The Official 5/1/2010 MCAT Club...

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Let the games begin...

 

[bigballer27]

took another practice test from PR (my 5th one), and my sciences are still the same as before, and my verbal is going up so slowly i want to strangle it!!!!!

i'm going to just review some bio and gchem before taking another practice test at the end of the week cuz i am on spring break so good time to get some tests in i guess

progress for anyone else?

 

[Geekchick921]

Hey BB. I haven't taken an FL since right before I started my review (31 on that one). I am almost halfway through the content and after I get there I think I'm going to take another one and see what improves.

 

[RuSkaya]

took another practice test from PR (my 5th one), and my sciences are still the same as before, and my verbal is going up so slowly i want to strangle it!!!!!

i'm going to just review some bio and gchem before taking another practice test at the end of the week cuz i am on spring break so good time to get some tests in i guess

progress for anyone else?

My verbal isn't improving it stays at an average of 9 I'd guess... I can't find a pattern of mistakes I tend to make - it's mostly me just not paying enough attention to certain details in the passages.... so I don't know what else to do but just keep practicing

My sciences are okay - it also depends on the test - my scores tend to jump around depending on whether it's a TBR or GS exam, etc.

 

[cristianb36]

i'm on board too for may 1st. just finished reviewing the material with ek.
anyone think ek bio 1001 isn't that great? should i go ahead and get the berkeley review for bio practice?
what do you think?

 

[bigballer27]

i'm on board too for may 1st. just finished reviewing the material with ek.
anyone think ek bio 1001 isn't that great? should i go ahead and get the berkeley review for bio practice?
what do you think?

if its not giving you any help, then maybe you should lol try things out, you still have 6 weeks


my pattern of mistakes for the verbal is just the interpretation of the atitude and main idea of the author usually, im ok with the little details (i scan quickly lol)

 

[dna111]

Hi GeekChick921, I've started using WikiPremed and think it's an awesome resource. How are you using the site for your studies? Are you following the programly exactly, or are you adding it to the SN2ed schedule?

 

[Geekchick921]

Hi GeekChick921, I've started using WikiPremed and think it's an awesome resource. How are you using the site for your studies? Are you following the programly exactly, or are you adding it to the SN2ed schedule?

I'm following the videos and taking notes like I'm in class again. I learn best when I hear, read, and write stuff simultaneously, so videos are GREAT for me! Some of the later modules don't have all the vids up yet... whatever isn't there when I get to it, I'll probably check out kahnacademy.com.

I don't really plan on following SN2ed's schedule, but I definitely think it's a great choice, I just don't have the money to buy all those books. I am thinking about getting the EK 1001 bio book because it's been the longest since I've taken Biology compared to the other pre-reqs (6 years for bio, 1-2 for Physics, chem and o-chem) and I feel I need the extra practice, but I also have the massive, phone-book sized Kaplan book that also has a very thorough review and practice questions in it.

 

[RuSkaya]

grr! I'm going over my latest practice test now and made soo many careless mistakes in PS 🙁 I hope I can concentrate better on the real deal. Just had to vent 😳

 

[bigballer27]

grr! I'm going over my latest practice test now and made soo many careless mistakes in PS 🙁 I hope I can concentrate better on the real deal. Just had to vent 😳

lol don't worry you're not alone. ive been making realllly stupid mistakes...like i had the right answer but clicked the wrong one because of a lack of focus...like THREE times lol i hope that doesnt happen on the real thing

 

[Snowbeavers]

Is everyone already done full content review??

I'm not 🙁 Working my way through Orgo now but it has been sooooo long since I reviewed Bio that I am getting worried that I need to review that again.

When are you guys starting practice tests? I haven't done any yet other than the EK 1001 Physics/Bio and Kaplan stuff.

 

[Snowbeavers]

Is everyone already done full content review??

I'm not 🙁 Working my way through Orgo now but it has been sooooo long since I reviewed Bio that I am getting worried that I need to review that again.

When are you guys starting practice tests? I haven't done any yet other than the EK 1001 Physics/Bio and Kaplan stuff.

 

[bigballer27]

ive done a few PR tests, but no AAMC tests yet, but i will take aamc3 next week sometime, either wed or sat....and then map out the rest of the tests until the real one


are you guys going to take tests the week of May 1st? or like just review stuff, or what?

 

[AliDeLaLouisa]

I think the content is a ongoing battle..to keep reviewing, However, the practice tests are the key I took one the other day and I too made a lot of careless mistakes but I know that I can easily fix these minor details. Just got to keep grinding away. I keep imagining a perfect score🙂

 

[AliDeLaLouisa]

I'm following the videos and taking notes like I'm in class again. I learn best when I hear, read, and write stuff simultaneously, so videos are GREAT for me! Some of the later modules don't have all the vids up yet... whatever isn't there when I get to it, I'll probably check out kahnacademy.com.

