The Official 3/23/13 MCAT Thread

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Redpancreas

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Figured I'd start this one out. I'll be registering for the MCAT first thing tomorrow. Who else is taking it on this date? How do you all plan on studying over the school year?
 
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Captain Sisko said:
So what's the bee in your bonnet? Usually mods don't really have those kinds of outbursts and in the past you seem to have been pretty reasonable. Maybe you just had a bad day or something? Whatever it is I hope everything's going alright!
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I don't consider that an outburst. I was responding in a measured way to a comment I found insulting and intended as such.


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gettheleadout said:
And you base this on?

Edit: Let me preempt a response. Do you think I haven't considered the issue of time? I've specifically chosen courses with the interest of time outside of class in mind. You don't know what those 16 hours are composed of, you don't know the nature of my teaching job, and you don't know what amount of free time I typically have that I can devote to MCAT prep. I don't appreciate being called naïve by someone who knows nothing about either the nature of my academic performance nor my time management. Please keep your comments to yourself unless you intend to be constructive or open-minded. If it's of real concern to you, check my MDApps in late April and see what score I get.
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Captain Sisko said:
Lol someone sounds stressed. Ctfo man, he was only joshing you
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I base it on experience. Studying for the MCAT is like having a 40 hr a week job especially using SN2 schedule.


.
 
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kgpremed11 said:
I base it on experience. Studying for the MCAT is like having a 40 hr a week job especially using SN2 schedule.


.
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The fact that it takes you 8 hours a day to complete it doesn't mean it does for everyone.

Edit: If you don't believe me, talk to any number of people who study for the MCAT during a normal school semester and score highly. NickNaylor is one that comes to mind right off the bat. The burden varies between people, you can't escape that. So instead of calling me naïve, you could have simply offered a warning and inquired about my course load, whether I had considered the time requirements, etc.
 
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gettheleadout said:
The fact that it takes you 8 hours a day to complete it doesn't mean it does for everyone.

Edit: If you don't believe me, talk to any number of people who study for the MCAT during a normal school semester and score highly. NickNaylor is one that comes to mind right off the bat. The burden varies between people, you can't escape that. So instead of calling me naïve, you could have simply offered a warning and inquired about my course load, whether I had considered the time requirements, etc.
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You're right. I don't know you that well to make assumptions. Maybe you have the heart and determination to get it done. But it will be very, very challenging.

kimicurtis said:
Guys, are the old Kaplan FL's a bad idea? I already have them and did one.
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I have the old Kaplans. Generally Kaplan sucks for verbal, but they are very good with the sciences. Kaplan has a lot of experimental Bio passages, which if you are taking the MCAT nowadays you need all the practice you can get with those.
 
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Meh gettheleadout, no need to get defensive. Just do well and ignore any comments of doubt.
 
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So Im on the 7th day of doing my verbal passages. I'm getting like 3/6, 5/8. and once I got a 2/7..Yikes...I just cant seem to grasp this verbal thing :/ My problem is remembering details while Im reading and time restrictions put me under pressure...Any tips or tricks?!?!? thanks yall!
 
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Jr MD said:
So Im on the 7th day of doing my verbal passages. I'm getting like 3/6, 5/8. and once I got a 2/7..Yikes...I just cant seem to grasp this verbal thing :/ My problem is remembering details while Im reading and time restrictions put me under pressure...Any tips or tricks?!?!? thanks yall!
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You don't need to memorize the details but rather focus on the main point of each paragraph. The MCAT test makers take an article and stitch together different parts of it to create the passage you're reading. If you can figure out the key point that they wanted you to get out of each paragraph, you will have a solid understanding of the passage.

For the next 2 weeks, do the passages with a generous amount of time (10-12 minutes/per passage) and focus on getting the main point of each paragraph. For starters, you can write down a few phrases for each paragraph to help you remember. Once you've developed this habit, you can move away from writing it down and internalize the key points. Gradually as you get more comfortable decrease the time and do more passages per day to build up endurance.

Do heavy analysis after each passage you take. Find out what you missed and why you missed it. There are roughly 10 different question types on the verbal and once you've started logging in mistakes, you might notice you've been missing the same question types!

Lastly, don't give up! Just the other day, I totally botched up a passage as well! It's better to make mistakes now than the actual test date. Hope this helped! 🙂
 
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Okay, I take an absurd amount of time doing the bio and physics passages - what's your strategy for tackling these? Do you jump straight to the questions and refer to the passage when necessary? Do you take notes? I've tried taking these like I would a verbal passage - read the passage, get the main ideas and answer the questions, but inevitably I find myself referring back to the passage and wasting buttloads of time.
 
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asecondtolife said:
Okay, I take an absurd amount of time doing the bio and physics passages - what's your strategy for tackling these? Do you jump straight to the questions and refer to the passage when necessary? Do you take notes? I've tried taking these like I would a verbal passage - read the passage, get the main ideas and answer the questions, but inevitably I find myself referring back to the passage and wasting buttloads of time.
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Depends on the type of passage. For bio passages that have data tables from experiments, I don't look at the data itself until I see a question that asks about the results. That is, I read the whole passage but only glance at data tables when I get to them.
 
