections that costs about 80 bucks. I started reviewing biology during my winter break, altho just briefly and i didnt have a set schedule. The real set schedule started when i got back to school in late January (i think the 25th or something). From then on I did content review two days a week (Tue/Thurs) from 830am til about 2-230 with a 1 hour lunch break. I did that until about May 7th or 8th when my finals were over and I started doing MCAT stuff every day, whether it be content review or taking a practice test.
2. I took the free AAMC #3 on April 8th just to see where I was at and I scored a 24. It was clear i needed to do more content review/practice strategy so i continued to do so. I went in to full practice test mode in early May. I took AAMC tests on May 6th, 10th, 13th, 16th, and 23rd. I also took two kaplan tests at some point during that stretch (they sell a book that consists solely of two practice tests). After each test, I reviewed the solutions and the ones i got wrong and did brief content review I felt i was shaky on something.
3. To be honest i didnt do much practice beyond the AAMC and Kaplan tests that I took. I did buy EK 1001 for physics and chemistry b/c those were goin to be my hardest sections, but I didnt end up dion very many problems in them. I did about 300 or 400 in the chemistry book and not very many at all in the physics. I didnt buy the EK bio b/c it was my best subject and didnt feel i needed it. I would reocmmend EK 101 for verbal tho, which yuo already said you have. It was very helpful and much like the length and content of the real deal. My verbal was consistently 7/8 while practicing, but a few weeks before i changed my strategy and started doin a better (consitsent 9s) and i ended up with a 9. If you'd like me to tell how I approached the VR section just PM me and i'd be happy to tell you. It may not work for you, but thats why you practice so that you can figure out the ways that work best.
4. Altho this isn't a popular opinion on SDN, i felt that AAMC was very much like the actual test. IMO it could have been AAMC#11. I walked out feeling like I did on par with my practice tests. It was completely predictable in terms of difficulty, lenght of passages, etc. THere were some hard questions, some impossible questions, and some easy questions, just like AAMC. I felt totally prepared and was not surprised by anything. And it ended up working out in the end as I fell within my range of AAMC tests. i definitely recommend taking as many AAMCs as you can. Keep in mind that even the people that complain how the real deal is way harder still end up scoring with in their practice range (for the most part). So if you feel like it was way harder, dont worry b/c you still probably did okay. I think most people complain how the real MCAT is so much harder b/c of nervousness and test-day jitters. My mindset was "this is just another practice test. you've been studyin hard, now go rock this thing." I walked in as if i was taking AAMC#11 and thats how it seemed the entire time. I was very relaxed and i think i performed to the best of my ability because of it.
hope this helps. PM me if you have any other questions.
LONG LIVE 5/27 MCAT club