I don't really plan on following SN2ed's schedule, but I definitely think it's a great choice, I just don't have the money to buy all those books. I am thinking about getting the EK 1001 bio book because it's been the longest since I've taken Biology compared to the other pre-reqs (6 years for bio, 1-2 for Physics, chem and o-chem) and I feel I need the extra practice, but I also have the massive, phone-book sized Kaplan book that also has a very thorough review and practice questions in it.

I need to check that out, I forgot about wikipremed! Thats why I stay on the forums. Keep me on my toes. Keep grinding👍

 

[OneTripAcross]

Any 5/1 mcaters using kaplan? I have taken 4 practice tests and have seen some solid improvements. This last month will be practice test mania and was wondering if the kap tests (1-9) should suffice or should I do a aamc ones as well? Its to the point where Im looking forward to test day. Whether or not that is good will play out on 1 May.

 

[Cale]

It has indeed gotten to the point where I'm starting to get nervous about the test. I will have all the content review done by this Sunday. I then plan to take aamc practice tests 3-10 until the test date. I'm anxious to see how I'll do on my first practice test, but afraid at the same time. I guess I'm worried that I don't know enough of the content. I've gone through everything, but have the urge to go through everything again and again. Anybody else feel this way? Oh well. I really just need to take a practice test to gauge where I'm really at.

 

[bigballer27]

It has indeed gotten to the point where I'm starting to get nervous about the test. I will have all the content review done by this Sunday. I then plan to take aamc practice tests 3-10 until the test date. I'm anxious to see how I'll do on my first practice test, but afraid at the same time. I guess I'm worried that I don't know enough of the content. I've gone through everything, but have the urge to go through everything again and again. Anybody else feel this way? Oh well. I really just need to take a practice test to gauge where I'm really at.

iim nervous too lol this test is so frustrating when u dont do well on the practice.
m gong to start doing AAMC ones this next week too, i just have a few PR tests i want to do before i do those


anyone do the GS practice tests and think anything of those, i think i want to take GS 1 just to see how it is before i do AAMC??

 

[cristianb36]

gs1 is not too hard. I only took the ps and bs sections and took an ek verbal since I have heard gs verbal is horrendous. my score was significantly lower than aamc tests thus far on the gs sections.

 

[Geekchick921]

I'm off work tomorrow but I'm still sending my daughter to daycare. I'm going to take my first FL since I took the free AAMC one before I started reviewing. I've got this totally irrational fear that I'm going to get like a freakin' 24.

 

[cristianb36]

-> OneTripAcross
just out of personal past experience. kaplan tests do not do a good job predicting scores. I would get on doing aamc tests and completely forget about the kaplan tests. you will get a much better picture of where you are from the aamc tests

 

[RuSkaya]

iim nervous too lol this test is so frustrating when u dont do well on the practice.
m gong to start doing AAMC ones this next week too, i just have a few PR tests i want to do before i do those


anyone do the GS practice tests and think anything of those, i think i want to take GS 1 just to see how it is before i do AAMC??

I'm going through the GS tests now (going to take #7 this weekend) and I find them to be very good practice... they get you thinking 🙂

I'm trying to fill my time with non-AAMC tests since I took them once before... but I will be taking AAMC CBTs 7-10 the last few weeks before the real day to see where I stand.. even though scores may be inflated

 

[bigballer27]

I'm off work tomorrow but I'm still sending my daughter to daycare. I'm going to take my first FL since I took the free AAMC one before I started reviewing. I've got this totally irrational fear that I'm going to get like a freakin' 24.

lol at least yours is irrational....i'm getting realistic feelings that i will score 24! I've been studying like crazy for the last 2-3 weeks and just got burnt out and frustrated, so I had to take a full day off, so now i'm back into it for the finals month....hopefully this month will be alottttt better than the last month i studied


....doesnt help that my birthday is gonna fall into my study time....i might need a break to go to the bar then 😉

 

[Geekchick921]

lol at least yours is irrational....i'm getting realistic feelings that i will score 24! I've been studying like crazy for the last 2-3 weeks and just got burnt out and frustrated, so I had to take a full day off, so now i'm back into it for the finals month....hopefully this month will be alottttt better than the last month i studied

I got a 31 on a practice before so I will lose my shiz if my score starts going down!

....doesnt help that my birthday is gonna fall into my study time....i might need a break to go to the bar then 😉

Happy early birthday! I was originally going to take it on the later May date but my anniversary is a week before it and I felt like it would ruin my day if I hadn't taken the test yet.