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asecondtolife said:
Okay, I take an absurd amount of time doing the bio and physics passages - what's your strategy for tackling these? Do you jump straight to the questions and refer to the passage when necessary? Do you take notes? I've tried taking these like I would a verbal passage - read the passage, get the main ideas and answer the questions, but inevitably I find myself referring back to the passage and wasting buttloads of time.
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I don't read the passages and have been getting >80% in BR generally. If there's a weird question where I'm not able to narrow down the answer choices, I'll skim the passage for info.
 
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ScoobyDooo said:
You don't need to memorize the details but rather focus on the main point of each paragraph. The MCAT test makers take an article and stitch together different parts of it to create the passage you're reading. If you can figure out the key point that they wanted you to get out of each paragraph, you will have a solid understanding of the passage.

For the next 2 weeks, do the passages with a generous amount of time (10-12 minutes/per passage) and focus on getting the main point of each paragraph. For starters, you can write down a few phrases for each paragraph to help you remember. Once you've developed this habit, you can move away from writing it down and internalize the key points. Gradually as you get more comfortable decrease the time and do more passages per day to build up endurance.

Do heavy analysis after each passage you take. Find out what you missed and why you missed it. There are roughly 10 different question types on the verbal and once you've started logging in mistakes, you might notice you've been missing the same question types!

Lastly, don't give up! Just the other day, I totally botched up a passage as well! It's better to make mistakes now than the actual test date. Hope this helped! 🙂
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Helped a ton! Thanks so much!
 
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slz1900 said:
I don't read the passages and have been getting >80% in BR generally. If there's a weird question where I'm not able to narrow down the answer choices, I'll skim the passage for info.
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Good advice. sometimes the passages contain info that is not needed. I sread the questions first and I find that there are some questions that I can answer without looking at the passage. 80% is amazing! where are you at now in your studies??
 
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Jr MD said:
Good advice. sometimes the passages contain info that is not needed. I sread the questions first and I find that there are some questions that I can answer without looking at the passage. 80% is amazing! where are you at now in your studies??
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I'm about 3 weeks in and have been hovering ~80% from the start for phase 1. Honestly I'm surprised I'm scoring what I am because I'm not that great on content, but I find that with BR the content itself is pretty unnecessary in choosing the right answer (for everything but bio where cracking 80% is much more difficult). I'm hoping the AAMCs are the same.
 
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hard to say........ i've studied pretty hard all summer, then i postponed, then took the fall off from studying to focus on my semester, but the classes i took hit mcat topics (bio). i did no PS over the fall but i feel stronger in bio which was what was giving me my troubles. verbal i was doing ok so......... 😛

either way i plan to be done w/content by end of jan at the latest, but will try for sooner.
 
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gettheleadout said:
Anybody else studying tonight on Christmas Eve?
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I was trying to but I just had to stop. I'm at my sisters and my little nephew is 3. I get so frustrated when my family says stuff like "All you do is study". But, if I get a score that's not great and can't get into where I want. Watch them talk ****!

My sister also can't believe that you have to apply a year in advance. I get more work done at my boyfriends! Then when I go to my aunts in a week an study there, she is gonna say I hate her. I'm waking up early tomorrow to get some hours in.

Sorry for my crazy rant! Lol
 
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kimicurtis said:
I was trying to but I just had to stop. I'm at my sisters and my little nephew is 3. I get so frustrated when my family says stuff like "All you do is study". But, if I get a score that's not great and can't get into where I want. Watch them talk ****!

My sister also can't believe that you have to apply a year in advance. I get more work done at my boyfriends! Then when I go to my aunts in a week an study there, she is gonna say I hate her. I'm waking up early tomorrow to get some hours in.

Sorry for my crazy rant! Lol
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I think it's good to vent on here, especially about MCAT stuff (obviously, given this thread hah). But just mention to them how expensive the test is, not to mention prep materials! Maybe they'll see the value in putting several hundred (or more) dollars of material to good use.
 
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gettheleadout said:
Oh man I hope he doesn't mean TBR Bio Ch.2... TBR's stuff on metabolic pathways is RIDICULOUS.

If it's EK, that's not that bad of a reading. 🙂
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So are you doing the BR Bio readings or the EK Bio readings? I know BR goes into some serious depth BUT I was thinking that depth could help out...EK seemed too general...but what do I know right? hahaha what do you think??
 
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Jr MD said:
So are you doing the BR Bio readings or the EK Bio readings? I know BR goes into some serious depth BUT I was thinking that depth could help out...EK seemed too general...but what do I know right? hahaha what do you think??
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EK is good if you for sure know the material and just need a refresher. If you dont know it then you wont even know that you dont know it when you hear it. I hope that makes sense.
 
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gettheleadout said:
I think it's good to vent on here, especially about MCAT stuff (obviously, given this thread hah). But just mention to them how expensive the test is, not to mention prep materials! Maybe they'll see the value in putting several hundred (or more) dollars of material to good use.
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Ha. Thanks I will tell them again. I feel like I'm sneaking around. I went to the library the other day and my sister called and was like, "what are you doing?!". She thought I went to my boyfriends house smh. I woulda just said that. I'm 22 years old lol.
 
