The Official 4/27/13 MCAT Thread

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This might be considered a bit early, but full-time college students need to prepare ahead of time, especially when they are doing a research and volunteering, which requires them to spend at least 30-40 hours per week...

Let's share plans, strategies, schedules, and so on to help each other to crack this exam.
 
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Im retaking the mcat too! I took it this past june. Are you retaking old practice tests that you did? Im kinda worried about redoing the AAMC and kaplan tests because my practice test scores will be inflated somehow.
 
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chocolateislife said:
Im retaking the mcat too! I took it this past june. Are you retaking old practice tests that you did? Im kinda worried about redoing the AAMC and kaplan tests because my practice test scores will be inflated somehow.
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I don't see the point in retaking them I have at least 30 p test I have not taken.
 
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Do you all think there's a high possibility I'll be able to reschedule to a 4/27 date somewhere in Cali? I've been checking every few hours for the past week and nothing so far
 
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So I made a major step in my mcat prep today. I delayed my forensic research project.

It was a really hard decision, as now I'm missing out on 4 credit hours of A as well as having no formal research for my application in June (Both DO/MD).

But it frees up 16 hours/week for prep. This was the best, as I needed to get my priorities straight. It burns now, but next week I'll know it was the best choice.
 
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chocolateislife said:
Oh yea you're right. Which ones are you taking? I did kaplan 1-6 and aamcs last time
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aamc 8,9,10,11. Kaplan 1-11, BR 1-5, PR 1-9.


I will not be able to take all of these lol, I'll probably do about half.


I have taken the MCAT twice and only did 4 practice test and no passages the last times. I was studying completly wrong.
 
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Hi guys, I am a retake from the August 17th exam. This exam has literally taking over my life for the past months. Its all I think about! Scary huh! But I have to get a decent score this time around so I can have a shot in getting medical school. I am doing the SDN 3 month schedule and it has been going great so far. I orginally thought I would be taking in March but I decided that is not enough time for me to take enough FL's. I have 10 Kaplan 10 GS 6 or 7 EK practice exams and then I will also purchase the Official AAMC Exams! I know I will not have enough time for all of them but I atleast want to try to take 17 or More. I want to have a good feel for this exam when I sit for it again so that I can put my best foot forward. I should be finished with content around March 8th and I will hit the Practice exams like CRAZY!!!!!😱 I wish you all well with studying for this exam and cheers to us being future MD's in 2014!!😀
 
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For those of you that have taken the real thing, which practice tests did you find most comparable to the MCAT?
 
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kgpremed11 said:
It is said that AAMC 9,10,11 are the most comparable test.
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That's what I've heard as well, but what about the FL's offered by test prep companies? I realize that any practice test is fair game, I just find myself wondering how closely EK or TBR exams resemble AAMC exams.

Looks like I'll have to find out when I take them.
 
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calic said:
I started the SN2 schedule this week although I've made some modifications. TBR content review was tedious and overly detailed so I switched to EK for that...much better. If anyone else out there is feeling put off (or put to sleep) by TBR I'd encourage you to think about making the leap and using TBR primarily for passages rather than content. Sooner rather than later is better too. Don't let a month pass before you realize that you haven't been absorbing as much as you should have from TBR.

I am aware that EK content is supposedly on the leaner side, and therefore will probably require supplementation here and there, but the counter point to that is that, for me anyway, EK is easier to get off the ground with. From there its a matter of polishing with passages and practice exams.
Click to expand...

So I think I'm gonna drop TBR and switch it to Exam Krackers. Will use TBR Passages and content for stuff I'm struggling with.

EK + Chads Videos supplemented with TBR. TBR was just way to dense and boring to read. Really enjoyed Chads videos so far.

Really happy with my verbal so far. Been getting only one wrong in each passage thus far.

If anyone has some motivational videos--please do share!
 
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Yep, I have been studying since last week using Examkrackers.
Good luck guys, stay strong, be encouraged, if anyone can do well in this test it is you - remember that.
 
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Endure said:
That's what I've heard as well, but what about the FL's offered by test prep companies? I realize that any practice test is fair game, I just find myself wondering how closely EK or TBR exams resemble AAMC exams.

Looks like I'll have to find out when I take them.
Click to expand...