 

[OneTripAcross]

well i just took another kap FL, im averaging 32-33. verbal is killing me. my veteran kap teacher said aamc is a VERY accurate predictor but the scores should be about the same as the kap ones. i will end up taking kaplan FL's 1-9, and aamc 3, 7-10. good gawd...typing that out it looks like an insane amount of practice tests!!! I like kaps PS sections cause they are tough, and after doing them no passage will freak me out on test day!!!

here's to the next two months sucking horribly!! cheers

 

[Geekchick921]

I plan on doing AAMC 7 to 10 and then as many of the free ones as I can squeeze in.

 

[bigballer27]

just finished GS1....man that bio was pretty hard, the physics was easy though

11PS 10BS....will do EK101 verbal test instead of GS verbal later, i have a headache lol

 

[Geekchick921]

Alright... so...

Got a 37 on some material I looked at about 3 months ago and hadn't seen since. So that was nice.

Took another practice today and got a 32. Not bad, not bad... I've still got more content review to do and there was a good amount of that stuff on it. I think I'm spending too much time on review so I'm going to start cherry picking what I REALLY need to go over again.

 

[giantswing]

Mine:
AAMC 3: 6/6/9 (nearly cried and wanted to quit after this)
AAMC 4: 10/8/9
AAMC 5: 10/9/8

Soo...room for improvement. I'm worried I've hit a wall with bio; mostly I'm worried that I'll get a bunch of curve balls and won't know anything when it really counts...

 

[bigballer27]

Alright... so...

Got a 37 on some material I looked at about 3 months ago and hadn't seen since. So that was nice.

Took another practice today and got a 32. Not bad, not bad... I've still got more content review to do and there was a good amount of that stuff on it. I think I'm spending too much time on review so I'm going to start cherry picking what I REALLY need to go over again.

Which practice tests did u take?

 

[Geekchick921]

AAMC #3 (the free one) and I bought AAMC #7.

 

[bigballer27]

took another test today...my last one before i start on the aamcs on Wednesday.....same score as the last 3 🙁

ive noticed that im making really dumb mistakes, but i feel like this is happening on EVERY test, is it even possible to eliminate all of these mistakes?

 

[Pre-Med Village]

took another test today...my last one before i start on the aamcs on Wednesday.....same score as the last 3 🙁

ive noticed that im making really dumb mistakes, but i feel like this is happening on EVERY test, is it even possible to eliminate all of these mistakes?

If you are stuck at a certain level on the practice tests, and it looks like you are making a lot of mistakes where you should have known better, or where you actually did know better, you may have a problem with suggestibility that can be overcome with a little conscious effort. It can help to step back and think about the point of view of the test-writers. Think about the two answers you are down to, trying to decide, think about it for a second as if you were writing the test and bring the identities and differences to mind that they are exploiting. What are the common confusions? velocity vs. acceleration, energy vs. momentum, flow speed vs. volume flux, chemical kinetics versus thermodynamics. Imagine you were given the job of editing the MCAT and make yourself see what gives a second best answer its power of suggestion, you can apply a framework in which the best answer becomes obviously the 'least worst'. To eliminate the mistakes where you actually do know better, make it a combination of knowing the science well and understanding the multiple choice format as a form of art. I hope this is helpful.

 

[noseparade]

Nas - I Can

good luck on the 1st guys!

 

[RuSkaya]

We're a pretty quiet group 🙂

How are you guys doing??

 

[Geekchick921]

Not bad, not bad. Studying my butt off. You?

 

[bigballer27]

just took a test today....bittersweet score i guess
10P 7V 14B (wow highest single score on any of the last 9 tests ive taken lol)
i dont know what to do for this damn verbal its ruining meeeeee

 

[RuSkaya]

Not bad, not bad. Studying my butt off. You?

Yeh same. I really haven't been putting enough time in well-rounded content review though - I focus on the topics that I frequently miss on practice tests - but I really need to start focusing on the rest as well

just took a test today....bittersweet score i guess
10P 7V 14B (wow highest single score on any of the last 9 tests ive taken lol)
i dont know what to do for this damn verbal its ruining meeeeee

Nice sciences though! was that an AAMC test? I wish I had some advice for verbal but unfortunately I don't have any solid strategy to share

 

[bigballer27]

Yeh same. I really haven't been putting enough time in well-rounded content review though - I focus on the topics that I frequently miss on practice tests - but I really need to start focusing on the rest as well




Nice sciences though! was that an AAMC test? I wish I had some advice for verbal but unfortunately I don't have any solid strategy to share

yeah it was aamc 3....im going to take aamc 4 on saturday hopefully at 8am i havent taken a single test earlier than 12pm lol so hopefully this one will make it more realistic and I BETTER GET THAT VERBAL TO A 10!!!!

