Hello fellow May 12ers! I didn't see a thread for our test day and considering we are 5 weeks away, I decided to make one! I hope everyone's preparation is going well!
AAMC #5: 12/7/13 (PS/VR/BS) 32
WHAT the F*** on verbal?! First passage went by and after finishing it I knew I was fish out of water. Couldn't regain a rhythm after that.
BUT it did motivate me to crush bio. After that verbal I knew I had no choice but to make up for it in BS.
I'd rather trade in my PS/BS average for a decent verbal score. Not sure if applying with a 32 containing a 7 in verbal would be okay or not if this was the real deal? Any insight?
Did you burn through the exam krackers?
Last test I took was a couple weeks ago...TPR 2 - Got a 24 6/9/9
Going to wait until I take an AAMC test before I hit the panic button, but it is at least serving as a strong motivation to study.
I'm trying to keep the motivation...but I'm taking another TPR FL tomorrow, so I will inevitably be pooped on yet again. Taking my first AAMC's starting next Sunday 4/22. Hopefully there is a big increase in score from TPR to AAMC or else my choices in schooling will be severely limited...
IMO.. Do GS as practice passages.. and never take their score seriously.. Sometimes I used to finish the BS or PS section with 20 minutes left and get 12 on them and other times i would get like a 9-10Hey everyone, I've been taking practice GOLD standard MCAT exams and started off pretty well but my scores have gone down. Do you guys have any experience with gold standard stuff? Are they reliable?
I feel like i've hit a wall, I've covered all the material and done plenty of practice problems but I still feel like I dont know the material. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Oh btw I'm taking it 5/12/2012 =D
IMO.. Do GS as practice passages.. and never take their score seriously.. Sometimes I used to finish the BS or PS section with 20 minutes left and get 12 on them and other times i would get like a 9-10
Passages are not MCAT type but u can always practice the material with them
Finally done with content review!
Now, let the onslaught of practice questions and exams begin! First practice test this Saturday, let's see how that goes ...
Did you do any TBR CBT exams or you are just doing AAMC ones?AAMC #7: 13/8/11 (PS, VR,BS) 32
Once again, verbal was low. 1 point away from dropping to a 7. Although my PS I was 1 point from a 14 and BS was 1 point from a 12... Seriously, 3 wrong on PS is a 13?!?! Cut me a friggin break AAMC.
If I could get my verbal up to a consistent 9-10 I would be killing these exams. Just going to focus this week on less content review, more verbal practice.
Three weekends left! Woke up early today (gah) and going to take AAMC8. praying for a 30.
I have a question, does the RNA primer laid down in Replication contain Thymine or Uracil?
Did you do any TBR CBT exams or you are just doing AAMC ones?
So just took my first AAMC FL ...
31 - 9/10/12 PS/VR/BS on #3 ... Somewhat disappointing hearing that #3 is the easiest one ...
PS - Should've done better. I haven't fully gone over it, which I'll do tomorrow, but glancing here and there, I missed some stupid questions.
VR - I expected worse ... Some of the passages were just straight up boring .......... I think the interesting passages saved me. xD
BS - Surprised I did well. Again, just glancing, I miss some pointless questions.
AAMC #4 on Tuesday. Hope I do better!
Thanks! I agree it's really hard to do this. I can't get myself to move on when I'm stuck on a question because I keep feeling like I can figure it out if I just give it another second. But I know I need to work smarter...it's just so damn frustrating! I keep imagining myself looking to the lower left corner of the screen on test day and freaking out when I see 10 minutes left with 2 more passages and discretes still to go!!PS I usually seem to have enough time if I keep track of it... here's my advice.
Do not waste time solving for the actual value of the answer whenever humanly possible. Getting orders of magnitude right, using limiting cases (if r goes to infinite then what), rounding like a mofo, and best of all calculating with easier numbers that are higher and lower than what they give you results in a range the answer should be in. This will speed you up. You really don't have time to crunch numbers every problem.
Keep track of time. If you are using a lot of time on a PS problem: narrow, guess, mark, come back. Those problems that you waste 3 minutes on will haunt you and you probably have a lower chance of getting it right anyway. Risk vs reward is low here. Rush on easier problems for a chance at the tough one... or get all the easier ones right.
Just my 2 cents.
Verbal... it's just a beast. One I haven't slain myself either. With that said I have had little problem with timing as of late. Do not subvocalize words (mouth them or sound them out). Skim with eyes for argument, tone, support and notice key words of transition or strong opinion. Do not skim until you feel you have an idea of what the author is saying and have a rhythm. Push your eyes across the page, they can actually see and understand more than individual words at a time. I have been amazed by this fact.
KEEP TRACK OF TIME. When you know you're behind, you have to consciously take less time on the tough questions that you have no idea on. Those are huge time sinks that tend to not pay off anyway. You are much more likely to get other questions right if you don't feel rushed on them than you are to get the ridiculously worded and long questions.
When I actually execute these things, I do well. But it's really really hard to do all of this. This is what CAN work for me, it's just a matter of doing it consistently that needs work for me.
I'm starting the AAMC FLs pretty late. I took #3 a couple days ago and got a 27 (8/10/9). Not sure if it makes much of a difference but I accidentally clicked the wrong answer in two questions. Though I'm disappointed with my score, it's definitely helping me figure out my weaknesses. I'm really hoping to score in the 30s
Gah. I just took another practice test. I got on my studying kind of late, but the 4 AAMC practice tests I've taken looked like this:
#3: 10/11/12 (33)
#11: 7/13/12 (32)
#8: 10/11/11 (32)
#5: 10/10/12 (32)
Fuuuuuuuu score y u no go up??? I guess it's equilibrating. I'm fine with a 32 since the rest of my application is strong, but I would like my studying to actually pay off. I finally did the whole thing including the writing sample on the last one. That section is actually kind of relaxing.
if a have 2-pentene is the number 2 C secondary or tert? I think this probabley doesn't even apply cuz it's conventional to name it sp2, just wonder if anyone knows fo sho,
Thank you for breaking this down for me!! I am definitely going to try this out. Getting all the discretes out of the way sounds like a good idea. I really hope this gets me more on track. Question, what does (counts in 3s... 3,6,9...2,5,8,1) mean??
thanks! btw, i just used aamc #3 and tried to finish the discretes in 10 min, took me 13 min even though i've done these problems once before, though i really didn't remember them (well, 2 problems, slightly). i really do think i'm inherently lacking in the speed dept, not just an issue with test taking strategy. though i think i'm going to stick with this. i think it would help with peace of mind for sure, leaving me more time for harder problems later.7 min/passage counts in 3s:
60 53 46 39 32<---(would be a 12 but you get the point)... 25 18 11
8 min/passage counts in 2s:
60 52 44 36 28 20 12 4
It's how I remember to write down the numbers.