If that's what you think you are in for a surprise (in terms of the most comparable FL's).
Just do as many as you can to gauge your weaknesses. the MCAT will be very, very different.
 
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I know there are a lot of alternative/eastern math styles out there that manipulate numbers in ways that are much faster than traditional mathematics. I'm curious to know if any of you have found either methods that work or sources that have more information on this type of estimation.

For example, when doing a molarity problem, after converting, you're left with the following quotient:

31.5mol NaCl / 58.6 L of solution.

Its larger than 30/60, so its greater than 0.5
Its less than 33/60 => 11/20 => 55/100, so its less than 0.55

This works, but I haven't tried it enough to know how good it really is, because it requires you to look for a divisor that not only retains integers on top and bottom but also will serve to give you a denominator that's a multiple of 10 for getting it to X/100.

Has this strategy worked for any of you, or if there are others, what are they?

Thanks guys and gals.
 
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Sanatore said:
I know there are a lot of alternative/eastern math styles out there that manipulate numbers in ways that are much faster than traditional mathematics. I'm curious to know if any of you have found either methods that work or sources that have more information on this type of estimation.

For example, when doing a molarity problem, after converting, you're left with the following quotient:

31.5mol NaCl / 58.6 L of solution.

Its larger than 30/60, so its greater than 0.5
Its less than 33/60 => 11/20 => 55/100, so its less than 0.55

This works, but I haven't tried it enough to know how good it really is, because it requires you to look for a divisor that not only retains integers on top and bottom but also will serve to give you a denominator that's a multiple of 10 for getting it to X/100.

Has this strategy worked for any of you, or if there are others, what are they?

Thanks guys and gals.
Click to expand...

just estimate in your head, I don't think you need to tap into random methods to facilitate it.
With math in the MCAT the more you complete practice tests the more adept you will be to handling simple arithmetic in your head 🙂
 
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Hey guys!
So Im going to start the first bio day in the 3month Sn2ed. I looked at the description for combining Ek content with bio passages but it doesnt seem to make sense. It says for the first EK lecture (which is Molec Cell Bio and Respiration) to do br passages the first one listed is Ch. 1 passage 13. I checked the BR book for Molec and passage 13 in the first section of the book is on mitosis and meiosis? (the other book is the physio one)

Not sure If Im interpreting the schedule for Bio/EK correctly? Anyone doing sn2ed got any idea?
 
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Have most of you guys started working on the VR section? I'm starting EK 101 next week, hoping it doesn't obliterate me like it has to a couple of buddies of mine.

lilqu said:
If that's what you think you are in for a surprise (in terms of the most comparable FL's).
Just do as many as you can to gauge your weaknesses. the MCAT will be very, very different.
Click to expand...

Not really looking for a surprise, which is why I asked.
 
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Endure said:
Have most of you guys started working on the VR section? I'm starting EK 101 next week, hoping it doesn't obliterate me like it has to a couple of buddies of mine.



Not really looking for a surprise, which is why I asked.
Click to expand...

I have--been doing 2 verbal passages daily. Having the Princeton Review Verbal Workbook shipped to me tomorrow.
 
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Hey guys,

I was wondering what any of the re-takers thoughts were on different FL's and their similarity to the real MCAT. I've heard mixed reviews. Im taking a Kaplan course right now and they offer 11 FL's in addition to the 8 AAMC FL's. I also have 4 FL's from TPR and one FL from EK. Im going to save the AAMCs for last, but any thoughts on the other prep companies FL's? Any advice would help!
 
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patelkc said:
Hey guys,

I was wondering what any of the re-takers thoughts were on different FL's and their similarity to the real MCAT. I've heard mixed reviews. Im taking a Kaplan course right now and they offer 11 FL's in addition to the 8 AAMC FL's. I also have 4 FL's from TPR and one FL from EK. Im going to save the AAMCs for last, but any thoughts on the other prep companies FL's? Any advice would help!
Click to expand...

Kaplan over estimates you score and I think the consensus is tests 1-5 are the better of the 11 offered in terms of resembling the actual MCAT. Of those, 4 and 5 over estimate the most. I always looked at the raw score - how many I got right - and not the converted score to see how I was actually doing. There is quite a bit of discussion on the Kaplan forum about why they are over estimated - in short, it's because they are old exams and people are now getting more right than in the past.