 

[RuSkaya]

anyone else waiting for the 4/10 feedback? I saw the MCAT and/or my studynotes in my dreams the past few nights already 😳

 

[jgauger]

Wow! I just realized how close the test is. I have been studying for exams the last week and just got back to MCAT stuff last night and realized how little time I have left. I am now done with content review, have taken 5 aamc prac tests, and just polishing up on weaknesses. I had been getting better on each test, but haven't taken one since 3/20. I think I'm going to do a section from EK and one from the official guide every night until test day. Need to solidify my physics and chem. Then one last aamc prac test on the 24th.

How are you guys balancing school work with MCAT stuff?

 

[Briske]

anyone else waiting for the 4/10 feedback?

Yup. I'm refreshing every ten minutes or so... Am I a bit obsessive? Probably 😎

 

[bigballer27]

just took aamc #4

12-8-12....not badddd, but that damn verbal i really don't know what to do and its messing me up mentally for the other sections too!

i was 1 question away from a 13 in both science sections 🙄 2 questions from a 34!


planed it out to do an aamc on wed and sat from now on, and cram in some verbal practice in between (EK101) and review missed topics on all other days

 

[Geekchick921]

Here's what I just said on the 2015 thread on pre-allo, if you guys don't follow that.

Just took AAMC #8. 9/11/13. I only got 4 questions wrong in BS! I have been focusing a lot on bio review this week and it's definitely paid off. That was awesome. I don't know WTF happened with PS, though! I usually as good, if not better, in that than BS, but when I looked back at my wrong answers I made some dumb mistakes, OR I had the right answer, then second-guessed myself and changed it. Stupid move. I'm really ticked about it, as I think I could have gotten at least an 11 or 12 without those stupid errors, and a 35 or 36 practice test would have made my day.

VR is meh. I bought the EK 101 book and I think it's getting a large portion of my attention in the next three weeks.

You know what's not cool? When you kid acts tired and you put them down for a nap, and you start a practice MCAT, then they wake up 10 minutes later and, despite your husband's best efforts, she wants nothing but to bang whatever she can find on whatever else she can find on the coffee table. Not cool, Geekling, not cool.

 

[bigballer27]

Here's what I just said on the 2015 thread on pre-allo, if you guys don't follow that.

Just took AAMC #8. 9/11/13. I only got 4 questions wrong in BS! I have been focusing a lot on bio review this week and it's definitely paid off. That was awesome. I don't know WTF happened with PS, though! I usually as good, if not better, in that than BS, but when I looked back at my wrong answers I made some dumb mistakes, OR I had the right answer, then second-guessed myself and changed it. Stupid move. I'm really ticked about it, as I think I could have gotten at least an 11 or 12 without those stupid errors, and a 35 or 36 practice test would have made my day.

VR is meh. I bought the EK 101 book and I think it's getting a large portion of my attention in the next three weeks.

You know what's not cool? When you kid acts tired and you put them down for a nap, and you start a practice MCAT, then they wake up 10 minutes later and, despite your husband's best efforts, she wants nothing but to bang whatever she can find on whatever else she can find on the coffee table. Not cool, Geekling, not cool.

loll mannn thats annoying, sorry i cant say "i know what you mean," but i know that it will pay off once this things over!!!
-also, congrats on your BS score thats impressive!....get that PS UP!!!

on another note, i planned out the next 3 weeks, just wondering what you guys think about this schedule:

aamc#5 on mon(tomorrow), #6 on wed, #7 on sat, #8 next wed, #9 the next sat., and #10 the next next wed, and the TEST on the following sat? do you guys think thats good?

ill be doing EK101 tests 7-14 on any other thurs, fri, and some tuesdays that im not taking a test, hopefully i can get my verbal up

 

[Geekchick921]

There was one question in BS I really made a stupid mistake on. It was stuff I was looking over earlier that day. I went back and changed it, just to see if it changed my score. It was the only thing that kept me from a 14. *Shakes fist at sky*

PS is usually my strong point. I was just really distracted, I think. And yeah, dumb mistakes.

 

[WhiteCoatFuture]

just took aamc #4

12-8-12....not badddd, but that damn verbal i really don't know what to do and its messing me up mentally for the other sections too!

i was 1 question away from a 13 in both science sections 🙄 2 questions from a 34!


planed it out to do an aamc on wed and sat from now on, and cram in some verbal practice in between (EK101) and review missed topics on all other days

Do you feel like you're rushing while reading? I had an issue of being really nervous about the fact that it's timed and rushing through the passage, consequently not truly paying attention to what I was reading. This caused me to constantly have to go back to the passage to answer just about every question.