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Jr MD said:
So are you doing the BR Bio readings or the EK Bio readings? I know BR goes into some serious depth BUT I was thinking that depth could help out...EK seemed too general...but what do I know right? hahaha what do you think??
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Hey I'm not gettheleadout but I switched over from EK to BR and I have found the added depth extremely helpful. EK felt too much like a list of vocab without much in depth analysis of what was really going on. BR bio is definitely longer, but if doing it will give you peace of mind, why not?
 
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TBR bio is waaaaaay too detailed in my opinion. I think that all that stuff will just clutter your brain, overcomplicate things and possibly make it harder for you to find the right answer.
 
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slz1900 said:
Hey I'm not gettheleadout but I switched over from EK to BR and I have found the added depth extremely helpful. EK felt too much like a list of vocab without much in depth analysis of what was really going on. BR bio is definitely longer, but if doing it will give you peace of mind, why not?
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My thoughts exactly
 
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Jr MD said:
So are you doing the BR Bio readings or the EK Bio readings? I know BR goes into some serious depth BUT I was thinking that depth could help out...EK seemed too general...but what do I know right? hahaha what do you think??
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I'm doing both, sort of. I'm reading EK Bio and reading parts of TBR Bio. TBR Bio Ch.1 in particular had really useful info about carbohydrates and naming. While I will look through TBR Bio Ch.2 and read any sections that seem useful, a lot of the stuff in that particular chapter and the next one seems way too detailed. I hope to find more useful information in the other chapters. I just can't imagine needing to know all of the enzymes in the Krebs cycle. 😕
 
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For those of you attempting to finish the material by the end of January, what will you do during February and March? I was thinking about taking the AAMCs and Kaplan FLs. Haven't decided between Kaplan 1-6 and TBR though...what are you guys doing?
 
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mr chievous said:
For those of you attempting to finish the material by the end of January, what will you do during February and March? I was thinking about taking the AAMCs and Kaplan FLs. Haven't decided between Kaplan 1-6 and TBR though...what are you guys doing?
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I'll be done with content review about a week into February, and I'm going to follow SN2ed's plan from then on, spacing FL's each week between passages everyday, covering all content. I'm also going to do at least the second 1/3 of the EK 1001 series to make sure I haven't lost any minor knowledge points.
 
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I should be done by end of January, since I'm using mostly EK stuff, hopefully before then. I will be doing practice tests from AAMC and Kaplan. Reviewing them intensely, then reviewing my weak areas and doing individual passages based on my weaknesses.
 
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Am I the only one who is horrible at EK 1001 Physics? I thought Orgo and Gen chem were extremely easy (90%+ on the first bit and only because of stupid mistakes), but I can't get hardly any of the physics questions without taking inordinate amounts of time.

Perhaps I'm weak at physics, but I'm getting around 75% average on the BR physics passages :/
 
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slz1900 said:
I don't read the passages and have been getting >80% in BR generally. If there's a weird question where I'm not able to narrow down the answer choices, I'll skim the passage for info.
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Watch out with this! I don't know if you're a retaker. I am and TBR passages mainly have the passage based on what you already just read so you barely have to read. This is not the same with the real MCAT (especially the Bio section). Congrats on those scores though! That's pretty high regardless.
 
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Jr MD said:
So are you doing the BR Bio readings or the EK Bio readings? I know BR goes into some serious depth BUT I was thinking that depth could help out...EK seemed too general...but what do I know right? hahaha what do you think??
Click to expand...

I personally do what SN2 suggested. I only read EK bio and then I do TBR passages that match EK bio. Sn2 has a list of matching TBR passages for each EK chapter. There's like 15 per chapter haha!
 
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I took the MCAT and got 10's on my sciences and now when I read TBR a lot of it is just stuff I know but it takes me 3 hrs. to read it anyway. Is there any faster way to do this? Don't get me wrong, I still get a lot of forgotten information out of TBR but it's taking most of my study to simply read the content. How do you guys tackle the questions within the reading? Do you do them or skip right to the answers? I do them but that's just me.

Possibly doing the questions before the passages? This way I'll know what I'm weak on but the problem with this is that each passage is not indicative of the entire material, right?
 
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SuperDhooper19 said:
I took the MCAT and got 10's on my sciences and now when I read TBR a lot of it is just stuff I know but it takes me 3 hrs. to read it anyway. Is there any faster way to do this? Don't get me wrong, I still get a lot of forgotten information out of TBR but it's taking most of my study to simply read the content. How do you guys tackle the questions within the reading? Do you do them or skip right to the answers? I do them but that's just me.

Possibly doing the questions before the passages? This way I'll know what I'm weak on but the problem with this is that each passage is not indicative of the entire material, right?
Click to expand...

For the in-chapter exercises, I do them with the answers covered and log my answer and note correct/incorrect. If incorrect I write out the solution or make a note of a point to remember.


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