Signed up for the 4/26 exam, but thought I could chime in here.
 
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I am so exhausted..
Studying for 4~5 hours per day after school is TOO MUCH when I have to do things for classes at the same time..
When I do passages after I finish reading the chapters, I am like half-dead. So I cant even use my logic to do the questions when THAT"S THE MAIN POINT OF MCAT.
 
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brood910 said:
I am so exhausted..
Studying for 4~5 hours per day after school is TOO MUCH when I have to do things for classes at the same time..
When I do passages after I finish reading the chapters, I am like half-dead. So I cant even use my logic to do the questions when THAT"S THE MAIN POINT OF MCAT.
Click to expand...

Understood. I feel like my brain can't take in anymore information.
 
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brood910 said:
I am so exhausted..
Studying for 4~5 hours per day after school is TOO MUCH when I have to do things for classes at the same time..
When I do passages after I finish reading the chapters, I am like half-dead. So I cant even use my logic to do the questions when THAT"S THE MAIN POINT OF MCAT.
Click to expand...

This is 100% how I felt studying tbr after working 7 or 8 hours this past summer.

Things are going well so far. I have one more physics section left, then diving head first into gen chem. I feel like I have the material I've covered so far down relatively well with exception to a few details. Really trying to have a deep understanding of all of the content. 👍
 
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brood910 said:
I am so exhausted..
Studying for 4~5 hours per day after school is TOO MUCH when I have to do things for classes at the same time..
When I do passages after I finish reading the chapters, I am like half-dead. So I cant even use my logic to do the questions when THAT"S THE MAIN POINT OF MCAT.
Click to expand...

I can relate to some extent; I can only study in the mornings (if I wake up at 4 or 5 a.m.), some evenings, and the weekends. My solution thus far has been to skim through chapters a bit quicker instead of read word for word or skip reading over material I know very well. In the end it may cost me a a small amount but shaving off a little time each day helps me get through each section while being able to spend more time reviewing what I got wrong and why.
 
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As far as accuracy of Kaplan diagnostics go, I took one of their in-school tests when I had finished my prereqs. I didn't really study (didn't finish reading any books and didn't do any practice passages), took the MCAT, and scored one point higher than the diagnostic. It was pretty accurate for me.

PS don't do that, not studying's for dummies. April 27th retake here I come!
 
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TikiTorch said:
As far as accuracy of Kaplan diagnostics go, I took one of their in-school tests when I had finished my prereqs. I didn't really study (didn't finish reading any books and didn't do any practice passages), took the MCAT, and scored one point higher than the diagnostic. It was pretty accurate for me.

PS don't do that, not studying's for dummies. April 27th retake here I come!
Click to expand...

Kaplan's diagnostic is tough, and that's on purpose. I did poorly on one passage and Aced (minus 1) the rest of the passages and netted a 7 in VR. Same percentage would be >10 on AAMC. But I digress. Let's kill it this time. :meanie:
 
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TikiTorch said:
Absolutely. I've hit the point where I actually enjoy doing practice passages, so that's gotta be a good sign.
Click to expand...

I'm the same way. I really do enjoy learning about most of this stuff, so having to study this much isn't as burdening as it seems. Most of the material I had to teach myself anyway because of how poor some of my professors were.

Verbal, on the other hand, is a completely different story.
 
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Endure said:
I'm the same way. I really do enjoy learning about most of this stuff, so having to study this much isn't as burdening as it seems. Most of the material I had to teach myself anyway because of how poor some of my professors were.

Verbal, on the other hand, is a completely different story.
Click to expand...

Strange--I'm dreading learning all the BS and PS. Verbal on the other hand I am loving. While the passages are bland--I feel like it's a puzzle that I have to crack. Been always missing at least 1 question per passage but finally completed my first passage w/o missing one.

As always--best of luck to everyone and stay strong!
 
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Looks likely that I'll be starting a 5/11 mcat thread. The bastards in the financial aid office STILL haven't given me my loan money although we're well on our way into the semester. The idiocy there is constant.

