The Official April 5th, 2014 MCAT Thread!

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BeachBlondie

BeachBlondie

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139 days!

You know, for a couple of weeks I thought I would just not subscribe to any particular SDN MCAT thread. Figured it wasn't necessary. But, frankly, knowing that there are other people out there--pissed about not remembering values for logs, and trying to sort out where epinephrine is secreted from ("Was that the adrenal cortex... or adrenal medulla?")--makes this slog towards test date bearable 🙂

Best of luck, fellow lost souls!

(P.S...... it's from the medulla 😉 )
 
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I am retaking on this date 🙂 I have subscribed to this thread to help keep me on track with my studying!
 
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that right,I have subscribed to this thread to help keep me on track with my studying!thank you
b8em6w
 
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In. Just started studying last Saturday. Will be heading off to my local library today to get some work done.
Took a TPR diagnostic before studying and scored a 10 on BS, but really struggled on PS and VR. Any good books for those sections? PS I just forgot the material, but TPR VR was beastly.
 
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CapCrunch said:
In. Just started studying last Saturday. Will be heading off to my local library today to get some work done.
Took a TPR diagnostic before studying and scored a 10 on BS, but really struggled on PS and VR. Any good books for those sections? PS I just forgot the material, but TPR VR was beastly.
Click to expand...

PS is my weakest section, but TBR has been gold. I haven't needed to look into VR (usually get 12-13), but from what I hear, TPR verbal is pretty good.
 
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I heard that TBR is gold. Just sent in my [ridiculous] order form today. jeez... I wish I could manage 12-13 on VR. Rushed and took physics over the summer at my local 4- year, and have never taken an English class.
 
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Taking the exam this date. Subscribed to this thread. I will begin studying next week.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk
 
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I'm taking it on the 5th also and am beginning studying at the end of this week. Anybody else using Kaplan Advantage On-Demand?
 
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I'm still trying to decide whether I should take a prep course or self-study; I think that a prep course would help with motivation. What's everyone else doing?
 
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I'm planning on self-studying. Has anyone else made a schedule that's different from the one on SDN? What do y'all think is the best way to go about making a study schedule?
 
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I am taking it 4/5! I too would like to discuss about how we could study from today and on! Let's work hard. Good luck to us all!
 
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I am taking it this date as well! I'm a non-traditional (2010 grad) and I took it this past May and voided because I knew I wasn't doing as well as I wanted to on practice exams, but now that I don't have a full time job, I'm hoping to kill this exam once and for all.

This thread will definitely come in handy closer to test day when the anxiety tends to set in. haha best of luck to you all!
 
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BeachBlondie said:
139 days!

You know, for a couple of weeks I thought I would just not subscribe to any particular SDN MCAT thread. Figured it wasn't necessary. But, frankly, knowing that there are other people out there--pissed about not remembering values for logs, and trying to sort out where epinephrine is secreted from ("Was that the adrenal cortex... or adrenal medulla?")--makes this slog towards test date bearable 🙂

Best of luck, fellow lost souls!

(P.S...... it's from the medulla 😉 )
Click to expand...

I thought you were taking the January test?
 
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I've looked at both the SN2 study plan and the Spinach Method, and I personally like the Spinach Method's plans a little better. I think it's more realistic and focuses on taking practice tests. Many of the scribes that I've worked with had very little time to study, but found success on their MCAT by doing TONS of practice tests. Unfortunately, I do not have the luxury of not working, so my studying will be slower and less intense than others. Just finished Biochem with a B, so I'm super happy about that. Think that class alone has helped a lot with reviewing OChem/Gen. Chem concepts. Highly recommend taking it if you can.

I have the Kaplan Premier 2013-2014 books and I love the format/easy reading of their books. I think I'm making the mistake of reading through all the content first and taking notes, which is time consuming. In the past 2 weeks, I've only gotten through the General Chemistry section of the book. This is usually how I learn and study in regular classes, but may not work so well with the MCAT. Will try and focus more on working through passages, concepts and reviewing/re-learning subjects that are dusty and foreign to me first. I plan on doing practice tests every other weekend (Saturdays at 1 PM, the same time the real thing will be) and use Sundays for critical review of the practice tests. Would love to hear other studying schedules and any advice!

105 DAYS
 
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I am taking the MCAT May 22 2014. I am scared. So much info. I also have the Kaplan books and most of the ExamKracker books. Physics is my very weakest. I have no idea.... I have been reviewing concepts, doing questions to get basic knowledge of areas and then I am going to start taking practice exams and doing more practice passages. What is everyone else doing?
 
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Hey guys! First time posting here. I'm really excited for all of us to destroy this monster! Who's with me???
 
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Hey everyone. I'm using Sn2 to study, and I am seriously having a problem with Physics. Just finished Section II. I took my time reading and took fairly detailed notes, but I missed almost every problem of passages 1-3. I feel confidant about the content until I reach the passages, so I'm not sure if I'm just having trouble understanding what the questions are asking or if I'm actually struggling with the information on a more conceptual level. Does anyone have any advice? I'm willing to try anything!
 
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I am also using the SN2 program, and I had a tough time with the first couple chapters as well. BR Physics is known for being very difficult, making the real MCAT seem easier. Use the passages as learning tools so that when you take full length exams after you finish content, that will determine how well you will do. But don't worry about the first couple chapters, you will get the hang of the style.
 