I decided to grab EK101 and turn on a stop watch as opposed to a timer. I read the passage at my normal reading speed making sure to pay attention to what I was reading and answered the questions at a normal, unrushed speed as well. With a stop watch, knowing I had as much time as I needed and not stressing about the timer going off before I finished, I averaged finishing passages and questions in just UNDER 7 minutes. Since then, I haven't rushed, I've realized I have plenty of time to finish and my verbal scores have jumped from averaging 8-9 to consistently hitting 11 on FL's.

Simply slowing down has given me sooo much more time to get through the verbal section. I essentially have 10-11 minutes left over at the end of the section and this affords me the opportunity to re-read a passage (or paragraphs within a passage) if it's difficult or I'm just not getting it for some reason. Try slowing down and see if that helps you any. Good luck!!

 

[Dr Yiot]

took another practice test from PR (my 5th one), and my sciences are still the same as before, and my verbal is going up so slowly i want to strangle it!!!!!

i'm going to just review some bio and gchem before taking another practice test at the end of the week cuz i am on spring break so good time to get some tests in i guess

progress for anyone else?

dude the TPR exams are killer and in no way representative. still good practice but they are somewaht demoralizing to the ego. anyways I am now on the 5/1 wagon as I don't think I did too good on my 4/10 test date. the PS destroyed me and I ended up missing at least 3 questions as time ran out. I still scored the exam as I thought I performed well on the verbal and on the bio sections. Perhaps I should have voided, but I am deciding to sit for it again as I feel that I have a good possibility of performing better than I did so I will not be waiting for my scores, just rewriting the exam again. So lets get at it. 2 weeks and I think I am going to retake every single aamc exam over again just for practice.

 

[bigballer27]

Do you feel like you're rushing while reading? I had an issue of being really nervous about the fact that it's timed and rushing through the passage, consequently not truly paying attention to what I was reading. This caused me to constantly have to go back to the passage to answer just about every question.

I decided to grab EK101 and turn on a stop watch as opposed to a timer. I read the passage at my normal reading speed making sure to pay attention to what I was reading and answered the questions at a normal, unrushed speed as well. With a stop watch, knowing I had as much time as I needed and not stressing about the timer going off before I finished, I averaged finishing passages and questions in just UNDER 7 minutes. Since then, I haven't rushed, I've realized I have plenty of time to finish and my verbal scores have jumped from averaging 8-9 to consistently hitting 11 on FL's.

Simply slowing down has given me sooo much more time to get through the verbal section. I essentially have 10-11 minutes left over at the end of the section and this affords me the opportunity to re-read a passage (or paragraphs within a passage) if it's difficult or I'm just not getting it for some reason. Try slowing down and see if that helps you any. Good luck!!

yeah i do feel like i'm, rushing, but the thing is, when i first started, i was going slowly and still getting the same scores, not to mention not being able to finish on time. so i figured i should speed up the reading so i will have more time with the questions and be able to go back to the passage if i needed to.

right now, im at about 3ish minutes for the passage and 4ish minutes for the questions for a total of about 8 min per passage

my main problem isnt the rushing thing though, its the fact that i cannot grasp the main idea, and the authors tone on each of the paragraphs....anyone have advice for that?

 

[bigballer27]

dude the TPR exams are killer and in no way representative. still good practice but they are somewaht demoralizing to the ego. anyways I am now on the 5/1 wagon as I don't think I did too good on my 4/10 test date. the PS destroyed me and I ended up missing at least 3 questions as time ran out. I still scored the exam as I thought I performed well on the verbal and on the bio sections. Perhaps I should have voided, but I am deciding to sit for it again as I feel that I have a good possibility of performing better than I did so I will not be waiting for my scores, just rewriting the exam again. So lets get at it. 2 weeks and I think I am going to retake every single aamc exam over again just for practice.

why don't you wait to see what you get on the exam first?!?...what if you come out getting like a 40! haha no but seriouisly, was it thattt hard? makes me nervous when people are prepared and don't do well

goodluck though i'm sure you will do better this time

 

[RuSkaya]

I'm getting worried... I had a few practice tests (GS 3-6 and TBR 6-7) that showed consistently good results which really encouraged me ... but GS 7-9 just went DOWNHILL (mostly the PS section - soo many more calculations that I can't get through on the spot)

I think I'm going to go through the problems in my NOVA physics book again.. preparing myself for a calculation heavy PS section based on 4/10 feedback