So until they decide to mail the god damned check, I can't schedule the test. 5 calls so far, and they're still taking their damn time. 😡
 
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Anyone else sign up for a Kaplan or TRP course? This is my third attempt at trying to study for the MCAT..the first 2 attempts were self study (one during academic semester, another during the summer), and I signed up for the exam but just kept pushing it back and pushing it back, until I ended up cancelling it both times. (ive spent more than $500 on this exam so far and havent even taken it LoL, thats psychotic) I am done with school and Im just working now so I decided I need structure and a schedule and online practice. I signed up for 2/12 course with the princeton review.

I do research 15 hours a week and have a part time 3rd shift job. So my course is in the AM and I usually don't have to be to my night job until 10pm so, while I am still busy, at least I am not fussing with other classes. I don't need to use up precious brain cells at work,,at least at the night job!
In addition to the entire princeton review line which was sent to me for the course (I'm annoyed because I had already bought most of their books, lol more $$ wasted) I have BR's Gen Chem, Physics and Bio and all the Examkracker 1001's. With the AAMC tests that come with TPR course and their Ampfire question bank...I think Im good on material. I'm ready to get my 32!!
 
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ModyzMalak said:
Anyone else sign up for a Kaplan or TRP course? This is my third attempt at trying to study for the MCAT..the first 2 attempts were self study (one during academic semester, another during the summer), and I signed up for the exam but just kept pushing it back and pushing it back, until I ended up cancelling it both times. (ive spent more than $500 on this exam so far and havent even taken it LoL, thats psychotic) I am done with school and Im just working now so I decided I need structure and a schedule and online practice. I signed up for 2/12 course with the princeton review.

I do research 15 hours a week and have a part time 3rd shift job. So my course is in the AM and I usually don't have to be to my night job until 10pm so, while I am still busy, at least I am not fussing with other classes. I don't need to use up precious brain cells at work,,at least at the night job!
In addition to the entire princeton review line which was sent to me for the course (I'm annoyed because I had already bought most of their books, lol more $$ wasted) I have BR's Gen Chem, Physics and Bio and all the Examkracker 1001's. With the AAMC tests that come with TPR course and their Ampfire question bank...I think Im good on material. I'm ready to get my 32!!
Click to expand...

I think you should quit the job or/and the research and focus on studying.
You already tried twice and failed. You should already know that you need more "concentration" than you have now.
 
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brood910 said:
I think you should quit the job or/and the research and focus on studying.
You already tried twice and failed. You should already know that you need more "concentration" than you have now.
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yes but have to pay rent and eat. im not working for my health:/

if you have all the time in the world it doesnt matter if you are a procrastinator and don't manage the time well. ive had time before and ive blown it as well, so quitting a job isn't going to help. i need a classroom setting
 
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Hey all. I haven't officially signed up yet, but I'm thinking that 4/27 or 4/26 will be the date. Has everyone started studying? I'm following the plan outlined on this site and it's definitely eating up my time and my concentration but I know that 3 months of studying is nothing compared to the satisfaction and opportunities that come with a great MCAT score!
 
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LaughingMan said:
Strange--I'm dreading learning all the BS and PS. Verbal on the other hand I am loving. While the passages are bland--I feel like it's a puzzle that I have to crack. Been always missing at least 1 question per passage but finally completed my first passage w/o missing one.

As always--best of luck to everyone and stay strong!
Click to expand...

I may feel the same way about VR with time. I only did my first EK 30-min exam last week and got a 9, which I suppose isn't awful considering it was my first attempt. I just think it's boring.

I'm not sure how hotly this will be supported, but I think I would feel more confident about this test if I were a science major. Since I'm a psychology major, the only upper-level biology background I have is from my neurophysiology research (2.5+ years).
 
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Endure said:
I may feel the same way about VR with time. I only did my first EK 30-min exam last week and got a 9, which I suppose isn't awful considering it was my first attempt. I just think it's boring.

I'm not sure how hotly this will be supported, but I think I would feel more confident about this test if I were a science major. Since I'm a psychology major, the only upper-level biology background I have is from my neurophysiology research (2.5+ years).
Click to expand...

Best of luck man!
 
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LaughingMan said:
Strange--I'm dreading learning all the BS and PS. Verbal on the other hand I am loving. While the passages are bland--I feel like it's a puzzle that I have to crack. Been always missing at least 1 question per passage but finally completed my first passage w/o missing one.

As always--best of luck to everyone and stay strong!
Click to expand...

