The Berkeley Review -- Gen Chem scores

[Revilla]

Is anyone else getting trounced on TBR Chem? I've only completed two lectures/question sets, but I'm scoring in the mid-60s (percentage-wise) -- in the 7-9 range (MCAT score-wise). How is everyone else doing? I'm really concerned.

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[J ROD]

Is anyone else getting trounced on TBR Chem? I've only completed two lectures/question sets, but I'm scoring in the mid-60s (percentage-wise) -- in the 7-9 range (MCAT score-wise). How is everyone else doing? I'm really concerned.

TBR is harder. I averaged a 10-11 mostly with a few sections in the 7-9 range.

I would give you a 9-10 on the real one. Still hard to say though.

You are fine. Just put in the work and learn to think the MCAT way.

 

[BerkReviewTeach]

Is anyone else getting trounced on TBR Chem? I've only completed two lectures/question sets, but I'm scoring in the mid-60s (percentage-wise) -- in the 7-9 range (MCAT score-wise). How is everyone else doing? I'm really concerned.

Mid-60s is great. If you are getting 65 on average, you should pace out to be a 10 to 11 on the PS on the real MCAT.

The reality about the books are that 10 of the 100 questions in each section are wtf questions designed to make students miss them, so that they review the explanation.

What I used to tell my students was to redo the questions you miss and determine how many were careless mistakes, how many were misreads, and how many were the result of lacking information. If you were to get half to two-thirds of those questions correct, see what score that would give you. If it's a descent score, then you are good and know the section well enough to move on.

Lastly, the first section in every book is a bit over the top to get students into the flow. You'll notice a big improvement when you get to the Equilibrium and Acid-Base chapters.

And feel free to post any questions in the Q and A section. That can be a big help.

 

[Revilla]

Thanks for the reassurance! I hope you're both right.

 

[J ROD]

Thanks for the reassurance! I hope you're both right.

It is just averages I have seen and personal experience. GL!

 

[Revilla]

Lastly, the first section in every book is a bit over the top to get students into the flow. You'll notice a big improvement when you get to the Equilibrium and Acid-Base chapters.

I did worse on the Equilibrium chapter. I definitely need to revisit that one. AB's next.

 

[Ari1584]

I did worse on the Equilibrium chapter. I definitely need to revisit that one. AB's next.

I too did worse on the equilibrium chapter...i thought it was pretty tough!

 

[Revilla]

I too did worse on the equilibrium chapter...i thought it was pretty tough!

I'm so glad I'm not alone! I was beginning to lose confidence because I thought it was just me.

 

[csmittyB]

Is anyone else getting trounced on TBR Chem? I've only completed two lectures/question sets, but I'm scoring in the mid-60s (percentage-wise) -- in the 7-9 range (MCAT score-wise). How is everyone else doing? I'm really concerned.

Don't worry about the whole 7-9 MCAT score based on one section. One chapter review score DOES NOT correlate to an MCAT score. Don't forget that the MCAT PS section has GChem and Physics and not all the material will be covered so the whole Ch review score/MCAT correlation is stupid. Review the Q's you missed and understand why you missed them. If you have time, review the Q's you got right and understand why you got those right too. Worry about MCAT correlation when you start taking practice tests.

 

[Malayna]

What I've found so far (I'm currently about halfway done with chapter 3--the equilibrium section) is that I'm doing fine for a while and then one passage really hurts me. So while I'll get 6/7 on a couple of passages, but when I get a 2/7, it hurts my overall score for the chapter.

I'm not that worried about it, because my teacher (who is the same person who wrote the book) says that it's about how you would do if you did the passage again. I review my mistakes and redo the questions I miss, taking copious notes on how I'm doing it. If I struggle the second time I do the question, then I'll ask him about it in office hours. So while a 2/7 never feels good, I know after everything that I'm doing okay.

And just like csmitty says, the scores from the book don't tell you much about how the real test will go. What Todd (my gen chem teacher) recommended was to not worry at all about the chapter scores, and use the passages to determine what types of questions I miss and what subjects I need more work on. He actually recommended not doing all of the passages in some chapters if I was doing well (to avoid wasting time reviewing material that is already well reviewed).

 

[Revilla]

So how's everyone doing on the Gen Chem passages now? The last passage in thermodynamics was a killer. I'm almost finished with kinetics and one more section to go! YAY! I have a feeling I'll be revisiting both equilibrium and thermodynamics passages before test day.

 

[dray5150]

I agree equilibrium passages are really hard. I'm about half way through them and I'm not sure I'm going to be able to break 50%. I'm glad that other people are having trouble with them.

 

[crazymedgirl]

I'm also wondering how representative the BR chem scores are of reality.
I'm averaging 72-75 correct out of 100 on each of the tests, which I think falls into their 10-12 range. Their curve actually seems high to me...

Does this mean I can expect to stay consistently around this range on the real thing?

 

[GangGreen]

I'm also wondering how representative the BR chem scores are of reality.
I'm averaging 72-75 correct out of 100 on each of the tests, which I think falls into their 10-12 range. Their curve actually seems high to me...

Does this mean I can expect to stay consistently around this range on the real thing?

Those are some great scores! Keep it up.

 

[rocketbooster]

I'm also wondering how representative the BR chem scores are of reality.
I'm averaging 72-75 correct out of 100 on each of the tests, which I think falls into their 10-12 range. Their curve actually seems high to me...

Does this mean I can expect to stay consistently around this range on the real thing?

yeah, that was about my % correct per chapter in both the chem and physics books, too. i've been getting 12-13s on all my PS practice tests.

I also got similar scores for the ochem passages. I don't know if you are doing the BR ochem or not. I rarely miss a single ochem question on practice tests! Used to be my weakness and dreaded to see the next passage on the FL as an ochem one. Now, I love coming across ochem because it gives more confidence since I know BR prepped me well and it's guaranteed points.

 

[crazymedgirl]

Thanks rocketbooster

I actually just posted another thread asking what people thought about BR chem...
It seemed kind of like overkill to me, so I was thinking about switching to EK's orgo.

Do you know how it compares to EK's?

 

[rocketbooster]

Thanks rocketbooster

I actually just posted another thread asking what people thought about BR chem...
It seemed kind of like overkill to me, so I was thinking about switching to EK's orgo.

Do you know how it compares to EK's?

I don't know anything about EK. a lot of ppl said BR ochem is overkill, but I like it.

BR is made of 8 chapters. personally, I think the 1-4 and 8 are definitely worth it. 5-7 are more on specific reactions, carbs, and proteins. they're definitely reactions that may show up on the mcat, but i don't know how in depth you need to go on them. I would read all the BR chapters, but don't be too worried about going into depth on the 5-7 ones. for example, #6 is on proteins, I think, and you basically have to memorize all of the amino acids, structures, pKas, etc, in order to work the passages haha. I don't know how necessary that is for the actual MCAT, but it is nice to be able to identify any amino acid based on R group when I see them appear on the real thing. it's not necessary but still helpful knowledge. basically, the MCAT ochem will test on something basic over a specific topic. because of BR, you know 5x more than the passage itself, thus you own.

are the countless hours I spent going through the ochem book and all the passages worth it for the few ochem questions on the MCAT? probably not, but I wanted to maximize my score as much as possible and it definitely has steadily increased my BS score by +1 point haha. made me jump from 10 range to 11-12.

 

[crazymedgirl]

Thanks so much for the detailed response...very helpful

 

[GangGreen]

I totally agree with rocketbooster. Why not review EVERYTHING for the MCAT? Sure, you don't have to memorize all the amino acids but you should have an idea about their general pattern (polar vs non-polar) etc.