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Whats up ya'll. Taking it on the 5th as well get good luck to everyone and I will subscribe this thread to remind myself to study every single day.

On a side note: Is it bad that I haven't taken a single practice exam yet?? on the bright side I'm almost done with content review.
 
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Just started studying for this exam- ended up paying for a Kaplan course after getting a 31 studying on my own. I realized I needed some sort of structure in order to do better just because it's been so difficult to get motivated to take this exam again.

Mostly just need to concentrate on learning the science behind the exam, took the exam aug 2013 and got a 31 (PS11, VR10, BS10) without really knowing much. Hoping that knowing the sciences better combined with my existing reasoning ability gets me to a better score but we'll see what happens.
 
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Looks like I got kinda lazy during the break and wasn't able to get much studying done. 3 months until the exam. Should I push it to end of april or study like crazy? school starts next week but should be a light schedule.
 
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Retaking the test April 5th. Has anyone looked at the EK Home Study Plan? Took the exam last August and felt it was way more difficult than the practice material! I used mainly Princeton review and AAMC diagnostics. Should have done more practice tests! I will be trying to balance studying with 2 jobs so I'm looking for a managable study plan!
 
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I'm in! Let's go kill it everyone 🙂

FYI, I've been using a lot of EK and mostly structuring my studying around practice exams and doing problems, since I think that's the best way to do well on the MCAT. I've heard the EK 1001 questions (bio) and 101 (verbal) are harder than the actual MCAT, is this true?
 
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So I took my kaplan diagnostic today and did relatively well with a 32 (11 PS, 13 VR, 08 BS). Pleased with the result and where I am starting from. It's nice to know that verbal is still a relative strength for me. PS is decent but my bio knowledge recall is terrible at this point. I'm taking this as a good sign because it means that my reasoning ability is there and my score will only go up once I actually learn the science content.

Biggest change I want to make with studying for the mcat this time is actually somewhat learning the content and just getting a good night's rest before the esam. Everything else should fall into place if I can get those two things done.
 
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Guys I am also joining you all from the January 25th exam! Decided I needed more time for FL's! Plus I have a hectic schedule to juggle along with MCAT Prep! But I'm not complaining noone ever said it would be easy! For the past two days I took a break because I was feeling exhausted! so now I'm refreshed and ready to get back at it! Good Luck everyone!
 
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Is anyone using the Sn2 method and finding that it is taking them a very long time to get through the chapters? I feel as though I may start to fall behind because I take too long to go through each chapter and make notes, maybe taking notes is a bad idea and I should just read through them?
 
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123GO said:
Is anyone using the Sn2 method and finding that it is taking them a very long time to get through the chapters? I feel as though I may start to fall behind because I take too long to go through each chapter and make notes, maybe taking notes is a bad idea and I should just read through them?
Click to expand...

Hey! I'm just skipping to the review questions because I just took the MCAT last May, so a lot of this stuff is still in the back of my memory. I would do the same if I were you and you are just out of college or you recently took the exam
 
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I am finding the same thing with the Sn2 method! I have been able to keep up thus far but its been tough. I too have been skimming and then skipping to the questions. I also am supplementing some of the BR chapters with EK material and questions. I find some of the BR explanations to be worded rather confusingly!
 
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they are definitely worded confusingly! I'm actually behind so I'm on Day 4 when I should be on Day 9, so I need to just skip to questions right now. I'm also using the BR pdfs so it doesn't help that the book looks like they were printed a century ago. lol

I had a question though, since chemistry doesn't include the review passages like in physics, are you guys just doing 1/3 of the study passages? For example, Gen Chem Section 1 on stoichiometry has 12 corresponding study passages, so on Day 2 of the Sn2ed plan, I did passages 1, 4, 7, and 10. Is this correct?
 
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What are your thoughts on note taking during content review? I feel like it's taking too long and I'm wasting my time, but it would be nice to have a short summary for quick review when our study time starts to run out. The Sn2 method seems to just emphasize a read through and doesn't discuss if any sort of note taking. I've read through the 30+ thread and most also don't say whether they took notes or not.
 
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TheScientist26 said:
What are your thoughts on note taking during content review? I feel like it's taking too long and I'm wasting my time, but it would be nice to have a short summary for quick review when our study time starts to run out. The Sn2 method seems to just emphasize a read through and doesn't discuss if any sort of note taking. I've read through the 30+ thread and most also don't say whether they took notes or not.
Click to expand...

I applied my normal study habits with classes to my MCAT note taking, which is very simple: reading along and taking notes. I try and read over my personal notes as much as possible and find that my handwriting is easier to log into memory than typed text. Eventually, I'll start making "cheat sheets" of each chapter. I just finished the Gen. Chem. section of Kaplan's books and plan on reading through my notes today, writing down important formulas on one sheet and any sort of other useful concepts, sentences, relationships between variables, etc on another separate sheet. Those 2 sheets will be the only thing I end up studying from then on regarding general chemistry and I'll replicate them for OChem, Physics and Biology.
I thought that the note taking process on content review was taking up too much of my time, but in my mind it's so very important to take GOOD notes while reading because that condenses a large amount of material into concepts and formulas that are better to learn than endless amounts of ****. Even if you're unsure of the information you're writing down, you can always review and master those topics with other resources. Hope this helps?
 
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