I definitely agree with you. So much of this BS and PS stuff is either new to me or much more detailed than I learned in college. I enjoy learning everything, it just takes a while and can definitely get frustrating after reviewing practice problems for 2-3 hours. Verbal, on the other hand, is almost like a game to me. The passages aren't always fun (though sometimes they are), but there are some definitely patterns in the question types and the answer choices that make it relatively simple to improve.
 
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LaughingMan said:
So I think I'm gonna drop TBR and switch it to Exam Krackers. Will use TBR Passages and content for stuff I'm struggling with.

EK + Chads Videos supplemented with TBR. TBR was just way to dense and boring to read. Really enjoyed Chads videos so far.

Really happy with my verbal so far. Been getting only one wrong in each passage thus far.

If anyone has some motivational videos--please do share!
Click to expand...

4/27 as well.

This video gives me the chills every time I watch it. I come back to it when I've got it in my head that I'm hitting the studying wall.
 
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Endure said:
Almost ready to hit my first FL. Should be interesting.
Click to expand...

Tear it up, bro. About 3 weeks and I hit my FL/post-phrase run up to the test. Actually really looking forward to it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using SDN Mobile
 
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Officially in for a re-take on the 4/26 or 4/27 date! Have just started studying and probably going to do a hybrid schedule based slightly on SN2's with more focus on practice passages and less on content review.

I have TBR and EK (1001 too).. also picked up TPRH recently so lots of practice problems to do. Doing a chapter a day and then have divided up all my practice passages into three phases (i.e. chapter + phase I, phase II a week later and then phase III will be after content review in between FLs).

Thinking of starting up a blog purely based on my MCAT studying. Will probably be boring as hell for readers but a nice semi-interactive setting for me to record my progress. If I do it, I'll post it here and describe my study plan in more depth on there as well. Not pretending I know more about how to study for the MCAT than anyone here but having gone through it before and studying for the month prior.. definitely have picked up on things I should have done better or did well enough.

I'm wondering if there is anything we can do as a group to help eachother out.. not skype sessions because those never work but more of a 'tips and tricks' type thing.


Sanatore said:
I know there are a lot of alternative/eastern math styles out there that manipulate numbers in ways that are much faster than traditional mathematics. I'm curious to know if any of you have found either methods that work or sources that have more information on this type of estimation.

For example, when doing a molarity problem, after converting, you're left with the following quotient:

31.5mol NaCl / 58.6 L of solution.

Its larger than 30/60, so its greater than 0.5
Its less than 33/60 => 11/20 => 55/100, so its less than 0.55

This works, but I haven't tried it enough to know how good it really is, because it requires you to look for a divisor that not only retains integers on top and bottom but also will serve to give you a denominator that's a multiple of 10 for getting it to X/100.

Has this strategy worked for any of you, or if there are others, what are they?

Thanks guys and gals.
Click to expand...

i wouldn't sweat this type of thing. just pick one way your happy with and practice. you'll get faster and even then, those few seconds between your technique and the 'optimal' technique aren't going to make a big difference.

That strategy is what TBR recommends and it definitely works. Don't be afraid to do a little bit of long division by hand either every now and then.

I use that system but look at the answer choices first. Most of the time, the choices are fairly different and you can basically just say "32/58 so its a little bit more than half" and look up to see only one answer in the .5 to .6 range. The real MCAT (and practice FLs) never require you to be as concise as TBR's practice problems are IMO.
 
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Sanatore said:
I know there are a lot of alternative/eastern math styles out there that manipulate numbers in ways that are much faster than traditional mathematics. I'm curious to know if any of you have found either methods that work or sources that have more information on this type of estimation.

For example, when doing a molarity problem, after converting, you're left with the following quotient:

31.5mol NaCl / 58.6 L of solution.

Its larger than 30/60, so its greater than 0.5
Its less than 33/60 => 11/20 => 55/100, so its less than 0.55

This works, but I haven't tried it enough to know how good it really is, because it requires you to look for a divisor that not only retains integers on top and bottom but also will serve to give you a denominator that's a multiple of 10 for getting it to X/100.

Has this strategy worked for any of you, or if there are others, what are they?

Thanks guys and gals.
Click to expand...

How do you know if 33/60 is larger right away unlike 30/60?
 
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